Rainy weather can’t dampen crowd’s mood
Odesza, TxT fans can’t be deterred by elements
Saturday’s Lollapalooza opened with less fanfare — blame the rain pelting down in Grant Park for much of the afternoon. As the first soggy fans made their way to the T-Mobile stage, festival staffers in ponchos were still busy clearing up detritus left by Friday night’s massive crowd for Kendrick Lamar.
Day 3 headliners are Odesza on the T-Mobile stage and the K-pop band Tomorrow X Together on the Bud Light Stage, plus the rapper Pusha T in a day-ending set on the Perry’s stage.
Some fans came prepared. Anna and Jovana Martinez, of DeKalb County, and Hope Herrera, of Joliet, stopped at CVS on their way into the festival for bright yellow $6 rain ponchos. They planned to be at the T-Mobile stage for the Revivalists’ set late afternoon and stay through Odesza. They’d also been there for Billie Eilish on opening day.
“People were literally slipping on top of each other” at Eilish’s set, said Jovana Martinez, who said this year’s festival was “way more intense than last year.” She blames the lineup more than the larger crowd sizes — daily capacity at Lollapalooza has been increased for 2023.
At the start of Lamar’s set last night the Martinez sisters said they heard repeated calls for a medic during the 15-minute delay before music began. Crew members “were pulling a lot of people out of the crowd.”
Lasers in the rain
If Saturday’s slow start intimidated Australian DJ Benson, his splashy set was no indication. With fewer than a hundred fans in attendance when he dropped his first beat at noon, Benson seemed euphoric, bopping all around the turntable as he ran through some of his favorite music club edits.
“This is my first time in Chicago,” he told fans, giving them props for braving the rain. “This city is so good!”
Trippy glitchcore graphics and a red laser light show, pulsing in time with Benson’s hypnotic rap-infused mixes, pulled many attendees off the sidewalks and toward the Perry’s stage as if magnetized.
Benson played again on a different stage later in the day. The Linda Lindas, Suki Waterhouse and J.I.D. were other notables on the Saturday lineup, as were the Q Brothers on the Kidzapalooza stage.
Doesn’t matter what language you sing
Argentinian rock band Usted Señalemelo performed to a dripping crowd early at the Bacardi stage. This was their first U.S. tour and they brought a set packed with compelling, synth-heavy beats.
Vocalist and keyboard player Juan Saieg wore a cape adorned with white spray-painted lines and a shirt with the name of his home country. He jumped up and down on stage, responding to nods from guitarist Gabriel Orozco and drummer Lucca Beguerie Petrich. The three have been playing together since they were 12 years old, they told the Tribune after their set, and on stage their actions are perfectly in sync.
Petrich said he sometimes gets nervous to play to a majority English-speaking audience.
“But in the end music connects everything,” said Saieg. “It doesn’t matter what language you speak or sing, or what the words mean. We don’t understand English music, but we
Da’ mayor in the house
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s opening speech for Eilish on Thursday has been the buzz of social media since.
“The city of Chicago is bringing the entire world together. We are the soul of Chicago; we are the soul of the world,” he said in part to cheering fans. “This is the moment we were made for.”
Johnson returned to the backstage area Friday. Mayor’s Office spokesperson Ronnie Reese confirmed that he visited with Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell. Reese said Johnson’s backto-back appearances were meant to show the importance of the festival to the administration.
“The power of music to create such a joyous, largescale, multicultural experience is critical to economic vitality, which is not only a boon to local business and infrastructure, but also to local artists who have a platform to showcase their talent to visitors from across the globe,” Reese said in a statement.
Over in Chow Town
“Burgers? Hot dogs?” Epic Burger employees called, enticing customers during a break in the storm. Next door, Tandoor Char House vendors laughed and leaned into each other between dishing out tandoori chicken empanadas and loaded chaat fries.
The Chow Town area on Columbus Drive, with
concession booths on one side and shade trees on the other, was a popular shelter from morning showers. Lines formed at Fatso’s Last Stand and Broken English Taco Pub.
Iconic Chicago “Cheezborger” joint Billy Goat Tavern expects to sell 5,000 burgers each day of the festival. Connie’s Pizza, a longtime Lolla staple, sold 5,500 slices Thursday and 5,300 on Friday, said general manager Mike Acton. He said he misses the days when the festival was smaller.
“I like the extra people — it felt like a lot more vendors got more business,” he said. “But do we like that? No, because there’s more vendors.”
‘Rain, rain go away’
Two 26-year-olds from Portage, Indiana — Tim Wozniak and Alyssa Rospierski — stood in the middle of the street as the rain came down. Rospierski huddled under Wozniak’s poncho to keep her nachos dry.
“We’re weathering the rain because we wanted to see Friday Pilots Club,” Rospierski said. “We’re not staying dry at this point. We’re just hoping to stay warm.”
They saw 1975 last night, they said, and the energy from that was carrying them through the gloomy weather. Wozniak is an electrician and Rospierski works in a dental office, and they both love live music, especially when it’s local.
Friday Pilots Club singer Caleb Hiltunen met guitarist Drew Polovick while attending Columbia College.
“Rain rain go away, so we can enjoy the rest of today, and tomorrow,” she said.
Tomorrow X Together fans
There are few music fans like K-pop music fans.
When cameras panned the crowd at the Bud Light stage before the electronic pop duo Sylvan Esso’s set late afternoon, Tomorrow X Together followers were lined up for that night’s headliner. They waved waving Korean flags, pictures of TxT members’ faces and printed-out fan art. Up on the video screens: One fan’s poster was dedicated to Odi, band member Soobin’s pet hedgehog.
Kayla Monroe and Joshua Harris, both from Richmond, Virginia, said they’d been TxT fans for two years. They came to the group through the megastar band BTS and attended Lollapalooza last year mostly to see BTS member J-Hope.
“We’re all here to see Tomorrow X Together and it’s a good vibe,” Monroe said of the crowd lined up.
“We’re all giving each other breaks.”
Music in his DNA
Frayne Vibez, playing with Kosine, was the opener on the Bacardi stage. It was the 22-year-old musician’s first Lollapalooza, but he’s no stranger to the stage — he’s the grandson of the late Chicago jazz great Ramsey Lewis.
Speaking to the Tribune after his set, he said he grew up with his father taking him along to Lewis’ studio.
“The biggest thing he left me with is it’s all about the music,” Vibez said. “Forget about the outside forces, forget about what people say. What’s important is just to be fully in that 2 minutes and 40 seconds.”
Vibez, who grew up in the western suburbs and attended Fenwick High School in Oak Park, describes his sound as pop mixed with hip-hop and alternative rock. He hopes to have an album out next year and continue performing around Chicago.
Lollapalooza equals momentum, he said.