The final day of Lollapalooza opened in Grant Park under low gray skies, persistent patches of rain and the mud here to stay. Sunday headliners are Red Hot Chili Peppers on the T-Mobile mainstage and Lana Del Rey on the Bud Light stage.
“There’s never been bad of enough weather to keep us away,” said Ryan Johnson of Chicago, who has been attending the festival with his wife and more recently children since 2009.
The family said that Lolla has become a family tradition, discovering new bands that later become headliners. They had a bag of essentials along for their children in case it rained. Six-year-old Cira Johnson was exited to see the Chili Peppers.
2023 is the third Lollapalooza for Del Rey (also 2013 and 2016), the fifth for the Chili Peppers (2006, 2012 and 2016) if you count their participation in the 1992 tour organized by festival co-founder and Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell.
Farrell’s tour ran from 1991 to 1997, was revived in 2003, then became a Chicago mainstay in 2005, taking place annually since excepting the virtual version in 2020.
It became a four-day festival in 2016. Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced on last summer’s Day 4 that Lolla’s lease would extend in Grant Park at least until 2032. As part of the agreement, daily capacity was increase to 115,000 for 2023, up from 100,000. Lollapalooza is put on by C3 Presents, a division of Live Nation.
New Mayor Brandon Johnson has only doubled down publicly this weekend on Lightfoot’s enthusiasm, introducing Day 1 headliner Billie Eilish in a celebrity spotlight moment.
“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 the sea of cheering faces at the T-Mobile Stage. Johnson returned to the backstage area Friday night; his office told the Tribune he met with Farrell.
For a city that has seen drought this summer and is still abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the rain has picked fine times to show up in Grant Park — raining out much of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race over Independence Day weekend, then dampening Lollapalooza.
A group of friends from Arizona, attending the festival for the first time, were mostly in Chicago to see their favorite Korean bands, they said. They didn’t mind. “It’s great, the weather actually adds to it,” said Ed Gomez.
On their final day, they said they’re excited to see Japanese singer Rina Sawayama and Korean act DPR Ian x DPR Live.
Some music fans, or make that mud fans, were going for it Sunday, especially at the high-energy Perry’s stage — dancing in the sodden earth and in some cases covered in slosh.
Based on Tribune reporting since opening day Thursday, this has been a low-drama Lolla.
The city’s on-site Office of Emergency Management and Communication has not provided information about emergency calls during the festival since 2021, instead releasing a summative report after it closes. But there have been no observations of mass fence jumping or disruptions outside the gates, and although there have been plenty of accounts of concertgoers shoved by crowds and needing rescue by security in front of stages, as of publication, fewer concert sets have been halted over crowd surge concerns than last year.
This despite the increased capacity.
To be sure, the crowds in Grant Park have been huge, and have felt huge. During Eilish’s set, many late arrivals found they could not even get to her stage because the entire west border of the sports fields was human gridlock. Navigating the main Columbus Drive thoroughfare on a busy afternoon — it’s nearly a mile from the T-Mobile stage to the Bud Light stage — can be a half hour of weaving through teenage crowds.
[ Lollapalooza Day 1: Billie Eilish a fan favorite on opening day — and 2023 is a big year for K-pop ]
[ Lollapalooza Day 2: Fans line up for Kendrick Lamar — and snap up free naloxone kits ]
[ Lollapalooza Day 3: Rain can’t put a damper on Odesza and TxT’s day ]
About those teenagers — is Lollapalooza really all that young a turnout? C3 Presents did not respond to Tribune questions about the demographics of ticket buyers for 2023. But for a year without a big cross-generation band like last summer’s Metallica on the bill, yes, it seems to be.
California indie band Mt. Joy was a T-Mobile stage act Sunday afternoon. “This is one of our favorite cities to play,” lead singer Matt Quinn told the audience before launching into the 2017 hit “Sheep” early in their set.
If any music act in the weekend had a more senior crowd, it was Mt. Joy — though “senior” in their case meant a small smattering of nodding, graying heads around some of the rear speaker towers. Under a short mist of rain, the band performed a jam band-style cover of “Old Town Road,” loose, relaxed and in sync with their final-day time slot. If Grant Park is Chicago’s front yard, they were in harmony with the moment.
Famous firsts: One of the big stories for 2023 was K-pop. Returning band Tomorrow X Together was the first K-pop headliner Saturday. Girl group NewJeans was a huge favorite Thursday. Beyond that, Karol G, the Colombian Reggaeton artist, was the first Latina to headline Lollapalooza Thursday.
Moment we wish we hadn’t missed: To open his set Friday, Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto addressed the crowd from the top of the Bud Light stage proscenium, way up there. Then he jumped. He was wearing a harness.
No lines, no waiting: There are enough restrooms at Lollapalooza if you don’t mind a short wait. If you want a taco from Prime Tacos on a Saturday evening, or to refill your water bottle, you might have a line. But a beer? Walk right up. From informal poll of vendors by the Tribune, the verdict was unanimous, alcohol sales were slower this year. But: there’s also more vendors.
Least popular change: The expanded viewing areas for VIP and Platinum ticketholders. Longtime attendee Janira Monterroso of Chicago noticed those, and also that there seemed to be few shaded areas for the basic general admission ticketholders. “That’s my only complaint,” she said.
The stream stops: The four days of concerts have been livestreamed to subscribers on Hulu (www.hulu.com). According to Hulu, concert coverage shuts off Sunday night, no on-demand viewing afterward. Good night, Chicago.
