- Courtesy of Paul McCartney’s Facebook page
- This guy is headlining Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza announced its lineup at 6 AM today, and the biggest name on the bill is also its oldest: Paul McCartney. The Beatle headlines the three-day Grant Park festival alongside Metallica, Florence + the Machine, Sam Smith, Bassnectar, and the Weeknd. It’s a far more perplexing list than the tame, underwhelming collection of acts rounded up to close out each night of the megafest last year, but the uneven distribution of talent rests heavily on the two names at the top of the bill. If you subscribe to the idea that millennials are generally clueless about McCartney after the #whoispaulmccartney trend story that followed his first collaboration with Kanye West (“Only One”), then the former’s place as the king of the lineup of a fest that skews young is a head-scratcher. But since two of the other biggest music festivals in the U.S. feature acts that appeal to a significantly older crowd than one might expect to see at these kinds of summer jamborees—Steely Dan is set to play Coachella, Billy Joel headlines Bonnaroo—Lollapalooza could be perceived to be staying on top of a trend.
The quality of the rest of the festival’s lineup is predictably spotty. Unfortunately Drake isn’t on the bill, as had been previously predicted, but ASAP Rocky is there—the NYC rapper and Kid Cudi have the best spots for hip-hop acts, though the most exciting names in the genre show up further down on the lineup (DJ Mustard, Young Thug, Travis Scott). The unpredictably eclectic cluster of acts—vaporwave refugee Skylar Spence, soul combo St. Paul & the Broken Bones, chic country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson—can get lost in a sea of merely OK alternative acts and the crush of EDM performers. For every FKA Twigs and Flying Lotus there’s a rock band with “War” in its name just sitting on the bill. As usual locals barely make a dent, but at least there are two great Chicago acts on the bill—Twin Peaks and Mick Jenkins. Gossip Wolf correctly predicted both would play the fest; five of the wolf’s nine picks wound up on the list. Check out the full lineup below, with links to past Reader features, show previews, and write-ups. Lollapalooza starts Friday, July 31, so prepare to be bombarded with ads of its arrival till then:
Friday:
Paul McCartney
The Weeknd
Alt-J
Alabama Shakes
Kaskade
Dillon Francis
Gary Clark Jr.
Flying Lotus
Hot Chip
The War on Drugs
Father John Misty
Cold War Kids
DJ Snake
Sylvan Esso
Ms Mr
Tove Lo
Glass Animals
St. Paul & the Broken Bones
First Aid Kit
DJ Mustard
James Bay
Broods
Misterwives
What So Not
SZA
Jamestown Revival
Philip Selway
Young Thug
Coasts
Destructo
Borns
BadBadNotGood
Mighty Oaks
Bear’s Den
Peking Duk
Black Pistol Fire
Spookyland
Gabriel GarzĂłn-Montano
Kyle Thornton & the Company
The New Pacific
Daye Jack
The Pop Ups
Q Brothers
School of Rock All-Stars
The Jimmies
Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips
Saturday:
Metallica
Sam Smith
Alesso
Tame Impala
Kid Cudi
Brand New
Carnage
G-Eazy
Walk The Moon
Tyler, The Creator
The Tallest Man On Earth
Banks
Chet Faker
Sturgill Simpson
Death From Above 1979
Toro Y Moi
Charli XCX
Django Django
Boys Noize
Delta Spirit
RL Grime
Givers
Ryn Weaver
Travis Scott
Caked Up
Hermitude
Wet
Holychild
Catfish & the Bottlemen
Zella Day
Mt. Eden
Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas
Snbrn
Elle King
Beat Connection
Mick Jenkins
Raury
Jack Novak
Pell
White Sea
Hippo Campus
Coin
Danny Weinkauf
School of Rock All-Stars
The Jimmies
Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips
The Helmets
Sunday:
Florence + the Machine
Bassnectar
Of Monsters and Men
ASAP Rocky
TV On The Radio
Nero
Kygo
Twenty One Pilots
Nicky Romero
Marina & The Diamonds
FKA Twigs
Lord Huron
Gogol Bordello
Stromae
Odesza
Logic
The Chainsmokers
Wild Belle
Twin Peaks
Angus & Julia Stone
George Ezra
Strand of Oaks
Moon Taxi
Shakey Graves
Galantis
Night Terrors of 1927
Alison Wonderland
Circa Waves
Dma’s
Sheppard
Mako
Skylar Spence
The Wombats
Halsey
Lion Babe
Black Tiger Sex Machine
Verite
JackLndn
Zebra Katz
The Lonely Biscuits
SirenXX
In The Whale
Atarah Valentine
The Pop Ups
Danny Weinkauf
Motown Pete
Q Brothers
School of Rock All-Stars