This morning Lollapalooza organizers announced the lineup for their four-day Chicago festival, headlined by Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, Twenty One Pilots, and the Strokes. There’s usually an odd act out at the top of the bill, and this time it’s the Strokes, who most recently headlined Lolla in 2010—critics were fond of the 2017 oral history of 2000s New York rock, Meet Me in the Bathroom, but otherwise the Strokes have barely moved the needle in the past nine years. The rest of the headliners suggest that Lollapalooza organizers are redoubling their efforts to book artists that young fans want to see.
Despite those efforts, though, I’m not sure Lolla will rebound from last year’s noticeably slower sales. Previous to 2018, in recent years the fest had almost always sold out the day tickets went on sale, before the lineup even came out. In 2017 it counted as a slow sales year when four-day passes took almost three hours to sell out, but last year they took eight days—and you could still buy single-day tickets for Sunday when the fest started. This year, four-day tickets have increased slightly in price, from $335 to $340 for GA. Taxes and fees come to nearly $69 (though you can cut that to $57 if you skip the very skippable “collectible credential”). Even longtime fans might be getting a little weary of prices like that—and of Lolla’s potentially exhausting sprawl, with nearly 200 acts playing on eight stages over four days. As recently as 2015, its schedule was a more manageable three days.
Lolla’s organizers have the money and power to attract great acts, but not hundreds of them—many of the performers on the middle of the bill and below will read as filler to most of the fest’s potential audience. But I’d rather talk about the great ones: Everyone’s favorite country star, Kacey Musgraves, appears high in the lineup, among the likes of Lil Wayne, Janelle Monae, and Meek Mill. Indie-rock hero Mitski, rising electronic star Yaeji, Indiana bedroom-pop artist Omar Apollo, and Philadelphia art rapper Tierra Whack have all landed decent spots. And as much as I like to rag on Lolla for its disconnection from the local scene, they’ve booked some great Chicagoans: Louis the Child, Smino (who claims Saint Louis but lives here), Saba, Calboy, and Beach Bunny. (Sorry, but I’m not counting early-2000s northern Illinois nu-metal band Chevelle.)
That said, anybody complaining about Lollapalooza and its relationship to Chicago music needs to address more than the festival’s lineup. Live Nation, the entertainment company that owns a controlling interest in Lollapalooza’s promoters, C3 Presents, has a history of monopolistic behavior and will play an unknown role in Sterling Bay’s massive $6 billion Lincoln Yards development, whose $900 million TIF district has already been approved by Chicago’s Community Development Commission. We still don’t really know how involved Live Nation will be, but the city’s choice to subsidize the biggest international player in the industry will mean trouble for Chicago’s largely independent live-music infrastructure. I’d hope that people who care about the local scene will think twice before indirectly paying Live Nation by buying Lollapalooza passes. But I’m realistic—I know that if anybody decides not to spend $400 on Lolla tickets, it’ll be because Shaquille O’Neal will just be DJing, not performing the rap songs off the 1993 platinum album Shaq Diesel.
Lollapalooza will take place Thursday, August 1, through Sunday, August 4, in Grant Park. Below is the full lineup, including links on artists’ names that’ll take you to the best previous Reader coverage.
Ariana Grande
Childish Gambino
Twenty One Pilots
Strokes
Tame Impala
Flume
Chainsmokers
J Balvin
Kacey Musgraves
Lil Wayne
Janelle Monae
Meek Mill
Hozier
Rufus Du Sol
Gary Clark Jr.
Tenacious D
21 Savage
Death Cab for Cutie
Revivalists
H.E.R.
Maggie Rogers
Perry Farrell‘s Kind Heaven Orchestra
Alesso
Gud Vibrations vs. Slugz Music
Louis the Child
RL Grime
6lack
NF
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Lil Baby
Gunna
King Princess
Madeon
Gryffin
San Holo
Snails
Fitz & the Tantrums
Judah & the Lion
Sheck Wes
Smino
Fisher
Lauren Daigle
Rosalia
Mitski
Bring Me the Horizon
J.I.D.
Chevelle
FKJ
AJR
Lil Skies
Boombox Cartel
Matoma
Deorro
Manic Focus
Whethan
Rich the Kid
Saba
Normani
Bishop Briggs
Hayley Kiyoko
Denzel Curry
Party Favor
Loud Luxury
Japanese Breakfast
Lane 8
Joji
Lennon Stella
Sharon Van Etten
Francis & the Lights
Chelsea Cutler
Yaeji
Idles
Conan Gray
Sigrid
Dean Lewis
Masego
Hobo Johnson & the Lovemakers
Honne
Shaquille O’Neal’s Diesel
Bad Suns
Omar Apollo
Tierra Whack
Jeremy Zucker
(Sandy) Alex G
Calpurnia
Alec Benjamin
Still Woozy
Boy Pablo
Cautious Clay
Ghostemane
Pink Sweats
Shallou
Jade Bird
Said the Sky
Camelphat
Jonas Blue
Clozee
Mondo Cozmo
Magic City Hippies
Band Camino
Emily King
Men I Trust
Calboy
Yung Gravy
GothBoiClique
YBN Cordae
Svdden Death
Elephante
Opiuo
Ducky
Fantastic Negrito
Nude Party
G Flip
Bea Miller
Half Alive
Ruston Kelly
Roy Blair
Picture This
Baynk
Slow Hollows
Tyla Yaweh
Ryan Beatty
Killy
Slenderbodies
Wilderado
Crizzly
Yultron
Cray
Whipped Cream
Max Frost
Bayonne
Dreamers
Houses
Shaed
Sam Fender
GG Magree
Born Dirty
Diablo
Beach Bunny
Arkells
Harry Hudson
Cousin Stizz
Role Model
Nothing Nowhere
Charlesthefirst
Shlump
Witt Lowry
Des Rocs
Bulow
Malu Trevejo
Win & Woo
Ilo Ilo
Tayla Parx
Ama Lou
Russo
Yoshi Flower
Coi Leray
Willaris K
Age Sex Location
Evan Konrad
Upsahl
Wavedash
Bad Child
Lucas Dell’Abate
Illiterate Light
Lilly
Tessa Violet
Yeek
New Respects
Against the Current
Just Loud
Alexander 23
Jackie Foster
Pop Ups
123 Andres
Q Brothers
Falu’s Bazaar
Sonia de Los Santos
Joanie Leeds & the Nightlights
DJs Amira & Kayla
School of Rock Allstars