Most music festivals have more than one stage these days, but when it comes to scale, Lollapalooza has few peers: this year it’s booked nearly 150 acts on eight stages. It’s difficult if not impossible to see more than a small fraction of the weekend-long bill, unless you’ve got access to a jet pack or teleportation technology—the northernmost and southernmost stages are nearly a mile apart, which would be a 15-minute walk even if you didn’t have to maneuver through a crowd of 100,000 people. The number of stages allows the festival to give every act a substantial set—nobody’s stuck with just 20 minutes—but it’s also pretty easy to entirely miss a band that’s playing for an hour. At least this situation is a win for Lollapalooza’s advertisers: you can’t navigate the park or the schedule without using the names of the companies that have sponsored most of the stages.
The Reader kept the on-the-ground realities of Lollapalooza in mind while plotting our coverage. We’ve assembled an itinerary of 30 acts approved by our writers, which despite its occasional gap or overlap ought to get you through all three days and leave you enough time to see a substantial portion of each recommended set.
Schedule conflicts forced us to make tough choices and leave out some fantastic groups: UK electro-soul outfit Hot Chip and ratchet king DJ Mustard play at the exact same time (we went with Lolla newbie Mustard), and indie titans TV on the Radio share a time slot with R&B chanteuse FKA Twigs (we picked Twigs). We also decided to recommend two of Friday’s headliners, because you can catch more than half of Paul McCartney’s set and still see pretty much all of Flying Lotus.
Lollapalooza has the nitty-gritty details—what you can bring to the park and what you can’t, where to find the two main gates—on its website. Regardless of the flavor of pass you’ve bought, you can reenter the park three times per day (after your initial arrival). Keep that in mind if you lose your nerve and decide to change out of your banana hammock—once you’ve already skipped out a few times, you might want to wait till the next day to slip into something more comfortable. —Leor Galil
Friday, July 31
12:45-1:30 PM | SZA | Samsung Galaxy Stage
Though her music is often described as R&B, SZA (aka Solana Rowe) does a good job of rendering genre categories irrelevant: “Julia,” from the 2014 album Z (Top Dawg Entertainment), finds the common ground between Genesis and Cassie; the Marvin Gaye cover “Sweet November” grafts psychedelic guitars to a slow jam; “Warm Winds” burps and bubbles lyrically, turning hip-hop into indie pop (or vice versa). SZA’s airy vocals lean back into the blissed-out tracks; scheduled at the very beginning of Lollapalooza, her set should be a good way to ease into your weekend. Also Fri 7/31 at Reggie’s Rock Club, sold out, 18+. —Noah Berlatsky
1:30-2:15 PM | Misterwives | Sprint Stage
This winter’s debut album from New York indie-pop group Misterwives, Our Own House (Photo Finish), sounds like it was produced by someone who loves Miley’s “Party in the U.S.A.” but thinks it’s a little too risque. The band’s shimmering guitars feel like running onto the beach with a bunch of buddies to catch the first perfect wave of the day; once the single “Reflections” wafts into your head, it’ll stay there all through a summer afternoon. Also Fri 7/31 at Park West, sold out, 18+. —Leor Galil
2:50-3:30 PM | Badbadnotgood | Pepsi Stage
The young hip-hop nuts in jazz trio BadBadNotGood have embraced both sides of their identity. Last year they released their first album composed entirely of original material, the controlled energy wave III (Innovative Leisure), and immediately followed it with Sour Soul (Lex), a rap-first collaboration with Ghostface Killah. The band’s improvisations are just as inspired as their MC-friendly covers: drummer Alex Sowinski rarely repeats a measure, while keyboardist Matthew Tavares and bassist Chester Hansen know when to go all in and when to dial it back. Onstage, though, they always seem mere seconds from eruption. Also Thu 7/30 at Subterranean, sold out, 17+, and Fri 7/31 at Concord Music Hall with headliner Tyler, the Creator, $30, 18+. —Tyler Daswick
3:30-4:30 PM | Father John Misty | Palladia Stage
The first time I heard “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow,” one of the strongest tracks on Father John Misty‘s great new album, I Love You, Honeybear (Sub Pop), I was taken aback. This was mostly because my own experience at the Thirsty Crow—an unassuming Los Angeles cocktail bar on a weirdly sparse stretch of Sunset Boulevard that connects the Echo Park and Silver Lake neighborhoods—was downright wonderful. But I was also surprised by his ability to color my perspective with his own. Such is the power of Father John Misty, whose singular folk-rock is alternately brusque and welcoming, cynical and jovial: it’s the perfect mood music for the times you can’t decide which mood you’re in. —Drew Hunt
4:30-5:30 PM | DJ Mustard | Perry’s Stage
The libidinous pulse of ratchet ruled last summer, and LA producer DJ Mustard was its primary architect and undisputed king. He worked on most of YG’s 2014 debut, My Krazy Life, and during that season, six singles he’d had a hand in hit the Billboard Hot 100. Mustard’s first album under his own name, last year’s star-studded 10 Summers (Roc Nation/Republic), includes appearances from 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, and Wiz Khalifa; Mustard had also gotten big enough to enlist Big Sean to nearly ruin a perfectly good track (“Face Down”). Lean, mean, and deceptively funky, 10 Summers begs to be played loud enough to burn down your speakers. I haven’t had much time with its follow-up, the brand-new 10 Summers: The Mixtape Vol. 1, but what I’ve heard carries on the spirit of the album. —Leor Galil
5:45-6:45 PM | Alabama Shakes | Samsung Galaxy Stage
On their strong second album, this spring’s Sound & Color (ATO), Alabama Shakes play music rooted in soul that has little to do with any sort of old-school soul revival. Singer Brittany Howard and company certainly make use of the classic vocabulary that evolved in the Memphis studios of Stax and Hi Records, but they’ve broadened their stylistic range, conveying jackhammer fury on “The Greatest” and riding a primitive beat-box groove on the gorgeously subdued “Guess Who.” No matter the genre trappings, every song revolves around Howard, who sounds better than ever—she unleashes a spine-tingling cry at the start of “Don’t Wanna Fight” but then sounds utterly vulnerable on the acoustic ballad “This Feeling.” —Peter Margasak
6:50-7:30 PM | Young Thug | BMI Stage
Over the past couple years, oddball Atlanta rapper Young Thug has become hip-hop royalty in his hometown, which remains a center of gravity for the national scene. He’s done it in part by playing with the English language like blocks of Jell-O. He performs as though he’s surprised by his own ability to reshape words and vowels, and his songs are adventures in finding new ways to turn up. The instrumentals on April’s Barter 6 (300/Atlantic) are minimal, but Young Thug’s Technicolor flow more than fills their empty spaces; I’m not always sure what he’s saying, but I love how he says it. —Leor Galil
7:45-10:00 PM | Paul McCartney | Samsung Galaxy Stage
Lollapalooza’s choice of headliners on Friday night feels like a choice between centuries. There’s digitally augmented crooner the Weeknd; experimental producer Flying Lotus, who has his own radio station in Grand Theft Auto V; and Paul McCartney, who wrote most of the songs he’ll play tonight between 1962 and 1982. Now 73 years old, he routinely plays for longer than the 135 minutes allocated to him at Lollapalooza, delivering more than 30 hits from the Beatles, Wings, and solo McCartney songbooks. YouTube evidence suggests that time has been kind to McCartney—he can still hit many of the high notes, and his hair and waistline haven’t changed all that much in a half century. Most important, his knack for crowd-pleasing showmanship remains intact. —Bill Meyer
9-10 PM | Flying Lotus | Pepsi Stage
On last year’s You’re Dead! (Warp), a dense meditation on death and what might come after it, Los Angeles producer Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison) brought together disparate musical threads from his hometown. The album helped announce the arrival of young jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, celebrated the fluid backbone of bassist Thundercat, and showcased contributions from three generations of stars who call LA home—Herbie Hancock, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar. The sounds are just as multifaceted as the guest list, with hip-hop, funk, spiritual jazz, and psychedelia coming together in a richly hypnotic weave of melody, ambience, and groove. Also Fri 7/31 at Spybar (DJ set), $20, 21+. —Peter Margasak
Saturday, August 1
11:45 AM-12:30 PM | Mick Jenkins | Palladia Stage
Chicago’s been spoiled by great local rap releases lately, but few have been as potent or powerful as Mick Jenkins‘s 2014 mixtape, The Water[s] (Cinematic Music Group). The 24-year-old combines resplendent soul-influenced instrumentals with painful stories about black kids catching stray bullets; his personable, relaxed flow makes his complex rhymes about street violence and racism easy to absorb. Two pop-centric singles from Jenkins’s forthcoming Wave[s] EP, “P’s and Q’s” and “Alchemy,” sweeten his intellectually stimulating lyrics and dense wordplay with sparkling production. Also Sat 8/1 at Reggie’s Rock Club, $20, $17 in advance, 18+. —Leor Galil
1-1:45 PM | Holychild | Bud Light Stage
This Los Angeles duo want you to know they’re clever. They’re trying to popularize a subgenre they call “brat pop”—apparently a mishmash of Sleigh Bells’ hard rhythms and Passion Pit’s quirky pop hooks, topped with multicolored sprinkles—and the name of their debut-full-length, The Shape of Brat Pop to Come (Glassnote), is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Refused’s 1998 album The Shape of Punk to Come (itself a not-so-tongue-in-cheek nod to Ornette Coleman’s 1959 masterpiece The Shape of Jazz to Come). But it’s worth getting past that posturing and actually listening to the music: “Running Behind,” with its drum-line snare providing a thoroughfare for a thump-thump beat and the playful, confident rallying-cry flow of vocalist Liz Nistico, is so hot-damn catchy you’re all but guaranteed to find yourself bobbing your head. Also Fri 7/31 at Lincoln Hall with headliner Charli XCX, sold out, 18+. —Kevin Warwick
1:30-2:15 PM | Ryn Weaver | Sprint Stage
Twenty-two-year-old Ryn Weaver is still new to the music business. After the success of her online single “Octahate” last summer, she released it again on her debut album, The Fool (Mad Love/Interscope), which came out last month. The song attracted social-media attention from big names such as Hayley Williams and Jessie Ware, as well as comparisons to the likes of Charli XCX (with whom she collaborated on “Octahate”) and Lorde. Though little on the album makes as immediate an impression as that single, Weaver’s vibrant storytelling provides a thread that ties it together. She certainly owes some of her success to high-powered producer friends (Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit, Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat), but her spunky energy and trilling vocals would make her synth-pop infectious no matter who else had a hand in it. Also Fri 7/31 at Schubas, $20, 18+. —Cassidy Ryan
2:15-3 PM | Travis Scott | Perry’s Stage
Houston MC, producer, and fashion plate Travis Scott has been signed to Kanye West’s label (racking up a few collabs with and cosigns from the dude himself), and both men favor a baroque, avant-leaning production style and extensive use of digital vocal manipulation—in part because Scott, like his erstwhile mentor, has only halfway decent rapping and singing skills. It sometimes seems like Scott has gotten lost in Kanye’s considerable shadow—and though that’s probably not a terrible place for a 23-year-old to post up momentarily, he should ask Big Sean if it’s worth lingering for more than a hype cycle or two. Scott’s uncanny production skills occasionally reach the master’s heights, as on 2014’s “Mamacita,” a stomping banger with assists from Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug—but the recent “3500,” with Future and 2 Chainz, is only lukewarm (it’s supposedly about the fur coat proud parents Kimye bought for baby North). With any luck the other tracks on the forthcoming Rodeo (Grand Hustle/Epic) will push him into a spotlight of his own. Also Sat 8/1 at First Ward with Logan and Saba, $50-$75, 17+. —J.R. Nelson
2:45-3:45 PM | Sturgill Simpson | Bud Light Stage
On Sturgill Simpson‘s second album, last year’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (High Top Mountain), the Americana singer is clearly in thrall to the 70s output of Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, where the electric guitars seem to have flange effects built in. But it’s more than his sound that connects Simpson to the 70s. I can’t think of anyone else in the genre today who’d drop in Buddhist references the way he does on “Just Let Go,” a cosmic ode to the extinction of the self: “Gonna break through and blast off to the bardo,” he sings. If those spiritual leanings are the yin of Simpson’s music, then his self-destructive streak is the yang; in “Life of Sin” he’s unapologetic about the drugs and booze he pours into his body, explaining, “The level of my medicating some might find intimidating / But that’s all right ’cause it don’t bother me none.” Also Fri 7/31 at Metro, sold out, 18+. —Peter Margasak
4-5 PM | Death From Above 1979 | Samsung Galaxy Stage
Toronto bass-and-drums duo Death From Above 1979 formed during the early-aughts disco-punk explosion, putting their own spin on the sassy genre by blasting it through a wall of huge, noisy amps. Their weird fusion of earth-rattling heavy-metal bass and high-strung pop propelled them to massive success, but in 2006, two years after their debut LP, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, they split up. The band reunited in 2011, and last year they finally dropped a second album, The Physical World (Last Gang), which operates from the same blueprint they drafted more than a decade ago. DFA1979’s dance-floor-ready beats, crushing bass lines, and off-kilter pop sensibilities sound as fresh as they did when the band first blew up. Also Fri 7/31 at Bottom Lounge, sold out, 17+. —Luca Cimarusti
4:45-5:45 PM | The Tallest Man on Earth | Bud Light Stage
Among the hordes of solo dudes with acoustic guitars and crackly, Dylanesque croons, the Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson) stands out for the much darker shades he uses to paint his yarns. His newest album, this spring’s Dark Bird Is Home (Dead Oceans), undergirds its whirling, driving acoustic lines with strings, ambient electronics, sputtering noise, and an implicit understanding of the bleakness of the world. But that doesn’t mean Matsson can’t strum his Guild guitar right into a campfire circle: though the lyrics to “Darkness of the Dream” are typically sullen, its chorus includes a gospel-like vocal melody that falls in with the triumphant thrum of the song. —Kevin Warwick
6-7 PM | Tame Impala | Samsung Galaxy Stage
I can’t be the only one curious about how Tame Impala—the solo project of Kevin Parker in the studio—will use its touring lineup to translate its music onstage. The Australian act’s new album, Currents (Interscope), abandons the guitar-driven psych-pop of its two predecessors in favor of something calculatedly artificial. Though the mix includes plenty of real instruments—notably Parker’s nimble bass, which often adds some grit—the sound field is dominated by electric keyboards and dry, almost airless production. It’s as if Bread front man David Gates decided to ditch soft rock and sing with 10cc for a session of insular hot-tub funk. —Peter Margasak
7-8 PM | Brand New | Sprint Stage
If you have even a passing interest in the latest swell of emo music, you should thank this Long Island four-piece for sowing its seeds. Despite a thin discography and a sporadic touring schedule, Brand New are among the most influential indie-rock bands of the past 15 years or so. They’ve been pretty quiet since their latest and greatest album, 2009’s blistering Daisy, but things appear to be picking up: this spring’s “Mene,” the band’s first new music in six years (and presumably a single from their yet-to-be announced fifth LP), is a loud, nihilistic punk jam led by Jesse Lacey’s throaty vocals. Over raging guitars and pounding drums, he insists, “We don’t feel anything”—but Brand New fans will surely have all the feels. Also Fri 7/31 at House of Blues, sold out, 17+. —Drew Hunt
8-10 PM | Metallica | Samsung Galaxy Stage
The guys in Metallica are some of the biggest assholes in the world, but I always end up giving them a pass. No matter how many bears James Hetfield hunts, how many free download services Lars Ulrich denounces, how many innocent bassists the band hazes, or how many annoying, self-indulgent documentaries they make about themselves, one thing will always remain true: Metallica are responsible for four of the greatest, most perfect heavy-metal albums ever made. These guys have cranked out a quarter-century of crap since the last of those albums, 1988’s . . . And Justice for All, and it’d be easier to enjoy the music if Ulrich were forbidden from speaking in public, but Metallica’s live shows still rely heavily on the 80s classics—and for the most part, the band’s got those dialed in tight and loud. Sure, the members of Metallica totally suck, but this set will not. —Luca Cimarusti
Sunday, August 2
12-12:30 PM | In the Whale | Pepsi Stage
The Black Keys’ rise to ubiquity in mainstream rock is still kind of surprising, but their subsequent influence isn’t. The notion that all you need to start a band is an old guitar and a rickety drum kit is no doubt inspiring—and minus the “old” and “rickety,” that’s what renegade Denver two-piece In the Whale use to play their reckless, metal-tinged blues-rock. The band describe themselves as “the Kenny Powers of music,” and there’s no mistaking their intentions. Their songs are loud, brash, and messy, best paired with a set of earplugs and the cheapest beer you can find. Also Sat 8/1 at Thalia Hall with headliner Gogol Bordello, sold out, 17+. —Drew Hunt
1:10-1:50 PM | Zebra Katz | BMI Stage
The frighteningly fabulous world of rapper Zebra Katz, inspired by Japanese horror movies, creepy high fashion, and bad psychedelic drug trips, blossomed from the mind of his alter ego, queer New York performance artist Ojay Morgan. After Rick Owens chose Katz’s menacing and minimal ballroom track “Ima Read” to score his Paris Fashion Week show in 2012, the record blew up around the world, eventually generating remixes by artists such as Tricky, Azealia Banks, Grimes, and Busta Rhymes. Katz has dropped two intoxicating mixtapes, Champagne (2012) and DRKLNG (2013), and he’s now releasing a six-part series of dark films to promote his latest EP, a haunting, clattering collaboration with London-based producer Leila called Nu Renegade. Also Thu 7/30 at Berlin, $15, $12 in advance, 21+. —Emily Ornberg
1:45-2:45 PM | Shakey Graves | Palladia Stage
Before settling in Austin, Texas, Alejandro Rose-Garcia tried out open mikes in New York and frequented the folk scene in Los Angeles—and those travels helped influence the distinctive, organic voice of his stage persona, Shakey Graves. After trying his hand at an acting career (he had small roles in Spy Kids 3-D and Friday Night Lights, among other productions), Rose-Garcia ventured into music, eventually adopting the rustic, foot-stomping rock ‘n’ roll of his latest album, last year’s And the War Came (Dualtone). Rose-Garcia is a natural performer, and shouldn’t have any trouble translating the record’s energy for a Lollapalooza crowd—he might be a one-man band, but he can make enough music to fill a stage. Also Sat 8/1 at Park West with headliners Angus & Julia Stone, sold out, 18+. —Cassidy Ryan
2:50-3:30 PM | Skylar Spence | Pepsi Stage
A few years ago—about the same time the vaporwave scene he belonged to started publicly disbanding—Long Island producer Ryan DeRobertis began transmogrifying chintzy 80s sounds into R&B slow jams under the name Saint Pepsi. On those early recordings he displayed a thoughtful understanding of what makes pop music tick, and he’s retained that understanding through his transition from the woozy tunes of Saint Pepsi to the earnest, enthusiastic electronic tracks he’s making as Skylar Spence. His forthcoming debut album, Prom King (Carpark), glows with radio-ready warmth and ephemeral energy, and “Can’t You See” is one of my favorite summer songs this year. —Leor Galil
3:30-4:30 PM | Marina & the Diamonds | Sprint Stage
“Happy,” the opening track on the newest Marina & the Diamonds album, this spring’s Froot (Neon Gold), is sparse and delicate, but don’t be misled: the rest of the record consists mostly of sweeping, pulsing synth-pop that uses Marina Diamandis’s ethereal voice to power a dance party rather than an indie-rock chamber group. The title track, with its funky bass line and electronic disco beat, is practically built for a festival setting, where there’s room to kick up dust while wearing your very best collection of illuminated jewelry. Diamandis can sound brooding, but that’s never the only note she strikes: she can rip loose for an anthemic chorus or push a catchy hook so hard you’d think it’d end up on the radio from sheer force of will. Also Sat 8/1 at Concord Music Hall, $28.50, 18+. —Kevin Warwick
4:35-5:30 PM | Logic | Perry’s Stage
In the short time that D.C.’s hip-hop scene has been robust enough to enjoy a national profile, its big story has been street rap. Shy Glizzy and Fat Trel are arguably making some of the best songs in the city proper, but if you widen your view to include the DMV (that’s the District, Maryland, and Virginia), you can find MCs who’ve had more success: the latest is Bobby Hall, aka Logic, a 25-year-old rapper from Gaithersburg, Maryland. His debut, 2014’s Under Pressure (Def Jam), reached number four on the Billboard 200, and it beautifully displays his introspective lyricism and battle-rap flow. Also Sat 8/1 at Bottom Lounge, sold out, 18+. —Leor Galil
5:15-6 PM| Wild Belle | Pepsi Stage
It’s been a couple years since Barrington-born siblings Elliott and Natalie Bergman released Wild Belle‘s first and only album, Isles (Columbia)—a breezy if somewhat insubstantial concoction of quasi-Caribbean pop and soul—and they’ve been pretty quiet since, apart from a recent cameo on the new Major Lazer album and a gig modeling Gap clothes for Spin magazine. But a new Wild Belle album is on the horizon, and given that they collaborated on it with Diplo and Beck producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, it seems likely to have a more electronic sound. Today’s show ought to pull the curtain back on some of that new material. Also Thu 7/30 at Berlin with headliner Zebra Katz, $15, $12 in advance, 21+, and Sat 8/1 at Lincoln Hall, sold out, 18+. —Peter Margasak
5:40-6:20 PM| Bully | BMI Stage
Nashville’s Bully hold together their perfectly balanced hybrid of ecstatic, indie-flavored pop-punk and down-and-dirty grunge with the spit and phlegm in the scratchy, snarling vocals of front woman Alicia Bognanno. On their recent full-length debut, Feels Like, (StarTime International), “Brainfreeze” and “Trying” are stark and bare-bones, dependent on Bognanno’s spunk and tormented, candid lyrics, while the barreling, punk-fueled “Six” features some of her best Courtney Love yowls. —Kevin Warwick
6:45-7:45 PM| A$AP Rocky | Bud Light Stage
A$AP Rocky has proved himself something of a Renaissance man: like many rappers, he also models, and he recently had a role in Sundance hit Dope. His second album, At. Long. Last. A$AP (A$AP Worldwide/Polo Grounds/RCA), dropped May 26, and it sounds exactly the way a record supposedly written on LSD should sound. It’s hazy and layered with a kaleidoscope of tone colors—guitar, synth, trumpet, you name it. “Wavybone” laces its electronic percussion and R&B-inflected vocals with a melodic horn line, and Rocky sometimes comes closer to singing than rapping—he practically croons on “LSD,” a love song either to a woman or to the substance of the title. Unlike sometime collaborators Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West, Rocky prefers intricate beats over complicated lyrics. His songs are dreamy, relaxed, and as cool as he is. —Evin Billington
7:45-8:30 PM| FKA Twigs | Pepsi Stage
If it were possible to isolate the various facets of last year’s LP1 (Young Turks), the debut album from FKA Twigs (aka British singer, producer, and dancer Tahliah Barnett), you could get a very different impression of her depending on which one you heard: she could be a modern R&B singer cooing nasty come-ons, a forward-looking beat maven, or a performance artist with an ethereal pop sensibility. But of course, she does all those things at once. FKA Twigs returns to town after this May’s New York staging of Congregata, an ambitious theatrical work featuring a dozen male dancers and a four-piece live band. Only one of those dancers is accompanying her to Chicago, but here’s hoping she’ll bring some of that performance’s newer ideas to her already nuanced live show. —Peter Margasak
8:30-10 PM| Florence & the Machine | Samsung Galaxy Stage
Ever since Florence Welch careened into pop-cultural ubiquity with the 2009 hit “Dog Days Are Over“—one of those rare, totally decent self-help radio songs that you and your mom can enjoy together when someone sings it on The View—the UK singer has made a career of splendid musical triumphalism. Her sweeping art-rock-tinged pop, which ranges from emotional and oceanic to really, really emotional and oceanic, showcases her velvety voice and gift for the kind of rushing, soulful melody that leaves fans breathless and nonfans exhausted. Her new LP, How Big How Blue How Beautiful (Island), is typically aswirl in relationship drama and gushing hooks. Florence has a reputation for solid live showmanship too, and she’s recovered from breaking her foot at Coachella in April. Following her through mountain-climbing anthems such as “Third Eye” and “Ship to Wreck” has got to be better for you than listening to Bassnectar. —J.R. Nelson v