Lollapalooza is officially in full swing! Friday continued the trajectory that Thursday began, and every performer we saw brought their best, regardless of the production issues that seemed to plague the stages yesterday. Read on for more!
We started our day down at the T-Mobile Stage with Sudan Archives. Brittney Parks is truly one-of-one, blending traditional instrumentation with modern production in a way that no one has done at her level before. The Cincinnati-born violinist, singer, and songwriter took the stage around 2:45, the afternoon sun bearing down on the GA section of the crowd. Her set mostly consisted of tracks from her exceptional 2022 album, Natural Brown Prom Queen, but there was also a traditional Irish jig played between “NBPQ (Topless)” and “ChevyS10” as an homage to her reason for playing the violin: “I love Irish music.” Sometimes, it really is that simple. At the end of her set, she brought out her Chicago family to revel in this moment, and she absolutely deserves it. There were some sound issues, but she didn’t let them affect her performance in any way. Unlike a certain performer (who will remain nameless) at Lollapalooza 2011, she soldiered on, trusting her crew to fix it and knowing that this was her moment despite any technical issues. Truly incredible.
Then we sprinted up to the north side of the park to catch beabadoobee at the Tito’s Stage. As to be expected, the crowd was packed. It seems like the stage with the concrete GA was a bit of an odd decision for her booking, but the crowd did not care. They were completely enthralled and invested in the performance coming from Grant Park’s permanent bandshell. beabadoobee was completely on it, but even she had to stop and take the scene in. “There’s quite a bit of you … I never really expect this every time I come to America.” It was truly a sight to behold, yet the sound issues continued to Tito’s as well. For those on the outskirts of the crowd or not in the dead center, the sound didn’t carry all that well. To her credit, though, beabadoobee has no control over the stage setup, and she was giving it her all. Excellent stuff on the north end of Grant Park.
At a certain point, though, we realized that with the increased capacity and ticket sales, we needed to head south a bit earlier than planned to scope out a spot for Sabrina Carpenter and Fred again. While we unfortunately missed the end of beabadoobee to do this, we were truly blessed to catch Tems on T-Mobile. The Nigerian singer perfectly fuses R&B and neo-soul, and it was the vibe that we needed. Much like Jazmine Sullivan in 2022, Tems took it to the next level. While neo-soul and, for lack of a better phrase, “traditional” R&B typically aren’t very present at Lollapalooza, C3 has a way of booking the perfect act to represent the genre. Our introduction to Tems was exceptional, and we’ll be spinning her for the rest of our lives.
And then came Sabrina Carpenter on the Coinbase Stage. Following the success of 2022’s emails i can’t send, Carpenter has been touring for the better part of the past year and a half, and it shows in how tight the production is. The choreography is on point, the band sounds exceptional, and however she is taking care of her voice while on tour is working. She was on it. The middle of the set was highlighted by an exceptional cover of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love On Me,” and closing the set with by stating “Thank you, Lollapalooza, I am done now,” before segueing immediately into “Nonsense” was the kind of coyness and subtle humor that we were hoping for. Possibly the highlight of the day, possibly the highlight of the festival. We shall see.
Of course, the next performance was one of our most anticipated of the weekend. Fred again.. took the T-Mobile Stage at 6:45, and it was everything we wanted and more. Not only were the visuals perfectly synced with the vocal samples he was using, but he seemed truly appreciative to be out here at one of the biggest music festivals in the world. He stopped to catch his breath a few times, and while every minute of that set was wonderful from where we were, the highlight was when he brought out Obongjayar to perform the currently unreleased track “Obongjayar (I Adore You).” For those who might not know, Obongjayar is a Nigerian artist based in London who has features with Little Simz and Danny Brown. To see him get this support and this boost from Fred is awe-inspiring. Hopefully more people check out Obongjayar’s solo work because of this guest appearance at Lollapalooza. This moment was the microcosm of the whole set: it was heartwarming, awe-inspiring, and full of hope. That’s what Fred again.. is here for.
And then came the final push. We ended up closer than we had anticipated for Kendrick Lamar, which meant that we couldn’t hear Jessie Reyez’s performance on Coinbase, but despite his late arrival, King Kendrick was on one last night. Performing at Lollapalooza for the first time since 2013, Kendrick brought a performance that was as epic as it was thought-provoking. The hits hit harder, and the stage production left us with some questions. Who were the tapestries representing? Why were all the dancers styled to look like Kendrick himself? Why include the instrumental of “Never Catch Me” in the middle of the set? These aren’t questions of the decision to do these things, they’re, more accurately, questions about what these decisions mean. What is the symbolism here? With Kendrick Lamar, there’s always more than what he’s showing you. Going ten minutes over his allotted time to make up for his late arrival was also a nice gesture, and The Return of The King was one for the ages.
We’re truly excited to see what the rest of the weekend has to offer! If you’re at Lolla, come find us! If you aren’t, we hope you’re able to catch some sets on the official Lollapalooza livestreams!
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