Lollapalooza glided to a close on Sunday night (Aug. 6) on the wings of two very different California vibes. While the Red Hot Chili Peppers helped shut down the T-Mobile stage at the South end of the mud bog previously known as Grant Park, Lana Del Rey did the honors about a mile up the road on the Bud Light stage, drawing a huge crowd of superfans who’d been waiting all day for their beloved queen of disaster.
Del Rey brought a bit of old Hollywood glamour to what was an otherwise not-at-all glamorous, soggy, cloudy day — the second one of the four-day weekend in Chicago — one that reduced so many cute outfits and carefully curated looks to muddy messes as fans tromped through giant puddles.
In the wind-up to her commanding, mesmerizing 90-minute set, the day featured some fun lead-ins, including Afrojack getting the crowd absolutely mental with a taste of the remix of LDR’s “Summertime Sadness” on the Perry’s EDM stage. Just moments earlier, Joey Bada$$ made his fans equally bonkers by inviting hometown hero Chance the Rapper out for a surprise cameo run through Chance’s “No Problem and the live debut of their collab “Highs & the Lows.”
In another tip to Chi-town hip-hop royalty, both A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Lil Yachty shouted out late Chicago MC Juice WRLD during their sets, with the latter wowing the far-as-the-eye-could-see crowd with a rocking performance that leaned hard into the indie guitar vibes of his Let’s Start Here album.
An hour before LDR cast her soothing spell, Rina Sawayama lit up the Bud Light stage with a decidedly more high-energy vibe, literally cracking a whip during “XS” as she playfully teased her back-up dancers with a variety of S&M gear while rocking a red latex bondage outfit. And in a kind of foreshadowing of LDR’s headlining set, Rina took time out during her show to get her hair done on stage, change shoes and have a sip of Bud Light — she was, after all, on the Bud Light stage. She also slipped in a quip to the audience that seemed to allude to the beer brand’s Dylan Mulvaney flap, reminding them that “trans rights is not just for pride month.”
All of that, however, was just a simple appetizer for the tens of thousands who camped out to see Lana, who took the stage dressed as the world’s loneliest bride, complete with a white wedding mini-dress with a colossal train. While her set was low on the pyrotechnics that marked some of the other headliners over the weekend — from Karol G’s history-making appearance, to the 1975’s cheeky, antics-filled show, Billie Eilish’s eye-popping spectacle and Kendrick Lamar’s intense, stripped-down set — what it lacked in flames it more than made up for in smoldering elegance.
Check out the six best moments from LDR’s set below.
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