Lollapalooza 2022: Day Three Recap
To say that day three of Lollapalooza 2022 was jam packed would be an understatement in all senses. From a capacity standpoint, it was the first day of the festival to sell out, putting over 100,000 fans at Chicago’s Grant Park. The lineup was also packed, with a variety of music capped off by hip hop heavyweights.
One of the interesting finds of the day began early, with Spanish indie band Hinds pulling in many new fans at the Coinbase stage. There’s plenty of potential for the girl group, who won over the crowd with songs from 2020’s “The Prettiest Curse.” There was also a special moment, when they asked the crowd if anyone knew how to play along with one of their songs. A young woman in the crowd then played bass on a song, getting big cheers from the crowd early in the day.
Tucked into the BMI stage, there was more Latin-influenced music from up and coming acts, with DannyLux blending traditional Latin elements in with a pop-rock sound. The young act seemed genuinely appreciative of the experience, telling the fans a few times that he was living his dream by performing at the festival. As the explosion of more traditional sounding world music continues, acts like DannyLux could very well be on their way to bigger and better things.
Hip hop ruled Saturday at Lollapalooza for the most part, and the scheduled featured a variety of up and comers and veterans. Things really picked up mid-afternoon, with Larry June putting together a slick show for the crowd at the Tito’s Vodka stage. June has an old-school feel to both his music and his show, with fans bopping along to selections from the many projects that he’s dropped overt he last few years. His slot in the middle of the summer sun felt all too appropriate, with a feel-good, laid back approach to a festival set.
Over the last few years, Lollapalooza has made a habit of putting a hot hip hop act on a stage that is too small for their following. That happened again this year with Chicago’s own Lil Durk, who was a late addition to the lineup on the Perry’s stage, which primarily features EDM acts. Not surprisingly, fans packed into every nook and cranny of the stage, marring the set to some extent. However, organizers smartly put up a red screen on the stage, informing the crowd that the set had been paused until fans moved back, preventing any semblance of a crushing situation. After a few minutes of getting fans to back up to a safe distance, it was business as usual again. Expect this to be a new normal if the trend of booking big rappers in small spaces continues.
Over on the T-Mobile main stage, emerging indie act Wallows were a standout, putting together an energetic set for a gradually building crowd. 2022’s “Tell Me That It’s Over” may be the tipping point for the band, as they showed signs of being future headliners with a lively set and big reactions from the main stage crowd, who were bouncing along with every song.
As the sun started setting, the trio of hip hop stars became the main attraction, beginning with YG, who packed in the Coinbase stage crowd. While running through a litany of hits, he also spent ample time asking women in the crowd to flash him, which felt just a tad regressive no matter how many people obliged. The set also had fans climbing up on the trussing for the Lollapalooza balloon in the main stage field, before the dozens of concertgoers were prompted to get down by security.
YG’s big crowd then ran across the field, where thousands more joined them to fill up the T-Mobile stage area for Big Sean, who didn’t have to do much to get people moving. He went above and beyond, though, pumping out hit after hit, and capping off the set with an appearance from girlfriend Jhene Aiko. The two ran through collaborations “Body Language” and “I Know,” making for another big guest appearance on the main stage.
It wasn’t all hip hop at the end of the night, however, as hardcore punks Turnstile made the wooded area of the Discord stage feel like a club show with an energetic appearance. With mosh pits that only grew as the set went on, material from “Glow On” scored big with the fans, while frontman Brendan Yates sauntered around the stage with grace. Turnstile are arguably the biggest hardcore band out right now, and for very good reason. In earnest, they may have delivered the liveliest set of the weekend so far.
One of the biggest names in hip hop closed out the night, though, with J. Cole packing in fans at the T-Mobile stage. The Dreamville leader amped up his relatively laid back sound with a live band, hitting on all eras of his storied career. There’s a reason why Cole is on top of the world right now, and even after a barrage of hip hop all day, the Grant Park crowd filed in by the thousands, and were bouncing along to anything that the emcee brought their way.
There’s one day left of Lollapalooza 2022, but there’s no shortage of big names still left to hit the stages at Grant Park. Keep checking in with Breaking And Entering for more coverage, and don’t forget to subscribe to our Patreon for early access to interviews with artists at the festival.
