With a rainy day in the rear view mirror, Lollapalooza 2026 closed with a day full of excitement and plenty of amazing closing moments. While the Grant Park grounds were certainly nowhere near recovered from Saturday rains that essentially flooded some areas of the park, thousands of fans still made their way into the festival to navigate the mud and check out some great sets.

While the T-Mobile stage area was still plenty muddy, indie pop act Muna drew a big crowd that was ready to party. The band has already drawn a new wave of fans with this year’s “Dancing On The Wall,” but the growing momentum for the group was already there, and they’re embracing the moment. By the time material from 2022’s self-titled project was ringing out, fans were screaming along to “What I Want” and “Silk Chiffon.”

Speaking of screaming, the night was going to get a lot louder from the moment Hot Mulligan took to the Tito’s stage. As the current torchbearers for modern emo, the band packed fans into their afternoon set, which was sending bodies flying over the barricade from the opening song onward. Between modern emo anthems like “And A Big Load” and “Equip Sunglasses” and the off-the-cuff humor of frontman Tades Sanville, the band won over the Chicago crowd instantly.  

From the moment they were announced as part of the lineup, hardcore heroes Turnstile were always going to be a bright spot of this year’s Lollapalooza. As they continue to reach new levels of popularity, their crowds only seem to get bigger, and there seems to be an awareness from the band about it. Sunday’s set was a more methodical approach to hardcore than their previous Lollapalooza visit in 2022, but it gave the crowd a chance to recover, as massive mosh pits were breaking out in multiple locations around the Bud Light stage. Turnstile could have arguably been a main stage headliner this year, but they only continue to ascend with each album cycle.

While headliners Tate McRae and The XX brought plenty of (literal) fireworks to Grant Park to close out the 2026 festival, arguably the most intriguing headliner choice was making a name for herself on the Airbnb stage. Japanese pop artist Ado was making her return to Chicago, and going beyond the realm of J-pop for a sizeable, excited crowd. As an anonymous performer, she would sing and dance behind a mesh LED screen, only silhouetted for the duration of her 45 minute set. Her band would play on the sides of her, and the crowd would rage along in sync with one another holding light up glowsticks. Constantly hopping between genres, she brought the intensity, with pulsating screams, gigantic flamethrowers that would shoot out over the crowd, and a feeling of complete spontaneity. For the uninitiated, no two songs would sound anywhere near alike, and it’s safe to say that she gained a swarm of new fans from Sunday night’s headlining set.

Lollapalooza 2026 is in the books, and it left behind lots of mud and memories. Stay tuned to Breaking And Entering and follow us on social for even more festival coverage.