Lollapalooza 2022 is in full swing, and as a big second day crowd converged on Grant Park, it was all about the younger, up and coming artists looking to make their presence felt at one of the world’s biggest music festivals. Friday night would ultimately conclude with a pop punk blowout, but a healthy smattering of established names amongst a largely younger lineup made for a variety-filled day in Chicago.
Breakout acts like Wet Leg and Rolling Blackouts got the day going just a few hours into the day’s events, each drawing interested crowds that were eager to discover new music. On the Bud Light Seltzer stage, however, rapper Jasiah was pulling in fans purely off of his energy. At one point, he crowdsurfed his way into the middle of the flocking fans, seemingly being swallowed up by concertgoers who he attracted with his hybrid of hip hop and screamo. He would eventually be surfed back to the barricade, but for a moment, it became a lesson in crowd security for the young rapper.
Similarly, on the other end of the grounds, Cordae would amass a big crowd and use all of the stage, including a runway built for headliner Dua Lipa. Running through a set similar to his Summerfest appearance in July, he had the T-Mobile stage in the palm of his hand, exerting as much energy as he could in a mid-afternoon set. In what ended up being the first of a big trio of sets on that stage, he once again paid homage to the late Juice WRLD, with excited fans sprinting across the field to the main stage as the intro to “Lucid Dreams” rang out.
The second of the big three appearances on that stage came from Glass Animals, who drew a crowd that would almost be worthy of headlining the night’s festivities. Frontman Dave Bayley noted that Chicago was statistically the city that streamed the band’s music the most, and it showed by how many people were packing into the festival field. Bayley would be the main source of energy for the band, bouncing around feverishly while the sun was setting. As the band seems to only gain steam, it wouldn’t be surprising to see their name in the boldest of fonts on a lineup poster in the near future.
The night was capped off by a pair of pop stars on the two main venues, with Dua Lipa headlining the T-Mobile stage, while Machine Gun Kelly brought his pop-punk image to the Bud Light Seltzer stage. Of the two, the buzz swung just a bit more in the direction of MGK, who had his fair share of pyrotechnics and fire to bolster material from “Tickets to My Downfall” and “Mainstream Sellout.” That wasn’t all, though, as a cameo from Avril Lavigne, whom he’s currently touring with, brought pop punk to the second biggest stage at the festival. A small army of fans packed into the grounds on that end, leaving excited with a spectacle from the pink-haired rapper turned rock star.
We’re halfway through Lollapalooza 2022, and there’s been no shortage of big moments and major appearances. Keep it locked to Breaking And Entering this weekend for coverage from Grant Park, and watch for exclusive interviews on our Patreon page, which you can subscribe to for as low as $5.
