Just a day after closing out the IHG Hotels and Resorts stage at Lollapalooza, Hippo Campus treated fans to an official aftershow at Metro on Sunday night.
At midnight, the group came out on the stage at Metro Chicago to perform in an intimate space for fans, sharing their new sound and reminiscing on songs fans haven’t heard live in years.
At their Lollapalooza show, Hippo Campus played all their beloved hits like “Baseball” and “South” as well as some new music. The crowd was large and the energy was electric for the Minneapolis-based band.
The four — lead singer Jake Luppen, guitarist Nathan Stocker, drummer Whistler Allen, and bassist Zach Sutton — have been longtime friends and have been growing together musically throughout the years.
The group hadn’t performed at Lollapalooza since 2015, just three years after they started releasing music.
Since then, the group has evolved dramatically with their sound and as the aftershow highlighted, their fans have stuck with them through it all.
After a tumultuous time of reflection and “clearing the slate,” the Minneapolis-grown band came back this year with a new sound.
But, the band decided to take a step back and reflect on their music. The group came back in full swing with this new album which they call “the best album they have ever made.”
So emerged “Flood,” their upcoming album with three singles released now. This is the band’s fourth album set to release Sept. 20.
This new album will have themes of self-criticism, forgiveness and failed relationships, according to interviews with the band.
Hippo Campus shared this new sound with the crowd, playing the released singles from “Flood” including “Paranoid,” “Tooth Fairy” and “Everything at Once” as well as a couple of unreleased songs.
The aftershow had a much different pace with Luppen making quips to the crowd and messing around with autotune and different synths.
The band didn’t neglect their dedicated fans though and at the aftershow, the band gave them exactly what they wanted — a nostalgic look into the past of Hippo Campus with the band playing songs from early EPs and records.
Hippo Campus curated the aftershow’s setlist, “straight from the trash,” as lead singer Jake Luppen said to the audience.
The band played several songs fans haven’t heard live in years including “Western Kids,” “Think It Over” and “Why Even Try” — and the crowd responded by singing along to all the lyrics.
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