Through over 170 live performances, Lollapalooza 2025 featured some of the biggest names in music alongside the scene’s rising stars. The iconic four-day festival saw hundreds of thousands of people descend upon Grant Park from July 31 to August 3. The Daily has compiled a recap of the festival’s most memorable performances.
Thursday, July 31
Indie rock band Ratboys and collective Chicago Made were some of the local acts opening the festival, holding early afternoon slots as they represented Chicago’s thriving music scene.
Later in the afternoon, ROLE MODEL performed a setlist full of songs from his latest LP, “Kansas Anymore,” for a crowd of what the 28-year-old called “sexy faces.” The large turnout at the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage warranted a larger space for the rising star.
Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams’ guitar-led performance married older hits like “21” and “I miss you, I’m sorry” from 2020 EP “minor” and newer tracks “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “Risk.” To close, Abrams and surprise guest Robyn sang the latter’s “Dancing On My Own” mixed with Abrams’ “Close to You.” The act was a full-circle homage to the younger artist’s 2022 Lollapalooza debut, when she covered Robyn’s hit song.
“The last time we played Lolla, it looked and felt very different than it does now,” Abrams told the crowd midway through her set.
An hour after her, Tyler, The Creator headlined the T-Mobile stage. He performed newer hits like “Darling, I” alongside older tracks like “IFHY” to a packed crowd. The rapper, currently on tour for his newest project “CHROMAKOPIA,” shared that he almost missed the festival due to weather-related delays.
Meanwhile, Luke Combs made Lollapalooza history on the Bud Light stage as the storied festival’s first country headliner in a lineup often stacked with rock, pop or hip-hop acts. For over an hour, the Grammy Award-winning singer passionately performed hit after hit to an enthusiastic, swelling crowd.
Friday, August 1
Cuban American singer-songwriter Gigi Perez, known for viral hit “Sailor Song,” performed several tracks from her self-produced debut album, “At The Beach, In Every Life” on the T-Mobile stage early Friday afternoon.
On the other side of the park, indie pop act Del Water Gap teased a forthcoming album during his afternoon set at the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage, and performed the recently released single “How to Live” for the first time live.
Award-winning rapper T-Pain held a late afternoon slot full of covers on the nearby Bud Light stage, performing songs ranging from Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Djo, the “brainchild” of “Stranger Things” actor Joe Keery, was “back in Chicago” complete with an inflatable version of landmark Cloud Gate (commonly known as “The Bean”) and said the performance meant the world to him.
“What’s up, Chicago? It’s been too long,” said Keery, who graduated from DePaul University.
An estimated more than 100,000 people awaited Olivia Rodrigo’s headline slot on the T-Mobile stage — and from the first note, the audience was “obsessed.”
Rodrigo cycled through tracks from chart-topping albums “SOUR” and “GUTS,” featuring songs like keys-driven “vampire” to somber “enough for you.” In honor of the first concert she attended, she brought out rock band Weezer to play “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So.”
When she left the stage after “deja vu,” the crowd chanted “one more song, one more song.” Rodrigo delivered not just one more song, but four. After an outfit change, Rodrigo returned to the stage to play “brutal,” “all-american bitch,” “good 4 u” and finally, megaphone-assisted “get him back!”
Saturday, August 2
One of Saturday’s earliest performances was sibling pair Wasia Project, who played hits “Petals on the Moon” and “ur so pretty” on the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage. Montell Fish followed the duo on the same stage. The producer and instrumentalist behind “Fall In Love With You.” is set to tour Europe this month.
On the T-Mobile stage, MARINA regaled the audience with hits from her long career, from “Froot” to “How to Be a Heartbreaker.” Safe to say, her audience diligently followed “rule number one” from the latter track: they “gotta have fun.”
On the Bud Light stage, Clairo sang hits like “Sexy to Someone” and “Juna” from her 2024 album “Charm” but also mixed in older counterparts like “Flaming Hot Cheetos.”
Rapper Doechii performed hits from her Grammy Award-winning album “ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL” like “DENIAL IS A RIVER” and “NISSAN ALTIMA.” To conclude her set, the rapper announced an upcoming tour.
K-pop girl group TWICE headlined the Bud Light stage with “What Is Love?,” “Fancy” and “Feel Special.” Their performance, which lasted over an hour, also spotlighted a collaboration with Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, featuring a drone presentation and tracks from the film.
TWICE’s counterpart headliner was the alternative dance group Rüfüs Du Sol. The Australian group’s vocalist, Tyrone Lindqvist, mused that this performance was “surreal” and “special.” When they had performed there last, he said, there were only around 300 or 400 people attending.
Sunday, August 3
Girl group KATSEYE marked one of the most popular daytime slots at the festival, with an estimated attendance of over 85,000 at their 3:15 p.m. slot on the T-Mobile stage. The group performed “Gabriela” and “M.I.A.” live for the first time on their fully choreographed set. Member Daniela Avanzini said the former was not just a song, but a “piece of [her Cuban] culture.”
Toward the set’s close, chants from the audience erupted for the group’s first Billboard Hot 100 track. “Gnarly” was what the audience asked for, and that’s what they got to round out the performers’ setlist.
Former Dillo Day acts Remi Wolf and Dominic Fike also performed Sunday, on the Bud Light and T-Mobile stages, respectively.
Fike, sporting a waistband that said “Gulf of Mexico,” told the audience that he looked to just “sit and connect” during the performance. The “Euphoria” actor opened with “Babydoll” and closed with the cutest surprise guest feature — his son.
Across the park, indie pop band The Marías closed with “No One Noticed” and “Cariño.” The latter featured frontwoman María Zardoya interacting with the audience. The group also performed the Spanish single “Lejos de Ti.”
After the band was A$AP Rocky, who had the crowd riled up with “Grim Freestyle,” despite a late start on the Bud Light stage.
He performed hits “L$D” and “Sundress” in swift succession and closed out with a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Though he had more to play for the crowd, the festival’s 10 p.m. curfew meant the rapper was cut off.
To close out the festival on the park’s south end was Sabrina Carpenter, who performed a “Short n’ Sweet” set just over an hour long that featured a surprise feature from Chicago-originated group Earth, Wind & Fire.
Carpenter’s production was top-notch, featuring vintage-inspired pre-recorded segments during costume and song transitions. Penultimate song “Don’t Smile” saw her in a crane levitating over her audience, while closer “Espresso” was accompanied by fireworks and a jumping, singing crowd.
David Samson contributed reporting.
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