Staged Haze Takes Lollapalooza 2025: Our Recap

Ah, the good ol’ post-Lollapalooza recap. If you’re new here: welcome. If you’ve read this recap every year for the last several years, welcome back. I’m still recovering from walking 40.68 miles across four days while having a headache due to the horrible air quality in Chicago. Thankfully I’m feeling better, but it’s sinking in that Lolla 2025 has come and gone: it went by so unbelievably quick.

I’m going to keep this intro short n’ sweet (hehe) and get you into the good stuff: between two writers, we saw over 30 performances, the photography team covered six after shows, we interviewed four artists, and had portrait sessions with seven. Check out our recap below:

Photos by Chad Wadsworth for Lollapalooza

Half Alive

Long Beach indie-pop trio half•alive were the first set I saw to kick off the weekend, an act that I’m always excited to see. Playing at my least favorite stage, Tito’s, I knew that their set might be shrunk by the limited space they’d be given, but they also happened to be unlucky enough to be playing right before one of the most anticipated artists of the day, Role Model. Regardless, the band’s infectious music and energetic performance was just as magical as it’s been when I’ve seen them at their headline shows, and I’m glad frontman Josh Taylor was still able to charm some of the stagnant Tucker fans and transmit his whimsical energy through music and dance.

Unfortunately, this set also just showed me how concert and festival etiquette has become a lost art; whether you like an artist’s music or not, sitting down throughout their entire set, in my humble opinion, is disrespectful. These are people that have prepared a show for the audience, that have worked hard and are probably already nervous about the reception they will get, and I think the least we can do is stand for them. If you come to a festival like Lollapalooza, you’re signing up for multiple performances, that is quite literally the point <3 And if you’re planning to just camp out at a stage for a later artist, then I think you should consider the implications (plus, there will be another hour in between shows for you to sit down if you’re actually that tired). But hey, maybe that’s just me!

Either way, half•alive is an incredible band with vibrant music and an uplifting message, and I’m glad I was treated to one of their shows for a second time this year. I’m sure some of the people that maybe weren’t there for them originally left wanting to hear more from them, and I’m happy they got the opportunity to reach new ears in a place like Chicago. – Javi

Role Model

As much as it hurts me to say this, Tucker Pillsbury is truly a superstar now. For reasons unknown to human kind, the 28-year-old known as Role Model had to endure playing at the same stage he played three years ago (and only about an hour later than last time) even though his following has grown stratospherically since then. It was Noah Kahan in 2023 all over again: absolute chaos. The crowd was more like an overflowing can of sardines, with many fans not being able to see an inch of the stage, even if they showed up a decent amount of time before the set began. I had made my way to the Tito’s stage quite early because of half•alive (#JusticeForMyBoys) and I still found myself nowhere near the stage.

With all that said though, Tucker aka Role Model, absolutely delivered, or as the younglings like to say: he served, he ate and left no crumbs. His authenticity and charisma shone through as always—even though he’s blowing up, his down-to-earth essence remains. Naturally, since he has a shorter amount of time allotted than he would at a headline show, he had less time to be his goofy self that has won the hearts of so many people, but he was still able to throw out enough unseriousness in between songs. There wasn’t a single song that wasn’t screamed back at him by the Lolla crowd, and I really wish we had had the chance to see how many people he could’ve gathered at a main stage. I guess it wasn’t meant to be this time, but I’m sure the festival will have learned their lesson next time he’s around. – Javi

Photos by Kirby Gladstein for Lollapalooza

Photos by Lauren Carsley for Staged Haze

Bo Staloch

I had the chance to chat with rising indie artist Bo Staloch on Friday afternoon after his debut Lollapalooza performance on Thursday. Check out some highlights of our conversation:

Staged Haze: I saw your set yesterday. How do you feel?

Bo Staloch: It was a dream. It was just a dream.

Staged Haze: I feel like you were up there and like you just felt so comfortable. Do you get nervous?

Bo Staloch: Thank you. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I get very nervous before really anything, but especially like a big show like that, I was freaking out.

Staged Haze: It just seemed like you guys went through jamming, like in your basement. I loved it.

Bo Staloch: I feel lucky to be with the band that I have. They’re amazing.

Staged Haze: Have you seen anyone at Lollapalooza that you were super excited for?

Bo Staloch: Royel Otis last night. They were sick. My buddies, Winyah, played this afternoon.

Staged Haze: Oh yeah. I just saw that set.

Bo Staloch: They’re incredible. And some more of my buddies, hey nothing. They’re awesome. I’m surrounded by love, and this festival is just the best ever.

Staged Haze: What are you looking forward to on your upcoming tour?

Bo Staloch: I’m blown away that that’s even happening. I think that’s just so cool. It hasn’t really clocked in yet that that’s actually a reality, but I’m just so excited. I think I’m looking forward to just seeing the people face to face that listen. I think that’s such a cool thing.

Staged Haze: I can’t imagine writing something and then seeing all these people that you’ve never met singing the words. Is there any song you sing live that when you see people react to it, it just feels even more special?

Bo Staloch: “Fault Line.” I think it’s my favorite song to play. I just think that live energy is just so cool, and people really seem to like the ending, which is a lot of fun. I love it.

Staged Haze: Is there a specific city you’re looking forward to touring? I’m in LA, so I know there’s just different vibes and cities.

Bo Staloch: Our last show is Austin. I think coming home and playing Antone’s, which is such a legendary Austin venue, it’s going to be like, I can’t even believe it. It’s so cool.

Staged Haze: Do you have anyone you’d love to work with in the studio?

Bo Staloch: I have tons. Justin Vernon is basically my dream. I think he’s incredible. Obviously, right now, Dijon and mk.gee are kind of having their moment, but I think they’re just so intentional about what they do, and I think they’re incredible.

Photos by Dusana Risovic for Lollapalooza

Magdalena Bay

Considering how much live music I experience in a given year, it’s pretty astonishing that I’ve waited nearly four years for my chance to see Magdalena Bay. It’s also crazy that we’ve covered them more than once over the years and I still hadn’t seen them!! So when they landed on this year’s Lollapalooza lineup, I knew there was zero chance I was missing their set. They sadly ended up performing at the same time as Role Model, but apparently Role Model’s set was a nightmare and impossible to see, so I definitely walked away from the performance without any sort of FOMO, which is something that I always fall victim to at a festival at least once a year.

Magdalena Bay’s evening set at the Lakeshore Stage was such a vibe: as much as I don’t want to stereotype, it’s safe to say that the younger demographic was on the opposite end of the park for Role Model’s set, making this crowd very laidback and chill, less phones in the air, more dancing. They played the entirety of Imaginal Disk, had multiple costume changes, and just generally brought the easygoing vibes that I wish were more present at other festival performances. My favorites were definitely performances of “Image,” “Death & Romance,” and “Love Is Everywhere.”
– Kristin

Photos by Pooneh Ghana for Lollapalooza

Gracie Abrams

Despite the team at Staged Haze having generally neutral and/or positive feelings towards Gracie Abrams, I’ve been a little bit more skeptical, for similar reasons that have been discussed endlessly on the internet. I didn’t necessarily care to see her set on Thursday evening, but thought it would be the right opportunity to give her a chance.

I saw Abrams open for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour way back in August 2023, so she basically had two more years between now and then to improve. I’m sure if you’re reading this, you’ve seen several different videos of Abrams performing and not sounding the best, so my skepticism was in full force as Abrams started her 7pm set on Thursday night: the last performance on the T-Mobile Stage before Tyler, The Creator would start his headlining set just two hours later.

Whatever you think about Abrams’ songwriting and the advantages she has received due to her title as a “nepo baby” is fair game: but her star power and stage presence is pretty undeniable. As the sun started setting and reflecting off the silver skyline, creating a jarring dissonance between the buildings and the glowing orange of the air that was hitting Chicago due to the Canadian wildfires, Abrams hit the stage to tends of thousands of adoring fans: certainly ranging in age, but leaning towards the younger crowd: including many small children with frantic looking parents (more on that later).

Gracie utilized her full sixty minute set weaving through fan favorites like “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” “Close To You,” and “That’s So True,” sounding better than I anticipated and not as unpredictable as performances I’ve read about or scrolled past on TikTok. But the highlight of the set was Gracie speaking on her Lollapalooza debut just a few years earlier, where she performed a cover of “the best song ever written,” Robyn’s “Dancing On Our Own.” To the crowd’s surprise, Gracie announced that Robyn had arrived in the flesh to perform the song with her: introducing the British superstar to a large fanbase who likely had no idea who she was, and the rest of us millennials and above who immediately gave Abrams one million cool points for pulling off such a surprise. Even their harmonies sounded great together!

I walked away from Gracie’s set feeling less unsure about her and more appreciative for the career she is creating for herself: after all, I was one of those teenage girls idolizing the now infamous Taylor Swift, leaving me feel all mushy over the #girlhood of it all. – Kristin

Photo by Colin Hancock for mxdwn.com

Royel Otis

For the last couple of years, there has not been a day that goes by where I don’t listen to at least a couple of Royel Otis songs. The Aussie duo’s dopamine-inducing discography has become unskippable to me, and hearing them live obviously only makes it better. The day before their Lollapalooza set, and after going back and forth about it all day, I ended up buying a ticket to their official Aftershow literally 30 minutes before they went on stage; as soon as they played the first note from “Going Kokomo” I couldn’t believe I had hesitated for so long. The following night I was just as ecstatic, even though I had just heard all the same songs less than 24 hours earlier, because that is simply how energizing and special their music is to me.

Having seen them a few times live now, I have also witnessed their confidence on stage grow. They’ve really only been performing live for a couple years now –their music began getting some recognition during Covid and their debut album came out just last year– and the way they carry themselves today is so different from when I first saw them. Otis is definitely a little more relaxed and laid back, and Roy, who has for the most part chosen to keep his face hidden, seems to have grown comfortable enough to occasionally face the crowd, coming out from under his hair. Assuming this is due to the unconditional support and love they have been receiving lately, it warms my heart that they’ve naturally come out of their shells, making the performances even more exceptional. I was actually surprised when I didn’t see them on the lineup last year, but now I feel like they made their way to Chicago at exactly the right time. – Javi

Photos by Dusana Risovic for Lollapalooza

Tyler, The Creator

Here’s the thing, I’ve been supposed to see Tyler, The Creator, four times now, and every single time something has come up; once it was my fault because his set clashed with another one I really cared about (I’m talking about you, Omar Apollo), and the three other times he had to cancel his appearances for one reason or another. But everything is now forgiven, I have seen him, I have jumped, I have danced, I have been amazed by his showmanship, and I am grateful.

There is something so interesting about an artist that can manage to be absolutely alone on stage and still feel massive. Of course the graphics and set up were amazing and perfectly curated, but this man was fully by himself on a humongous space and you could not feel more mesmerized by him. He truly is the headliner final boss, and Grant Park became his own personal stage for a night. – Javi

Photos by Pooneh Ghana for Lollapalooza

hey, nothing

A personal highlight from the whole weekend for me were the hey, nothing kids (I am several years older than them so I am allowed to call them that I would think), not only because I absolutely love their music, but because Tyler and Harlow are some of the most fascinating performers I have ever seen. There is a level of chaos that they bring to every stage that I honestly am not sure how to describe, but it’s so incredibly endearing and entertaining. The same way they complement each other musically with their voices, they do it with Harlow’s hilarious charm and Tyler’s dead-pan comedic timing, which turns their live performances into a show much bigger than just a concert.

For their early set at The Grove stage, they brought out fellow-musicians and friends Nat and Alex Wolff—forever The Naked Brothers Band to me—for a special rendition of hey, nothing’s song “Like A Brother” (and to smash glass bottles on Alex’s head.) It was a cute and heartfelt moment and performance that also added to the easy going dynamic of their show and kept the energy up. The tomfoolery and havoc continued until the end, with the crowd enjoying every second of it, making bystanders inevitably fall in love with them in the process too. I’m always worried about artists that have to play early sets at smaller stages, but hey, nothing’s crowd control and undeniable magnetism unsurprisingly gathered the type of crowd that they deserve, and I feel so lucky to witness what I know is just the beginning. – Javi

Photos by Lauren Carsley for Staged Haze

Caroline Kingsbury

Del Water Gap

It’s difficult for me to write about someone that I’m always delighted to see live, but what I was most surprised about from this set was the amount of people that were waiting for it beforehand. Maybe I underestimate how big Holden Jaffe aka Del Water Gap has become, because to me he has always just felt like the same guy I saw at 250–person-capacity Schubas a few years ago (even though I’ve seen him at bigger venues since), but clearly I stand corrected. He was indeed another casualty of the Tito’s stage, a place that simply caps the amount of people that can show up for your set by a significant margin, but the plethora of fans that gathered for him even before 3:30pm was enough for me to be sure he would’ve had a much much bigger audience than I expected if he was at a main stage.

I think with time Holden has been able to create a very interesting on-stage persona that perfectly matches his sound, and as he’s grown in confidence, he has also become more mysterious. Having said that, one of my favorite moments of his performance was when he had to restart his new single “How To Live” because of a technical issue, and the almost nonchalant energy he had been able to hold for most of his set had to crumble, allowing the soft-hearted side of his personality to show up to save the day with a joke. Whenever I’m seeing an artist that I really like at a festival I’m for some reason hyper aware of how new people are perceiving them, and this was a short little moment where I was like “yay, people now know that he’s not just cool and talented, but he’s also kind of funny!”

Although Del Water Gap’s rise to fame will always awaken the gatekeeper in me, it also makes me so happy, and having been at both his sets in 2022 and 2025, I can’t help but think that it will only continue to get progressively better for him. – Javi

Photos by Taylor Regulski for Lollapalooza

T-Pain

If you didn’t think T-Pain could fit 26 bangers into his hour-long set, think again. He can, and HE DID. I knew that missing T-Pain’s performance at Lollapalooza was NOT an option, those Coachella videos were certainly enough for me make sure I was at the Bud Light stage promptly at 4:30pm on Friday evening. You really don’t realize how many bangers T-Pain is featured on until he’s in front of you performing them all: Pitbull, Ye, Chri*s B*own, Lil Wayne, Flo Rida, DJ Khaled, Mariah Carey, Nelly??? The list goes on.

He made sure to pull out all the stops at this performance, performing “Buy You A Drank,” “Bartender,” “Cyclone,” and basically every other massive banger he’s ever been featured on. He even performed covers of “Don’t Stop Believing,” (Journey), “Tennessee Whiskey” (David Allan Coe), and “Stay With Me,” (Sam Smith), a reminder that that man can actually sing without any autotune.

It was a nonstop dance party from start to finish, and it felt particularly like a shoutout to the millennials who grew up on these songs. If you ever found yourself shaking ass to T-Pain at your middle school dance, you MUST see T-Pain live. – Kristin

Photos by Pooneh Ghana for Lollapalooza

DJO

Imagine you move to CHICAGO to go study at DEPAUL and you finally find YOURSELF, and you are so HAPPY but then you have to MOVE because of your CAREER and you are always SAD because you miss it SO MUCH. You might be thinking I am talking about Djo aka Joe Keery, but I am actually talking about ME!!!!!

I am not even kidding when I say that this is probably the tenth time I have written about this man this year, but okay, here we go again! At some point in 2019, actor Joe Keery, whom I was following because I liked Stranger Things, made an Instagram post about his music project @djotime. As someone that loves finding new music, I followed it to see what would come out of it, and began saving his songs whenever he would release something that I enjoyed. Fast forward to 2022, I am living in Chicago, I am the happiest I have ever been, and I see Djo on the Lollapalooza lineup. I go to his set, I tell my friends I’m going and none of them know who the hell I’m talking about, so I explain it’s Steve from Stranger Things. Everyone is confused. Djo’s set goes smoothly and then he plays an unreleased song about Chicago. I’m screaming, you’re screaming, everyone’s screaming. Two years later, I no longer live in Chicago and that same song goes viral. I am so very depressed since I moved away and the song becomes even more important to me and I’m once again very much into Djo’s music. And then in 2025, he releases an album that I become immediately obsessed with. And he’s in the Lollapalooza lineup again.

With that context, do you understand how it felt to come back to Chicago for the first time in almost two years and to listen to that Chicago song again…IN CHICAGO? I was levitating, I was transcending (I was also, sobbing.) Djo’s set was magnificent overall though, with a giant inflatable version of The Bean™, some silly shenanigans on stage, and a vibrant, dynamic setlist. Given the history Joe has with this city, the overwhelming amount of people that showed up for his set was just so beautiful to see. It was a testament to his hard work, to the nature of his relationships, and to the hope of coming back to an original dream that you could never really move on from. If I had cared about no one else on this year’s Lolla lineup, just seeing Joe Keery’s comeback to Grant Park would’ve been enough, and I will cherish this memory for a very long time, just like I know he will too. – Javi

Photos by Javi Zamorano for Staged Haze

Carol Ades

I had the chance to chat with singer-songwriter Carol Ades on Saturday afternoon after her debut Lollapalooza performance on Friday. Check out some highlights of our conversation:

Staged Haze: Okay, low-key, I watched you on The Voice.

Carol Ades: Oh my god!

Staged Haze: So this is like crazy. What has it been like since then? Because I’m so curious. Like the short version.

Carol Ades: How old are you?

Staged Haze: I’m 30.

Carol Ades: You’re 30. Okay, I’m 29. So that was, I was like 17. You were probably 17 to 18 too.

Gosh, what hasn’t changed? I mean, I don’t know, how much has changed for you since you were 17 to 18? I mean, I was in high school and I, I wasn’t like, ‘oh my gosh, I want to be a singer,’ I had no idea what I was doing and that kind of just like fell into my lap when I was in high school and I was like, ‘okay, I’ll try that.’ Yeah. And then that sort of spiraled and took me into like, ‘oh, you can do this as a job’ and there were all these different parts about it I didn’t know.

So I’ve just for the last like 13 years, I’ve just been exploring it. What part of music I want to be in.

Staged Haze: Do you feel like it equipped you for like where you are now?

Carol Ades: Yeah. In little ways. I think like I learned there that I was like, oh, I really like being on stage. This is really fun. I think I’m good at this. I’m not like scared of it. And that was cool.

Staged Haze: That was my next question. Because I saw your set yesterday and I feel like you’re so comfortable. Do you ever get imposter syndrome or anything?

Carol Ades: Oh my God. Yeah. Every day all the time.

Staged Haze: Your lyrics are so like autobiographical. So I can hear it, but you seem so confident on stage.

Carol Ades: I think on stage is different. Because it is this weird like alternate reality thing where you’re, I mean, you’re literally on a stage like, and I’m really short. So like I’m never taller than anyone. You know what I mean? So there’s like a little power trip that comes with being taller for like, 45 minutes. But if you just realize on stage, people watching the show: even if they don’t know who you are, they’re there to have an experience too. And your job is to sort of guide that experience.

So that’s really fun and just like brings out a different part of me that’s like, well, I want you to have a good experience too. And I’m in charge of that right now. It’s easier to let go up there. I don’t really think a lot when I’m on stage.

Staged Haze: Do you feel like you have a different experience at a festival like Lollapalooza compared to your own show or touring?

Carol Ades: This is one of my first festivals, I played Capitol Hill Block Party like two times, but that’s it. But honestly, all shows are so fun. I mean, when I first started, it was more like, you know, opening [for artists] and going on stage and being like, ‘do you like me?’ Like, you came for someone else. And now I feel like it’s been really cool to see how it’s grown. There’s at least like a group of girls who are there for me every show that we do now. And that’s so, that feels so good and so rewarding.

Staged Haze: Who do you look up to like in music or anyone you’d like love to collaborate with?

Carol Ades: I’d love to work with MUNA. I’d love to work with Imogen Heap. That’d be such a dream. She can just breathe on my song.

Staged Haze: Is there anyone here you saw or are going to see that you’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait for this?’

Carol Ades: We’re going to see Doechii today. I’m so excited. I think her visuals are so beautiful.

Staged Haze: What do you have coming up?

Carol Ades: Coming up, I have some new music coming out. I’m working on some new music. I’m playing All Things Go in September. I’ve never played before or been. I’m just finishing new music, working on videos. And I just put a song out the other week called “Good Swimmer.” Moving into the next Era of Carol stuff. So I’m really, really excited. To build the world.

Photos by Ashley Osborn for Lollapalooza

Wallows

After having seen Wallows play the T-Mobile stage in 2022, it felt incredibly odd to see them play at the Lakeshore stage. This time around, they actually got to close out the night at that stage, right before headliner Olivia Rodrigo, which in of itself is a huge deal! But Lakeshore’s smaller set up just felt so wrong to me for a band that was able to get a massive crowd at a main stage with a 5pm time slot. Either way, Wallows’ show was a quick shot of fun in between two euphoric moments of the festival, and their band power still shone through with a huge, excited audience extending around their set.

The trio effortlessly moved through their entire discography, playing as many songs from their most recent album Model, as from their debut Nothing Happens (a perfect album in my book). My favorite project of theirs, their 2018 Spring EP, was a little neglected but we still got to hear one of my favorite songs, “These Days,” plus some early stand-alone singles from 2017, so I actually can’t complain too much. Dylan Minnette’s confident stage presence, alongside Braeden Lemasters’ goofiness and Cole Preston’s loveable awkwardness, created the ideal atmosphere for a show that personally reminded me why they’ve been one of my favorite bands for so long. I felt re-converted into a Wallows stan, and I hope that happened to more people too. – Javi

Photos by Kirby Gladstein for Lollapalooza

Olivia Rodrigo

As I continue to get older, I feel less in touch with the “target demographic” of things, and the worldwide success of 22-year-old Olivia Rodrigo certainly falls under that category. Despite this, I certainly understand her appeal and find her to be incredibly talented and don’t have any doubts that she has a long career ahead of her. With that being said, it was never a doubt in my mind that I’d catch her headlining set at Lollapalooza this year: it’s not every day that a 22-year-old, mixed race female is the number one booked artist on one of the biggest festivals in North America.

Leading up to the headlining performance on Friday night, I surprisingly did see several attendees walking by me across the festival grounds wearing KORN t-shirts: the band that was headlining across the park that evening in conflict with Rodrigo: a set that I heard pulled around 15-20k people: the rest at Rodrigo, and certainly several thousand closing the night out at Perry’s with Knock2 and The Grove with BLADEE.

The crowd at T-Mobile felt packed but breathable (at least from my vantage point), probably because there were so many families with small children making a point to stand on the outskirts with plenty of distance between the rowdier attendees. However, it was evident that the front of the crowd was getting reckless just a few minutes before Rodrigo was set to perform: at approximately 8pm (her set started at 8:40pm), a voice appeared over the loudspeakers, requesting that everyone in the audience take two steps back to give the barricade fans some breathing room (one of my friends’ sisters was there all day, queuing for about ten hours).

It’s important to note that in my history of attending ten Lollapaloozas before this one, I had never witnessed this happen at a stage: it was so jarring that I was convinced, without a doubt, that the voice booming over the speakers was announcing that we had to evacuate the park immediately. Turns out, there were just way too many people in a tight space, and Lollapalooza was doing its due diligence of making safety a priority: something that’s been incredibly top of mind over the last several years after the tragic Astroworld concert in Houston just a few years ago.

Opening with “Obsessed,” Rodrigo captivated the crowd’s attention right from the jump: donning a sparkly silver top and shorts set with her signature combat boots, jumping around stage and hyping the audience up for the show ahead. Despite only releasing two albums thus far, Rodrigo’s catalog is undeniably full of bangers: she played “Vampire” and “Drivers License” quite quickly into the set and made sure to give non-singles some much-deserved love, too: including a performance of “Lacy,” (rumored to be about Gracie Abrams), “Traitor,” and “Happier,” songs that I don’t particularly vibe with but were still met with earth-shattering screams. Some of my personal underrated tracks even got their moment, including “Jealousy, Jealousy” and “Ballad of a Homeschool Girl.”

Not only was the four-song encore, featuring “All American Bitch,” “Brutal,” “Good 4 U,” and “Get Him Back” a showstopping moment of the set, but I’d be crazy to omit mentioning the surprise appearance of the iconic group known as Weezer, who Rodrigo brought out onstage after telling the crowd that they were the first concert she ever attended. Fully aware that she was performing for hundreds of kids who could also one day say that this was their first concert, Rodrigo proved herself as a rising pop star with nothing to prove and world domination to claim. – Kristin

Winnetka Bowling League

Winnetka Bowling League, the band fronted by Matthew Koma, have found a sweet spot between not taking themselves too seriously and giving themselves and their art the importance their music deserves. Putting on live performances that sound almost exactly like their studio recordings, they also manage to create an entertaining show with funny confessions and, well, Benson Boone dupes.

Fascinated by the food options available to them at Lollapalooza—”far better and more diverse than our dressing room rider,” Koma confesses—the band was a little divided on how they feel about festival sets vs headline shows. While keyboardist Sam Beresford considers festivals tougher because people might not know them, lead vocalist Matthew seems to enjoy both:

“I like playing for people who know the tunes and I also like discovery! It’s fun to play for people who’ve never heard of your band and you get to present them with this snapshot moment. You really remember when you see a band for the first time. It’s a memorable experience, so it’s fun to think that we could provide that.”

Drummer Kris Mazzarisi adds: “I like to see the moment when it just clicks for somebody in the crowd and they start enjoying themselves.”

“Usually when we walk off-stage,” Matthew jokes. “They’re like ‘ugh, thank God!’”

On another positive aspect of festival runs, Koma talks about the community around it. “It’s a lot of fun to see your friends at festivals or on tour, and everyone’s kind of striving or running towards the same thing. And it kind of keeps us motivated, to feel like we’re not alone in it”.
in charge of the difficult task that can be opening up a stage for the day, Winnetka Bowling League found a way to make it all fun and light, displaying the same laidback energy found in their music, and since those who show up early for Lolla are usually the true music lovers, I’m positive they left with new fans from the Lakeshore stage. – Javi

Photos by Pooneh Ghana for Lollapalooza

MARINA

When 39-year-old Marina Lambrini Diamandis took the T-Mobile Stage on Saturday afternoon, she announced that this was her first time back in ten years. My friends and I looked at each other in shock: certainly it hadn’t been THAT long, right? But MARINA was correct: her last performance at Lollapalooza was way back in 2015: a time that feels so different, we could have been living in an alternate universe.

But what’s more the point of this anecdote is to recognize that MARINA, who now goes by the singular name without “& The Diamonds,” has been releasing music consistently to critical acclaim for much longer than ten years: I first became enamored with her as a 16 or 17-year-old during my Tumblr phase, seeing her perform at The Riviera Theater in 2013 (Charli xcx opened). Since then, MARINA has released FOUR more albums, her most recent just a few months ago, following a highly-praised appearance at Coachella.

I have to admit I haven’t been a huge fan of her most recent albums: they feel a bit lackluster lyrically to me compared to her earlier work, that felt edgier and more melodramatic, particularly with songs like “Bubblegum Bitch,” “Primadonna,” and “How To Be A Heartbreaker.” Luckily, her one-hour set included all three of these songs, but I would have loved to hear some other deep cuts, like “Living In The State of Dreaming” or “Oh No!” (that last one was definitely a shot in the dark, and realizing it’s from 2009 is truly shocking).

Decked out in a bubblegum pink (see what I did there?) fitted blouse with off-the-shoulder sleeves, sparkly mini shorts, and her signature cat eye, it was evident that MARINA’s charisma onstage has only improved with time. She moved across the stage effortlessly, giving each section of the audience an intimate moment that made the set feel like a club show compared to a large festival spectacle with 20 or so thousand people.

With more and more female artists leaning into their “bad bitch” sides—for lack of a better phrase—MARINA’s appearance at Lollapalooza 2025 was a nice reminder that she was one of the original girls to do it, and still one of the best. – Kristin

Photos by Roger Ho for Lollapalooza

Doechii

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, it was hard to contain my excitement for Doechii’s Lollapalooza debut: she had already been teasing a special guest on social media and had also revealed a massive marketing campaign featuring several albino alligators popping up across the US.

Surprisingly to me, someone commented on a TikTok I posted of Doechii’s performance that the crowd “sucks,” which was NOT the case in my area of the crowd. Everyone around me was absolutely enthralled with Doechii’s performance from start to finish. Performing on a stadium-ready stage featuring a “classroom” set up featuring Doechii as the expert professor in hip-hop, she “schooled” her large troop of dancers over four different “lessons,” featuring extravagant production value, costume changes, and of course, a bit poking fun at her Met Gaga “outburst” from this past May, where JT of City Girls appeared to perform “Alter Ego” with Doechii.

We’ve seen singers like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus speak on their pre-tour routines, including singing their entire sets while walking and/or running on treadmills, but I would pay money to get an in-depth look at how Doechii prepares to rap onstage without missing a beat, then doing a complete choreographed dance routine effortlessly. It takes an amount of stamina that I particularly haven’t seen a lot of rappers take on, and it made me appreciate her insane levels of artistry even more than I already did.

My personal favorite moments from the set included Doechii’s performance of “NISSAN ALTIMA,” “Alter Ego,” “Nosebleeds,” and of course, “DENIAL IS A RIVER.” The set concluded with Doechii making a special announcement that she’s heading on tour this fall, kicking off on October 14 in Chicago. It was a cool tie-in with the festival, filming Doechii leave her performance and getting into a custom Nissan Altima car, speeding off into the Chicago skyline. – Kristin

Photos by Pooneh Ghana for Lollapalooza

Post Animal

The Chicago band was a last minute replacement for the last day of Lolla, a nice surprise since their new record Iron has been a constant part of my rotation in the past month. Funnily enough, the first time I saw them live, they were also a surprise last minute replacement as an opening act for 5 Seconds Of Summer in 2022, so this was kind of on brand.

Coming off the high that has been touring with their original sixth member Joe Keery (oh wow, here I am writing about Djo again), Dalton, Jake, Wes, Matt, and my name twin Javi, have had a chance to perform to larger crowds around the world, getting them more than ready to play a last minute set at the biggest festival in their hometown.

Every single member in Post Animal is ridiculously talented, and their discography allows each one of them to shine through their arrangements and compositions, making for a powerful and vigorous show. Their style has also varied so much through the years, that it created a perfect mix of genres and energies to keep the crowd engaged and excited for whatever came next. I must admit I wasn’t super shocked they were added to the lineup because I figured it would happen regardless, even if they only got a shorter slot in between some other sets, but I was still pleasantly surprised to get a full Post Animal Lolla set, because it simply made sense. – Javi

Photos by Taylor Regulski for Lollapalooza

Katseye

I’m gonna be honest, I’ve only familiarized myself with Katseye for the first time about a month ago, after I did my due diligence of searching the lineup up and down for unfamiliar acts to listen to, and hopefully become a fan of. Like I mentioned in our Lolla pre-coverage, the six members of Katseye were featured on the reality TV show “Dream Academy,” created by record labels Hybe and Geffen. The project’s intention was to form “an international girl group based on K-pop methodology,” eventually landing on the six-member girl group titled Katseye, featuring members from all around the world, including the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland, and the US. They remind me of artists like Danity Kane, Fifth Harmony, and Little Mix, in the sense that they were all put together on a TV show, but they also have insane singing and dancing chops and have the natural charisma and chemistry between each other to entertain a crowd.

I wasn’t planning on staying for the full set because their set conflicted with Rebecca Black’s DJ slot at Perry’s, but I ended up staying the whole time because I truly was entertained. It was an amazing opportunity to hear a lot of the band’s songs live for the first time, including “Gameboy,” “Mean Girls,” “Gabriela,” and “M.I.A.” Katseye’s debut North American tour kicks off in November and tickets sold out almost immediately: the cheapest resale ticket i can see for one of their two LA shows starts at $561: more expensive than a 4-day pass general admission pass to Lollapalooza. It’s safe to say that attendees got their money’s worth. – Kristin

Photos by Nathan Zucker for Lollapalooza

Still Woozy

I must begin by saying that, a few hours before his show, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Sven to take some photos backstage, so my entire perception of him and his performance was now skewed by the fact that he is really maybe the purest and nicest man to ever live. But even though I was going to absolutely love this set regardless, I don’t think it’s untrue for me to say that this was an enjoyable time from beginning to end.

Still Woozy’s music is happiness in musical form; it’s actually impossible not to feel good listening to it, and watching him live only enhances that experience. His onstage energy –the dancing, the jumping, the crowd-surfing– perfectly matches the atmosphere his sound creates, and the familiar, genuine closeness between him and his band I think shows how much love it’s actually put into his performances.

It’s probably easy to create an immaculate setlist when you have a discography as cohesive and brilliant as Woozy does, but I still think he and his team deserve their roses for choosing exactly the right tracks and the right order to keep the crowd in the moment for the entirety of an hour. I have never left a Still Woozy show disappointed (except maybe that one time in 2022 when I threw up right before he went on stage, but that one’s on me) and it looks like that will continue to be the case for a while. – Javi

Crowd shot by Dusana Risovic for Lollapalooza

Sabrina Carpenter

Much like her peers, Sabrina Carpenter’s rise to superstardom has been nothing short of meteoric. Just two years ago, she performed at Lollapalooza in the middle of the day on a side stage, pulling a fairly large crowd, but absolutely nothing compared to her set at Lollapalooza over the weekend that closed out the festival on Sunday evening: a spot that has been reserved for artists in the past like Blink-182 (2024), Red Hot Chili Peppers (2023), and Green Day (2022)—note the genres and genders here.

Out of all the headliners at Lollapalooza 2025, I was certainly the most excited for Carpenter’s: Short n’ Sweet was my second favorite album of 2024 and I’ve loved the artistic choice she’s made with the visuals, production, costume design, all of it. I’ve always found her brash, dry sense of humor and unapologetic love for innuendos to be hilariously unique to her own brand, something that’s been “controversial” over the last few months but not to me.

For those who love Short n’ Sweet as much as I do, we got lucky with hearing every single song on the album, including “Busy Woman,” a song from the bonus edition and the song she opened her set with. She continued with “Taste,” followed by “Good Graces” and “Slim Pickins’.” The first detour from the Short n’ Sweet era came with “Manchild,” Carpenter’s lead single from her upcoming album, Man’s Best Friend, which drops on August 29 and is currently the only single she’s released ahead of the album. “Manchild” isn’t my favorite from Carpenter, but it’s certainly grown on me over the last few weeks and it was incredibly fun to hear live.

Perhaps the most shocking special guest appearance I witnessed all weekend was none other than Earth, Wind, & Fire, who appeared about 45 minutes into Sabrina’s set to do a medley performance of “Let’s Groove” and “September,” two songs I would have never expected to hear performed live by the band members themselves in my lifetime. They certainly fit the disco era vibes of the set, which included bellbottom-wearing dancers, moon boots, big hair, and plenty of line dancing.

Additional standouts for me were the performances of “Sharpest Tool,” my favorite off of Short & Sweet, “Juno,” and “Bed Chem,” where Carpenter infamously “demonstrates” a sexual position during the song. For her Lolla performance, she opted for holding a miniature replica of the Chicago Bean on stage before tossing it out to fans at the barricade, giving us just another reason to love her raunchy, carefree, and positive attitude towards sex.

Closing with “Please Please Please,” “Don’t Smile,” and “Espresso” obviously garnered the loudest cheers from the crowd: even stopping passersby on their way out of the festival (I unfortunately had to use the restroom and left my spot near the stage at this point in the show to go, but still managed to hear each song performed and made it back in time for the entirety of “Espresso”), and the entire field was packed until the very back.

It was clear that this year’s Lollapalooza made no mistake giving five of the top ten slots on the lineup to women: they’ve clearly dominated the cultural conversation over the last year, and Sabrina’s headlining performance at Lollapalooza 2025 will surely keep her in said conversation for quite some time to come. – Kristin

PORTRAITS:

Photos by Javi Zamorano for Staged Haze

JOE P

I’ve only ever been to a show for the opener a handful of times, and two of those it has been to see the man known as Joe P. Because, yes, he is indeed that good. And as if his great music wasn’t enough, he’s actually a really cool and refreshing person to talk to about the silly little world that is the music industry; his take on how it feels to be an artist playing at a festival like Lollapalooza was a little unexpected, but also sincere and grounding.

“Festivals bring up too many weird memories…I feel like I’m at the cool kids party in high school, and I’m like ‘oh my God, everyone’s here, everyone’s popular,’ ‘do I look good?’ Yeah, I don’t like it,” he dead-pans as I start to process that he is being, oh, so serious about this. He then clarifies (kind of): “I mean, I like it but I don’t”.

“I live in New Jersey, which is like a way of getting away from all that, so when I come here it’s like oh, this is what I would feel like if I lived in L.A.”

In terms of people may not knowing who he is, he actually prefers that. When I mention that in a way that’s how being an opener works, he agrees: “Everyone doesn’t know who I am but they’re all there, and I have to get them, and convert them.” In a similar way, he explains how being a “smaller” artist gives him a little more freedom with his performances, since there are less expectations and pressure put on him, which also keeps him inspired and motivated to keep working and growing as a musician and performer. “Those 40 minutes [on stage] is all that you really do it for, and everything else just happens to be the majority of the time: the time you spend thinking about it, talking about it, posting about it… So those little moments, those little 40-minute sets, get you through another day, and another week, and another month… and that’s how you keep doing it!”

This wish to win over people’s hearts through his live shows was evident during his early set at Lakeshore, and I could clearly see how it was working as the crowd warmed up to him. Joe’s energy remained at the same high level for every song, showcasing both his obvious talent but also his innate passion for performing live. It was really a treat to get to see him during my favorite weekend of the year, and I truly, deeply hope he also had a good time hearing people cheer his name at a festival because it’s what he deserves. – Javi