Lollapalooza returned to Grant Park July 30 through August 2 for another four days of music in downtown Chicago at Grant Park. As usual, the lineup was all over the place in the best way, with pop, punk, rock, hip-hop, electronic, and plenty in between spread across the park.
I spent Thursday, Friday, and Sunday running between stages and photographing as much as I could. I wasn’t able to make it Saturday, which ended up being an unusual day at Lolla anyway, with storms and flooding delaying the opening of the park and wiping several early performances off the schedule.
Before all of that, Thursday started early.
Thursday
My weekend started at noon with KLO at Perry’s, followed almost immediately by Asha Banks on the T-Mobile Stage. Going from Perry’s to the biggest stage in the park less than an hour into the weekend was a pretty good preview of what the next few days were going to look like. From there I headed over to Allianz for Bad Nerves, who were easily one of the most energetic sets of my Thursday. There wasn’t much standing still once they started. Their set included tracks like “Don’t Stop,” “Palace,” “Radio Punk,” and “USA,” packing a lot into their hour on stage.
Next up was Marlon Funaki at Airbnb before staying in the same area of the park for Ecca Vandal. Those smaller afternoon stages are always a nice break from fighting through the crowds surrounding T-Mobile and Bud Light, especially early in the weekend.
After Ecca Vandal, I made my way to BMI for Elizabeth Nichols. The BMI Stage is one of my favorite parts of Lollapalooza because it feels completely different from photographing one of the massive main stages. You’re much closer to the artist and usually catching someone before they make the jump to those bigger stages. Then came the first really big crowd of my weekend. 5 Seconds of Summer hit T-Mobile at 4:30 and immediately made Thursday afternoon feel a lot more like Lollapalooza. They’ve reached the point where they have more than enough recognizable songs to fill a festival set, and the field reflected it.
After 5SOS, I crossed back over to Allianz for Audrey Hobert at 5:30. Considering how quickly her name has grown, the turnout wasn’t exactly surprising, but seeing that crowd in person put it into perspective. She had one of those sets where it felt like a lot of people showed up specifically to see her rather than just stumbling onto the stage.
At 6:30, it was back to T-Mobile for sombr. His rise has been ridiculously fast, and being placed on Lollapalooza’s biggest stage made that pretty obvious. The crowd stretched well beyond the front of the field, and the reaction throughout his set felt much closer to what you’d expect from an artist playing later in the night.
I wasn’t done yet.
Wet Leg took over Allianz at 7:30, bringing songs from both their debut and moisturizer era into one of my favorite rock sets of Thursday. Their recent shows have leaned heavily on songs like “catch these fists,” “Wet Dream,” “Ur Mum,” “davina mccall,” and “Angelica,” and their Lollapalooza appearance came in the middle of a packed run of 2026 dates.
My Thursday finally ended with Viagra Boys at Airbnb. Performing one of the most energetic and unhinged sets filled with a crowd of true punk rock fans vastly different from the other headliners, Lorde and John Summit. Here I felt like I was right where I needed to be with my kind of crowd. After starting with KLO at noon, finishing the night with Viagra Boys at 9 p.m. made for about as wide-ranging a first day as you could ask for.
Eleven artists photographed, and it was only Thursday.
Friday
Friday started a little later for me with PARTYOF2 taking the T-Mobile Stage at 12:55. This was arguably one of my favorite sets. I was unfamiliar with their music prior, but after hearing their grungy, hip-hop influence, it was an easy choice to go ahead and download everything they have as soon as I got home. From there, I headed across the park to Allianz for Claire Rosinkranz before making my way to BMI for Ella Boh. Ella Boh is an up-and-coming dark pop, alternative pop artist that I had a second to catch up with after her set.
Q: How would you describe your Lollapalooza experience in 3 words
Ella Boh: Oversimulating, Fun, Great
Q: Who are you most excited to see while you’re here?
Ella: Charlie XCX for sure!
The early part of the day is probably the easiest time to actually move around Lollapalooza. You’re still covering plenty of ground, but it hasn’t reached that late-afternoon point where every trip between stages becomes a battle through thousands of people.
At 2:45, Slayyyter took over the Bud Light Stage, and things picked up quickly. Her set was loud, over-the-top, and constantly moving, which also made it one of the more fun performances of the weekend to photograph. I headed back to BMI immediately afterward for Emi Grace at 3:20 before making another long walk south.
At 4:40, Zara Larsson hit T-Mobile.
Larsson is built for a festival stage. Between the choreography, production, and a catalog loaded with pop songs people already know, there wasn’t much downtime once she started. Her Lollapalooza performance landed squarely in the middle of Friday afternoon and gave T-Mobile one of its biggest crowds of the day. I would say it basically hit Chappell Roan levels back in 2024 when she brought one of the biggest crowds in Lolla history. My final photographed set Friday was Not For Radio at Allianz. I would have loved to have covered Charlie XCX or The Smashing Pumpkins but both had restricted photographer lists. By that point, two full days of running around Grant Park were done. Then Saturday happened.
Saturday
I wasn’t able to attend Lollapalooza on Saturday, but the bigger story that day happened before most people ever got inside the gates. Heavy rain moved through Chicago and left portions of Grant Park saturated, forcing Lollapalooza to delay opening the festival. With the park unable to open on its normal schedule, early performances were canceled and other sets had to be shifted around before fans were finally allowed in later in the afternoon. It turned Saturday into a much shorter festival day than originally planned. And although I missed the rain itself, I definitely didn’t miss what it left behind.
Sunday
Sunday started with New Constellations at T-Mobile at 1:15.
Walking into Grant Park, it was immediately obvious what Saturday had looked like. The park had taken a beating, with muddy areas everywhere and thousands of people trying to find whatever patches of dry ground were left. Not that it slowed it down much. After New Constellations, I headed to Allianz for DESTIN CONRAD at 2 p.m. before going back to T-Mobile for ADÉLA at 3.
ADÉLA was one of the artists I was especially interested in photographing going into the weekend. She’s been gaining attention quickly, and the turnout for a 3 p.m. main-stage slot showed there were already plenty of people following along. Next was INJI at Airbnb. Her 4 p.m. set felt like a party almost immediately. It was upbeat, weird in the right ways, and one of the easier Sunday sets to just have fun photographing. From there, I moved over to BMI for Justine Skye at 4:30 before heading to Allianz for JADE at 5:45. JADE has been able to carve out a much different identity for herself since Little Mix, and that translated well to the festival stage. There was plenty going on visually, which is always appreciated when you’re standing in the photo pit trying to make something different out of three songs.
Then came the busiest stretch of Sunday.
At 6:45, beabadoobee took the T-Mobile Stage in front of one of the largest crowds I had seen there all weekend. Her progression from smaller alternative stages to a prime slot on Lollapalooza’s biggest stage has been pretty wild to watch.
As soon as that was finished, it was back across the park for aespa at 7:45. You could hear their crowd before even getting to Allianz. The K-pop group’s fans packed the area well before the set began, and once aespa came out, the volume jumped another level. They were scheduled for a full hour at Allianz, giving them one of the biggest non-headlining slots of Sunday. Then there was one last walk back to T-Mobile.
Tate McRae closed out my Lollapalooza weekend at 8:45. I’ve photographed Tate before, but this was obviously a completely different situation. This time she wasn’t appearing in the middle of the lineup. She was a Lollapalooza headliner. By the time she took the stage, the T-Mobile field was packed. The set had the production you’d expect at that point in her career: dancers, choreography, and a huge stage show built around one of the biggest pop catalogs of the moment. Tate ended her set by dipping herself in gold, which I feel was a fitting way to end the event; It was a golden weekend.
From behind the camera, it was a pretty fitting way to end the weekend. Thursday started with KLO at noon. Sunday ended with Tate McRae headlining one of the biggest festivals in the country. Somewhere between those two sets were dozens of trips across Grant Park, muddy shoes, packed photo pits, way too much camera gear, and 27 artists photographed over three days.
Another Lollapalooza in the books. And after spending the last three days staring at the inside of Lightroom, I’m already ready to do it again next year.
Thursday
Friday
Sunday
