The Regrettes Find Their ‘Further Joy’ At Lollapalooza

“Are you awake at this unholy hour?”

Frontwoman of The Regrettes Lydia Night asked the crowd to get energized and start moshing at their midnight Lollapalooza aftershow July 29.

In the midst of touring their latest album “Further Joy,” pop-rock band The Regrettes were booked to play Lollapalooza on Friday, but gave fans even more at Lincoln Hall the morning before. 

“When do you have your best friends that you just go and do everything with?” Night said to The Phoenix. “What other job can you do that?”

The Regrettes made Lincoln Hall their own world in the wee hours of the morning. Weaving through the crowd to dance on a bar table in a fishnet top and black skirt, Night kept the room awake.

The bar’s pink and blue stage lights lit guitarist Genessa Gariano, drummer Drew Thompsen, bassist Brooke Dickson and lead vocalist Night. Gariano and Night founded the band in California in 2015 and the other two members joined three years later, just before they played their first Lollapalooza in 2018.

“We were just looking at photos of me at this festival four years ago and you can’t even tell,” Thompsen said. “It’s like a different person.”

Since 2018, the band has released two studio albums. Their 2019 “How Do You Love?” is full of pining and raw declarations of love. “Further Joy,” released in April, is more pop-centric than their previous alternative rock-leaning releases, combining their patented honest lyrics with upbeat instrumentation.

The opening track and aftershow encore song “Anxieties (Out of Time)” features high-pitched guitar riffs from Gariano and bubbly vocalization from Night, but details frustrations and worries about the future.

“Are we just forever runnin’ out of time? / Missin’ how it feels to really be alive,” the 21-year-old inquires.

Night said being able to dance to songs with such emotional gravity feels therapeutic.

“I don’t really like listening to super sad music when I’m sad or super happy music when I’m sad,” Night said. “That’s what life is. It’s not black and white situations.”

The band has been touring this album for months, playing Coachella and a few shows in the United Kingdom since April. Hosting both an aftershow and taking to the Tito’s Handmade Vodka Stage the next afternoon, Chicago was a temporary pit stop for this leg of tour.

“You have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of consistency and routine at home and relationships at home and it’s hard,” Night said. “But, it’s also the most beautiful thing in the world that we get to do it.”

“We get to have such a unique experience with each other, like a unique connection,” Dickson continued.

The enthusiasm The Regrettes have for playing music with one another was even more obvious in Grant Park. 

In a pink miniskirt, Night worked to make the massive field as intimate as the dimly lit bar. Hopping down to the barricade, she trusted the crowd while surfing atop their outstretched hands during “Barely On My Mind.” 

“Sinkin’ in your teeth actin’ like you’re sweet, car crash,” Night sang, fully reclined. “Follow me around, hold me ‘til I drown, whiplash.”

Having played more confined venues in the past, Thompsen said he’s just now warming up to the massive scale of these festivals. Even so, it’s readily apparent all four members were born for the stage.

Gariano’s solo during the band’s 2017 “Seashore” shot into the sky at Lollapalooza with just as much vigor as it did against the Lincoln Hall walls. The crowd held onto every word through Night’s microphone, whether she was singing the spiteful cover of Lily Allen’s “Smile” or begging them to mosh.

“It’s just crazy how much more confident I feel in what we do now,” Night said. “I think that coming back and doing the same thing over again, you can really directly compare where we were at at this time four years ago.”

The Regrettes know who they are. They’re making music that speaks to them and speaks to their fans with a unique aesthetic, sound and personable demeanor.

“It’s been really cool to see myself evolve and grow,” Dickson said. “It’s just really cool to see where we’re at right now. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Featured image by Nicky Andrews | The Phoenix