‘Rock and roll is not dead today’: Lollapalooza Days Three and Four

Rounding off a four-day run of spectacles, Lollapalooza ended its 2025 season with the comebacks of 2010s icons MARINA, Rebecca Black, Clairo, The Marías and Dominic Fike, alongside sets from newly emerging stars like Doechii and KATSEYE.

Saturday saw K-pop girl group TWICE acting as demon hunters, while EDM group RÜFÜS DU SOL brought the stars down to the crowd below. The festival struck its final chord with A$AP Rocky performing explosive trap hits and smoking a blunt with the crowd Sunday, as Sabrina Carpenter advertised “Manchild Spray Away” and played dirty with The Bean.

Saturday, Aug. 2

Bookending K-pop performances at the Bud Light stage, the afternoon opened with headliner TWICE’s “little brother” — boy band KickFlip, who are also managed by JYP Entertainment. 

The septet celebrated their first U.S. show at Lollapalooza, and for some members, their first time visiting the states. 

Dressed in matching white button-ups and black ties — though styled slightly differently on each member — the band performed elaborate dance numbers, putting the kicks and flips into the KickFlip name. 

Alongside original songs like “Knock Knock” and “Before the Sun Explodes,” KickFlip covered TWICE songs “Feel Special” and “Like OOH-AAH.” 

Before leaving the stage, the K-pop group asked the crowd to please remember them, ending with their tagline — “Flip it, kick it, we are KickFlip.” 

Folk-pop artist Carter Vail took to the BMI stage Saturday afternoon with a combination of music and stand-up, playing both full-length tracks and seconds-long comedy songs originally posted on his social medias, like “Aliens Ain’t Shit.”

“Aliens have spaceships / I got a Corolla / Hog tied aliens / Back of my Toyota,” Vail sang.

When one fan requested Vail play “Dirt Man” — a 35-second song that gained popularity after being posted on TikTok — Vail assured them it was on the setlist, as he said it’s the only thing people know him for.

“Otherwise you guys are just gonna fucking leave,” Vail said.

But the singer-songwriter’s set ended on a sour note, as he ran out of time too soon and was cut off before playing his final song, leaving the stage rather abruptly.

On the Bud Light stage, alt-rock outfit bôa was back — after ending a 20-year hiatus with the release of new music in 2024, the band graced the stage with grunge and gratitude Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know if you know our story,” lead singer Jasmine Rodgers said. “We couldn’t do this without you guys.”

Grabbing the attention of Gen Z in 2021 with the explosion of their song “Duvet” on TikTok, the British group performed nostalgic soft-rock numbers like “Welcome” for a young audience at the festival. 

Showcasing the more grovelly sound of last years’ “Whiplash” with tracks “Strange Few” and “Worry,” intricate guitar melodies and acrobatic vocals from Rodgers inspired claps and “woos”. 

bôa beamed on stage as the crowd sang along to their decades-old hits “Twilight” and “Duvet,” closing their set with a group hug on the runway. 

MARINA brought theatrics to T-Mobile stage with operatic vocals and electro-pop tracks. The performance marks her return to Lollapalooza, having last played the festival in 2015 as Marina and the Diamonds. 

Strutting back and forth to flirt with cameras on both sides of the stage, her rhinestone heels clicked in time to “Froot.” One glance from behind her wide-rimmed sunglasses sent the crowd screaming.

The Welsh artist paraded up and down a tiered platform, swirling her arms and hips as she sang her older material like “I Am Not a Robot,” and “Are You Satisfied?” 

Her June release “PRINCESS OF POWER” was well represented in the setlist with chamber pop “CUNTISSIMO” and never-before-performed “EVERYBODY KNOWS I’M SAD” garnering excitement from the packed audience.

With the melodramatic trio of “How to Be a Heartbreaker,” “Primadonna” and “Bubblegum Bitch” — all hailing from the Tumblr-era bible “Electra Heart” — MARINA ended her performance on a sentimental and ultra-poppy note.

Across the park, Fujii Kaze composed an intimidating silhouette at Tito’s stage, wearing three-eyed sunglasses and a black suit with broad shoulder pads.

The Japanese artist commemorated his first-ever U.S. festival set with performances of tracks like “Shinunoga E-Wa,” “Matsuri,” “Hachikō” and a cover of Mary J. Blige’s “Mary Jane (All Night Long).”

Speaking very little to the crowd, Kaze instead made his impression by tickling the ivories of his keyboard and executing a playful saxophone solo introduction to “Workin’ Hard.”

Nearby, in a bell-sleeved shift dress, drinking red wine with her band in a conversation pit set, Clairo charmed a large crowd at Bud Light stage with ‘70s-inspired visuals and dreamy soft-rock.

After opening with the sultry “Second Nature” from her 2024 album “Charm,” the 26-year-old soon took to reimaging her earlier bedroom pop works like “Softly” and “Flaming Hot Cheetos” in the funky rock sound she explored on her latest album.

The singer paused to say she was relieved to be on stage, revealing she and her band arrived at the festival only an hour before they were slated to perform due to air travel complications.

“How many of you are on drugs?” the artist asked, receiving a chorus of affirmative cheers in response. 

“Can we still dance while you’re on drugs?” she said, launching into “Add Up My Love” and a bossa nova rendition of “4EVER.”

The jam session atmosphere on stage strengthened as Clairo welcomed her fellow members of the band Shelly onstage to dance to their 2020 song “Steeeam.”

Sway-worthy tunes “Bags,” “Sexy to Someone” and “Juna” showcased the talents of her band with prominent flute licks, saxophone squeals, trumpet solos and jazzy drums before alt-pop banger “Sofia” closed the show. 

“Don’t do too many drugs,” Clairo said, exiting the stage with a wine glass in hand. 

At Grant Park’s other end, T-Mobile’s crowd found themselves enrolled in the Doechii School of Hip Hop, where she drilled the audience on lessons about bars, wordplay and DJ remixing presented by Miss Milan. 

Performers danced on school desks and Doechii was frequently reprimanded by a disembodied voice playing the school’s headmaster, even sitting in detention for her Feb. 3 single “Nosebleeds.”

In the middle of performing “Alter Ego,” Doechii made a reference to an earlier controversy involving her Met Gala debut, during which she faced backlash online after a video of her ordering her crew to get her more umbrellas to hide her outfit went viral. 

Dancers shielded Doechii from the audience with an army of black umbrellas, while a voiceover played of Doechii demanding “more fucking umbrellas.” The cover soon lifted to reveal rapper JT, who finished the performance of “Alter Ego” at Doechii’s side.  

The rapper’s visuals also extended beyond the stage, as later a silent film played over the stage’s screens, starring Doechii as herself, a character named “Mistress” and a character named “Old dude from 2019.” In the end, Doechii catches the two having an affair, launching into a performance of her hit song “DENIAL IS A RIVER.” 

Doechii ended her set with anticipation of more to come, leaving the audience with an announcement of her first tour, “Live From the Swamp,” which will kick off Oct. 14 at Chicago’s Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom. 

On Lakeshore stage, experimental hip-hop artist JPEGMAFIA delivered an eccentric and erratic performance.

The crowd appeared well-prepared for the rapper’s versatile setlist — which flipped from acapella rap to EDM and rap metal — letting the excitement of the unpredictability fuel their hand flicks and head bangs. 

The Brooklyn, New York-born artist’s playful humor seeped into the set with a cover of Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” and his hype-building introductions to nearly every track. 

He dedicated “BALD!” to all the bald people in the crowd, including those with “fucked-up hair” as well. 

“If you ain’t got no motherfucking hair, make some motherfucking noise,” he said.

Strobe lights accentuated the upward motions of thrown water and blown vape smoke in the audience during what the artist titled the “scaring the hoes” section of the set.

After rapping “Baby I’m Bleeding,” a song he’s performed for a decade, JPEGMAFIA said his Lollapalooza appearance was a long time coming and shared his appreciation for the audience. 

Later that evening, TWICE made history as Lollapalooza’s first headlining K-pop girl group, fulfilling the promise from their song “FOUR.”

“Once you see us, you’ll madly love us twice,” the song’s chorus said, played over the speakers as an intro to the set. 

Having kicked off their sixth world tour July 19, Lollapalooza was the group’s only U.S. stop in between their shows in Australia and across Asia and their first major festival performance. 

Dressed identically in cropped white tank tops and cut-off denim shorts with chaps, the nine members moved fluidly across the Bud Light stage, performing dynamic choreography alongside songs like “The Feels,” “Talk That Talk” and “What is Love?” 

The night also included a live debut of “TAKEDOWN,” a song Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung contributed to the Netflix animated movie “KPop Demon Hunters.”

At the end of the evening, before returning to the stage for an extended encore, a drone light show took to the sky, once again referencing “KPop Demon Hunters” with the message “The Honmoon is sealed” — referring to a shield that keeps demons out of the human world and the mission of the movie’s main characters. 

TWICE then returned to the stage to play “Strategy,” “THIS IS FOR” and “Feel Special” to the crowd of fans waving lightsticks from the group’s official merch line. 

The group’s second encore, performing the titular track from their July 11 album “THIS IS FOR” for another time that evening, caught some fans unawares, and many rushed back to the stage with their screams and cheers trailing behind them. 

The music festival’s penultimate night wrapped up with fireworks showering gold and red over Grant Park and a promise from TWICE that Lollapalooza will be a night they’ll carry in their hearts forever. 

The uplifting electronic rhythms of headlining EDM group RÜFÜS DU SOL shot from T-Mobile stage through the festival grounds Saturday night.

Taking the time to crescendo the intensity of synths and strobing lasers, the Australian act pressure-cooked audience anticipation until vocalist Tyrone Lyndqvist’s bright voice cut through with “Inhale.” As the thousands watching sprung into the air, white lights flooded every inch of the stage and beamed into the sky.

As songs from the alternative group’s 2024 album “Inhale / Exhale” slipped into one another almost unnoticeably, cameras soared around the trio — including Lyndqvist, keyboardist Jon George and drummer James Hunt — adding visual interest to a set that required the band to remain stationary behind their instruments.

Following “Pressure,” which featured the electric guitar and psychedelic-pop elements, the performers thanked the audience for their energy.

“We’re making everyone watching at home jealous,” Lyndqvist said. “This is what you’re missing out on.”

From the wall of lights placed behind the band, rays of every shade flickered to accent synth drops and basslines, almost acting as instruments themselves. 

“We can’t see the stars right now, so we might as well bring them down to our level,” Lyndqvist said, asking the audience to hold up their phone flashlights for “Treat You Better.”

The fireworks exploding during the band’s hit track “Innerbloom” seemed to signal to many audience members the end of the set. To the apparent surprise of many people on their way out of the venue, the band announced they would play a few more songs, ending the night on the hopeful notes of “Music Is Better.”

Sunday, Aug. 3

On the final afternoon of the festival, country artist Willow Avalon spun tales of love, family and men who are “so full of shit” to the Grove stage — all with a soft southern twang. 

The majority of her setlist was pulled from her Jan. 17 album “Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell,” including tracks like “Gettin’ Rich, Goin’ Broke,” “Yodelayheewho” and “Homewrecker.” 

To introduce her unreleased track “Hell in a Handbag,” Avalon told the crowd all the women in her family have big hair and pistols in their purses, but they also have catchphrases. The chorus of the song was inspired by her grandmother’s response to being criticized by other women at her Southern Baptist church.

“They’re going to hell in a handbag, and I betcha that shit’s cheap,” Avalon sang.

Across Grant Park at the T-Mobile stage, girl group KATSEYE put on a polished performance with complex choreography and careful coordination. 

The sextet took turns leading the vocals of “Gameboy,” giving each the time to introduce their voices to a massive crowd.

Retreating from the runway following girl-power anthems “My Way” and “Mean Girls,” the group was joined by a team of additional dancers for the showstopping first live performance of “Gabriela,” which featured a Spanish bridge sung by Daneila Avanzini. As flamenco skirts slipped over coordinating red sets, an extended dance break complete with acrobatic lifts, high kicks and splits ensued.

“There’s no other place we’d rather share it first,” member Megan Skiendiel said to the crowd. 

The collective rose to popularity following the release of “Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE,” a 2024 Netflix documentary following the rigorous K-pop-style training program the members underwent to become HYBE x Geffen’s first “global girl group,” which includes members from the United States, Switzerland, South Korea and the Philippines, each with a different ethnic background.

While polarizing online, hyperpop “Gnarly” went over well at Lollapalooza, as many crowd members sang and danced along enthusiastically to the closer. 

Down North Columbus Drive at the Grove stage, La Femme wooed the crowd with French charm and eclectic tunes, adding the tinny warble of a theremin into their rock and roll mix. The band alternated between French and English songs, playing tracks like “Cool Colorado” and “Clover Paradise.”

“Rock and roll is not dead today, Lollapalooza,” guitarist Sacha Got said following a performance of “I Believe in Rock and Roll.” The crowd’s whistles and cheers seemed to agree. 

Hip-hop duo Joey Valence & Brae returned to Lollapalooza after three years, fashioning the Grove stage into a rave with mosh pits, high-energy raps and humorous antics.

“Are you ready to shake some ass?” a deep voiceover asked as the artists entered the stage. 

The crowd was warmed as a DJ played recognizable chart-toppers like Travis Scott’s “FE!N” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and remained hot as JVB performed originals like “THE BADDEST (BADDER)” and “PUNK TACTICS.”

The artists teased their upcoming album “HYPERYOUTH” with new single “WASSUP” and the inaugural performance of unreleased tracks — one featuring fellow Lollapalooza act Rebecca Black. 

Reprises of “THE BADDEST (BADDER)” and “PUNK TACTICS” closed with a fart noise, sending many crowd members off laughing.

Sunday marked FINNEAS’ third time at Lollapalooza, but the first time he’s performed under his own name, having previously accompanied his sister, Billie Eilish. 

Despite the excitement of having his own performance at the Lakeshore stage, FINNEAS jokingly expressed frustration at being unable to catch rap artist ian’s set, whose time slot conflicted with his and was on the other end of the park at Tito’s stage. 

“If I break my ankle on stage, I’ll make a golf cart drive me over,” FINNEAS said.

Midway through his set, the pop artist invited Ashe onstage to perform their hit song “Till Forever Falls Apart,” as well as “The Hudson” and “The Little Mess You Made” from their upcoming collaboration “The Dream,” releasing Sept. 18. 

Immediately following FINNEAS at the neighboring T-Mobile stage, alternative pop singer Dominic Fike curated a setlist of both well-known tracks like “Babydoll” and unreleased singles such as “One Glass” and “Great Pretender.”

Fike was scheduled to play Lollapalooza in 2024 but canceled the day before the festival due to “health reasons,” according to Lollapalooza’s Instagram. At the barricade this year, one fan held a sign reading, “Chicago missed you, Dominic Fike.” 

The feeling seemed mutual, as the singer waxed poetic about Chicago’s rooftop cocktail bars and iconic Cloud Gate sculpture, colloquially known as The Bean. 

“Super not overrated attraction — it’s actually quite mystical once you get upon it,” Fike said, later comparing The Bean to the alien in the 2016 sci-fi thriller “Arrival.” 

Fike also treated his Lollapalooza crowd to a revival of the original lyrics of “Frisky,” which had been changed soon after the album’s July 7, 2023 release due to a mix-up, according to an Instagram story he posted. 

After a performance of “Mama’s Boy,” the artist left the stage, and the side screens displayed a warning — “Quiet please, baby on stage.” Minutes later, Fike reappeared with his son on his hip, publicly announcing the child’s existence for the first time. 

As the audience cooed at the baby, who was dressed in a shirt that read, “My dad is trying his best,” Fike ended his set by debuting his unreleased song “All hands on deck” on a toy keyboard. 

Over on the Bud Light stage, as the sun began to set, alt-pop band The Marías serenaded an often swaying crowd with laid-back drums and murky guitars.

Appearing in silhouette behind a circular set piece, lead singer María Zardoya’s sultry vocals echoed over the thumping bass and lush synths of “Real Life.” She sauntered down to the stage floor to the cheers of a packed audience, performing “Run Your Mouth” and a cover of The Cardigans’ “Lovefool.”

Likely a reference to their 2024 album “Submarine,” deep blue lighting and electric guitar reverberations evoked an underwater setting aided by the bubbles that flurried around the singer during “Only in My Dreams.”

“¿Dónde está mi familia Latina?” Zardoya said, addressing a buzzing crowd in Spanish before launching into “Lejos de Ti” — one of the band’s songs showcasing their frontman’s bilingualism. 

Following April singles “Back To Me” and “Nobody New,” Zardoya gave thanks to the trees, moon and birds and asked the audience to live fully in the moment for “Cariño.” Despite her request, large swaths began to push in and out of the crowd in preparation for the headlining acts.  

Rebecca Black, no stranger to a little controversy — after all, she shot into the pop culture consciousness in 2011 when she received an onslaught of online hate for her song “Friday” — performed on Tito’s stage alongside mock Christian protest signs that read statements like “STR8? SEE REBECCA BLACK” and “SEX, KEEP IT HOLY: 1 WOMAN, 1 WOMAN, 2 NON-BINARIES.” 

Adorned in a tousled tutu and leotard with removable bra cups she tore off mid-set, Black and her two dancers performed campy choreography to experimental tracks off her February album “SALVATION.”

The musician thanked Lollapalooza for the opportunity to DJ a set at Perry’s stage earlier in the day, but told the audience, “This is my heart. This is where I love to be.”

Black’s backup dancers followed her belted cover of Katy Perry’s “Ur So Gay” with an infomercial-esque dance break promoting her hyperpop “Sugar Water Cyanide” as a medical treatment.

“Tell your doctor if you’re hot, sexy, gay and/or breastfeeding,” the peppy voiceover said before the singer returned onstage wearing a lab coat. The crowd erupted in cheers as the track bled into a remix of “Friday.”

Finishing her set with “TRUST!” and “Salvation,” Black warned the thinning crowd against losing energy.

“If you don’t go hard, I’m gonna kill you,” she said. 

Although 15 minutes late, headliner A$AP Rocky’s grand entrance to the Bud Light stage didn’t fail to receive excited roars from the crowd. 

Following spliced-together clips of news broadcasts about his February gun assault trial — in which he was found not guilty — the artist sat in a helicopter suspended over the stage, rapping his “Grim Freestyle” through a loudspeaker microphone. Plumes of smoke and fire shot up from the stage as A$AP sat, foam hair rollers on head, bathed in the spotlight. 

A minute or two of darkness and ramblings from the rapper and his onstage crew ended with him roaming around the stage for explosive trap tunes “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n),” “Tailor Swif” and “HIGHJACK.” 

Walking through an airport security scanner, the artist found himself at the end of the runaway for a melodic segment that included “L$D” and “Sundress.”

He took it back to “classic A$AP shit,” which the rapper said he was surprised the audience knew so well. 

“I thought y’all was babies,” Rocky said, thanking the crowd for knowing his early work and reviving it on TikTok. 

“I’m your big brother, I love you all,” he said. “Spread love. It’s the only way. It’s the A$AP way.”

Older tracks like “LVL” — which hadn’t been performed since 2014 — and “I Smoked Away My Brain” — which got its first-ever live performance — had many audience members scurrying to grab their phones to record. 

Following an extended break to grab a blunt from the crowd and encourage the audience to light up alongside him, Rocky rushed though the end of his set, saying he was being told to wrap it up. 

“This is my favorite fucking show I had all year,” Rocky said before going into abbreviated versions of “Jukebox Joints” and House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” 

At 10 p.m., a mere 10 seconds after Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” began playing, the music faded out and the rapper’s mic was cut. While the audience booed the shutdown, Rocky left gracefully, bowing in silence with a fan’s thrown bra in hand. 

The night’s other headliner, pop star Sabrina Carpenter, dazzled the T-Mobile stage with bubbly pop hits, appearing first in a pink, bejeweled long-sleeved leotard and later changing into a white, tasseled two-piece. Some fans told her they’d been awake since 4 a.m. so they could secure spots at the stage’s barricade. 

The evening’s setlist boasted a majority of its songs from Carpenter’s 2024 album “Short n’ Sweet,” but a few older tracks made the cut as well, including “Nonsense,” “Feather” and “because i liked a boy.”

Carpenter’s set also involved 1980’s-esque video skits, like an ad for “Manchild Spray Away” — an aerosol that removes men’s messes and messy men from consumer’s lives — which led into a performance of Carpenter’s single “Manchild,” released in anticipation of her Aug. 29 album “Man’s Best Friend.”

At the set’s halfway mark, Carpenter invited special guests Earth, Wind & Fire on stage to perform their songs “Let’s Groove” and “September” to a roaring crowd. 

During performances of her song “Juno,” in which she fantasizes about being pregnant, Carpenter is known to playfully arrest audience members for “being too hot,” as well as acting out raunchy sexual positions. 

Sunday’s criminals were Jihyo, Sana and Momo from the previous night’s headlining girl group, TWICE. Carpenter asked for all three of their hands in marriage, insisting it was an all-or-nothing deal, before tossing them the fuzzy pink handcuffs mentioned in the song’s first verse.

For the anticipated risqué pose of the song, Carpenter threw — or flicked — a miniature version of The Bean into the crowd, euphemizing masturbation. 

Unlike Rocky, Carpenter was able to slip into overtime, ending her set with last year’s “song of the summer,” “Espresso,” and closing out Lollapalooza’s 2025 season with a reminder of summer’s felicity, flirtatiousness and fun.