Lollapalooza 2024 wrapped on a high note Sunday night, with the welcome return of Blink-182, who last headlined the festival in 2017. According to organizers, more than 100,000 fans showed up at each of the four days (during Chappell Roan’s performance, it felt like all 100K from Day One showed up for her set). Vince Staples, Conan Gray, and Teddy Swims were among the standouts on Day Four. (Also, check out highlights from Day Two and Day Three.
Blink-182’s Classic Lineup Closes the Festival With Heartwarmingly Foul Mouths
How strangely heartwarming to watch Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge swap dick jokes together again — plus one very memorable jab about The Bean belonging to DeLonge’s mom. With an elevated Travis Barker drumming mid-air, Blink-182’s recently reunited classic trio put on a spectacle both nostalgic and refreshed. A mix of high-octane hits (“Feeling This,” “First Date”) and deeper cuts (“Not Now” “Up All Night”), their set captured what keeps Blink-182 popular more than 30 years on. And as if to show they don’t take the longevity for granted, perennial closer “Dammit” was usurped by recent single “One More Time.” The latter song is a reflection on their near-death experiences and familial friendship, and for Blink-182 a rarity: earnestness. —N.C.
Multi-hyphenate Vince Staples Does Stand-Up
“My name is Vince Staples. I’m the newest member of Blink-182,” the rapper joked during his great and often hilarious set. Between dropping songs from his latest album, Dark Times — his conversational flow feeling more like an intimate conversation between friends than a performance in front of thousands of people on standouts such as “Shame on the Devil” and “Government Cheese” — the artist, actor, and TV show creator engaged the audience in some playful banter. At one point, he invited a seemingly tipsy guy onstage to rap “Big Fish.” Already under pressure to deliver, Staples deadpanned to the guy: “If you do this right, I’m not gonna think you’re racist,” drawing laughter. Time to add stand-up to Staples’ multi-hyphenate bonafides. —A.L.
Conan Gray Finally Gets His Pop-Star Performance
Five years after his first Lollapalooza, Conan Gray returned ready to claim his pop-star moment. Dressed like a modern day Freddie Mercury, perm and aviators included, Gray opened with the synth-pop two-punch of “Fainted Love” and “Never Ending Song” before breaking out older fan favorites. A proud Swiftie, Gray clearly took notes from the Eras Tour, from segueing between past and present work smoothly, to offering big kisses, bigger high notes, and the biggest poses fit for a stadium-sized audience. If people arrived pining for “Heather,” they left with Found Heaven songs stuck in their heads — the mark of a successful pop star. —N.C.
Melanie Martinez Journeys Through Portals
Over the course of her headlining set, the pop singer, songwriter, and producer put the doll-like character she debuted on 2015’s Cry Baby to rest while breathing life into her new identity — a four-eyed fairy creature. Martinez began with songs from Cry Baby, a 16-track album that follows a kidnapped girl who goes on to kill her captor, with dark pop hits “Dollhouse” and “Play Date.” After performing select tracks from her second album, K-12, she transformed into her persona from last year’s Portals, complete with a seaweed-covered skirt. Fans screamed every word to guitar-driven track “Void” and every letter to “N-Y-M-P-H-O-L-O-G-Y.” Just as her set came to a close with rebirth song “Womb,” Martinez encouraged the crowd to shout “Free Palestine,” as her backup dancers carried the Palestinian flag. —K.R.
SiR Launches New Chapter
It has been four years since SiR has graced a stage in Chicago, and the soulful singer’s return to the spotlight at Lolla was well worth the wait. He explained the situation behind his long absence. ”I’ve been going through some personal issues,” he said, referencing the sobriety he discussed in a Rolling Stone piece earlier this year. He added that he’s now been sober for a year and 10 months, and he thanked the audience for showing him love and support. His recovery served him — and those who caught him at Lolla — well. Performing shirtless, looking fit, and with pitch-perfect vocals, he delivered early tunes, such as the romantic “Ooh Nah Nah” and “Fire” alongside songs from his latest album, Heavy, including “Karma” and “Poetry in Motion.” —A.L.
The Last Dinner Party Are Perfect Hosts
The Last Dinner Party formed in 2021 but didn’t release their first single until two years later; they signed to Island on the strength of their concerts alone. The pressure from that hype — and, naturally, the ensuing pushback that followed — didn’t seem to bother the five-piece onstage, as it’s the place that feels most like home. Prelude to Ecstasy tracks turned into anthems live, even “Gjuha,” a confessional about letting down your mother tongue, sung in Albanian by keyboardist Aurora Nishevci. Watching the Last Dinner Party win over skeptics and uninitiated crowd members, one line in “The Feminine Urge” rang especially true: “All the poison, I convert it and I turn it to love.” —N.C.
Teddy Swims Debuts New Song “Bad Dreams”
Dressed in a Chicago Bulls jersey and gamepad-shaped earrings, Teddy Swims delivered a heartfelt performance that included soulful renditions of “What More Can I Say” and “Apple Juice,” off his latest album, I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1.5). The Georgia singer-songwriter also got personal, sharing a time when he felt “crazy” and “unheard,” before breaking out the unreleased track “Bad Dreams.” He joked, “We might fuck it up, but you won’t know anyway.” Another highlight, naturally, was “Lose Control,” a recent Number One hit, and he closed out the set with a raspy rendition of “The Door.” —K.R.
Slow Pulp Wax Nostalgic Over Woozy Alt-Country
They may be a Chicago-via-Madison band, but Slow Pulp could easily live next door to Asheville’s own Wednesday. The quartet melted woozy shoegaze over alt-country, with songs like “Cramps” and “High” giving the crowd a midday buzz. While performing mainly from last year’s Yard, their sophomore album, Slow Pulp waxed nostalgia in a way that stole the show; lead singer Emily Massey attended Lollapalooza as a 16-year-old, and pointed out her mother in the crowd, resulting in supportive cheers from the audience. Their songs address regrets and imposter syndrome, but standing on the main stage, Slow Pulp were living a glow-up. —N.C.
Post Sex Nachos Jumpstart Sunday With a Feel-Good High
Sunday scaries hit extra hard on a festival weekend, and those willfully denying Monday’s looming presence found the feel-good Lolla set they craved at Post Sex Nachos. The Nashville five-piece exuded charisma and gaiety, as songs like “Mushroom Cloud” and “Midwest Daze” injected a shot of energy directly into the crowd. Live, the band’s synth-pop got an indie rock punch-up, eliciting a melodic, staccato vocal tic in singer Sammy Elfanbaum akin to a young Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. By the time Post Sex Nachos taught the crowd lyrics to “Growing Old,” they were all smiles, as were attendees — both floating on a festival high they hoped would never end. —N.C.
Teezo Touchdown Makes Fans Feel at Home
Genre-smashing rebel Teezo Touchdown kept the crowd rocking through the Chicago heat. In an effort to cool down his fans, Touchdown yelped to “I’m Just a Fan,” his 2021 self-care single. While performing on a bouquet mic, he also delivered alt-rock track “Social Cues” and R&B bop “Neighborhood,” off his 2024 album, How Do You Sleep at Night? With You. He also welcomed an unexpected guest: Chance the Rapper. An early supporter of the artist, Chance shared his gratitude for the rising star. Teezo Touchdown, who was among Rolling Stone’s Future 25 artists this year, made the Day One fans and newcomers feel at home. —K.R.
Zeds Dead Closing Set Is Headbanger Heaven
Zeds Dead jerseys were spotted everywhere in the crowd during the dubstep duo’s headlining set, which included songs from their debut album, Somewhere Else, and fresh releases. The show featured dubstep bangers like “Ecstasy of Soul” and Subtronics’ “Gassed Up” that had the crowd headbanging, but they also paused their gut-wrenching drops and ground-shaking bass to remix pop cultural tunes such as Laurie Anderson experimental hit “O Superman,” Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” and Arctic Monkeys’ “Do I Wanna Know.” —K.R.
Jay-Z performing at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis in Paris.
Jay-Z Deserves the Super Bowl Halftime Gig
Where’s the love? Jay-Z asked that question 25 years ago, in the chorus of one of many songs in his catalog that still move audiences today. If he performs “Heart of the City” as part of his Super Bowl halftime show next February, those indignant bars are sure to be a highlight: “First the Fat Boys break up, now every day I wake up, somebody got a problem with Hov…” It would be an appropriate choice, too — because then as now, any time Jay-Z notches a new achievement, people find a way to complain.
The jokes and nonsense started almost as soon as the first rumors trickled out that Jay, whose company Roc Nation has executive-produced the Super Bowl halftime show since 2019, might be choosing himself to headline next year’s show. “Jay-Z just Dick Cheney’d himself for the Super Bowl,” Puck‘s Matthew Belloni quipped on X last week, alluding to the time that the late prince of darkness, who’d been asked to run the vice-presidential search committee for George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign, put himself on the ticket. (Super hip and current reference, and not at all apples-and-oranges.) Others pointed to TMZ reports that pop stars like Harry Styles and Justin Bieber had been asked first. “How are they the frontrunners, and he end up in the front?” Cam’Ron, who’s delighted in trolling Jay for many years, wondered aloud on his podcast. “Out of all the people on the roster, they couldn’t pick nobody else?” asked Cam’Ron‘s co-host, Ma$e.
These critiques miss the point, which is that Jay-Z is one of the best choices for a high-profile gig like this. He’s a superstar with a comparable level of name recognition to any other A-lister in music. He has a deep stack of classic songs going back decades. And he’s a highly skillful live performer who knows his way around a stadium stage, as he’s spent this year reminding people on his Jay-Z 30 tour. He tore down Yankee Stadium three nights in a row this summer; just last week, he rocked SoFi Stadium, which happens to be the same place where the 2027 Super Bowl is being held. He held the crowd’s attention with ease at all of those shows, and though there were plenty of glittery guests — that’s a given at a Jay show, and it will surely be true at the Super Bowl, too — he did it mostly through the force of his own magnetic energy. Let’s state the obvious here: Jay-Z is really, really good at rapping. We’re talking about one of the slickest, sharpest talkers in the history of words, someone who made it to the top through a sustained act of myth-making, then kept going. Are we seriously asking whether he can handle a 15-minute televised performance?
And yeah, there’s a touch of self-congratulation in the way he appointed himself. So what? Praising his own gifts is arguably Jay-Z’s greatest talent of all. He made a fine art out of self-applause. He told his story again and again, retracing the steps from Marcy Projects to the corner suite, and he made us believe. It would almost be insulting to the audience if he didn’t give himself the gig at some point.
Pop culture observers in recent years surely remember the backlash to Super Bowl headliners like Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny — all of it at least culturally conservative, and much of it frankly just racist. The blowback to Jay’s announcement is mostly coming from other quarters, at least for now (let’s just wait to see what the right-wing swamps make of this one). But it’s disappointing in a different way. Jay-Z has spent his career expounding hip-hop as a mainstream commercial force. He’s not a businessman, he’s a business, man. But he’s also an artist. He’s made huge amounts of money, and gotten himself into the rarefied rooms where he even has the ability to give himself a gig like this, by spinning his experiences into compelling narrative art, one verse at a time. Let’s not lose sight of how impressive his life’s work really is. Jay-Z is not some random C-suite bro, and he’s definitely not Dick Cheney. He’s one of the greatest rappers of all time, by any measure. He’s earned that Super Bowl spot.