Lollapalooza 2025: Live Music, Exciting Moments & Exclusive Artist Interviews
By Dahlia Kelly – Olivia Rodrigo by Kirby Gladstein for Lollapalooza 2025
Even though I have been coming to Lollapalooza since my Kidzapalooza days, the start of every Lollapalooza weekend always leaves me anxious for what great times lie ahead. Everything is so over-the-top and amazing, I can’t help it.
Last year’s Chappel Roan set on the T-Mobile stage was so incredible! From her costume to the dancers, and every single song she performed, the memory of that record-breaking set and all the other artists stayed with me all year long.
This year, I had a long list of artists to see, so many, too many, but I was determined to see as many as I could. Some of the artists I wanted to see were Dominic Fike, Cage The Elephant, Boa, Still Woozy, Gigi Perez, and Wallows, above all, definitely WALLOWS!
Cage The Elephant always puts on a high-energy set, and this year was no exception, with Brad and Matt Shultz interacting with the audience early on, and Brad crowdsurfing while playing. No one does it better than them!
I was surprised and impressed by how Dominic brought out his child on stage, and he did a great cover of Coldplay’s “Yellow”. I saw most of Boa’s set and got to interview Jasmine, check it out here.
The Two Friends set was amazing, though I watched that one on Hulu. So many things were going on during their set with drones, guests, and more. Eli and Matt are really great guys. I interviewed them as well, and you can read that here.
It was nice watching the headliners on Hulu from home. Sabrina Carpenter really put on a great set. She was my favorite out of the headliners.
I spent some time and a fair amount of money grabbing some great Lollapalooza merch, and it was worth it. I also had to stop by the Toyota Music Den to get a bandana and take in some of the great music that DJ Nadhi was playing. He’s been spinning tunes at the Toyota Music Den for many years now.
I got some hair tinsel done by some great people over at The Beat Suite by Ulta Beauty, and some additional makeup to go.
The first band I saw was Silly Goose, a heavy band with rap sprinkled in, which surprisingly worked for me. Mud didn’t stop anyone from moshing and jumping around. Singer Jackson Foster continued to build the energy into a fanatic frenzy. It was awesome!
While lines at the box office and gate weren’t too long, the crowds filled up early, even for weekdays. The line for the main merch store across from Buckingham Fountain was consistently long all weekend.
Perry’s stage was taken over by Dom Dolla all day Thursday. I didn’t get the chance to see much of it, but the pounding beats had large crowds going every time I walked past, and it all sounded great.
Between photos and interviews we had scheduled, it was hard to make every set that I wanted to see, but I got to see parts of the sets of many of the artists I wanted to see.
Wallows was the only full set I got to see. I don’t mind, I got to see enough of each artist to have experienced them, and Wallow’s set made my weekend. It was like they pulled the setlist out of my head for the best songs to play live.
The last time they played Lollapalooza was in 2022, and they were on the T-Mobile stage earlier in the day.
My top picks from their set were “Coffin Change” from their latest release, “More,” “Bad Dream,” from their 2024 release, “Model,” “Quarterback off of their 2021 release, “Remote EP (Deluxe), and “Sidelines,” and “Scrawny” from their 2019 “Nothing Happens” album.
As incredible as it was to have seen them again, nothing compared to having met Dylan Minnette outside of the festival the following day. It happened so fast, and he was so nice, it really topped my whole Lollapalooza experience!
This Lollapalooza weekend went really fast. Maybe next year they’ll do five days? What do you think? I don’t think so, but one could hope, right?
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