Howdy! Welcome to our coverage of Lollapalooza 2022. Each day, we’ll be bringing you a recap of the sets we were able to catch the previous day of the festival. Today, we’re sharing our coverage of the second day, Friday, July 29th, and the third day, Saturday, July 30th. Head to the end of this to check out Emma's photos from the day!
We got there a little late for the Friday of Lolla. We were running late in the first place, as our train takes about 45 minutes to get down to Grant Park, plus I kind of screwed us over and made us go down one more stop (and walk an extra 20 minutes just to get to GA gates), so we only caught three songs from our first act of the day, flipturn. I love flipturn. I’ve seen them a couple of times - once at Mercury Lounge in Nashville, RIP - but they’re always fun, and they genuinely only keep getting better live. We got to the Discord Stage just in time to hear “Chicago” in Chicago, and then they played their newest song, “Space Cowboy,” and closed with “August,” which had everyone in attendance swaying and singing along. It was such a treat.
Halfway through “August,” we decided to head out of the crowd to try and make it down to the Coinbase Stage before Del Water Gap’s set started. He opened with “Better Than I Know Myself,” jumping around onstage in a trench coat, and the whole crowd (which was enormous, by the way, for a 1:30 set) was off their feet. I don’t know why I’m so shocked that he sounds exactly the same live as he does recorded, but that simple fact blew me away.
Del Water Gap also played his cover of “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne, which was a genius move, because who doesn’t know that song? (Plus, Avril actually ended up joining Machine Gun Kelly onstage during his headlining set, apparently). “High Tops,” “Perfume,” “Bug Bites,” and “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat” were the highlights of his set for me, but my God, does he know how to put on a show. I would love to see a full, headlining set from him in a smaller venue someday.
After Del Water Gap finished up (a few minutes early, if you’d believe it), we hiked up to the Discord Stage (about halfway between Buckingham Fountain and the Bud Light Seltzer Stage, near the fooooooood) to see Wet Leg! Their crowd was insane, too, and it seemed like a good amount of the crowd knew pretty much every song they played. Tons of fans were on one another’s shoulders, swaying and bouncing along to songs like “Angelica,” “Wet Dream,” “Supermarket,” and “Chaise Longue.”
On our way down to Del Water Gap earlier in the day, we spotted the sweetest little girls with custom, tiny Wet Leg t-shirts headed to the stage to get a good spot. We snagged a photo of their shirts and gave them some stickers. It was the cutest thing! I hope they had a fun time.
After Wet Leg was The Regrettes at the Tito’s Stage. I listen pretty casually to The Regrettes, but I was excited to see them, because they have certainly earned a reputation as a band that puts on an incredible live show. I was not disappointed. Their energy is insane - lead singer Lydia Night moves around more during one song than some bands do during their whole set. They played mostly their more popular tunes, including TikTok favorite “Barely on my Mind,” “Pumpkin,” “La Di Da,” and “Seashore” - during the chorus of this one, they had the crowd hold up their middle fingers to release some pent up rage at the state of the world, while also reminding us that it’s important to take action outside of this performance. It was clear during this set that there is a sincerely special connection between The Regrettes and their fans, and it’s beautiful to witness.
I’ve been waiting to see Royal Blood for a hot minute, and it was really sweet to finally see them, especially on such a giant stage. I think they’re a band meant to be experienced on a larger scale, outdoors, with the sun beating down. They lead with “Typhoons” and “Boilermaker,” which certainly set the energy for the rest of their set. We had to step away early for MUNA, and I was kind of bummed about that, but I know I’ll see Royal Blood again.
We ended our day with MUNA at the Discord Stage and then a hike up to the T-Mobile Stage to watch Glass Animals from the grass across the field from the stage. MUNA was fantastic as always. I was a little bothered by how many people were standing around practically talking over the band, but hopping up a few rows to dance with some MUNA fans amended that. A butterfly landed on me during their set, and I cried during “Taken.” Sounds about right for a MUNA show.
Glass Animals was our winddown for the day, and we sat at the opposite end from the stage on my brand new Lollapalooza woven blanket, taking some much needed Designated Sitting Time™️, and enjoying Wavey Davey serenading us all.
Our Saturday started with CRAWLERS, a punk band from Liverpool in England, who absolutely blew us away. We actually met the band the day prior at the end of MUNA’s set, handing out fliers for their set the following day. They were so sweet, and their onstage presence is unbelievable. I think they’ve got an enormous career in front of them, and I’m really excited to see where they go from here.
pom pom squad hit the ground running for their set, instantly encouraging the crowd to get as rowdy as they possibly can. We stayed close to the front for as long as we could in the hot, harsh sun, then moved to the shade towards the back of the grove, but we still had a ton of fun. Frontwoman Mia Berrin told us the story of how, for her eighteenth birthday, her parents bought her a suitcase and a ticket to Lollapalooza, and she spent her whole time there dreaming about starting a band and playing the festival one day, which was very sweet.
Gracie Abrams was absolutely incredible live. She seemed genuinely very grateful and excited to be there, and her fans were just as excited as she was. People were throwing roses onstage for her, one of which she caught, sniffed, then held to her chest. I would love to see her again in a more intimate setting.
The crowd for Wallows was honest to God about half the size of the crowd for Metallica Thursday night. It was insane to hear so many people singing along and to watch the drone footage of the crowd dancing. They were very enjoyable, but they didn’t play a ton of their more popular songs early in the set, and we had to leave about a half hour in in order to make it all the way up to Tito’s for COIN. Very sad I didn’t get to hear “Pictures of Girls” or “Scrawny” live.
COIN was absolutely incredible, and I’m glad I managed to reserve some of my energy in order to dance my literal ass off for their set. The crowd’s energy was wild. It seemed like everyone there were fans, instead of just people there to catch a random band’s set, the way some other points during the festival have felt. We also saw Emmy Hartman at the back of the crowd with a couple of her friends, which was cool.
At this point, IDLES is pretty much a household name, and for good reason. They came out right on time and spent five minutes intimidating the crowd with “Colossus” before jumping straight into “Car Crash.” The band seemed thrilled to be on the stage, frontman Joe Talbot taking ample time to say hello and to thank us all for coming out. They move around a surprising amount for a post punk band - I think I’ve just come to expect the bands to stand at the center of the stage and sing at the crowd - and it got all of us rowdy. The pit was wild to watch from the back of the crowd. Similarly to Royal Blood, IDLES is a band to experience in a festival setting, but I can’t wait to see them in a smaller venue.
Turnstile was our last set of the day, and they were cool, but we did sit for a bit of it, and a guy did come out of the pit, puke ten feet from us for five minutes straight, then go right back into the pit, so a bit overwhelming to say the least.
Days two and three were long for us - we broke 15k steps both days - and we’re exhausted, but it was so much fun to see so many bands I’ve been dreaming of seeing for so long. Today we’re seeing DJO, Maneskin, Charli XCX, and Local Natives, and then that’s it for us from Lolla!
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