Lollapalooza 2015 just finished off and once again it featured a number of great performances that make you wonder if maybe this was the best Lolla ever. Of course that last statement is debatable, but in the meantime we can zero in on what exactly made this such a great festival.
We saw over two dozen sets and we have narrowed down our list of some of our favorites of everything that went down July 31st-August 2nd at Chicago’s Grant Park.
Alabama Shakes
This was the first full set I got to take in at Lolla 2015 and man was I one happy viewer by the end of it. Brittany Howard was a force of nature with great, big vocals and such emotive playing on the 6-strings while the southern band ripped through a collection of fine bluesy Rock songs that just hit you perfectly. Their set provided the perfect soundtrack to sun-drenched dancers vibing throughout the surrounding fields and I can only imagine that the next time we see this group they’ll be headlining this same festival.
– Oscar
Young Thug
https://youtu.be/LC_do1Q4s7U
Young Thug was an artist that I was sort of shocked to see on the Lollapalooza lineup when it initially dropped, but I’m glad he was booked after seeing his set on Friday. The Atlanta emcee headlined the BMI stage and had a huge crowd supporting him the whole show. Thugger ran through some new joints off of Barter 6, some classics and his most recent single with Jamie xx, “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times).” It was one of the most entertaining sets all weekend.
– Alberto
Paul McCartney
https://youtu.be/HE-yoBWiCfM
McCartney was in fine form from 7:45 until 10:00 PM. Seeing McCartney in concert was a bucket list item for me and the fact that I got to check it off at Lollapalooza made it the perfect way to experience a setlist packed with Beatles classics. The former Beatle put on a show that will forever be in my heart as one of the most epic shows I’ve ever seen thanks to brilliant renditions of songs like “Blackbird,” “Something,” “Live and Let Die,” “Let It Be,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” and of course, “Hey Jude.” A pleasant surprise came via a live collaboration with the Alabama Shakes frontwoman for “Get Back,” that stands among the best moments of the entire weekend. Paul McCartney is a living legend and this headlining set at Lolla 2015 only helps further that status as one of the most important artists ever.
– Oscar
The Weeknd
http://youtu.be/rraM0dt2qr0
2015 has been a great year for The Weeknd from number 1 singles on the Billboard charts to headlining major festivals across the country. On the first night at Lolla, The Weeknd went head to head with Paul McCartney and somehow had a pretty crowd. I got there early enough to get a good spot and it was just as good as I expected it to be. The Weeknd’s early mixtapes have some bangers on them and he definitely used those to his advantage by opening up with “High For This.” Other notable moments were his performances of “The Hills,” “Can’t Feel My Face” and the 50 Shades Of Grey hit, “Earned It.”
– Alberto
Mick Jenkins
http://youtu.be/l8mEHA0X3o0
Mick Jenkins was the lone representative from the emerging Chicago hip hop scene this year at Lollapalooza and he surely made the scene proud with his performance. Not wanting to miss a minute of the performance, I made my way over to the Pepsi stage as quick as I could. Mick had a really good crowd on hand rapping along word for word even though it was the opening act at 11:30 in the morning. Don’t be surprised if Mick Jenkins makes a return to Lolla next in a headlining or close to headlining spot next year.
– Alberto
Metallica
The Metal legends held nothing back when they helped close out Day 2 of the festival. James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and Robert Trujillo put together an amazing set list that included songs of every era of the band’s history, fitting in tracks from Kill Em All to Death Magnetic, and even some covers, into the 2 hour-plus performance. Ulrich smacked the skins with such a fury that you felt like the vibrations were reaching our city’s skyscrapers, Trujillo’s bass work was a steady assault of badassery, Kirk showed off those skills that have made him a guitar god to many (including us), and Hetfield was nothing short of a monster with a killer voice and an imposing stage presence that would get even me to fight a war if he was my general.
– Oscar
Albert Hammond Jr.
https://youtu.be/Bpjq8uEqpuo
AHJ came out with an album just a couple of days prior and with it came some well-deserved hype around this performance. The guitarist for The Strokes steered away from the music by his legendary band, but that didn’t make this set any less great to witness. Hammond’s sound is heavy on guitars with a very “Garage Rock” aesthetic and this was an excellent setting to hear this kind of music, providing a much needed natural palette cleanser from the EDM blasted all weekend at Perry’s. Plus performances of new tracks like “Side Boob” (above) and “Losing Touch” along with his classic “In Transit” showed that he’s a fantastic frontman on his own.
– Oscar
Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello’s appearance at this year’s Lolla showcased them as one of the few bands that delivered the kind of powerful performance and general sense of oneness with a crowd that you can only truly get to experience at music festivals. The band was lit from the very beginning and never let down from that moment on. If you only stumbled upon this show by pure chance then I can only imagine how glad you must’ve felt when you saw the positive commotion that was surrounding the Palladia stage, and for those of us who know the band and have seen them perform before, this was just the latest chapter of awesomeness in this band’s career.
– Oscar
A$AP Rocky
https://youtu.be/0uPTpBCyAP0
A$AP Rocky released arguably one of the best albums of the year back in May, so his set was one to look out for this year at Lolla. Rocky could of easily performed At.Long.Last.A$AP in its entirety and the crowd would’ve been satisfied, but he had other plans. Rocky decided to run through Chief Keef’s “Faneto,” bring out Vic Mensa and perform some of his hit singles off of his debut album. Watching him perform “Goldie” and “Wild For The Night” were the two of my favorite moments during the hour-long set.
– Alberto
Kid Cudi
http://youtu.be/3YQixeCsLyM
The best performance all weekend for me had to be Kid Cudi’s sub-headlining performance on the Bud Light stage on Saturday night. Cudder has an endless catalog to work with, so you never know what he is going to perform at any given moment. We got to see him perform “Mojo So Dope,” “Soundtrack To My Life,” “Embrace The Martian” and many others. The energetic performance was capped off with the first-ever performance of his Speedin’ Bullet To Heaven’s lead single, “Confused.” The acoustic performance of the new single can be seen below.
– Alberto
http://youtu.be/je2MkWcX-6w
