Lollapalooza 2022 is now officially a part of the history books, so all there’s left is to look through our pics/videos and sharing stories and anecdotes of some of our personal highlights.
From repairing shoes to unlikely covers, check out our Top 12 Moments of Lollapalooza 2022.
- Jazmine Sullivan played a beautiful rendition of “Killing Me Softly.” Lauryn Hill would’ve been proud (I hope) if she were in the crowd vibing to that jam as the sun started to hide behind the city skyline
- Walking over to the T-Mobile stage, right in front of the last set of food vendors by the Perry’s stage I saw a girl walking the same path toward Metallica wearing modified platform shoes thanks to the right one breaking apart. She got crafty and made the shoe functional by wrapping a bandage around it, and that was the best sign that nothing was going to stop people from partying
- Metallica stopped playing “Fade to Black” midway for lead singer James Hetfield to deliver a message that touched fans. After bringing up how the song is about suicide, he told fans:
“We all struggle inside. If you’re feeling crazy inside. Struggling inside. Talk to someone. Please talk to someone. You are worth it”
- Wet Leg told us this was their first festival in the States, which felt like such a moment, especially when it’s coming from a band that has skyrocketed to the top of fans and critics’ lists of must-see artists. The set was made a tad bit more special when lead singer Rhian Teasdale delivered her powerfully-wack dad joke:
“Lollapalooza? More like, lollapawinner… sorry”
- King Princess shortly left the stage to put on some wings and dedicated her final song to Taylor Hawkins. It didn’t register as a big deal to most people, but for those who love Foo Fighters, this was special
- A group of young fans that were standing behind me while waiting for Dua Lipa to perform were having a conversation while one of the girls was wiping away tears. The tears girl asked her friend “honestly, how bad do I look?” and without hesitation he said “six out of ten.” I appreciate the honesty and the ruthlessness
- Seeing Dua Lipa express her gratitude for the crowd that came out for her 3rd appearance at Lollapalooza felt special. I learned after the fact that this was one of the biggest crowds of which I’ve ever been a part, but in the moment it was just so dope to be one of those fans that came out to show love but soon enough we learned that she truly felt moved enough to want to address this bit of history for her. Having Lollapalooza become a benchmark event again is definitely a great thing for our city’s biggest festival, and it shows just how much Chicago loves music like no other place
- Lil Durk treated the hometown crowd to a pair of tunes from two of the city’s biggest recent exports. First was King Von’s “Crazy Story 2.0,” which was the first instance this late into a set where I witnessed people running back to the Perry’s Stage grounds to experience this track from within the crowd. The only thing better than that was a set-closing performance of Chief Keef’s “Faneto,” which continues to build on its icon status for how it is always received by Chicago crowds, and it was made that much cooler because this was happening at the same stage where Keef made his debut/last appearance a decade prior. IYKYK
- IDLES was wild and if you’ve ever seen them live, you know exactly why they were an easy pick for my list of favorite performances of the entire festival. A fun little moment came when they went into a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone.” Once finished, lead singer Joe Talbot addressed the crowd afterwards, saying:
“That’s been stuck in my head. You know why? Cuz it’s fucking good”
- Toward the end of his set, De’Wayne noticed a fan in the front row/on the barricade asking him to sign his shirt. The Rock star asked his team if he could “do it now?” but with the tight schedule they needed to follow, he went on to play his remaining two songs. But right at the end, the Houston artist came down to finish his set amongst his fans and he went on to sign the fans’ shirt. Once finished, the security guard nearby walked up to the fan and said “that is the first time I’ve ever seen that work!”
- The Marias performed a soft cover of “Baby One More Time” and everyone joined in. Experiencing this in a post-#FreeBritney world made you appreciate the song in a different light, finally
- While I very much enjoyed how Green Day brought up a fan to sing with them on Sunday night, my favorite fan performance moment happened a day prior thanks to Spanish band Hinds. The group invited a fan with bright pink hair to play “Garden” with them and she killed it (loved when they joked that Ade could be out of a job)! Girls rock and we are all better for it
