Lollapalooza has revealed its 2025 lineup, with Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler, the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, and RÜFÜS DU SOL serving because the pageant’s massive 4 headliners. It’s the primary time in Lolla’s historical past {that a} rock band of some type isn’t headlining.
If something, the “rock” headliner is Olivia Rodrigo this 12 months, whose occasionally-feisty catalogue is impressed by the plethora of bands who’ve closed out Lollapalooza levels in years prior: Rage Towards the Machine, Jack White, Arctic Monkeys, 9 Inch Nails. However as plain as Rodrigo is, her title feels much less like a deal with for Chicago’s rock crowd and extra like an acceptable companion to acts like Gracie Abrams, TWICE, and fellow headliner Sabrina Carpenter.
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This appears to be the most important takeaway of the pageant’s twenty ninth version, which fits down in Grant Park from July thirty first to August third. The pageant has step by step shed its rock-tinged layers in favor of digital music, hip-hop, and primarily, pop (and alt-pop, for what it’s price). That is neither a superb factor or a nasty factor, as Lollapalooza can solely afford to scale in the direction of no matter is most up to date and can deliver the very best proportion of attendees. However for a sure festival-goer, this lineup represents that eventual altering of the guard in the case of rock bands at multi-genre occasions like Lolla.
Don’t get me fallacious: there are undoubtedly some rock bands on this lineup. There are some good ones, too: Chicago’s personal Ratboys are hidden inside the undercard (maybe with some new music?), they’ve lastly booked the whirlwind Japanese punks Otoboke Beaver, and there’re loads of rising rock acts which might be price attending to Grant Park at 2:00 p.m. for, like Wunderhorse, NewDad, La Femme, Julie, and Woman Tones.
However as welcome as these teams are on the lineup, they aren’t precisely unified beneath the larger-font rock names, which are actually simply Korn and Cage the Elephant this 12 months. The latter’s billing exterior the highest line is definitely a little bit of a shock, particularly contemplating the collection of alt-rock radio acts which have a large overlap with Cage’s fanbase (Wallows, Flipturn, Foster the Individuals). With their 2024 comeback album, Cage the Elephant have as soon as once more reaffirmed their standing as one of many greatest different rock teams round, interval. And but, they’ve been out-billed by Korn, who’re kind of on the lineup as a novelty act.
That’s to not say Korn doesn’t have an ideal output or wouldn’t completely rip it at sunset in Chicago, but it surely’s such a random nod to the now-reappraised nu-metal scene that they give the impression of being unusual on the poster. I’d nearly anticipate them to be paired with the brand new iteration of Linkin Park, who’ve just about completely opted for the Danny Wimmer Presents fests like Sonic Temple and Welcome to Rockville as a substitute of something placed on by C3 Presents or Goldenvoice/AEG.
The truth is, it’s those self same DWP festivals which might be boasting the lions share of lively rock bands in 2025, which could clarify why fests like Lolla and Coachella aren’t bending over backwards for them. Beforehand, the acts that will play, say, Florida’s Welcome to Rockville have been the harder-edged teams you’d see at Mayhem, Ozzfest, or Warped Tour. This 12 months, they’ve received Inexperienced Day, Incubus, Jimmy Eat World, Elegant, Taking Again Sunday, and the aforementioned Linkin Park — all of which may justifiably accompany Korn’s “nostalgia rock” place on Lolla’s 2025 lineup, however are as a substitute now grouped into DWP’s extra common “laborious rock” scene that’s fully unbiased from the opposite multi-genre fests.