Lollapalooza 2025 kicked off in Chicago’s Grant Park on a high note Thursday. Tyler, the Creator made his triumphant return to the festival after canceling last year’s headlining set, and Luke Combs also served as a headliner, marking the first time the festival featured a country act in a top slot. Ahead of the fest closers, Gracie Abrams wowed fans with a surprise appearance from Robyn, Cage the Elephant paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, and many more artists made waves. Here are some of the highlights from Day One of this year’s edition.
Tyler, the Creator Makes a Triumphant Return
It has been four years since Tyler, the Creator headlined Lollapalooza — last year he bowed out from his top Lolla billing altogether just six weeks before the fest. But he had a lot in store for those who were waiting for his return: A week before Lolla’s 2025 edition, he dropped his second album in less than a year, Don’t Tap the Glass, while still in the midst of touring on Chromakopia — and both albums debuted at Number One. He had a lot to celebrate, and he did so without the production that featured a boat and costume changes signaling different eras from his last turn at the same T-Mobile main stage.
This time around, it was stripped down stage production-wise: he appeared on a riser with “Don’t Tap the Glass” emblazoned across it. There weren’t any extravagant props. He didn’t need them. Whether he was traversing his latest material — including the pulsating “Sugar on My Tongue,” “bossin’ up” hard on “Rah Tah Tah,” delivering the woozy, disorienting “Noid,” or the vulnerable “Like Him” — or performing earlier material, he commanded the stage. His body was in near-constant motion, as he contorted and undulated to the grooves. Fans followed suit, and at times he served as the massive crowd’s conductor, directing the audience-wide sing-along to “Sticky.” Along with new songs, he peppered in fan favorites, including “Earfquake,” Wusyaname,” “Whodatboy,” and “New Magic Wand.” In the time it typically takes to earn a diploma, he has graduated to yet another next level in his constant evolution. —A.L.
Luke Combs Becomes the First Country Lolla Headliner
“If I wasn’t here tonight, I know I’d still be playing these songs, just somewhere else, like a bar in my college town,” Luke Combs said to preface “Doin’ This.” The first country singer to ever headline Lollapalooza was personable and sincere in a genre whose biggest hits revel in karma and spite. Combs found his own pathway to the top of the radio charts and festival circuit as a down-to-earth softie. Working from his 2017 debut This One’s for You on to 2023’s Gettin’ Old, he arranged his set into chapters of his life. Combs was a natural storyteller when not singing, too. While introducing songs, he recounted the moment he knew he just met his future wife, and why he’s proud to hail from North Carolina, even though he relocated to Nashville. Yet his final moment of tenderness needed no introduction: a faithful cover of “Fast Car,” as immortalized by his internet-breaking duet with Tracy Chapman at last year’s Grammys, only this time he was in a Cubs jersey. “If you didn’t love country music showing up tonight,” he said, “I hope you do now.” —N.C.
Gracie Abrams Ushers in Lolla 2025’s Pop Queen Reign With Robyn
Gracie Abrams is part of the growing contingency of pop queens who are taking over coveted high-tier festival slots, and it’s about damn time. She last performed at Lollapalooza three years ago at a smaller stage and earlier time slot. This year, she hit Lolla’s largest mainstage, where Olivia Rodrigo, for whom she opened on the Sour tour, will headline tomorrow (tonight’s headlining tier is the only one not featuring a female closer). “Lollapalooza. I’m Gracie Abrams. Holy shit!” she happily exclaimed, overwhelmed at the full-field turnout, which was filled with fans who sang along to songs from The Secret of Us, including opener “Risk” and the contemplative “Blowing Smoke.” Mid-set, Abrams traded in her acoustic guitar for piano to perform “Death Wish” and “I Miss You, I’m Sorry.” Her interactions with the camera and the crowd — at one point she took a selfie with a fan’s camera, at another moment she sang directly to the livestream camera, creating an intimate moment for those at home — were endearing, as was her rousing finale, which included a surprise guest. She brought out Robyn to perform “Dancing on My Own,” a song Abrams covered previously at Lolla. Abrams blended her own “Close to You” with Robyn’s hit, and it was pure pop perfection. —A.L.
Magdalena Bay Share a Space Tale
Avant synth-pop duo Magdalena Bay’s Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin brought their Imaginal Disk concept album to the festival: aliens attempt to upgrade character True’s brain by implanting a disc, which the heroine rejects in favor of discovering what it means to be human. Augmenting the theme, they performed flanked by a video backdrop that resembled a portal with wings. Songs like opener “She Looked Like Me” and “Image” homed in on the notion of reinvention gone awry. Beyond the surreal high concept, it was the infectious grooves and Tenenbaum’s ethereal vocals that drew the audience in, taking the space tale into magical dance floor territory, such as during “Death and Romance.” —A.L.
Cage the Elephant Exudes Charisma
For a rock band that’s upped their showmanship at each of their six Lollapalooza appearances, Cage the Elephant defied expectations by packing the most charisma in their slower material. Rowdy hits “House of Glass” and “Come a Little Closer” were uncharacteristically dwarfed by “Shake Me Down” or the acoustic guitar opening “Cigarette Daydreams.” Best of all was a tribute to the similarly unpredictable Ozzy Osbourne. Instead of invoking his shocking antics, though, they leaned into his oft-overlooked sentimentality with a faithful cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” to honor how the passing of time alters us all. —N.C.
Fcukers Throw a Cheeky Dance Party
Making Rolling Stone’s Future 25 list, New York City’s Fcukers — comprising lead singer Shanny Wise and Jackson Walker Lewis — brought their fusion of house music inflected with pop and dub reggae to the hometown of house, and it was clear the hype around them was as infectious as their giddy sound and cheeky spin. They got the crowd going with songs such as the hip-hop-tipped “Play Me” co-written and produced by Kenneth Blume (formerly known as Kenny Beats) and their breakout, set-closing “Bon Bon.” Wise’s playful, repeated lyrics and laidback delivery served as another percussive accent to their beats, which got the crowd singing and dancing along. The sun was still out, but they harnessed late-night club vibes in the Grove stage area they graced. —A.L.
Girl Tones “Got It” for the Crowd
It’s easy to forget Girl Tones only have two EPs. Fueled by high-octane garage rock, the Kentucky duo of Kenzie and Laila Crowe tore through their catalog with the confidence of an aughts radio staple. While the White Stripes — their most obvious comparison — were about controlled energy, Girl Tones are proudly imperfect. Enthused by the crowd’s chant-along to “Got It,” singer-guitarist Kenzie flung her sunglasses across the stage. Cage the Elephant’s Brad Shultz helped them close with a cover of the Vines’ “Get Free,” but not before passing the rock baton by recalling when his band played this same stage in 2007. —N.C.
Role Model Taps the Dare
Tucker Pillsbury loves a pivot, having switched from rap to folk-pop and moved from coastal Maine to bustling Hollywood. Watching Role Model onstage, it’s understandable how the 28-year-old pulled it off. He’s all charm and star power, whether confessing heartbroken concern in “Some Protector” over banjo or courting a wildcard boozehound with sunny acoustic pop in “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.” “Ooh, I feel sexy tonight!” he teased between songs. It was met by a tidal wave of high-pitched screams — and they only scaled higher with “Look at That Woman,” “Deeply Still in Love,” and cameos from the Dare. —N.C.
Nourished by Time Brings the Passion
Baltimore’s Marcus Brown, who performs as Nourished by Time, was still “working on” new song “Baby Baby” from upcoming album The Passionate Ones out later this month, he said during his set. The song from the R&B rising musician, with its stream-of-consciousness, free-flowing delivery over a lush sonic landscape, was compelling as it moved from a lustful lament to world affairs. “Free Palestine,” he remarked after the song, adding, “Free yourselves, too.” He was an expressive performer, communicating emotion not just through his lyrical subject matter, but flourishing gestures. Other highlights included “Daddy” and “Shed That Fear.” —A.L.
Sierra Ferrell Looks to the Past to Inform the Future
“In with the old!” Sierra Ferrell yelled before introducing a self-described old-timey fiddle tune about chitlin. “It’s important we know the past so we can make a brighter future out of it.” Backed by violin, mandolin, upright bass, and drums, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter kneaded Americana and bluegrass into her own style. For Ferrell, that means finding modern truths in old stories. A clever lyricist with a tongue as sharp as her pen, she mainly performed songs from 2024’s Trail of Flowers, making a strong live impression out of already remarkable songs such as “Money Train” and “I Could Drive You Crazy.” She also snuck in a Black Sabbath “Iron Man” riff during her set. —N.C.
Julie Bring Nu-Gaze and Channel the Nineties
Teens with nu-gaze at the top of their Spotify Wrapped and longtime Lolla attendees who framed their Nineties ticket stubs were equally smitten with Julie. Like the younger sibling of Sonic Youth, but with more shoegaze and cryptic experimental drone, the Los Angeles trio dialed up the distortion on “Clairbourne Practice” and “Catalogue” to rattle teeth. Backed by camcorder footage of computers bumping CD drives and a smoker’s windswept hair, Julie performed My Anti-Aircraft Friend cuts and fan favorite “April’s-Bloom” while their album title flashed onscreen like subliminal messaging. Disaffected yet fanged, their noisy blend contrasted the day’s offerings. —N.C.
