The gates finally opened for Lollapalooza in Grant Park at 3 p.m. Saturday, hours after the scheduled start time, with some festivalgoers lined up at the entrance on Michigan Avenue in on-and-off rain showers to wait.
The festival sent an early alert that the gate would be delayed until 2 p.m. due to “current and overnight heavy rains,” then extended that to 3 p.m.
Unsurprisingly, the day’s music schedule took a hit. Most performances by acts slated to play earlier were canceled, with a handful moving to different stages.
The biggest casualty of the day was the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, originally the concluding set on the Tito’s stage. A spokesperson for the orchestra said the festival reached out to them earlier about the cancellation, but said they could not be rescheduled to Sunday. C3 Presents told the Tribune that concern for the orchestra’s instruments in rainy conditions also was a factor.
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The culprit, reportedly, was standing water. Though the festival’s stated policy is to proceed in the rain except in the case of thunderstorms or high winds, rainwater had pooled so much in the performance fields that they were unable to open, said Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward). His office and the city work with C3 Presents in hosting the annual four-day festival, including monitoring the weather.
He told the Tribune that 2 p.m. would have been enough time to get mulch down and drain the water but a new downpour set the clock back.
National Weather Service meteorologist Zachary Yack confirmed there were no thunderstorms in the area, saying the closest lightning got to Lollapalooza on Saturday was a single strike in southern Cook County at around 3 p.m. Yack said there may be a 10% to 15% chance festivalgoers would hear a “rumble of thunder” moving into the evening.
Still on Day 3 schedule: Headliners Olivia Dean (8:30 p.m. on the T-Mobile mainstage) and Jennie from the K-pop band BLACKPINK (8:55 p.m. on the Bud Light stage).
“Don’t be lamer than Coachella”
Starting the day on the Airbnb stage was Austin, Texas-based hard rock quartet Die Spitz. Heavy as hell, they’re young and feminist from a state that famously is not, and there was not a dude in sight. Making the most of their half-hour set, guitar player/drummer/vocalist Ava Schrobilgen told the crowd not to be “lamer than Coachella” and an immediate circle pit opened up. It stayed open as they ripped through select tracks from 2025 album “Something to Consume,” including “I Hate when Girls Die” and “Throw Yourself on the Sword.”
— Jessi Roti
Looking on the sunny side
A poncho-clad crowd waited on the muddy grass for English rock band Wolf Alice to begin their set. Behind the Bud Light stage, fog obscured the city skyline. Among the crowd was Charlotte Cronister, who, despite the rain, was feeling upbeat.
“I feel like it weeds people out sometimes, when the weather gets a little bad,” the Gold Coast resident said.
Along with Wolf Alice, Cronister, 26, said she was looking forward to Leon Thomas — who she grew up watching on the teen sitcom “Victorious” — and headliner Olivia Dean. Since it was her only day at the festival, she hoped to catch as many acts as she could.
“A little rain doesn’t stop anybody,” she said. “Especially Chicagoans.”
Waiting by the nearby Tito’s barricade were JJ Strain, 24, and Megan Sites, 24, who had traveled from Iowa for the festival. It was Strain’s third time at Lollapalooza, while Sites was a first-timer.
“My very first Lolla was 100 degrees,” Strain said. “I’d take this one over 100-degree weather.”
— Evgenia Anastasakos
Wolf Alice in its element
Wolf Alice going full arena-rock is thrilling, as is every time frontwoman Ellie Roswell puts down the guitar and takes down the runway clad in black leather and smeared lipstick. Pulling off both the oscillation between fast and furious belters and quiet, pastoral lullabies is a tough feat at an outdoor music festival, but the Brits do seem to be made for this sort of thing. (See: Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, so many celebrities in “wellies.”) Another truncated set due to weather delays, they ended with the lush “Don’t Delete the Kisses.” They said they hope they’re back soon. So do we.
— J.R.
Happy birthday, Leon Thomas
Broadway kid Leon Thomas took the T-Mobile stage on his birthday, the Grammy-nominated artist and producer garnering a massive crowd for a set time that put him opposite Clipse, the acclaimed rap duo of brothers Pusha T and Malice.
Hip hop’s footprint at Lolla has continued shrinking in recent years. With the cancellation of Lil Uzi on Friday, Saturday’s rush to Bud Light for Clipse offered slim pickings for pop music’s most influential genre.
Black-and-white video screens suited the call for slow grooving in the mud, but band members were the heroes of this set (shoutout guitarist and Chicago native “Freaky” Rob). When the wind catches a funkified blues riff that carries to Buckingham Fountain, you know you’ve got something special.
— J.R.
Floods and mud
Large wet patches remained near most stages Saturday, with festival attendees trekking over mud and straight through water. One employee watching over a T-Mobile charging station sat on a folding chair with his shoes half-submerged in a puddle.
People resting on the ground found a creative solution to sitting in the mud: the elevated dirt under trees was a little drier. Cayce Morris and Riley Wilkerson, both 28, sat under a tree near the Perry’s stage.
Wilkerson said they were worried about how muddy the area around the T-Mobile stage would be that evening, as they planned to see Olivia Dean and The Neighbourhood. The pair also wanted to watch Wolf Alice and were disappointed when the set was shortened.
“It’s a bummer, but I’ve also seen a lot of other people so far,” Morris said.
— Finnegan Belleau
Jazz worth finding
Sienna Spiro’s smoky rasp and jazz pop drew a huge crowd to the woods of the Airbnb stage. With songs from her debut album “Visitor,” 2025 breakthrough EP “Sink Now, Swim Later” and a cover medley of “Too Hard to Handle,” originally by the great Otis Redding and repopularized by the Black Crowes in 1990, into Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing),” she cemented her status as one of the most emotive up-and-comers to watch.
— J.R.
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If there is that rumble …
Further news and alerts will be available via Lollapalooza’s Festiverse mobile app and on social media (on TikTok, Facebook, X, Discord and Instagram) and their SMS updates. C3 Presents has spoken to the Tribune in the past about how the festival responds to severe weather and noted that three nearby garages would serve as evacuation sites: Grant Park North (25 N. Michigan Ave.), Grant Park South (325 S. Michigan Ave.) and Millennium Lakeside (5 S. Columbus Drive).