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Ever since 2005, when it established itself in its current format as a four-day live music installation along Chicago’s lakefront, Lollapalooza has become a destination event designed to grow and change with the shifting tastes and expectations of its hundreds of thousands of annual attendees. It bolted on the accoutrements of a contemporary music festival — a DJ tent featuring self-contained raves named for founder and spiritual benefactor Perry Farrell, a “Kidzapalooza” stage for the headphoned scions of aging indie rock fans — and last year pivoted to a digital format as the Lockdown raged. Lolla 2021 formulated quickly in the midst of the Great Reopening, but has encountered withering criticism for its problematic COVID protocols, which basically entrust the policing of proper masking and proof of vaccination to a bunch of young people who are probably more interested in partying with their pals in close quarters.
Sadly, The Delta Variant isn’t some up-and-coming emo band playing a side stage. But while Lollapalooza 2021 is set to pop off despite a good deal of COVID-19 static, thanks to its streaming partner Hulu, you don’t need to worry about the virus, or even lines for beer and bathrooms. So pour yourself your favorite cold beverage and fire up the computer machine, because Decider has your Lolla-At-Home picks to click.
THURSDAY JULY 29, 2021
Orville Peck, 3:45 PM ET, 2:45 PM CT, 12:45 PM PT
Shrouded in fringe and possessed of a baroque, beguiling take on country and western that has only gotten more interesting with his participation in Lady Gaga’s Born This Way The Tenth Anniversary — “Born This Way” (The Country Road Version)” will certainly find its way into his Lolla set — Orville Peck is definitely a show pony on the move. And the collabos don’t stop with Gaga: Peck got his Johnny Cash on for the cover of “Jackson” that appears on RuPal’s Drag Race winner Trixie Mattel’s recent covers set Full Coverage, Vol. 1.
Black Pumas, 6:10 PM ET, 5:10 PM CT, 3:10 PM PT
Best New Artist nominees at the 2020 Grammys, Austin’s Black Pumas broke wide with the sun-drenched, funk and gospel-tinged single “Colors” from their self-titled 2019 debut and haven’t ever looked back. Vocalist/guitarist Eric Burton and guitarist/bandleader Adrian Quesada have developed a formidable two-man game, with Burton’s vocals out front recalling Otis Redding and soaring over instrumentation that coats psychedelia in Texas dust. But Black Pumas are a tight, road-tested live combo, too, having honed their sound on stages nationwide, and their Lolla set should be a surefire way to kick off the weekend.
FRIDAYJULY 30, 2021
White Reaper, 7:15 PM ET, 6:15 PM CT, 4:15 PM PT
In their still-young career, White Reaper have enjoyed thumbing their noses at any calls to stay humble. From their debut, the 2015 Polyvinyl effort White Reaper Does It Again, to its follow-up The World’s Best American Band, and onward to major label waters, these guys are happiest puffing out their chests and banging out punk-pop-infused rockers with proudly snotty choruses. There are echoes of smart and (smart-aleck) Chicago rockers Twin Peaks in White Reaper’s sound, but they often seem so excited to get to the hooky chorus that subtlety is sliced off, which sounds like a good thing for a hot Summer night.
Jack Harlow, 9:00 PM ET, 8:00 PM CT, 6:00 PM CT
Jack Harlow is drinking water and wearing protection. He has a career, and he’s very invested. In fact, he likes to call it a passion, and therefore can’t be sitting relaxing. But you, however, you can relax all you want as you watch this youthful, ringlet-haired rapper of “What’s Poppin’” fame and buzzy Tik Tok telemetry take the Lake Shore stage on the south end of Grant Park, where he’s in an on deck position for Tyler, the Creator’s headlining set at 8:45, right across the field on the T-Mobile stage.
SATURDAY JULY 31, 2021
Hinds, 2:50 PM ET, 1:50 PM CT, 11:50 AM PT
The Madrid, Spain quartet Hinds makes elegant, hooky garage pop with a proudly lo-fi aesthetic and plenty of throwback verve to the jangly, melodic C86 bands of yore. Shouty, often group-sung vocals mix freely between English and Spanish, and it’s easy to get caught up in shouting along before you notice how well-built their economic songs really are. With two full-lengths under their belt and a third, 2020’s well-received Prettiest Curse, having provided them an even bigger international platform, not to mention their bang-up cover of The Clash’s “Spanish Bombs,” Hinds probably deserve a Lolla berth a bit higher in the day.
Journey, 9:30 PM ET, 8:30 PM CT, 6:30 PM PT
Journey was a booking that became a head-scratcher for many Lolla watchers, but nevertheless, Neal Schon’s long-running, often mutating rock band is headlining the Bud Light Seltzer stage, now including (again) Randy Jackson on bass and still featuring the impossibly Steve Perry-sounding Arnel Pineda on vocals, who Schon famously discovered on YouTube (see more in the documentary film Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey). “Don’t Stop Believin’” has entered American lore since its 2007 feature in The Sopranos series finale and adoption by various sports teams, so it’s probably worth tuning into this stream at least to discover where in the set Journey puts their trademark number.
SUNDAYAUGUST 1, 2021
Young Thug, 5:05 PM ET, 4:05 PM CT, 2:05 PM PT
Atlanta-born Jeffery Lamar Williams, aka Young Thug, has been enjoying the ride. The rapper, musician, and songwriter first featured in verses and on mix tapes before hopping on “Havana” with Camila Cabello and watching it hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100, a spot he found again with his debut full-length, 2019’s So Much Fun. A furiously inventive rap stylist, it’s easy to imagine any Young Thug set featuring as much hyperactivity and spazzing out as it does eccentric style and straight-up rap bangers. As the world awaits “Punk,” his second studio effort, you can thrill to the lead single, “Tick Tock.”
Foo Fighters, 9:20 PM ET, 8:20 PM CT, 6:20 PM PT
Eminently capable of coexisting as the leader of America’s most singular contemporary rock band and the country’s friendly longhair neighbor who’s glad to help move a couch, Dave Grohl has basically ascended to music world royalty. There have been multiple Grammy noms along the way, and they’re already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But for fans, a Foos set is just about the hits, of which there are many, and probably some to which you never realized you knew all the words. “All My Life,” “Best of You” “Everlong,” “My Hero,” “Learn to Fly,” “Monkey Wrench,” “Times Like These,” even “Big Me” — if there’s an American band working today that’s built to close out a big rock festival, Grohl and the Foo Fighters are definitely it.
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges
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