Lollapalooza 2024: PAPER's Version

At the near top of the list of what makes Lolla great is its location, location, location. Even my dear Gov Ball is a train ride away. But in Chicago, you can leave your hotel somewhere near the city center and walk past waterways, parks or restaurants until you find yourself at the festival gates. Plus, you've got tons of hotel options like the well-decorated, perfect to plug in your laptop and work from, Freehand Chicago, where you can dance to late-night DJs and get to the festival in 20 minutes flat by foot.

You're also in walking distance to all of Chicago's best fare. Take Sushi San, where we saw The Last Dinner Party noshing one booth over and where our waiter told us Chappell Roan also dined during the fest (Pop stars? They're just like us!). There was also Three Dots and a Dash, where I met with a friend to debrief The Killers' headline set in detail Saturday night over strong drinks and appetizers; or Pizza Portofino, where I ate too much pasta while explaining to the waiter why I almost cried hearing Labrinth live. So yes, the city backdrop itself is a big perk when it comes to Lolla, now let's turn our attention to festival itself.

Day one, dressed in Docs and rocking my vintage Casio set to the right time in case my service dropped between interviews, I made my way to Grant Park with a list of artists to chat with and butterflies thanks to my anticipation (or was that the four-shot Americano?). The day launched with a side stage chat with Been Stellar as they brought their downtown vibes to the chill Chi-town scene, giddy in the early hours of the day, sipping beer and happy to talk about their latest album, Scream From New York. They told us fans are having the most fun with their songs, “All In One,” and, “I Have An Answer.” “I don’t know if they’re having fun with the [second one],” they said, laughing. “But they’re feeling it!” Then it was back to the press area via golf cart (Grant Park is massive) for a chat with d4vd before he took the Titos Handmade Vodka stage later that day. When asked who would play him in a film, he said, “Lil Boosie cause he’s short like me,” before ending the interview with a celebratory backflip.

Next, we spent time with The Japanese House (who said she'd be played by a "blonde twink" if she were cast in a documentary) and got to hang out with METTE in her trailer right after her buzzy T Mobile stage performance. When we asked who would play her in a flick she said Zoë Kravitz at first, but then changed her answer when she realized they could be dead or alive. “Josephine Baker,” she smiled. “Cause I’m into the girls who understand that comedy and personality are the beauty.” We also saw Tyla, who had just left a spicy set on the main stage, and who also happens to be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

But, the most impactful moment of the day and maybe the fest was Chappell Roan's Thursday afternoon set. Never has it been more appropriate, more necessary to believe the hype than while watching this woman's recent meteoric rise. Hearing her hit the high notes while wearing hot pink wrestling gear, commanding the audience under a cloud of red pigtails flanked by bodybuilders is enough to make you fall in love with live music again.

Friday was our busiest blur, as we spoke with and photographed Blu De Tiger, who leaked to us that she's about to launch her own bass guitar, hung backstage with Brandi Cyrus (who told us her sister would play her in a bio flick) and captured Megan Moroney in bold, bright blue sequins. Somewhere between the press tent snacks and watching up-and-coming artists while sipping BMI backstage cocktails, I attempted to revive myself with Liquid I.V. hydration packets. Boots dirty and mildly exhausted, I marched on.

Saturday's first chat was with the very kind rockers Hippo Campus, who we later heard taking over the IHG stage as we hid from the sun in the backstage lounge. Later, our photographer Vincenzo Dimino grabbed some cute candids of Tate McRae. He also ran into the hilarious Jake Shane and Zedd, whose set featured a surprise Remi Wolf appearance. A pink haired Wisp and a cheerful Hozier also posed for his camera lens. Meanwhile, I got to see my favorite band in the world, The Killers, from the very front row.

Sunday was another busy day, which started with Huddy telling us Timothée Chalamet would play him in a movie, before we spent time with emo legends Pierce The Veil, a well-dressed Last Dinner Party and had a hilarious chat with Waterparks. We also had the chance to catch Conan Gray. He told me he liked my hair. I told him I liked his hair. I told everyone who would listen that Conan Gray told me he liked my hair. Then, I headed to the Liquid I.V. activation beside the huge Grant Park fountains to grab a blue smoothie mixed with their life-saving hydration powders.

Then, we spoke to CULTS about their new album, To The Ghost, after watching a bit of their set beside the Bacardi stage. At that point, a golf cart almost drove off with my Gucci bag, and that was my cue to head back to the comfort of my hotel room and away from what I've been known to call the most magical place on earth.

Back in 2013, as a freshly minted live music junkie, I’d never been to a music festival or written about one for that matter, but I desperately wanted to go to one. So, when The Killers announced they were headlining Lollapalooza that year, I packed up my car and diminished my savings account so I could afford a ticket to the sold-out fest. I still remember standing in GA, recognizing a journalist I’d seen on MTV walking towards the frontstage viewing area, and wishing I could be on the other side of that barrier.

I wanted to be as close to the thing I loved as possible: to write about it and hear it louder and be around it, as often as I could. A decade later, watching my favorite band from the front row, I feel like I can say I made it to the other side. Or, at the very least, closer.

Watching this weekend's sets a decade from my first Lolla trip, I can't help but think of PAPER's cover story with Chappell Roan and what she said about being dropped by her label. "I was like, 'Bitch, I need to pull myself together,'" she said, later adding that when she decided to move back to LA with "no fucking money" she made a promise: "I have to give this a shot, one more year."

On Thursday, as she sang her hits to the largest daytime crowd the festival has ever seen, you have to imagine she's made it to the other side. It's the same energy that hit me watching your new favorite band The National Parks play at the same BMI stage where Lady Gaga stood on her first Lollapalooza. She wore a makeshift mirror bra and brought her own microphone. Just a few years later, she headlined.

So, is there some magic manifesting power at Lolla where people come back to show you what they're made of? I happen to think there is. And that's what makes it my favorite festival.

At the beginning of The Killers' set on Saturday, frontman Brandon Flowers gave us a sermon. "You don’t gain confidence by shouting affirmations in the mirror — you’ve got to give the world irrefutable proof that you are who you say you are," he said. "We're The Killers, and we're a great rock and roll band. Here. Let me show you!"

Photography: Vincenzo Dimino (Cancel Creative)