The sound of shoes sloshing through mud, accompanied by the Star Wars theme song that played over blasting speakers, welcomed festivalgoers who waited longer than anticipated as they entered the gates of Lollapalooza’s third day on Saturday, Aug. 1.
The four hour delay was due to rain from the night before that continued through the morning, flooding Grant Park’s festival grounds.
Lollapalooza’s Instagram account posted a “doors delay” at 9:30 a.m., making the new start time 2 p.m., which then was extended to 3 p.m. shortly after.
Thousands of festivalgoers waited outside the gates surrounding Grant Park, wearing a variety of ponchos and heavier shoes compared to the past few warmer, dryer days, still anticipating their favorite artists.
Despite the delay, festivalgoers said that Lollapalooza did a good job of updating the public on when the gates would be open.
Festivalgoers Chloe Doll and Emerald Gould, who came from Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Lollapalooza, said they felt the festival handled the delay well.
“I feel like Lollapalooza was very communicative with everybody, telling them what to wear and very responsive about the delays,” Doll said. “I feel like they handled it pretty well.”
Cade Smolen from Plainfield, Illinois said that the line to get into the festival was not as bad as other festivals he’s gone to that were postponed.
“It wasn’t a bad line,” Smolen said. “I remember going to Beyond Wonderland after they had closed and reopened it, and that was very bad. But [Lollapalooza] wasn’t too bad, it was only like 10 minutes of waiting.”
About an hour after the 3 p.m. delay, the revised schedule for the day was posted, cutting 19 artists from the third day of the festival, including MC4D, Peace Control, Nat Myers and Wisp.
Matthew Witte from La Grange Park, Illinois, was excited to see Wisp, who was originally on the set list at 1:55 p.m.
“I kind of feel bad for a lot of smaller bands. I feel like now people don’t go to record stores as much anymore and look for new artists,” Witte said. “Something like Lollapalooza is a perfect opportunity for somebody to discover an artist that they haven’t listened to for the first time.”
Some artists may not be able to play in Chicago for months after the festival’s end because of the Radius Clause, which is also used by large festivals such as Coachella.
The Radius Clause dictates that a performer may not play within a certain radius of a city for a decided amount of time before a festival begins or ends, meaning that an artist’s only chance to play in Chicago for the year may be at Lollapalooza.
It is not publicly known which artists are affected by this clause, as it is dependent on artist-to-artist contracts. Some artists work around this clause by playing official Lollapalooza aftershows at local, independent venues.
A number of artists, like The Smashing Pumpkins and The Braymores, are playing multiple shows in Chicago this year following Lollapalooza.
Festivalgoer Jaila Crawford of New Albany, Indiana, expressed sympathy for other festivalgoers who may have lost the chance to see their favorite artist perform because of the delays.
“That’s kind of crazy, I feel bad for the people who don’t get Lolla tickets, and they won’t be able to see them in Chicago,” Crawford said.
Despite the weather, many fans were still excitedly running to their favorite artists’ stages. Many were rushing to K-Pop group CORTIS’ performance, whose set was shortened from 50 minutes to 40 minutes.
One attendee, Mallory Johnson, had been waiting outside the entrance since 10 a.m. Her plans to claim a front spot at CORTIS’ performance didn’t work out, as she lost her place in line when she wandered around waiting for the updated opening time.
“We were gonna book it to T-Mobile and make it to see CORTIS right away, because it’s our favorite band. But it is what it is,” Johnson said.
Several artists’ sets were shortened, like DJ Trixie Mattel, who was initially supposed to play for an hour, but only was allotted 45 minutes on the updated schedule. Max Styler, bbno$, and Wolf Alice also received shortened set times.
Doll and Gould came to Lollapalooza to see Leon Thomas play for an hour, only for his set to be cut down to 45 minutes.
“It’s a little disappointing, too, because it’s all the smaller artists, so it is sad for them to have their big shots shortened because of the rain,” Doll said.
bbno$’s set, which only got shortened by five minutes, featured a surprise appearance from rapper Yung Gravy, who said he felt good about the set despite the weather.
Yung Gravy spoke to his identity as an internet personality and rapper, as many influencers took the stage this year like the TryGuys, Mattel and Elizabeth Nichols who played her first Lollapalooza on Friday, July 31.
Yung Gravy said that he’s lucky that his personality is what shines first and foremost in his music, and that those who adjust their voice for social media may not find the same success.
“Any new artists that I’ve seen have some sort of social media pushing them for sure, but I don’t think anyone should base anything that they do musically or their style on social media,” he said. “It’s better to just make yourself known with social media to have something worthwhile.”
While Lollapalooza’s last day, Sunday, Aug. 2, is projected to be sunny with no clouds, festivalgoers made the most of a rainy and muddy day, as a group of lesbian audience members scheduled a mud wrestling event between the T-Mobile and Allianz stage.
Caroline Van Pelt, who was covered in mud after wrestling, screamed about why she decided to join the pit.
“Sexiest women, every day,” she screamed. “I love this. Ten out of ten!”
Additional Reporting by María Paula Sanchez
Copy edited by Katie Peters
