This past weekend we wrapped up our second straight year at Lollapalooza. And while we already shared some of our favorite moments from the Windy City festival, we wanted to share more photos of some of our favorite performers at Lolla this year. In total we saw a number of great performances from The Weeknd, Sam Smith, Metallica, Paul McCartney, Tyler The Creator, Father John Misty, A$AP Rocky and Marina and the Diamonds, just to name a few.
Check out our first Lollapalooza Photo Series piece this year, of Sam Smith’s amazing performance below!
Last night Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers rocked the crowd at The Rave in Milwaukee, WI. Performing a number of records from the Bleachers’ debut album Strange Desire, the energy level never dropped during Jack’s set. The highlights of the night though included Bleachers’ encore performances of his Kanye West cover ‘Only One’ and ‘I Wanna Get Better’. Fans even got a taste of new music as Bleachers performed ‘Shadow of the City’, similarly named after Antonoff’s New Jersey music festival (the shadow of New York City).
Check our more photos, from our photographer Dan Garcia, below.
Before he brought his energetic performance to the Lollapalooza stage this past weekend, Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator performed a more intimate (but equally wild) set at the Concord Music Hall for an Official Afterparty of Lollapalooza 2015. With an opening performance from the uber talented band, BADBADNOTGOOD, Tyler (alongside Taco and Jasper) gave the Windy City fan’s their money’s worth. Not only did Tyler perform a number of tracks from his latest LP Cherry Bomb, but he performed a number of mixtape records for his day one fans. And if you missed out, don’t worry! Tyler will be back in Chicago with A$AP Rocky in September at the Aragon Ballroom (get your tickets Friday).
Check our more photos, from our photographer Dan Garcia, below.
We just got back from Lollapalooza 2015 and our second year at Chicago’s premiere music festival was as great as the first! Although a storm brought a brief evacuation to the Windy City festival, no performances where cancelled and fans saw some great sets from Sam Smith, Paul McCartney, The Weeknd, Metallica, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott (before he was arrested), Logic, Tyler the Creator, Marina and the Diamonds, George Ezra, and many many more.
Last night, rapper J. Cole brought his Forest Hills Drive Tour to Chicago with a stop at Tinley Park’s Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. With opening performances from Cole’s Dreamville arts (Bas, Cozz, Omen), rapper YG, Chicago’s own Jeremih and G.O.O.D. Music‘s Big Sean, fans certainly got their money’s worth. To warm up the crowd for the main event, Big Sean performed a number of his best known tracks, including a large number of tracks from his Dark Sky Paradise album, as well as some of Sean’s best guest features. The highlight of Sean’s performance however came during technical difficulties, as Sean’s mic cut out during his emotional performance of ‘One Man Can Change The World’. While the crowd initially booed the sound team for the problems, once the Windy City fans could tell that the mic wasn’t going to immediately fix itself, the entire crowd stop their boos and instead cheered for Sean with all their energy as he continued to rap his latest single, dedicated to his late grandmother. Knowing the context behind the record, the crowd helped Sean turned a negative moment into a memorable on.
For J. Cole’s headlining set, the man proved why he is meant to top the bill of a long and talented list of performers. Cole not only played his entire album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, but he gave intimate stories behind the records (as almost a director’s commentary to the album). Cole also brought out Jeremih for a performances of their ‘Planes (Remix)’, and even sprinkled in a few tracks for some of his day one fans. Not one fan left the amphitheatre feeling that Cole and the rest of the lineup didn’t give them their money’s worth.
Check our more photos, from our photographer Dan Garcia, below.
It’s easy to sleep on lesser-known artists during any given year, but 2015 is a special case, as the upper echelon of the music scene is providing new releases for fans at a rapid pace. Alongside spinning Meek Mill’s Dreams Worth More Than Money and Future’s Dirty Sprite 2, many listeners are understandably spending their remaining time discussing forthcoming albums from the likes of Travis Scott and Kanye West. In order to make sure certain names aren’t overlooked amidst the crowd, we’ve listed five musicians that immediately require a spot in your library.
Last night, Milwaukee singer Lex Allen and the New Age Narcissism collective performed a headlining set at the Brady Street Festival in Milwaukee, WI. While many festival goers were sprinkled throughout the Brady St. bars, somewhere between buzzed and drunk (since it’s what Mil-town does best), a great crowd of fans showed up for the Allen’s entertaining set. Full of costume changes, dancers and surprise performances from NAN’s Siren and Lorde Fredd33, Lex delivered for his hometown crowd.
Check our more photos, from our photographer Dan Garcia, below.
Last night, singer Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires performed an amazing set at the Subterranean in Chicago, IL. With an energetic opening set from Milwaukee rapper WebsterX, Windy City fans definitely got their money’s worth. WebsterX performed a number of tracks, including his fan favorite ‘doomsday’, and Bradley kept fans entertained with performances from his Victim of Love and No Time For Dreaming records. If you weren’t in Chicago last night, Bradley will be touring the world this summer, while Midwest fans can catch WebsterX at this year’s Summer Set Music & Camping Festival (enter our ticket giveaway here).
Check our more photos, from our photographer Jesus Montero, below.
North Carolina may not be home to the biggest attractions in the music festival circuit, but it more than makes up for that fact with expertly curated gatherings such as Hopscotch Music Festival. Slated for September 10-12, this year’s edition of the artistic celebration will feature 160 acts spread throughout 12 venues in the state capital of Raleigh. Previous lineups have included various names such as Big Boi, Jamie xx, How To Dress Well, St. Vincent, Local Natives, Action Bronson, and a host of others, so it’s no surprise this year’s imprint is poised to be just as diverse. In order to give attendees a taste of what’s in store for Hopscotch 2015 (and if you don’t have your tickets yet to can get them here) we’ve listed five acts ranging from rap to post-rock that simply can’t be missed.
For those who have logged onto a computer within the past few days, the escalatingbeefbetween Meek Mill and Drake is likely not breaking news. Meek’s accusations of Drake employing ghostwriters set off a firestorm that went from bad to worse over a sprawling series of tweets, and as of now, it’s only spreading as other rappersattempt to insert their two cents. No one can truly confirm whether or not an individual in the shadows penned lyrics for the head of OVO, but fortunately, there are certain lines only Drake could have crafted. In order to help figure out where those lyrics reside, we’ve compiled 10 tracks that definitely came from the mind of Canada’s finest.
The Early Registration 