Chicago, Il. – Saturday, August 5th marked the 3rd day of Lollapalooza 2017. This year, the lineup wasn’t the most impressive to date for the festival. Last year’s Saturday closer madness included Hardwell, Disclosure, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tickets were impossible to get for obvious reasons and really set the bar high. However, this year brought that bar back down to earth with a less extensive pair of closers.
While Lollapalooza is always known for highlighting and elevating up-and-coming performers throughout the day, all eyes were on Saturday night. Two iconic Chicago music superstars were pitted head-to-head: Chance the Rapper, and Kaskade. One hiphop breakout, and one electronic music veteran. The two stages side by side battling for the attention of thousands upon thousands of festival goers.
There’s no question that Chance had the larger audience when these two performances kicked off. He commanded a significant majority of all attendees, to the point where the stages of the remaining headliners (The XX and Mac Demarco) felt like a vacant afternoon sound check. While Chance had been a rising star in Chicago for quite some time, this performance felt like it was going to be different. Chance was headlining Lollapalooza, and everyone in the city was waiting for it. Unfortunately it fell far short of expectations.
Saturday night should have belonged to Chance, but with sky-high expectations it was his night to lose. People grew tired of the start-stop pacing and mid-song pauses that riddled his performance. While diehard fans stuck it out, less-dedicated eyes slowly shifting their attention to the massive fire-plumes in the east, peaking just over the tree line that separated the stages. Kaskade was throwing down.
Chance’s shortfall gave thousands of hiphop fans the opportunity to experience electronic dance music in it’s purest form: a stage the size of a football field (smoke and fire cannons included!) and a sea of energized fans. Kaskade reminded us all why he’s one of the best in the business and will always provide a commanding presence at any festival.
While this certainly won’t shake someone’s dedication to their favorite artist, we hope it gave people a taste of something new. At the very least, cross-genre festivals help spread the electronic music that we are passionate about and at the end of the day that’s all we can ask for.