Festival

PHOTOS: Lollapalooza Day One – Chicago, IL – 07-28-2022

Photos and Words By Callie Craig

On Thursday, July 28, 2022 the gates of Grant Park once again reopened, ready to welcome over 300,000 music fans to Chicago’s hometown music festival: Lollapalooza. Chicagoans and traveling music fans alike gathered at the gates well before opening in preparation. At 11 a.m., hordes of fans ran to the south T-Mobile stage to line the barricade for Metallica, while others began walking Central Columbus Drive, ready to take in all of the bells and whistles for 2022. I began my day with a set from hyperpop artist Underscores before heading to the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage to see Sam Fender. The set, which was slated to begin at 2 PM, faced some technical difficulties and left fans checking their watches, impatiently waiting for their British rock singer/songwriter to take the stage. After nearly 20 minutes of delay, Fender came into view with a single guitar and an amp, determined to give the fans some music, technical difficulties or not. After an invigorating cover of Bruce Springsteen‘s dancing in the dark, the team elected to work with any instruments that were cooperating. Fender acknowledged the technical difficulty, noting that he was going to cut down on the chitchat in order to give the fans as much music as possible in the time that he had left. 20 minute delay or not, fans exited the stage energetics and wistful, myself included.

Across the lawn I checked out a few songs from Dublin-based Inhaler, who got the crowd on their feet for tracks old and new. This left me just enough time to trek the mile-long festival grounds to catch the end of The Wombats set. As the sun began to set on day one, I headed to BMI – a stage known for giving a platform to up-and-coming artists that are sure to headline larger stages in the coming years. The BMI stage has been home to several acts including Role Model, Cage the Elephant, The Aces, and more. Headlining this evening was Rosie, whom I had the pleasure of chatting with earlier in the day. Unique and it’s message, Rosie’s set was laser-focused on being a safe space for fans from beginning to end. As she sang, Rosie continued to relay her message: that here at this stage, you are validated, you are loved, and you are everything that you need to be. Although sets from the various headliners were tempting, I couldn’t help but gravitate towards the T-Mobile stage to witness a historic set from Metallica. The rock legends electrified a crowd of over 100,000 fans with songs like Whiplash, Enter Sandman, and Battery before closing out with Master of Puppets. I left day one with a full camera, ringing ears, and excitement to wake up and start it all again.