And just like that, there’s only one day left of Lolla. Here’s what stood out to us from day 2.
Best:
The Tallest Man on Earth: Maybe it was just a right-mood, right-set situation, but boy this was the perfect mid-day act to take a breather, sit in the sun, and just chill and listen to and enjoy. – Annie Cercone
Sam Smith. Oh. My. Goodness. He sounded absolutely amazing live! It was a phenomenal concert. The amount of emotion that he poured into this music was enough to make you tear up. I honestly can’t say enough great things about this headlining set. –Rianne Coale
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Read the RedEye staff’s recap of the best and worst of Lolla day 1
Best oddball performance: Tyler the Creator and the entire Odd Future wolf gang always have been a weird, eccentric bunch. As a fan of his work, both music and television, I was pleasantly satisfied with his performance. From the oversized bed to the constant toilet paper flying in the air, it was an amazing spectacle rife with comedic repartee. – Akeem Lawanson
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Best hip-hop performance: G-Eazy was a guy I discovered through actually paying attention to a “recommended videos” end slate on YouTube after watching a SuperDuper KYLE video. And I’ve thanked my curious tendencies ever since. His bars are always powerful, and hearing him live is a bass impact to the chest. He’s so good that I had to see him twice! He performed at a Lolla afterparty I attended where one of his hype men threw water onto the crowd and showered us all with two-dollar bills. I made 4 bucks! – Akeem Lawanson
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Metallica. Like a team of monsters riding a freight train, the heavy foursome has not an ounce of rust on its metal. At a time when very few artists actually earn a headlining slot (Sam Smith, cough) and even fewer have material to sustain a two-hour show, Metallica (with guitarist Kirk Hammett the night’s MVP) proved itself a perfect booking. Massive and unstoppable. – Matt Pais
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Grilled cheese on a stick from Brunkow Cheese. What is this magic!? I love a good grilled cheese, but those carbs. Who needs them when the true star is the cheese? Brunkow, located in the Farmers Market, grills up a fat slice of queijo de coalho, so my foodie sidekick and I went for the original slathered with a glorious maple syrup and the fire-roasted hatch chile dripping with hot pepper jelly. FYI: Grilled cheese on a stick is the key to a girl’s heart. – Heather Schroering
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Mick Jenkins. Every time I see Chicago-raised RedEye cover star Mick Jenkins live, he ups his game. Kicking off Lolla’s second day, he proved that next time he’s back at Lolla, he’ll either be headlining or have one of the most packed slots of the weekend. Doling out hits from both his “The Water[s]” mixtape and his upcoming EP “Wave[s],” Jenkins’ mantra of drinking more water couldn’t have been a better call-and-response with the crowd, especially when the MC’s friends doused everyone with squirt guns. — Josh Terry
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Sam Smith, hands down. The perfect way to end the night, only I didn’t want it to end. Even though there were thousands of fans, it felt like such an intimate performance. His crooning of his breakup and love ballads gave me all the feels and had me singing along and swaying the entire show. And there’s that smile too. Sigh. – Leonor Vivanco
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Runners-up:
White Sea. You have no possible excuse to not give Morgan Kibby’s unreal voice a try. Moving, powerful, fun, remarkably impressive set that felt like a secret we were lucky to be in on. –Matt Pais
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Mick Jenkins. Summer music festivals often feature a number of rising artists who aren’t ready for the big stage. Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins isn’t one of them. He owned his performance Saturday, confidently confirming his spot as another local hip-hop artist that deserves the national spotlight. Keep an eye on him. – Matt Pais
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Sam Smith breaking out into Chic’s “Le Freak.” Say what you will, but I am down with the disco. – Heather Schroering
Sturgill Simpson. By far the twangiest act of Lolla’s 130 bands, Sturgill Simpson brought a little bit of country, a little bit of bluegrass and a little bit of Southern rock to the festival’s Bud Light stage. He’s got a voice that’s a dead ringer for Waylon Jennings, but his songwriting manages to maintain that classic vibe while blending in some needed psychedelic, modern qualities. — Josh Terry
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Tame Impala. This was my first time seeing one of my favorite bands. However, it was a poor decision on my part to go to the bathroom right when “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” started. — Josh Terry
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Worst:
It’s hard for me to pick a worst again today, but I’ll go with Kid Cudi. Don’t get me wrong, I can feel a Kid Cudi song with the rest of them, but he seemed a little disconnected with the insanely dense crowd that he attracted. Hard not to dance and have a good time to his hits, but I thought he could’ve brought some more energy. – Annie Cercone
Charli XCX. Besides the fact that you could barely hear her singing, when you could hear her, it sounded absolutely Auto-Tuned. I questioned whether she was actually singing or whether it was a recording. She was not the most ladylike of performers either, constantly gyrating her hips and even exclaiming, “My fly keeps coming undone.” Classy… –Rianne Coale
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Charli XCX. Her songs are just so, so bad. She also performed tracks that, even though she did co-write them, she has no business playing because all she contributed to them was a guest spot. Although, to be fair, I don’t want to hear “I Love It” or “Fancy” anymore regardless of who’s performing. – Matt Pais
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Sturgill Simpson: Okay, “worst” is a little dramatic. Disappointed is more accurate, and for that I’m blaming the stranger on the CTA, who told me Simpson was the present-day Johnny Cash. Those are some big shoes to fill. A Rolling Stone article last year briefly piqued my interest in the fellow Kentuckian, but I admittedly never got around to giving him a listen. I heard he puts bro-country to shame, and while I could hear some Waylon Jennings similarities, I wasn’t super impressed. Then again, maybe I was confused and distracted by the muscle shirt- and boat shoe-clad dudes exuding the bro-country vibe. – Heather Schroering
Plus
Dumbest move to make while performing: Travi$ Scott thought it’d be a good idea to tell the audience to jump over the barricade protecting him from the crowd. And sure enough, they did. I was “fortunate” to catch the first 15 minutes of his performance, then quickly left due to how rowdy the crowd was getting. I honestly wish I had stayed the course just to see the cops slap those handcuffs on this performer. Why the Hell would you incite a riot during YOUR performance?! The lack of respect for a venue that paid you to perform is simply ridiculous and stupid. – Akeem Lawanson
Biggest disappointment: Holychild. The L.A. duo’s album should be one of your primary summer soundtracks. But the studio finesse the makes the record pop was lost on a large stage, where unbalanced sound put all the emphasis on the low end, which isn’t the point here. –Matt Pais
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Biggest relief: Ryn Weaver. I’d seen a lot of mediocre live performances from her, but Saturday wasn’t one of them. She has a bit to learn about maximizing her impeccable material (listen to this album, dammit), but she was often quite good, and that’s much, much better than I’d feared. –Matt Pais
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The “I’m sorry but I want Tame Impala to do more songs like this” award — Matt Pais
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Best hair: Nicholas Petricca of Walk the Moon
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Best smile: Sam Smith
Rap beef winner: Vic Mensa over Travi$ Scott. Earlier this week, in an awesome, hard-hitting freestyle called “Heir to the Throne,” Chicago rapper Vic Mensa seemingly called out Travi$ Scott, calling him a “Cheddar Bob” and “corny” while sampling Scott’s signature ad-libs. Today, during a Perry’s set, Scott urged the crowd to ignore security, jump the barricades and hop onstage. This was not a good idea, as Scott had his set cut short (he only played one song), got arrested and was charged with disorderly conduct, per a city spokesperson. With this all happening on Mensa’s home turf, he wins. Beef or no beef, Vic’s still the better artist in every single respect. — Josh Terry
Most uplifting: Raury. The 19-year old Georgia native makes music that feels like the soaring soundtrack to some grand adventure. It’s uplifting, defies classification (the best I could come up with is Mumford and Sons meets Michael Jackson but a lot better than that comparison) and live, it includes unironic keytar. At his early afternoon set, he opened a song by calling on the crowd to talk to strangers, ask their names, what they do and then hug them. With any other act, it’d probably be corny, but Raury has the enthusiastic earnestness to pull it over. It was a special moment. — Josh Terry
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Childhood dreams realized award: Metallica. If you were to tell 13-year-old Josh that he’d get the opportunity to see Metallica, the-best-band-of-all-time-oh-my-god Metallica, and that present day Josh would only be mildly excited, 13-year-old Josh would be the most disappointed teen. “Sellout!,” he might yell. But with Metallica’s ripping set closing out Saturday, present-day Josh realized that there’s a damn good reason why their poster is still hanging up in his childhood bedroom and that there’s no good reason why it’s not currently displayed at his apartment. — Josh Terry
Best photo opp: The frame by Buckingham Fountain with the skyline in background. Picture perfect!
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