CHICAGO — Day 4 of 2025’s Lollapalooza music festival opened in Grant Park under sunny skies, lower air quality alerts and a final lineup of music across the festival’s seven main stages.

Headliners for Sunday were Sabrina Carpenter, making a day-closing stand for Lolla’s strong female lineup on the T-Mobile stage, and New York rapper A$AP Rocky on the Bud Light. It’s been nearly 10 years since A$AP Rocky last played Lollapalooza.

Other notable artists for the day include Finneas, the singer first famous in 2016 for teaming with sister Billie Eilish; Dominic Fike; a second Lolla for the Latin and jazz-infused indie band The Marías; and two concerts by Rebecca Black, the first a DJ set on the Perry’s stage.

K-pop fan culture

Early Sunday afternoon, a crew member carried a baby blue-painted door onto the Lakeshore stage and the crowd screamed. More than half an hour remained before BOYNEXTDOOR, but the South Korean boy band’s fans were setting the mood.

“Is that the door?” a boy asked his friend. “That they’re next to?”

The BOYNEXTDOOR fanbase had cheered on Joe P during his 12:45 p.m. set and was now buzzing about the performance they had been waiting for. In the meantime, they made friends.

Though K-pop is gathering a steady following in the U.S., it still feels like a “subculture,” according to Clarissa Pham, 26, from Dallas. That’s part of why the community around it is so strong and welcoming: Fans feel like they’ve found a group who can vibe with their niche.

“There’s something about knowing you’re in a subculture that makes you want to embrace other people more,” Pham said.

Nevaeh Ray, 17, had painted the band name on her sky-blue tank top and dusted blue makeup over her eyes. She wore her fandom with pride. The Bellwood native stood at the edge of the crowd waiting for her friend, whom she met online and bonded with through a shared love of BOYNEXTDOOR.

“We’re all very together,” Ray said. “We all vibe and get along.”

Justin Carumba, 33, got his friend Amy Hover, 37, into K-pop several years ago. Now they’re at their third Lollapalooza, making the trip each time from New Jersey. Last year, they befriended a girl who was alone at another Lollapalooza K-pop performance. This year, they’ve all reconnected to see BOYNEXTDOOR and TWICE.

“We have each other’s backs,” Hover said. “It’s so community-driven.”

Hover carried around a stack of photo cards to hand out to people in the crowd, each one depicting a band member of TWICE, the South Korean girl group that performed Saturday as Lollapalooza’s first all-girl K-pop headliner. Other K-pop-style bands on a bill this weekend have included KickFlip, Katseye, Xdinary Heroes and Wave to Earth.

Roxy Nieto, 22, has been a BOYNEXTDOOR fan since before their 2023 debut. She traveled from New Mexico for all four days of Lollapalooza, mostly to see them perform Sunday. The band’s free spirit and genuine “boy next door” energy drew her to its music, she said.

“It’s really inspiring,” Nieto said. ”It kind of makes you live in the moment when you listen to the music.”

BOYNEXTDOOR did indeed bring a spurt of positive energy to the Lakeshore stage. The six band members lined up across the stage in matching navy pants and white and beige baseball tees. They burst into a dance routine in sync with their song as the small but mighty crowd lost its mind.

After two numbers, the boys lined up once more. As each band member introduced himself, the fans who liked him most screamed from the crowd. All six made speeches, mostly highlighting how excited they were to be at Lollapalooza.

“We hope we don’t let you down today,” Jaehyun said. The crowd laughed in response. And as the set continued, it became increasingly clear that Jaehyun had nothing to worry about.

Comeback for Rebecca Black

Rebecca Black was 13 when she released “Friday,” the pop single that became an internet meme. When the music video came out on YouTube in 2011, millions of viewers made fun of the young singer; some even sent her death threats.

Flash forward 14 years and Black is mixing discs on Perry’s stage at Lollapalooza to a bumping crowd. Her hoop earrings bounced up and down as the now-DJ danced to her own beat, literally, alone on the stage but perfectly content in fluffy white leg warmers.

Most of Black’s fans remember the release of “Friday” and its controversial reception; many of them probably made fun of her as teenagers or little kids. But nobody in the crowd on Sunday had anything bad to say about Black, whose comeback into pop culture seemed official after her Lollapalooza performance.

“I love it for her,” said Jessica Briceno, 22, who remembered being a kid listening to “Friday.”

Gabby Williams, 27, remembered “Friday” as part of “the prime of YouTube.” She traveled to Lollapalooza from Colorado to see singers like Sabrina Carpenter and Tyler, the Creator but couldn’t give up the opportunity to see Black perform, given the place she holds memories of her teenage years. And Williams was shocked to find that Black really knew how to spin a disc.

“This is actually wild,” she said.

Leetos Levya, 32, came to Lollapalooza from Phoenix to watch EDM sets. He also remembers singing along to “Friday” on repeat with his friends in 2011 — so a Rebecca Black DJ show made for the perfect performance.

As a fan of the dance music genre, Levya was excited for Black, not only in how she has grown as an artist but also in how she has taken on the industry. He hears a lot of value in her EDM performances.

“Men that are in the EDM industry are not making room for women,” Levya said. “Rebecca Black is getting up there. She’s breaking barriers.”

Chicago native Jonathan Pinkerton, 41, was dressed and ready for some 2010s nostalgia at Lollapalooza on Sunday. He wore a red Troy Bolton jersey under Pit Vipers and a Buccee’s baseball cap as he bounced along to Black’s set with his sister, Robyn Pinkerton, who flew in from Orlando. The sibling duo has hung out at Perry’s stage for most of Lollapalooza, as it brings the best energy, they said. They thought Black matched that energy perfectly.

“She doesn’t take herself too seriously,” Jonathan said. “And I think she knew that she got big with the gimmick, but then leaned in with her talents.”

Something lighthearted, like Black’s set, was what Jonathan Pinkerton was looking to get out of his first Lollapalooza experience.

“What I love about the EDM community is that it’s all about connecting. It’s all about being with each other. It’s all about building a community,” Jonathan said. “No matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like, who you’re in love with, it’s all about love. And I think that’s what we need the most right now.”

Black nodded her head up and down as she fiddled with her DJ table. Leaning into her microphone, she yelled at the crowd: “Lollapalooza, DANCE!”

The crowd at Perry’s jumped up and down, screaming for Black. Nobody was making fun of her now.

Reports of a safe fest

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A spokesperson for Lollapalooza presenter C3 Presents said the festival would release official attendance figures after the festival concludes. Lollapalooza has a daily capacity of 115,000. The city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications will also release official incident reports and ambulance transports during the event.

But as of Sunday afternoon, said Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins, there had been only two arrests for 2025 and the lowest number of medical transports for a Lollapalooza. Hopkins spoke to the Tribune at the festival on Thursday and Sunday and is chair of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. Some of the decrease in medical transports is due to better on-site care, he said. “Not everyone has to be rushed to Northwestern.”

Parting shots

A few concluding thoughts from our writers about the music this year:

—Olivia Rodrigo appeals to a wider spectrum of fans than you’d think. Case in point, her guest artist Friday night was ’90s rock band Weezer.

—Doechii should have headlined. The Florida rapper on the T-Mobile stage late Saturday had powerful songs, a full-on stage set and choreography to rival Broadway.

—It wouldn’t be Lolla without a surprise appearance by Chance the Rapper. The hometown hero didn’t disappoint this year, playing Saturday on the Perry’s stage.

—The lineup was stacked with talent — and youth. Star Bandz, a rapper from south suburban Sauk Village, closed the BMI stage Friday. She’s 17.

—Sometimes you gotta know the music before seeing them on a big, open field at Lolla. If you hadn’t, some of Gracie Abrams’ set on Thursday would have started to sound the same.

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