In the years since Lollapalooza became a destination festival in 2005, organizers C3 Presents have perfected a formula for success. The fest’s tenure in Grant Park has outlasted its original seven-year run as an alt-rock package tour, and three-day passes to the 2014 version were all snapped up in March, before the lineup was even made public. Single-day passes became available a few days later, after the lineup announcement, and they were gone within two hours. At this point the only kinds of Lollapalooza tickets not totally sold out are the three-day Platinum Pass and two flavors of travel package, which include hotel stays (if you have to ask how much they cost, you can’t afford them). Not bad for a festival with a daily capacity of 100,000—roughly the population of South Bend, Indiana.
Friday, August 1
12:15-1:00 | San Fermin |Palladia Stage
Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig define Lucius with their terrific voices and the terrific way they blend. I first heard the two of them in San Fermin’s sophisticated art-pop (see above), where they sang as hired guns; on their debut with Lucius, last year’s Wildewoman (Mom + Pop), their harmonies wend through fairly standard but well-played contemporary indie-pop. They transcend that generic template by using a variety of vocal approaches: prewar pop a la the Andrews Sisters, classic Brill Building brio, the clever braided melodies of the Roches. Whether gently shading each other or opening the throttle wide, Wolfe and Laessig never falter—here’s hoping they start writing songs worthy of their sparkling, graceful voices. Also Sat 8/2 at Lincoln Hall, sold out, 18+. —Peter Margasak
4:45-5:30 | Blood Orange | The Grove
The most striking thing about Lorde’s supernatural breakout debut, 2013’s Pure Heroine, is that she’s flanked by minimal, grumbling electro beats but still sounds completely alone. The New Zealand teenager’s conviction is so absolute that her voice seems to swallow up what’s happening around her, like a kind of beautiful, delicate black hole. (Onstage, though, she tends to fragment your attention with jarring, gyrating dance moves.) Pure Heroine still sounds electric, even after all the Grammy nominations and multiplatinum hubbub of “Royals“—and if you think that song has lost any of its luster since you first fell for it, you must not have experienced it live, with the early-evening sky painted bright with color above the Chicago skyline. —Kevin Warwick
Saturday, August 2
Noon-12:30 | Jon Batiste & Stay Human | The Grove
