Clear skies, lake breeze. Compared to the haze of Lollapalooza Day 1, the washout redux of NASCAR weekend and the action-alert heat that’s suffocated the city since June, Saturday afternoon in Grant Park was Chicago finally showing its best.
Headliners for Lollapalooza Day 3 are more of a trio, with Australian electronic group Rüfüs Du Sol closing the day on the T-Mobile stage, K-pop girl group TWICE on the Bud Light and singer Mk.gee commanding his own strong following for his Saturday-capping set on the smaller Grove stage.
Other artists playing Saturday include indie-pop singer Clairo, Young Miko, Two Friends, Marina, Doechii and JPEGMAFIA. The Chicago Youth Symphony will close the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage Saturday evening. Plus there’s the surprise addition of Chance the Rapper playing a 15-minute set on the Perry’s stage at 5:50 p.m. Chance has a new album, “Star Line,” due out on Aug. 15.
TWICE, the first-ever K-pop girl group to anchor the festival, drew K-pop fans sporting trademark accessories inspired by their favorite idols — bright colors, fur armwarmers, hair tinsel and baseball card-sized photos of their TWICE favorites.
“You can definitely tell when someone’s here for a certain singer,” said Bridget Sikorski, 20.
Sikorski and friends Opal Cosby and Leah Tabor said they were most excited to see TWICE on Saturday.
Just before 1 p.m., they headed over to Buckingham Fountain for a meetup with fans of K-pop inspired girl group Katseye, performing Sunday. More than 150 people gathered around the front of the fountain to recreate the choreography to the group’s recent hit “Gnarly.” Many wore knitted all-red outfits, inspired by TWICE’s outfits at their recent performance on South Korean music show “Music Bank.”
“We don’t have a speaker, but we do have our voices!” shouted a festival organizer as the crowd gathered in a tight circle in front of the fountain. Fans sang Katseye songs from memory as a few rushed to the center of the circle to perform the choreography.
TWICE’s headlining performance comes as K-pop gains popularity in the U.S. Last month, BLACKPINK became the first girl group to sell out a concert at Soldier Field. Fans at Lollapalooza on Saturday also said they were excited to see other K-pop groups throughout the weekend, including Sunday performer BOYNEXTDOOR.
“I came out mainly for (K-pop performances), honestly,” said Tabor. “I feel like a lot of people are in that boat, and they’re really passionate about being near their idols, so people will camp out really early, even compared to other artists.”
Festival-goers in Grant Park could see Chicago’s skyline more clearly on Saturday as the air quality improved to “moderate.” On Thursday, it had been rated as “unhealthy,” a day when Chicago had the worst air quality in the world due to smoke from wildfires in Canada and elsewhere.
The National Weather Service has issued air quality alerts for every day of the festival so far, and while Chicago could see the air continue to improve, it’s hard to determine the impact of the smoke day-to-day, NWS Chicago Meteorologist Ricky Castro said.
Lollapalooza 2025: What to know about the 4-day music festival at Grant Park
“When it comes to these areas of wildfire smoke that kind of get trapped and kind of move around the different wind flow patterns, it does come down to exactly how much of it mixes down towards closer to the (Earth’s) surface, which is something that’s very challenging to predict accurately how that’s going to play out,” Castro said.
How much the air quality will affect you varies from person to person.
“Your level of vulnerability, level of risk, plays a role as well,” Castro said. “It’s a notification that if you have a respiratory ailment or condition, just keep in mind that the air quality might be such that it could become a little tougher to breathe, and especially when you’re possibly exerting yourself.”
The band not from the ‘burbs
Indie band Winnetka Bowling League helped kick off the third day of the festival in the south end of Grant Park, drawing people to the Lakeshore stage with their songs that sound like a mix of Elvis Costello and Owl City.
The band is from Winnetka, California, not the Chicago suburb, something they poked fun at in their set. Chicago is one of their favorite places to be and play, lead singer Matthew Koma told the Tribune. Koma leads the band alongside brother and drummer Kris Mazzarisi and keyboardist Sam Beresford.
“(Chicago’s) one of the first places that our fan base kind of started growing, so we’ve had a love for it and definitely have a bit of a soft spot for it,” Koma said. “It feels very much at home here, it feels sort of like our second hometown.”
Fans showed up for Winnetka Bowling League despite the early start time, dancing and singing along to songs like “Handsome” and “Sha La La.” The crowd grew as the show went on, newcomers bopping their heads along to the beat and quickly learning the words to the often catchy song choruses.
Koma told the crowd that hopefully, in a few years, they’ll be playing at the T-Mobile stage instead of Lakeshore. To the Tribune, he said playing the festival was “rad.”
“When we first started playing in Chicago especially, we didn’t have people at our shows. So even to play an early slot at Lollapalooza and have a couple of thousand people there singing along, like they’re the people making that happen for us,” Koma said. “So it feels very much like we’re on this journey with the people who listen to our music, and as they tell more people and more people kind of hear our songs and find out about us, that’s a realistic dream, goal, thing, to run towards. Or it’s not, but you still gotta run for it.”
The Winnetka Bowling League in Grant Park following their performance during the third day of Lollapalooza on Aug. 2, 2025. (Audrey Richardson/for the Chicago Tribune)
Naomi Scott brings out her Disney anthems
At the smaller Grove stage, Gen Z fans packed into the field and the surrounding tree line for Naomi Scott’s afternoon set. Just last month, the English singer-songwriter released a new single, “Rhythm,” with singer Johnny Yukon, who joined her to perform the song.
Scott is better known for her acting roles. She recently starred in “Smile 2” and Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” remakes. But most fans at her Saturday afternoon set remember her from “Lemonade Mouth,” a 2011 Disney Channel original movie in which she portrayed the bassist for a rebellious high school rock band.
Halfway through her set, Scott launched into a rendition of “She’s So Gone,” the original song that her character sings from “Lemonade Mouth,” backed by a soft, synthy backing track. The crowd, which stayed silent for most of her set, sang along to almost every word of the nostalgic Disney Channel anthem.
“Not me getting emotional,” Scott said after the end of the song. “I was not expecting that, singing that song.”
Originally Published: August 2, 2025 at 5:15 AM CDT