Lollapalooza 2026 opened at Chicago’s Grant Park on 30 July, marking the first day of the long-running festival’s latest edition. The event showcased its broad musical range and drew attention for surprise collaborations, prominent headline performances and a heat-related interruption during Lorde’s set.

Lorde invited Charli xcx on stage for “Girl, So Confusing” and briefly paused after several people near the front reportedly fainted in mid-80s temperatures. Sombr performed with 5 Seconds of Summer, who later covered Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”, while Filipino group SB19 became the first P-pop act to play the festival; more than 100 artists are due to perform across eight stages.