music festivals

There’s ‘No Evidence’ That Lollapalooza Was A ‘Super-Spreader’ Event, According To Health Officials

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Many people (like Demi Lovato) expressed disbelief at the huge crowds that Lollapalooza drew this year in light of the still-ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The predominant concern is that an event of such a scale would lead to a substantial uptick in COVID-19 cases, but it seems that so far, that hasn’t been the case.

Chicago Department Of Public Health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady took to Twitter this morning to share some COVID statistics from the two weeks since the festal. In a thread, Arwady reported that there’s “NO evidence” that Lollapalooza was a “super-spreader” event:

“We are now 14 days past the first day of Lolla and we are continuing to investigate cases of COVID. There have been no unexpected findings at this point and NO evidence at this point of ‘super-spreader’ event or substantial impact to Chicago’s COVID-19 epidemiology.

Of the estimated 385k attendees at Lolla, 90%+ were vax’d.

0.0004% (4 in 10,000) of vaccinated attendees have reported testing positive.

0.0016% (16 in 10,000) of unvaccinated attendees have reported testing positive.

As of 8/11, no hospitalizations or deaths have been reported.

As of now, there is a total of 203 cases identified with attendance at Lolla and symptom onset (or if asymptomatic, test date) on or after attendance. 58 were Chicago residents, 138 were non-Chicago Illinois residents and 7 out of state residents.

COVID risk can not be eliminated. We want to stay open as a city, but being open also means being careful — getting vaccinated, getting tested if you have any COVID symptoms, and, for now, wearing a mask in indoor public places. Let’s #ProtectChicago.”

In other Lolla news, fans were pretty blown away by a sign language interpreter’s work during Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” performance at the festival.

Find Arwady’s tweets below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Austin City Limits Adds Tyler The Creator To Its 2021 Festival Lineup After Dropping DaBaby

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Days after dropping DaBaby from its 2021 lineup, Austin City Limits Music Festival announced today that it would be adding a set from Tyler The Creator. Set times haven’t been announced yet, but the fest said they were imminent.

DaBaby was dropped by ACL earlier in August after the rapper delivered a bizarre rant during his Rolling Loud set that included homophobic comments and attacks towards those with HIV/AIDS. DaBaby then issued — and subsequently deleted — an apology for his words on social media. “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made,” he wrote. “Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important.” His (now-deleted) apology was swiftly deemed insincere, with a number of high-profile artists such as Madonna, Elton John, Questlove, and Dua Lipa condemning him for the rant.

In addition to ACL, DaBaby has been dropped by a handful of prominent music festivals; Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Day N Vegas, and more have all removed him from the lineups to their festivals this year.

As for Tyler, the Call Me If You Get Lost rapper recently offered his thoughts around what it means to be “canceled” (around 2014-2015, Tyler was banned from Australia, the UK, and New Zealand for his lyrics that were deemed to be promoting violence and homophobia). In a particularly relevant-seeming conversation, he told Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning crew:

“People just go back to stuff and go ‘look what he used to do.’ And it’s like yeah, but I’m not on that no more. So what’s your end goal? When people go back and dig up old stuff from someone who’s here now, it’s like hey, what’s your end goal? Accountable… what does that mean? Is the goal, you shouldn’t do that, you should change and be a better person? Not even me, but to whoever they’re saying it to… I’ve been a better person for the last nine years. That was ten years ago. But I think people like doing that to make themselves feel better about themselves.”

The 2021 Austin City Limits Music Festival takes place October 1-3 and 8-10 at Zilker Park. Get more info here.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Has Been Postponed Until 2022 Due To COVID-19 Conditions

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2021 was supposed to be the year music lovers all around the world could enjoy live concerts and festivals alike after the coronavirus pandemic ripped that away from them for the better part of 15 months. While some festivals have been able to return with big showcases featuring some of music’s biggest names, others, like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival have yet to do so. Unfortunately for those who were hoping to attend Jazz Fest, fans will have to wait one more year before they indulge in what the showcase has to offer.

In an announcement on Sunday, the Jazz Fest revealed that this October’s two-weekend showcase will be postponed until 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns. “As a result of the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency, we must sadly announce that the 2021 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, scheduled to take place October 8-17, 2021, will not occur as planned,” the announcement read. “We now look forward to next spring, when we will present the Festival during its traditional timeframe. Next year’s dates are April 29 – May 8, 2022.”

The 2021 festival was set to feature performances by Dead & Company, Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band, Lizzo, Demi Lovato, The Black Crowes, HER, Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, The Beach Boys, Ludacris, Jon Batiste, Wu-Tang Clan, Brittany Howard, and many more.

Ticket holders for both weekends of the festival will receive an email this week on refund and rollover procedures. Organizers added that all tickets for the October 13 showcase will automatically be refunded.

You can view the announcement in the tweet above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Austin City Limits Is The Latest Festival To Remove DaBaby From Their Lineup After His Homophobic Rant

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DaBaby’s name has been all over headlines this past week after he made some extremely inaccurate and homophobic comments about HIV/AIDS during his Rolling Loud set. The rant has been condemned by artists like Madonna and Elton John, and even prompted an official statement from GLAADD. DaBaby had been confirmed to perform at several other festivals this year, but event organizers have opted now to pull him from their lineup.

So far, festivals like Lollapalooza, Governor’s Ball, and Day N Vegas have dropped DaBaby from their official lineups after news of his on-stage comments spread. Now, Texas festival Austin City Limits is the latest to follow suit. ACL issued an official statement on their social media Tuesday, saying DaBaby will no longer appear at their two-weekend event in October. “DaBaby will no longer be performing at Austin City Limits Music Festival — lineup update coming soon,” organizers wrote in an announcement.

One week and several celebrity call-outs later, DaBaby finally issued an apology statement Monday. After first complaining that people were quick to condemn him on social media, DaBaby wrote: “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important.”

Read DaBaby’s full apology statement here.

Coachella’s Co-Founder Says Frank Ocean Will Miss The 2022 Fest But Headline In 2023

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Back in January 2020, the lineup for that year’s Coachella festival was unveiled, with Frank Ocean as one of the headliners alongside Travis Scott and Rage Against The Machine. The event was pushed back to 2021 and then 2022; A couple months ago, it was revealed the 2022 festival will take place from April 15 to 17 and April 22 to 24. The lineup has yet to be revealed, but festival co-founder Paul Tollett shared some tidbits about it in a new Los Angeles Times story. The most notable takeaway: Frank Ocean won’t be performing in 2022 since he was unavailable for the rescheduled dates, but he’s apparently set to take the Coachella stage in 2023.

Explaining why he decided to make that reveal so far in advance, Tollett told the publication, “Right now, it’s the Wild West. I’m just trying to be as fair as I can to artists and to the fans to make sure that eventually they get to see everyone that we talked about.”

The story also notes that Scott and Rage Against The Machine will return to headline in 2022, while a third headliner is set to be announced.

Elsewhere in the piece, Tollett discusses what it was like to delay Coachella so many times and the state of the music/concert industry at large, so read the full story here.

Miley Cyrus’ Rock-Heavy Lollapalooza Set Featured A Billy Idol Appearance And Plenty Of Covers

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Miley Cyrus has gone through distinct stylistic phases in her career, trying on different musical identities with each album. The Bangerz era was pop/R&B/hip-hop, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz was experimental/psychedelic, Younger Now was country/pop-rock, and now we’re at Plastic Hearts, which is rock/synth-pop. Here in the Plastic Hearts era, Cyrus has become known for her rock covers and reverence for previous generations of artists. That was on full display during her Lollapalooza set last night, which featured a bevy of covers and guest appearances.

Her 26-song set (as setlist.fm notes) began with “We Can’t Stop” before moving into a cover of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?.” From there, she sprinkled other covers throughout the set, including Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass,” Cher’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” Temple Of The Dog’s “Say Hello 2 Heaven,” and Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Most notable, she was joined by Billy Idol and they performed a couple of his songs together, “Night Crawling” and “White Wedding.”

Speaking of guests, aside from Idol, Cyrus also at various points had on stage G Herbo (to perform “Love Money Party”), Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J (“32”), and The Kid Laroi (“Without You”).

Cyrus posted some clips and photos from the performance and from around the festival, so check those out below, as well as some other videos from the show.

Hulu’s Lollapalooza Livestream Will Feature Foo Fighters, Tyler The Creator, Post Malone, And More

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Earlier in the month, Lollapalooza and Hulu announced that they had officially partnered to allow subscribers to watch the upcoming four-day festival from the comfort of their own homes at no additional cost. Now, according to Hulu’s website, we can confirm that the livestream schedule includes headliners Foo Fighters, Tyler the Creator, Post Malone, Journey, Modest Mouse, Young Thug, Band of Horses, Jimmy Eat World, Black Pumas, The Front Bottoms, White Reaper, and more.

Lollapalooza will kick off July 29 and running to August 1 in Chicago’s Grant Park. The livestream will begin at 11 am PT and come to an end at 8 pm PT each day. Upon announcing the festival’s return this spring, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “In alignment with our public health guidance, the world class festival returns to the city later this summer. However, full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test will be required to enjoy the festivities.” Lightfoot also announced that all festivalgoers will be required to be vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test in the last 24 hours in order to attend.

In a statement given to Billboard, sponsorship director of Lollapalooza festival promoter C3 Presents Courtney Trucksess expressed their excitement about the livestream partnership: “We are thrilled to be partnering for the first time with Hulu for this year’s livestream and are excited that the Lollapalooza fans who cannot be with us in Chicago have such a great platform to experience the show.” Check out the full schedule below (all times are in CT).

Thursday, July 29

1:10 p.m. – Aly & AJ
1:30 p.m. – Ant Clemons
1:55 p.m. – MAX
3:20 p.m. – Dombresky
4:00 p.m. – Dayglow
5:10 p.m. – Black Pumas
6:20 p.m. – Jimmy Eat World
8:30 p.m. – Steve Aoki

Friday, July 30

1:30 p.m. – Tai Verdes
2:05 p.m. – Tobi Lou
4:05 p.m. – Emotional Oranges
4:40 p.m. – Riot Ten
6:15 p.m. – White Reaper
7:25 p.m. – Jauz
8:00 p.m. – Jack Harlow
9:05 – Tyler The Creator

Saturday, July 31

1:10 p.m. – Cannons
1:50 p.m. – Hinds
4:00 p.m. – Vintage Culture
5:00 p.m. – Young The Giant
8:00 p.m. – Oliver Heldens
8:30 p.m. – Journey
9:20 p.m. – Post Malone

Sunday, August 1

1:10 p.m. – Sir Chloe
1:30 p.m. – Flipp Dinero
3:30 p.m. – Dr. Fresch
4:05 p.m. – Young Thug
5:10 p.m. – The Front Bottoms
6:10 p.m. – Modest Mouse
7:15 p.m. – Band Of Horses
8:20 p.m. – Foo Fighters

Get more info about the upcoming Hulu livestream here.

Hulu Subscribers Can Watch A Livestream Of Lollapalooza 2021 Next Weekend

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Chicago music festival Lollapalooza is set to open its doors next weekend for the city’s largest gathering since the pandemic. Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that all festivalgoers will be required to be vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test in the last 24 hours in order to attend. But those who aren’t comfortable returning to large crowds are in luck as Lollapalooza is teaming up with Hulu to livestream their weekend-long event.

Lollapalooza and Hulu have officially partnered to allow subscribers to watch the four-day festival from the comfort of their own homes at no additional cost, per a report from Billboard. The livestream will begin at 11 am PT and come to an end at 8 pm PT each day and the official performance schedule is slated to be finalized next week.

In a statement given to Billboard, sponsorship director of Lollapalooza festival promoter C3 Presents Courtney Trucksess expressed their excitement about the livestream partnership: “We are thrilled to be partnering for the first time with Hulu for this year’s livestream and are excited that the Lollapalooza fans who cannot be with us in Chicago have such a great platform to experience the show.”

Kicking off July 29 and running to August 1 in Chicago’s Grant Park, Lollapalooza will be headlined by Foo Fighters, Post Malone, and Tyler The Creator. Upon announcing the festival’s return this spring, Mayor Lightfoot said, “In alignment with our public health guidance, the world class festival returns to the city later this summer. However, full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test will be required to enjoy the festivities.”

Kanye West Will Reportedly Make A Surprise Appearance At Rolling Loud Miami This Weekend

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In the world of Kanye West, things tend to go from 0 to 100 quickly. Last weekend, with no warning, there was a listening event for Donda, and now the album is set to come out tomorrow. Now, there are two major live events on the horizon: West is hosting a listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium tonight, and it looks like he’ll be performing at Rolling Loud Miami this weekend.

Rumors of this performance have been circulating for a few days. On July 20, West’s longtime collaborator Consequence shared notepad drawings of a pyramid, seemingly in reference to West’s stage design, and noted that West will be performing at the festival on Sunday. Now, we have something closer to official confirmation of West’s appearance, as Billboard reports (citing “a source close to the situation”) that it’s happening.

Meanwhile, West shared what appears to be the tracklist for the album via an Instagram post last night, which shows song titles written on a whiteboard. As NME notes, there are some differences between this tracklist and the one West shared a year ago. While there are a number of songs that have stuck around, tracks like “Pure Souls” and “We Made It” are new to the album.

HER’s Lights On Festival Is Coming To Brooklyn This Fall With Sets From Chloe Bailey, 6lack, And More

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A few weeks back, HER announced another edition of her personally curated Lights On Festival in Concord, California, happening over two consecutive days in September. (The first Lights On went down in 2019, if you’ll recall.) Now, Lights On is making its way to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center the following month.

Also curated by the Grammy-winning performer, the East Coast iteration of Lights On also goes down on two consecutive days — October 21 and 22 — and features performances from HER (and friends), plus R&B favorites Maxwell, 6lack, Bryson Tiller, Ari Lennox, SWV, Queen Naija, Lucky Daye, Chloe Bailey (of Chloe x Halle), Blxst, Victoria Monet, Skip Marley, Joyce Wrice, and Tone Stilth, with more to be announced.

Lights On Festival

As previously reported, Lights On Festival is making its way to the Concord Pavilion in Concord, California on September 18 and 19 with performances from HER, Erykah Badu, Tiller, Ari Lennox, Ty Dolla Sign, Keyshia Cole, Masego, Lucky Daye, Kiana Ledé, Fousheé, and lots more. According to today’s announcement, tickets for the Barclays show in Brooklyn are set to go on sale this Friday, July 23, at 10 a.m. ET, though fans can get pre-sale tickets today, July 20, at 12 p.m. ET. Get tickets here.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.