music festivals

Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash Festival Proved To Be The Next Great Hip-Hop Event

by
Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

As live shows begin to come back during the pandemic, Cole Bennett’s Lyrical Lemonade annual Summer Smash festival made its return to Chicago’s Douglass Park as a wholly independent-ran event with ASAP Rocky, Lil Baby, and Lil Uzi Vert headlining the event.

Though this was my first time attending Summer Smash, I was the most excited about this festival’s lineup in particular. It included a good mix of performers such as the trailblazing underground rap icon Xavier Wulf, Chicago’s own DCG, Queen Key, and C Dot Honcho, as well as all the artists you’d expect at a Lyrical Lemonade event such as Don Toliver, Lil Tecca, Blueface, Dro Kenji, and Warhol.ss.

From day one, fans swarmed Douglass Park that overstretched miles of land allowing plenty of room to move between the main Lyrical Lemonade Stage, the SPKRBX stage, which was catacorner next to it, and Lenny’s Tent, where the most rambunctious up-and-coming acts came to play.

Despite the rise of Delta around the world during the festival, much about the event felt as safe as possible, including what appeared to be fewer people at this festival than others and that proof of vaccination and a negative COVID test was a requirement for entry (though those can easily be faked). It provided a level of comfort where I could freely walk around without fighting my way through sweaty bodies and BO. It was great. The staff at the festival were very accommodating and this was one of the best festivals to get around logistically. As a plus, a majority of the performances were on time.

On day two, Baby Keem had one of the more stand-out performances. His set drew out an intense and passionate mob that clung on to his every word and they had no problem opening up a mosh pit to get dirty to some of his most popular cuts like his self-titled anthem “Baby Keem,” latest release “Durag Activity,” and popular banger “Orange Soda,” which really got the everyone amped. Remember, Baby Keem only has a handful of songs out and he’s still on the come up despite his relation to Kendrick Lamar. The crowd’s reaction to him foretells a certain future for him that includes packed-out and sold-out shows from dedicated fans (as if he’s not doing that already).


@uproxx

a love song by baby keem😍#fyp #summersmash2021 #concerts #orangesodachallenge #babykeem

♬ original sound – UPROXX Music

Lil Baby was also really impressive. Seeing him perform live made me even more of a fan because he put effort into his entire stage set and design. Before Lil Baby hit the stage, the lights were shut down and the festivalgoers went crazy. With blue lights beaming down on him, Baby hopped off something that looked like a couch, which sat above the stage and over the crowd. Soon after, he began to rap his verse off his Drake collaboration “Wants And Needs” before getting into “Sum 2 Prove.” His energy stayed high the entire time and so did the legion of fans watching.

@uproxx

imma tell my kids this was the national anthem 😌 @lyricalemonade @lilbaby #fyp #summersmash2021 #lilbaby #4pf #festival

♬ original sound – UPROXX Music

On the final day of Summer Smash, there was a Juice Wrld tribute helmed by DJ Carnage on the Lyrical Lemonade stage with fans singing along to his songs and paying their respect. The tribute was followed by a few surprise guests. Over the weekend everyone had their guess on who it could be. Kanye West? Polo G? To the crowd’s shock, it was Lil Durk. The Voice popped out with his crew, filling out the entire stage, and a few fans hopped over the fence into the pit, where they weren’t supposed to be, to catch the Chicago icon perform his hits. First, he made the crowd sing praises to the late King Von by saying his name before getting into his 2020 cut “Redman” off his mixtape The Voice. The crowd ate up every word and at one point Durk hopped into the pit to interact with the energetic crowd and began shooting a music video. The show abruptly came to an end, with Durk not really wanting to dip, but being told he had to. One of his boys tossed hundreds into the crowd and I managed to scoop up a few for myself.

There was also a second surprise guess and it was none other than Chance The Rapper. He only did one song though, and quickly left the stage. Some backstage shenanigans going on after their surprise set caused the festival to shut down for a little bit, and The Kid Laroi, unfortunately, was not able to perform.

Closing out the festival was Lil Uzi Vert, one of the most energetic and engaging performers, ever. His alien stage set design was ethereal and really set the tone for the entire show. One thing is for sure, it’s obvious that Uzi loves his fans and had no problem with them throwing their phones at him on stage — or throwing anything on stage for that matter. Uzi loved the chaos as his set was a maelstrom of space rage. Almost immediately he wanted a taste of the crowd so he hopped off the stage, into the pit to be closer and in tune with the people to rap “Move” with them. Then he ran to the end of the pit to climb the soundstage’s tent to do a massive stage dive into the crowd to the sounds of “POP.”

@uproxx

because whats a lil uzi vert show without a stage dive? 😂#fyp #summersmash2021 #uzigang #liluzivert #babypluto

♬ original sound – UPROXX Music

The chaos didn’t end there, though. Throughout the night Uzi would stop and playfully grab a phone thrown on stage to have the crowd participate in saying a long “hello” to each one. While he was performing “The Way Life Goes,” one kid hopped on stage and did a backflip, but security was too slow to catch him. Uzi on the other hand absolutely loved it.

It was the perfect ending to a 3-day festival that was already smooth to begin with.

Summer Smash is just one of many festivals to make its return post-pandemic and it did so in a grand way while priming itself as a premier hip-hop experience. Considering that this festival has no ties to a big corp like Live Nation or Goldenvoice, it was one the most polished and well-run festivals I ever attended outside of normal festival annoyances such as entry and exit. Heck, even the entry and exit weren’t that bad. Cole Bennett certainly outdid himself with the return of Summer Smash, especially as the world seems to be an apocalyptic blender. Attendance was so worth it.

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

Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash Festival Proved To Be The Next Great Hip-Hop Event

by
Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

As live shows begin to come back during the pandemic, Cole Bennett’s Lyrical Lemonade annual Summer Smash festival made its return to Chicago’s Douglass Park as a wholly independent-ran event with ASAP Rocky, Lil Baby, and Lil Uzi Vert headlining the event.

Though this was my first time attending Summer Smash, I was the most excited about this festival’s lineup in particular. It included a good mix of performers such as the trailblazing underground rap icon Xavier Wulf, Chicago’s own DCG, Queen Key, and C Dot Honcho, as well as all the artists you’d expect at a Lyrical Lemonade event such as Don Toliver, Lil Tecca, Blueface, Dro Kenji, and Warhol.ss.

From day one, fans swarmed Douglass Park that overstretched miles of land allowing plenty of room to move between the main Lyrical Lemonade Stage, the SPKRBX stage, which was catacorner next to it, and Lenny’s Tent, where the most rambunctious up-and-coming acts came to play.

Despite the rise of Delta around the world during the festival, much about the event felt as safe as possible, including what appeared to be fewer people at this festival than others and that proof of vaccination and a negative COVID test was a requirement for entry (though those can easily be faked). It provided a level of comfort where I could freely walk around without fighting my way through sweaty bodies and BO. It was great. The staff at the festival were very accommodating and this was one of the best festivals to get around logistically. As a plus, a majority of the performances were on time.

On day two, Baby Keem had one of the more stand-out performances. His set drew out an intense and passionate mob that clung on to his every word and they had no problem opening up a mosh pit to get dirty to some of his most popular cuts like his self-titled anthem “Baby Keem,” latest release “Durag Activity,” and popular banger “Orange Soda,” which really got the everyone amped. Remember, Baby Keem only has a handful of songs out and he’s still on the come up despite his relation to Kendrick Lamar. The crowd’s reaction to him foretells a certain future for him that includes packed-out and sold-out shows from dedicated fans (as if he’s not doing that already).


@uproxx

a love song by baby keem😍#fyp #summersmash2021 #concerts #orangesodachallenge #babykeem

♬ original sound – UPROXX Music

Lil Baby was also really impressive. Seeing him perform live made me even more of a fan because he put effort into his entire stage set and design. Before Lil Baby hit the stage, the lights were shut down and the festivalgoers went crazy. With blue lights beaming down on him, Baby hopped off something that looked like a couch, which sat above the stage and over the crowd. Soon after, he began to rap his verse off his Drake collaboration “Wants And Needs” before getting into “Sum 2 Prove.” His energy stayed high the entire time and so did the legion of fans watching.

@uproxx

imma tell my kids this was the national anthem 😌 @lyricalemonade @lilbaby #fyp #summersmash2021 #lilbaby #4pf #festival

♬ original sound – UPROXX Music

On the final day of Summer Smash, there was a Juice Wrld tribute helmed by DJ Carnage on the Lyrical Lemonade stage with fans singing along to his songs and paying their respect. The tribute was followed by a few surprise guests. Over the weekend everyone had their guess on who it could be. Kanye West? Polo G? To the crowd’s shock, it was Lil Durk. The Voice popped out with his crew, filling out the entire stage, and a few fans hopped over the fence into the pit, where they weren’t supposed to be, to catch the Chicago icon perform his hits. First, he made the crowd sing praises to the late King Von by saying his name before getting into his 2020 cut “Redman” off his mixtape The Voice. The crowd ate up every word and at one point Durk hopped into the pit to interact with the energetic crowd and began shooting a music video. The show abruptly came to an end, with Durk not really wanting to dip, but being told he had to. One of his boys tossed hundreds into the crowd and I managed to scoop up a few for myself.

There was also a second surprise guess and it was none other than Chance The Rapper. He only did one song though, and quickly left the stage. Some backstage shenanigans going on after their surprise set caused the festival to shut down for a little bit, and The Kid Laroi, unfortunately, was not able to perform.

Closing out the festival was Lil Uzi Vert, one of the most energetic and engaging performers, ever. His alien stage set design was ethereal and really set the tone for the entire show. One thing is for sure, it’s obvious that Uzi loves his fans and had no problem with them throwing their phones at him on stage — or throwing anything on stage for that matter. Uzi loved the chaos as his set was a maelstrom of space rage. Almost immediately he wanted a taste of the crowd so he hopped off the stage, into the pit to be closer and in tune with the people to rap “Move” with them. Then he ran to the end of the pit to climb the soundstage’s tent to do a massive stage dive into the crowd to the sounds of “POP.”

@uproxx

because whats a lil uzi vert show without a stage dive? 😂#fyp #summersmash2021 #uzigang #liluzivert #babypluto

♬ original sound – UPROXX Music

The chaos didn’t end there, though. Throughout the night Uzi would stop and playfully grab a phone thrown on stage to have the crowd participate in saying a long “hello” to each one. While he was performing “The Way Life Goes,” one kid hopped on stage and did a backflip, but security was too slow to catch him. Uzi on the other hand absolutely loved it.

It was the perfect ending to a 3-day festival that was already smooth to begin with.

Summer Smash is just one of many festivals to make its return post-pandemic and it did so in a grand way while priming itself as a premier hip-hop experience. Considering that this festival has no ties to a big corp like Live Nation or Goldenvoice, it was one the most polished and well-run festivals I ever attended outside of normal festival annoyances such as entry and exit. Heck, even the entry and exit weren’t that bad. Cole Bennett certainly outdid himself with the return of Summer Smash, especially as the world seems to be an apocalyptic blender. Attendance was so worth it.

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

Hip To Be Square: Milwaukee’s Summerfest Is The No-Pretense Music Festival For Everybody

by
Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

As a kid growing up in Milwaukee, I looked forward to Summerfest with a holiday-like anticipation; as a teen, I grew to mock its supreme un-hipness, even as I still occasionally attended; as an adult living through a time in which music festivals happen on more summer weekends than not, I can only now appreciate quite how unusual my hometown’s version actually is. Summerfest isn’t necessarily better than your Lollapaloozas, Coachellas, or Newport Folks, but it is undeniably broader than those or any other big-name fest. It’s been running so long without a particular musical niche that it’s fallen into that rarest of zones: It’s an all-things-to-all-people gathering. If you can’t find something to like among roughly a thousand bands over ten days, well, you can still go eat some bratwurst, stare wistfully at Lake Michigan, or watch a juggler do his thing.

It’s easier not to be niche-bound when you’re the “World’s Largest Music Festival,” a title that Summerfest could rightfully claim for decades, based on attendance — which peaked in 2001 with just over a million people cumulatively through its gates. That’s quite a few more souls than live in the city of Milwaukee, to give it some perspective. It’s a yearly tourism boon, pushing $186 million into the local economy per annum, according to president and CEO Don Smiley. It’s the single biggest attraction the city can claim as its own — and it does so, loudly and proudly: You can see the smiley Summerfest logo all around town, all year round.

You also can’t miss Summerfest’s highly unusual site: The Henry Maier Festival Park spans 75 acres of absolutely prime real estate, right on Lake Michigan and directly adjacent to downtown Milwaukee. In the 1920s, the strip of land was an airport, and during the Cold War it was a military installation that housed nuclear-capable Nike missiles. Summerfest, which launched in 1968 at various venues around the city, took over the park — a generous word for it at that point, considering there wasn’t much there — in 1970, and slowly but surely built something permanent, both literally and figuratively.

In addition to Summerfest, the Maier Festival Park is also home to Milwaukee’s yearly ethnic festivals, which are generally much smaller affairs but nonetheless charming and fun: German Fest, Festa Italiana, Polish Fest, and others keep the park busy for a few extra summer days in normal years. Weirdly, the park is otherwise locked up tight the rest of the year, visibly lonely from the freeway that runs just above it, its stages and Skyglider quiet and still.

When I started going in the early 1980s, Summerfest still felt a little ramshackle, with only a few permanent structures on the grounds. The stages were typical of what you still see at most fests, erected and removed as needed. They were (and still are) strategically placed throughout the festival so that acts weren’t in sonic competition: If you were busy listening to Weird Al, you wouldn’t necessarily be disturbed by Greg Kihn or REO Speedwagon.

Summerfest

One ridiculously cheap ticket — under $10 per day at the time, still a crazy bargain at $23 — got you general admission access to every stage. Much of the schedule during the daytime back then was taken up by local bands playing to empty bleachers, but the nighttime programming was radically diverse, even then. Looking at the mid-’80s, I’m seeing R.E.M., Huey Lewis, Los Lobos, the Pointer Sisters, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Kool & The Gang. The Replacements and Fishbone had day-ending slots in ‘91, as did Kansas. In 1989, I camped out overnight at the Summerfest box office for tickets to perhaps the coolest triple bill of all time — New Order, Public Image Ltd., and the Sugarcubes — and wound up in the front row.

Then as now, the vibe at Summerfest can be as tough to pin down as the music programming, and while it’d be slightly unfair to compare it to a more urban state fair, that’s also partly true. There’s very little of Coachella’s see-and-be-seen energy, perhaps because the families excited to see Michael “mouth noises guy from the Police Academy movies” Winslow don’t really give a shit about the neon mesh bodysuit-clad Foushee fans or the old metal dudes there for the latest iteration of L.A. Guns. It’s democracy in action, with space for a massive swath of popular and semi-popular music. Smiley tells me that’s all by design: “We purposely construct it for everyone.” He’s equally proud of booking international touring acts like Guns N Roses and Megan Thee Stallion as he is of the brand new Children’s Community Park, which includes sensory rooms, nursing rooms, and playground equipment.

As years passed and Summerfest grew, the park that contains it became more like a small city of its own. In 1987, they added a 23,000-seat amphitheater to draw even bigger bands — though tickets for those shows cost extra. Just last year — when Summerfest was canceled, rescheduled, then canceled and rescheduled again due to COVID — they completely rebuilt that amphitheater to better accommodate the kind of massive stage shows that have become the norm in more recent years. Other permanent stages, food service buildings, and offices are now in use, including the new-ish 10,000-capacity, separately ticketed BMO Harris Pavilion. All of the stages have delightfully corporate names, naturally, and Smiley proudly notes that Summerfest — which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit — has lots of corporate sponsors but much lower ticket prices, a fact that Milwaukeeans find a perfectly acceptable trade-off.

Which brings us to the uncertainty of 2021. With the early part of the year still so COVD-uncertain, Summerfest moved away from its usual June-into-July dates and will now take place over the first three weekends in September. The artists are, as usual, all over the map in the best ways: Green Day, Chance the Rapper, Chris Stapleton, Run the Jewels, Dave Chappelle, Miley Cyrus, Diplo, Pixies, 311. Thurston Moore is on the schedule right there next to the Steve Meisner Polka Band. At one end of the grounds you can see a David Bowie tribute band, and the other a ventriloquist act called Red Hot Chili Puppets that, sadly, has nothing to do with the band (beyond the name, anyway). As of this writing, the reserved seats for REO Speedwagon are sold out, but plenty remain for Joan Jett.

The delightful whiplash goes on and on, and it’s a big part of the Summerfest draw. The whole thing is unpretentious in the same way its home city is: People are there for a good time, and whether that involves waiting all day to be up in front for Coheed & Cambria or happening upon a juggling demonstration while munching on some ribs doesn’t much matter.

People Are Aghast Over The Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival Being Being An Actual Thing Being Staged On The Grounds Of An Ohio Prison

by
Getty Image

This fall, Mansfield, Ohio will play host to a festival that has a great lineup if you’re a fan of alternative rock and metal, as it features Slipknot, Rob Zombie, Mudvayne, A Day To Remember, Mastodon, Halestorm, Chevelle, Killswitch Engage, and others. The festival is also focused on tattoos, so if you’re looking to get a some ink, more than 75 tattoo artists will be on hand.

All in all, if you’re into those sorts of things, this seems like a great time. There’s one significant issue, though: The event is called the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival, the name of which plays off the fact that it takes place on the grounds of the Ohio State Reformatory, which is perhaps best known as a primary filming location for The Shawshank Redemption. As the festival is getting ready for its 2021 installment (on the weekend of September 10 to 12), some folks are talking notice of its allegedly problematic nature.

For example, Kim Kelly, a journalist and author of the upcoming book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History Of American Labor, shared her thoughts, tweeting today, “I get a lot of press releases for a lot of bad music festivals I will never attend, but the emails about this one in particular always make my skin crawl. Prison isn’t an edgy ‘theme,’ it’s torture and enslavement and horror. It’s repulsive to see an event promoted this way.” Other people chimed in and echoed the sentiment.

The festival previously hosted editions in 2018 and 2019 before making its return this year. Aside from music and tattoos, this year’s event will also feature tours of the prison, as well as a “special engagement” of “Escape From Blood Prison Haunted House,” which is a yearly Halloween event held at the Ohio State Reformatory.

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

For A Modern Generation Of Rising Rappers, Festivals Are The Ultimate Proving Ground

by
Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

With the internet hyper-accelerating the average artist’s life cycle and “democratizing” the already overcrowded market to the point of a constant blur of white noise, it can get a little tricky for rising stars to separate themselves from the pack. Where in the past, there was a long lead time of artist development before artists were thrown into the deep end to sink or swim, nowadays, your make-or-break moment as a potential star can come just weeks after your initial breakthrough on the back of a viral hit. For the modern generation of rising rap stars, that moment is often their first festival performance, which has come to be the ultimate proving ground separating the future kings and queens from the one-hit-wonders.

In fact, the festival performance — and the fact that there are so many festivals that cater to hip-hop, not to mention so many facets of it — is both a gift and a curse. Rather than plugging away for months, years — heck, decades — at a rap career, refining your performance skills in half-empty dive bars and 300-cap theaters, you can play for many times that number at even the smallest stages at festivals like Rolling Loud or Day N Vegas, even in the least desirable time slots, getting the kind of exposure that it used to take a whole regional tour to acquire. Now that you’ve got a viral hit, this is your chance to capitalize on the curiosity of fans at your stage and prove you have enough material to fill a solo set and pitch your real product: Your personality, your energy, and your unique story.

However, this can be a double-edged sword. While a standout set can earn you fans for life — or at least, for the duration of the ride home from the festival venue — a lackluster one can torpedo any forward momentum you’ve managed to earn for yourself. While streaming numbers can be faked and industry relationships can be leveraged to “get on,” you can’t fake a live reaction. This is why so many of the artists that draw so much attention early in their careers can seemingly fade over time. Plus, bad sets tend to stack up on one another; the first bad set leads to skepticism for the next, and so on, meaning each new performance can bring back diminishing returns. Also, if fans don’t see your name moving up the lineup and getting bigger, they can assume it’s because you have very little to offer with your live show.

We’ve seen these principles in practice over and over again but for the most extreme example, we can look at someone like DaBaby, whose raucous festival performances played a huge part in his building such a dedicated fanbase so quickly. Even before he blew up in 2019 with “Walker Texas Ranger,” when he was still going by Baby Jesus (yikes), Jonathan Kirk was an expert at drawing attention, walking around festivals in a huge diaper, and delivering energetic performances that endeared him to fans early in his career. When he finally got that name thing sorted out, it seemed like he blew up right away, right? None of that success would have been possible had he not positioned himself for it with his stellar performances early on.

DaBaby also helped make the downsides to a bad performance more clear this year, ironically at Rolling Loud, the hip-hop-centric festival of which he’d become a fixture over the past two years. Thanks to livestreams of festivals, performances both good and bad can be broadcast to even more viewers at a time, making the stakes more precarious than ever. Even as DaBaby delivered his usual action-packed set, his between-song call-to-action to fans came across as less-than-enlightened and has drawn plenty of complaints of insensitivity and hate, marring his public reputation seemingly overnight (his repeated doubling down didn’t help). Bringing out Tory Lanez as a publicity stunt further disrupted any positive perceptions his performance may have picked up, sparking the viral moment he wanted, but bringing the opposite response he likely expected.

Kirk’s woes, though, are extreme. Some other examples might be the way newer rappers like Polo G, JID, or Guapdad 4000 were able to convert new fans after a festival season, growing their followings to the point of intense fervor. I personally watched Kyle unexpectedly pull in hundreds of curious observers on the big stage at Coachella a couple of years ago, overhearing conversations to the effect of “Who’s that?” “I don’t know but I like him!” Aminé packed out a tent at that same Coachella, the spillover crowd sparking increased interest from passerby and growing it by the second. By the same token, at the most recent Rolling Loud, breakout sensation Coi Leray mystified attendees who realized they didn’t know any of her catalog past “No More Parties,” but seemed to be engaged by her enthusiastic performance, even if they didn’t quite show it on the livestream.

Even the choice of the festival to perform at makes a huge difference for a rising artist. A Camp Flog Gnaw set can attract one sort of fans (Tyler fans are hella loyal) while something like Soundset can benefit a more heady-sounding rapper. Back in the day, I knew if an artist was on Paid Dues or Rock The Bells, they were my kind of artist — and that was where I saw groups like TDE and Slaughterhouse make their bones. Since then, a good festival show has only become more important to any artist’s strategy. It’s a shame so many are tossed into that fire without getting the practice they need to deliver an impressive set. In the future, maybe artists, their labels, and their managers will realize that importance and dedicate more resources to ensuring they are ready to take on that challenge.

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

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

by
Getty Image

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

by
Getty Image

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

by
Getty Image

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

by
Getty Image

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

by
Getty Image

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.