Honorary Reporters

Korea and Lollapalooza, a look into Korean artists taking the stage through the years

2024-09-25

By Honorary Reporter Daniela Delgado from Venezuela
Photo by = Aditya Chinchure, BRAND1FILMS, LOLLAPALOOZA

On September 8th, the third-gen K-Pop act SEVENTEEN had the major task of being one of the headliners of the distinguished festival Lollapalooza. While “Lolla” is no stranger to great Korean and K-Pop artists, having big names such as “j-hope” from BTS, IVE, New Jeans, Stray Kids and TOMORROW X TOGETHER, moreover, renowned names within the industry like DPR IAN, the Korean-Filipino descent duo, “ARMNHMR” and the great indie rock band “The Rose”, the festival

The bittersweet origin of something greater

Back in 1991, Lollapalooza, first-thought of as a sort of “farewell” to the band Jane’s Addiction and also created by Perry Farrel, member of said band, is a festival that in its original premise, back in ‘91, toured in about twenty different cities all across North America. During its first year, they featured a grand total of seven acts, including “Jane’s Addiction” and the following groups:

Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Living Colour.
Nine Inch Nails.
Ice-T & Body Count.
Butthole Surfers.
Rollins Band.

Get to know the basics of Lollapalooza's beginnings with these fun facts, in the image you'll be able to see the first ever poster created for the festival, featuing a total of seven acts, they toured in about 20 cities in North America in 1991. Poster Credits: Lollapalooza. Made By Daniela Delgado on Canva.

Through its 33 year-long history, there have certainly been ups and downs, the festival has been canceled previously and even stopped for years at a time. Nevertheless, nowadays, it thrives and looks better than ever, featuring over a hundred artists, from completely different backgrounds, nationalities and audience scopes, from all over the world. It has set a mark in different continents, serving as a further proof that, certainly, music knows no barriers.

This picture features some of the posters used in several editions of Lollapalooza, as the years went by, more and more artists were featured in each edition. Poster Credits: Lollapalooza. Made By Daniela Delgado on Canva.

A brief look into memory lane

As mentioned before, this isn’t Korea’s first rodeo in a big music festival, let alone “Lollapalooza”, starting off with BTS’ J-Hope’s performance back in 2022, it’s important to highlight the fact that J-Hope is the first Korean artist to headline the festival, starting a wonderful journey that his juniors continue to solidify. Expectations were high, since he was the artists first ever solo performance and after the release of “Jack in the Box” he stunned Chicago’s Lollapalooza with Hit songs such as “Arson”, “Daydream” and “Chicken Noodle Soup” featuring Latin American artist Becky-G.

Likewise, fourth gen K-Pop act under the same label “TOMORROW X TOGETHER” made their “Lolla” debut the day before, with a slot of about thirty minutes to their name, they rocked the stage amused both fans and locals in the festival’s homeland, Chicago. TXT also took a step further in 2023, being one of the headliners on Saturday 5th of August.

j-hope and TXT showing their brightest performances at Lollapalooza. Full Credits to their rightful owners, Lollapalooza and BIG HIT Entertainment. Made By Daniela Delgado on Canva.

On the other hand, another great mention to this list is “Stray Kids”, they performed earlier this year, also in Chicago, in the middle of the summer, back on August 2nd; with an impeccable, wide-ranged setlist, performing songs both from recent albums, such as “Topline” and “S-Class” from album FIVE STARS, and hit songs from older albums like “Mirroh” and “My Pace” earning great reviews from renowned names within the industry such as Billboard and Rolling Stone.

Since mentioning both the first Korean soloist and Korean groups to hit Lollapalooza’s stage, it is also essential to take note of the first ever Korean to perform at this stage, Yaeji. Even though she was born in the United States, both of her parents are Korean and she’s spent a portion of her life in the Republic of Korea. She’s a visual artist, with an inkling to Electronic Music, she made her debut back in 2019, receiving great feedback and certainly, new fans who appreciate different sounds.

Furthermore, DPR Ian and DPR Live made their debut at the festival with a 45 minute-long set and left the crowd wanting more. Both of these artists are part of a bigger artistic conglomerate under the same name, “DPR”, which stands for Dream Perfect Regime, they define themselves as a multi-genre and multi-video group, as stated in their website, singing with pride and confidence songs like “Boom”, “Hula Hoops” and “No Blueberries”.

Surely, we can’t talk K-Pop without mentioning the girl groups that have been on the Lolla’ stage, both New Jeans and IVE have had astonishing performances, both groups with solid fan bases showed their best colors.On one hand we have New Jeans, who stunned the crowd with hit songs, “ETA”, “Hype Boy” and “Attention”, the crowd was loud and soared, danced along with them, on the other hand, there’s IVE, having debuted in 2021, they’re known for showing stunning performances, on the past August 3rd, they proved they deserve to be a part of today’s conversation when it comes to the musical industry, IVE rocked the stage with impeccable performances of “ROYAL”, “Accendio” and “LOVE DIVE”.

NEW JEANS performed at Lollapalooza one year after their successfull debut in 2022. IVE Rehearsing “ROYAL” for their Lollapalooza Stage. Full Credits to their rightful owners, Lollapalooza, Starship ENT, and ADOR. Made By Daniela Delgado on Canva.

Last, but surely not least, The Rose have set a great relationship and are no strangers to Lollapalooza, so far, they have performed at different cities some of which are: Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Stockholm and their latest Lollapalooza appearance was in the US, more specifically, in Chicago, truly showing their Black Roses and new listeners what a Korean alternative-rock band sounds like.

Moreover, Korean-Filipino descent duo, Joseph Chung and Joe Abella, better known as ARMNHMR, who focus mainly on EDM sounds, performed an amazing set of about an hour on Perry Stage, a loud crowd welcomed them with open arms on the 4th of august of 2023. ARMNHMR, presented “Lonely Nights” and shocked spectators with a special remix of New Jeans’ “OMG”. Among their most recent achievements, it’s important to highlight that as reported by Peter Volpe for the site “EDM Maniac”, in March, they became the first Korean-Filipino DJ duo to have their own residency on the Las Vegas Strip.

Stills of ARMNHMR's performance taken from the duo's official Instagram account. Full Credits to: BRAND1FILMS and ARMNHMR, Made by Daniela Delgado on Canva.

Berlin Slipped into the Diamond life as SEVENTEEN headlines Lollapalooza Berlin 2024

Expectations were high for the thirteen-member group, this being their last stage before their first member, Jeonghan, enlists in the military, JUN was absent since he’s fulfilling a schedule in China, his homeland. They have made history, setting themselves as the first K-Pop group to headline Lollapalooza in Berlin, another great achievement to the group in their nine year-long career. They certainly surprised their local German crowd, but their very own “Carats” were just as shocked to see them perform hit songs and fan-favorites, such as leader sub-unit song “Cheers”, latest single “MAESTRO” and their concert staple “VERY NICE”.

SEVENTEEN's performance as one of the headliners for Lollapalooza in Berlin on September 8th 2024. Full Credits to:PLEDIS ENT. Made by Daniela Delgado on Canva.

Future’s looking brighter than ever

Korean artists, representing different genres have highlighted how, surely, K-Pop might currently be soaring and thriving, they still have so much to offer and bring to the current musical industry, personally, I can’t wait to see both mainstream and indie artists thriving both in and out of their homeland, while I can’t know for sure who’ll be the next artist to join this list of Lollapalooza performers, I can assure that their stage will surely be traced with talent, diligence and mainly, hard work.

As we wait for newer editions of this festival and new musicians making their well-deserved debut, check out this playlist I have made where I’ve compiled a few songs of each of the groups that have performed at this amazing festival, make sure to check it out!

Lollapalooza meets Korea: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6OEjKzlZCHJFy7Vzd9Mtot?si=XHLDwOZZRLSB1WLpy976oQ