Lollapalooza 2025 Live Streaming

It’s the 34th year of Chicago’s very own Lollapalooza, a four day music festival that hits every summer with some of the biggest names in music. This year was no different with some of the noteworthy headliners being Tyler the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, Korn, and Twice. Even better still, for those like me who want to avoid the crowds, Lollapalooza now streams its main stages on two separate channels exclusively on Hulu, and the results were mixed to say the least. 

Originally streaming on Red Bull TV, Hulu now has exclusive rights, but has struggled to organize its streaming process in the past. This year it seems like they’ve finally hit their stride with a single banner for Lollapalooza on the platform that directs you to the two separate channels for their two main stages, as well as a really solid set schedule of performers, dozens of cameras and drones, and a large crowd to cheer them all on. The schedule allowed for a single performer every hour, with about 15 minutes of set up time in between. Everything seemed to run smoothly, and if you paid attention to the schedule, you could watch some of the biggest acts around while sitting on your own couch. 

This is where I come in, as someone who goes to shows but steers away from some of the more massive crowds. I thrive in this environment. I can easily pick and choose from the published schedule and even have the concerts running as background noise around my house. It’s a perfect scenario, to sit down for my favorite artists but switch it up when there was a lull. My highlights included Thursdays’ Magdalena Bay and Tyler the Creator, Fridays’ Olivia Rodrigo and Korn, Saturdays’ Clairo and Doechii and Sundays’ Sabrina Carpenter and Katseye. All had stand out moments, like Olivia Rodrigo bringing out Weezer to join them for Say It Ain't So and Buddy Holly, or Sabrina Carpenter bringing out Earth, Wind, and Fire for September.  

But the stream wasn’t all good. Bigger name performances were rife with camera issues, stuttering as Hulu struggled to handle the bandwidth, and in the instance of A$AP Rocky, his performance starting late and then getting cut early due to time, leaving fans furious on social media about only getting to see ten minutes of a presumably hour long set. Since the streaming service purchased the exclusive rights in 2022, it’s obvious that Hulu still has room to grow with how it handles live events such as these. Still, I enjoyed much of what I saw and this is still my ideal way to participate in what is one of the biggest festivals in the Chicagoland area. I look forward to the Lollapalooza streams every year, if only to capture a little bit of that magic from the comfort of my home, but it still needs a little shoring up on the part of Hulu.