Meanwhile, Chicago Magazine senior digital editor Matt Pollock, posted a video of the wild scene on Twitter: “G Herbo is going to be popular,” he wrote.
Going to be?!
That’s the thing about Lollapalooza, fans weren’t necessarily there to see their favorite artist. The teenage concert-goers were there for the Lolla experience, bouncing around to whatever stage was hottest at the moment, frustratingly so to some artists. After two unrelentingly hot days, Bruno Mars closed out Friday night with an hour of bass-driven fireworks, 80s-era R&B and choreography reminiscent of James Brown.
However, after running through his hits, “That’s What I Like,” “Versace on the Floor,” and “Marry You,” to name a few, the crowd seemed bored when he went to one deep cut, “Runaway Baby.” Either the crowd didn’t know the song, or they weren’t here for any new arrangements of the song.
“If y’all ‘gon be quiet tonight, we ‘gon be quiet too,” Mars said. He backed away from the mic and the lights dimmed as his deejay encouraged the crowd to cheer to bring him back.
The same thing happened Saturday afternoon during rapper Logic’s performance. “Y’all ain’t giving me no energy. Do y’all know this song?” he said before walking off the stage.
Both Mars and Logic put on stellar performances. In Mars’s case, though, the crowd seemed to fade anytime a song went into a call-and-response arrangement. On “If I Was Your Man,” which Mars took his time to sing, he took pauses in between special notes in true Michael Jackson style – except, the crowd didn’t scream and give the feedback he wanted during each pause.
Thousands of fest-goers rushed towards the exits during an extended finale of “Just The Way You Are.” But for those who stayed for the whole song, Mars returned, with a costume change and some dancing shoes to rock out to an “Uptown Funk” encore. It showed that there were some true Mars fans at Lolla after all.