Grant Park transforms into something singular every August — 170-plus acts, eight stages, four days of music that somehow manages to reward both the obsessive set-planner and the wanderer who catches a life-changing set entirely by accident.
This year’s festival runs July 30 through Aug. 2 in Chicago, and if you can’t make it in person, you can catch live performances streaming on Hulu/Disney+ beginning Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. Whether you’re in Grant Park (like us) or on your couch, here are 10 artists worth building your weekend around.
Not for Radio
María Zardoya built her name fronting the dreamy L.A. band The Marías, but her solo project Not for Radio strips things down to something more exposed. Her debut album Melt, released last October, was born out of wintry isolation and sounds like it — celestial and lovelorn, with Zardoya’s voice at the center of everything. This spring she followed it with the EP Bloom. If The Marías gave you the full arrangement, Not for Radio gives you the feeling underneath it.
Geese
The Brooklyn five-piece formed in 2019, and they have been in a hurry ever since. Their album Getting Killed, out last September, earned them a spot on OnesToWatch’s 2026 Top 30 and a January appearance on Saturday Night Live that introduced them to a much wider room. They draw comparisons to Television and Black Midi, but Geese are developing something that feels distinctly their own — post-punk with a restless, almost nervous energy that makes their live sets genuinely unpredictable.
Blood Orange
Dev Hynes has spent years quietly shaping the sound of contemporary pop as a songwriter and producer for other artists, but Essex Honey — his first Blood Orange album since 2019 — is a reminder of how singular his own voice is. Released last September, the record arrives after a six-year gap and sounds unhurried in the best possible way. Hynes is also set to headline and curate London’s RALLY Festival in August, which tells you something about the esteem he commands right now.
Suki Waterhouse
She released Loveland this month, her third album and by most accounts her best, and it arrives at a complicated and generative moment — Waterhouse has spoken openly about how first-time motherhood shaped the record. She worked with Aaron Dessner of The National, songwriter Amy Allen and, improbably, Mick Fleetwood on drums. The result is rock-inflected and hook-heavy in a way that her earlier work only gestured toward. Catch her this weekend before the arena circuit comes calling.
Balu Brigada
Brothers Henry and Pierre Beasley grew up in Auckland, moved to New York, and have been quietly building an audience ever since. The New Zealand duo released their debut album Portal in 2025, following a 2024 single called “So Cold” that gave them their first real taste of viral traction. They cite Frank Ocean and Gorillaz as touchstones, which is a reasonable enough shorthand — their alt-pop is stylish and groove-forward, the kind of music that sounds better in a crowd than it does through headphones.
Wunderhorse
The British quartet led by singer-songwriter Jacob Slater has been steadily becoming one of the more exciting bands in U.K. guitar music, and 2026 looks like the year that reputation crosses the Atlantic in a serious way. Their 2024 album Midas — recorded at Minnesota’s Pachyderm Studio — won them the Group Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards, and their current North American tour has them playing venues and festivals that reflect a band in ascent. Grunge, indie and classic rock all factor in; the live show is the thing.
Hot Mulligan
The Michigan “post-emo” band has spent a decade earning their place as one of the scene’s most trusted acts, and last August’s album The Sound a Body Makes When It’s Still — their fourth — gives them more to work with on stage than ever. They’re on a summer tour with Joyce Manor, which should tell you exactly what kind of afternoon you’re in for. Come ready to know every word.
Sienna Spiro
She is 20 years old, London-born and already doing things that make the “ones to watch” designation feel like an understatement. Sienna Spiro’s February EP SWIM NOW, SINK LATER followed the breakout of her single “MAYBE.,” which has cleared 23 million streams. She has a BRITs Rising Star nomination, a Tonight Show appearance and a recent performance at the Royal Albert Hall for David Attenborough’s 100th birthday on her résumé. Her sound pulls from soul and ’60s pop, and her voice is the kind that makes a large outdoor stage feel immediately smaller.
Spacey Jane
The Perth indie rock band has been one of Australia’s biggest alternative acts for a few years now, but 2025 made it official. If That Makes Sense, their third album produced by Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Wolf Alice, The 1975), debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart and finished as the highest-selling Australian album of the year. Five tracks from it ended up in triple j’s Hottest 100. They also released an EP, Exit Wounds, in June. Spacey Jane write enormous songs, the kind built for singing back at a band, and Lollapalooza is a natural stage for them.
BETWEEN FRIENDS
Los Angeles siblings Brandon and Savannah Hudson have been making their brand of sleek, bedroom-born alt-pop since the mid-2010s, and “affection,” their 2018 single, has accumulated more than 210 million streams on Spotify — the kind of number that suggests a fanbase that has been quietly, steadily growing. They’re playing Lollapalooza on Thursday before heading to Hinterland and Osheaga later in the week, a festival run that reflects where they are right now: everywhere at once, and worth the detour.
