Lollapalooza celebrates its 10th Birthday

The Olympia Stadium in Berlin reopened its gates for Lollapalooza. This year, the festival in the heart of the big city turns ten years old, celebrating a decade of bringing people together with music. The weather, however, did not show any indication of festivities. On Saturday, the day was gloomy and rainy. Instead of sunscreen and fun festival clothes, many visitors opted for the new it-piece: Rainboots and ponchos. However, that did not ruin the mood of the festival goers.

While the whole Saturday was a quest to find a spot to escape the rain, the sun decided to come out on Sunday. For many visitors, it was the most anticipated day. J-Hope, a member of the popular band BTS, would finally take over the Telekom Stage on that evening. Many fans have already saved their spots to see their favourite artist from close. This was something that did not work well last year when the K-pop band Seventeen performed, but Lollapalooza improved their organisation. While the headliner was getting ready to perform that evening, the German pop-rock band Juli opened the Telekom Main Stage that afternoon. With songs like “Die Perfekte Welle” and “Geile Zeit”, the band got the whole area dancing and screaming these German classics along. It was the perfect way to start the second day of Lollapalooza. The lead singer even shed some tears on seeing how many people were excited to see them perform.  Further into the afternoon, the American singer Benson Boone took over the Telekom Main Stage and during songs like “Mystical Magical” and “Beautiful Things”, he stunned with impressive backflips and powerful vocals. The British R&B and pop singer Raye was the last act before the headliner, and she did not disappoint. She prefaced most songs with an inspiring speech or an anecdote. With her incredible vocals, she performed the song “Ice Cream Man.”, which deals with the predatory behaviour she as a woman experienced throughout her life. It gave me so many chills. Her motto is “music is medicine”, and it is evident since her songs are so emotionally charged, making it seem as if they are used to resolve some things.

Lollapalooza Berlin goes out with a bang on their tenth anniversary. The headliner and last act of the night was J-Hope. He is a member of the most popular K-pop band BTS. They are currently on a hiatus, which will end this year, and during that break, a few members started solo careers, including J-Hope. Prepped with their signature light stick and goodies to give away to other fans, the “Army”, the name of the BTS Fanbase, spend their entire day in front of the stage to see the artist perform. At 8 pm, it was finally time. Everyone was screaming and holding up their light sticks in the air. The air was charged with excitement. When he came on stage, the crowd went wild. He performed some solo songs which lean more into rock like “What if…” and “Pandora’s box". He also treated fans to songs from the whole group like “Dynamite” and “MIC Drop”. Many have arrived from countries all over Europe to see him perform. His fans also started a fan project where they held up purple paper hearts during “Sweet Dreams”, which moved the singer a lot. It was wholesome to see the excitement of his audience. After the show, J-Hope shared on social media how impressed and moved he was by how loud the Berlin Crowd was. The show came to a wrap with lots of fireworks and marked this year’s end of Lollapalooza Berlin 2025.

As every year, there is also so much to do if there isn’t an act that caught your eye. At Fashionpalooza, you could win many freebies from different brands like Essence, Oatly, or Crocs. IQOS and Aperol both had an area where smaller german artists like Ritter Lean and Zsa Zsa performed. The food court had everything the heart desired: from Chips to Burritos and Kaiserschmarn.

It is always an experience to visit Lollapalooza, and we are so excited to see what they have in store for next year!

Want to see more of the festival? Here are all the pictures:

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