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Chicago – The opening night of the Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago’s Grant Park was largely successful, with Tyler, the Creator making it in time despite travel issues, Luke Combs making history with his performance, and Gracie Abrams bringing out a music legend for a full-circle moment. But the day was not without its issues.
Predicting demand for artists is not always easy, given how quickly pop culture trends change and the amount of pre-planning that goes into festival scheduling. As a result, sometimes issues arise with festival organizers radically underestimating the draw of certain performers, placing them on smaller stages that are not reasonably capable of accommodating the demand.
I first experienced this at Lollapalooza with Dominic Fike’s performance back in 2022, when he was booked for The Grove stage despite starring in HBO’s hit show Euphoria and the popularity of his hit song “3 Nights.”
Last year, to Lollapalooza’s credit, festival organizers anticipated an issue with Chappell Roan’s scheduled stage, ultimately deciding to move her performance from a smaller stage to the main stage – a move which proved wise when it was one of the most popular performances of the entire weekend, headliners included.
This year, however, Lollapalooza failed to make similar arrangements for Role Model. The festival was wholly unprepared for his popularity and draw, and it led to a chaotic, unenjoyable, and potentially dangerous situation for fans.
Role Model, whose real name is Tucker Harrington Pillsbury, is an American singer and songwriter who has exploded in popularity over the past several months after the release of his latest album Kansas Anymore, selling out venues across the country, leading to eye-popping resale ticket prices.
Erika Goldring/Getty Images
He has become especially popular among younger fans, with videos from his performances regularly going viral on TikTok with Role Model regularly inviting guests on stage to dance to his hit song “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out,” with some especially famous guests including Natalie Portman, Dylan Minnette, Bowen Yang, Conan Gray, and Renée Rapp.
It should have taken one trip to one a Role Model show, or even a slight glance at the numbers his videos do social media, for a festival organizer to realize that he was one of the most popular artists in the entire festival lineup. But somehow, he ended up booked at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday afternoon on the Tito’s stage – one of festival’s smaller stages opposite of the larger Bud Light Stage where Luke Combs performed as the headliner a few hours later.
The stage was too small and far too limited of a viewing area compared to the larger main stages, forcing fans to be crowded into a small area. The stage didn’t even have video screens to accomodate the fans watching from afar and the sound was nowhere near loud enough to reach the fans at the back of the audience.
Predictably, the crowd was far too big for the venue, and it was a disaster.
they put role model at way too small of a stage at lolla the crowd is crazy lol pic.twitter.com/P9n7FQ3zfO
— 🦋 (@carelessluv) July 31, 2025
In the minutes leading up to the performance, fans pushed in from all sides, squishing fans together and pushing some spectators into the barricades and walls. The crowd expanded so far back that it was difficult to even walk past the stage to get elsewhere in the festival grounds.
The area was so dense with people that media had trouble even get through the crowd into the media access pit. Several media members had to hop the barricade with the assistance of fans and others simply turned around and didn’t even try to fight the crowd.
Some fans eventually realized that the crowd was simply too big and there was no way they were going to get a view of the stage and began moving around the back of the stage in the Bud Light backyard to try to get a glimpse of the performance from there.
Quite simply, there were far too many people in far too small of a space. At best, it was unenjoyable for fans. At worst, it was dangerous and it was fortunate that no serious incident ocurred.
Regardless, fans were not happy about the festival’s decision to place Role Model on such a small stage.
ROLE MODEL draws a massive crowd at Lollapalooza — fans showed up and showed out! 🎤🔥 pic.twitter.com/FbTEFZdBDm
— Distinct Post. (@DistinctPost) August 1, 2025
“lolla put role model at tito’s so now every person under 30 has to fight for a space to stand and not even see him very cool things happening,” one fan wrote in a post on X.
“Role model at tito’s stage was probably the worst decision lollapalooza could’ve ever made. this is the most packed and unsafe crowd,” someone else added.
“plz start putting bigger artist on the bigger stages i beg. why tf was role model on some tiny stage??? i literally couldn’t make it to the stage because everyone wanted to see him but there was no room,” someone else wrote.
“they put role model at way too small of a stage at lolla the crowd is crazy lol,” another person added.
“in tears at role model bc i couldn’t even get a glimpse of him ….. @lollapalooza i have never in my life been so disappointed in you!!!!! he should’ve been at a main stage and you know that !!!!!” someone else wrote.
“hey so why is role model at this small ass stage with like minimum volume and no screens…….. let a lot of us down btw,” another fan wrote.
Ultimately, the show still went smoothly and there were no significant incidents related to the size of the crowd. Still, it was a dangerous situation and there were a lot of disappointed fans and frustrated media members, and it all could have been avoided.
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