Chicago – The Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago's Grant Park is notorious for bringing in artists of all genres and styles from all over the globe. However, there was one genre that had never been represented as a headliner at the festival – until now.
While Lollapalooza is a festival for all sorts of music fans, rock, pop, and hip-hop artists usually dominate the headliner spots. But this year, Luke Combs was able to break that trend.
On Thursday night, Combs made history when he performed on the Bud Light stage at Lollapalooza, becoming the first country headliner in the history of the massive music festival. Combs served as Thursday night's co-headliner opposite Tyler, the Creator, who nearly missed the performance entirely due to weather-related travel issues.
This was not lost on Combs, who celebrated the news with an announcement to the Chicago crowd, expressing his sincere gratitude and disbelief that he was invited for the historic performance.
“I remember looking over here and thinking, ‘Man, no way’ — [shoot] here we are, baby!” Combs said during his performance on Friday night, amidst a chorus of cheers from the crowd. “I never would have imagined my life would have turned out this way.”
Combs delighted the crowd for over an hour, playing his hit heartfelt ballads. He even brought out another crowd favorite artist, Alex Warren, to perform alongside him.
Warren, who had just finished his own performance on the nearby Tito's Stage, joined Combs on stage to perform the 24-year-old's song “Ordinary,” which has been the top song on the Billboard charts for most of the summer. Warren then stayed on the stage to sing Combs’ hit song “She Got the Best of Me” alongside him.
It was a historic night, and a successful performance from one of the biggest and most earnest names in country music.
Luke Combs Makes History at Lollapalooza first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 1, 2025
