H.E.R. enters the T-Mobile stage performing with guitar during her evening set for the opening day of Lollapalooza on Aug. 1st, 2019. Photo courtesy of Greg Noire
One look at Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, as well as musician H.E.R. donned in a very strikingly beautiful black and green top with orange pants and black high top heels as she entered the T-Mobile stage with guitar in hand for her Thursday evening set on day one of Lollapalooza. You knew you would be getting a classic and amazingly masterful performance.
Only still in the beginning stages of her career at only 22-years-old, don’t let H.E.R.’s youth fool you cause the singer already has the vocals and stage presence of a seasoned veteran. While also showing that she is a great musician that is already a master of many instruments ranging from both electric and acoustic guitar solos to pieces on bass, keyboards and percussion. That mastery of those instruments along with her very wide-ranging great vocals showed from the very first record she performed, Carried Away to her mastery of percussions and keyboards along with her smooth vocals on both 2 and Feel A Way, that really take you to another space as you watch a master performer at work.
By the time she reaches her very alluringly smooth amazing single, Could’ve Been, you feel like you truly are out of this world with the way she mesmerized the crowd and they sing along the simple, yet memorable lyrics about what could’ve been from a previous love. H.E.R. having the crowd going even more by the time she reaches the halfway point of her set and goes into her very sweet and beautiful Grammy Award-winning hit single, Best Part. Which she had the massively large crowd swaying their hands back and forth and singing along with as she sang so smoothly the sweet loving lyrics with her backup singers sounding like a resounding gospel choir, as well as turning, Make It Rain, into a wrenching gospel-infused wail. A true turning point in her performance too.
Continuing to channel the old school Soul and Hip-Hop she was so influenced in from her almost Aaliyah-esque outfit to her live backing band along with H.E.R. singing with ease the very simple, yet vulnerable memorable lyrics of her standout platinum hit single, Focus. Before saying how much she loved Lauryn Hill and going into a cover of a few verses from Lauryn Hill’s classic, Ex-Factor and then going into a beautiful rendition of her very amazing record, As I Am. Where she had the crowd swaying their hands back and forth yet again, as they sang along.
Showing how truly talented she’s, H.E.R. would pull out her guitar as she sang a very rousing rendition of her record, Lights On, and then about halfway through closing out with a very amazing guitar shredding of the late great Prince’s, Purple Rain. Easily the best performance of the first day of the festival in Chicago’s famed Grant Park, H.E.R. definitely showed why we highlighted her as this year’s can’t miss performer and why I wouldn’t be surprised to see her back in a few years as a headliner at Lollapalooza.