The biggest music festival in Chicago, cialis Lollapalooza got underway for it’s third and final day of the three-day festival yesterday morning (August 3rd) in Grant Park after a very jam packed and highly intense first two days. While the lineup on the festival’s final day wasn’t as great as the first two days, there was still some pretty good performances and one of them, was of Los Angeles based R&B/Soul singer Jhené Aiko.
Of all of the hundreds of artists performing during the festival’s 10th anniversary here in Chicago, Aiko was one of the artists myself and many others really looked forward to seeing the most. With good reason too, as she’s one of the artists most destined for superstardom and definitely showed so with her amazing performance on Sunday afternoon from the Samsung Galaxy stage (which was the main stage for most of the big name acts all weekend).
Performing an early afternoon set, the tiny petite songstress slowly and eloquently came out in a very beautiful yellow squishy sequenced top with a matching elegant and angelic white skirt, as well as pink Minnie Mouse type headband. Backed by her band, Aiko looked ready for superstardom from the jump, as right away she took the stage with her very energetic anthem-type R&B slow burner, To Love & Die, about living to die for love and with everyone singing along got everything off to a very amazing start, to put expectations of the rest of the set soaring high with her mellow and magnificent voice matching so well with the record.
Aiko, then went into a couple of songs from her just last fall released EP, Sail Out, with hits such as Bed Peace (sans collaborator Childish Gambino, who was a no-show despite playing his own set at Lolla later on in the day) and Higher. Both of which she performed with such ease and the crowd sang along with in almost perfect harmony.
She would then go into what she called, “One of the most important songs by one of the greatest artists of all time.” Proceeding to give a very slow, elegant cover of Westcoast and Hip-Hop legend 2Pac’s “Keep Ya Head Up,” which was by far one of the biggest highlights of her set with how well she covered the legendary and historic song.
The highlights from Aiko kept coming too, as she asked fans, “Is it alright if I do an acoustic?” To which the drove of fans chanted an emphatic, “Yes!” As Jhené then along with her pianist Le J Keys, went into a very amazingly metaphorically effective acoustic rendition of her love saga, Space Jam, from her very classic and timeless, 2011 mixtape, Sailing Soul(s).
About halfway through the acoustic piece it ironically started raining, which made the performance of the record that much more memorable and perfect. That didn’t stop the drove of fans or Jhené from enjoying themselves though, as she went into only her second ever performance of Drinking and Driving, and then into Stay Ready (What a Life). Her mellow and angelic voice sounding so perfect and smoothing, over the rain.
With the rain still going, the petite songstress then asked fans, “How many of you where with me from Day 1? Since Sailing Soul(s).” To which most of the crowd gave a sort of soft, but loud enough that you can her it, “Yes!” As Aiko then went one of her memorable fan favorites in Strangers in which she told fans to get their lighters if they had them and hold them up, as they sang along together in the rain, which was picking up more steam.
Aiko would then go into her most recent single, the very soulful and smooth, The Pressure, were her sensual vocals and signature tone where really put fully on great display in the now drenching rain. To which Jhené then said, “See. I made God cry with my somber songs.” Before getting off the stage and going into the photo pit area to be more intimate and close to her fans in the rain-soaked crowd, as she closed out her Lolla set with a very amazing rendition of her single, The Worst, ironically, in some of the worst weather conditions with the downpour. Her fans still staying and singing along in such perfect harmony with her in the rain.
I’m sure most people that caught the set would say it was easily one of the best performances the whole weekend despite the rain and easily worth getting wet with Jhené in the downpour of rain for. With how amazing and near perfect her set was in those conditions, it really shows that she’s ready for superstardom and I wouldn’t be surprised if by this time next year she was a main headliner for Lollapalooza herself.