Two of J-pop’s most prominent global standard-bearers, YOASOBI and Ado, brought their international momentum to Lollapalooza 2026, held at Grant Park in Chicago from July 30th to August 2nd. YOASOBI made their first appearance on the festival’s main BUD LIGHT stage, while Ado closed out the 15,000-capacity AIRBNB stage in her first major international festival appearance. Both acts performed on August 2nd, the festival’s final day, on a bill whose headliners included Charli xcx, Olivia Dean, and JENNIE.
YOASOBI graduate to the main stage
Two years on from their Lollapalooza debut in 2024, when they closed out the smaller BACARDI Stage, YOASOBI opened their 5pm main stage set with the 2023 global hit ‘Idol’ to the 30,000 strong crowd. The 12-song set also featured ‘Orion’, their recent collaboration with Overwatch, alongside ‘Monster’, ‘Tabun’, and an a cappella-introduced ‘Tracing That Dream’, before ‘Gunjou’ and ‘Into the Night’ brought the show to a close. On stage, the duo recalled the promise they made in 2024 to come back, thanking the audience for helping them fulfil it, and spoke about their music spreading around the world alongside anime and wider Japanese culture.
The set also sent plenty of listeners searching for more. Shazam named ‘The Brave’ the second most-identified song of the entire festival weekend, behind only BabyChiefDoit’s ‘Ghetto Love Story’.
Talking on the performance in an Instagram post, composer Ayase wrote, “I was able to truly feel that Japanese music is reaching the world. We gained a definite sense of confidence that we had seized this breathtaking view through our own efforts”. He added, “We got the main stage. Next, we’re taking the main stage’s top closing slot. We will definitely come back again. Just wait, Lollapalooza”.
ikura echoed the sentiment: “I want to grow even bigger from here, and come back to the main stage again, as a headliner🫶🏻 Let’s meet again soon!”.
Leaving little time to rest, YOASOBI launched their largest North American tour to date, NEVER ENDING STORIES, on August 4th, visiting Boston, Brooklyn, Hamilton, Seattle, Oakland, and Los Angeles, with a combined audience of more than 70,000 expected across the six dates.
Ado closes out the AIRBNB stage
Over on the AIRBNB stage, chants of “Ado! Ado!” reportedly rang out from half an hour before the singer appeared. She responded with 10 songs in 45 minutes, opening with ‘Show’ and ‘Usseewa’. Among them were 2026 singles ‘AiAiA’, written, composed, and arranged by Vocaloid producer Kikuo, and new single ‘Monstruo’, the theme for the live-action BLUE LOCK film, out August 7th.
During a brief pause in the set, Ado praised Chicago and told the crowd, “If I ever decide to move to America, Chicago is at the top of my list. And Chicago pizza, it’s yummy!”, before repeatedly exclaiming, “Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza!”.
Writing on X the following day, she admitted to some nerves: “It was my first time performing at an overseas festival, so I was really nervous, but I had a brilliant time! See you all again soon”.
While Lollapalooza was a first for the singer, she arrived in Chicago as no stranger to American audiences. Her 2025 world tour Hibana, the largest global tour ever staged by a Japanese artist, drew more than 500,000 fans across 33 cities on five continents, making her the first Japanese act to sell out arenas including Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. In May she headlined Zipangu, the largest J-pop festival held in North America, and will become the first Japanese female solo artist to headline SUMMER SONIC later this month.
With YOASOBI graduating to the main stage and Ado drawing an overflowing crowd on her festival debut abroad, Lollapalooza 2026 gave further proof of J-pop’s growing pull on American festival bills, following Fujii Kaze and Creepy Nuts’ appearances at Coachella earlier this year.
YOASOBI setlist
- Idol
- The Blessing
- UNDEAD
- Adrena
- PLAYERS
- Tabun
- Orion
- The Brave
- Monster
- Tracing That Dream
- Gunjou
- Into the Night
Ado setlist
- Show
- Usseewa
- Odo
- Kira
- Stay Gold
- Tot Musica
- AiAiA
- Monstruo
- Rockstar
- New Genesis
