2019 will be my fourth Lolla in a row, and I have to say, I’m not too excited about this lineup. Usually there is a few acts I’m super excited about, but right now none really are sticking out. However, an upside to this is that I’ll be able to check out different acts I usually wouldn’t see and be introduced to new music. And also to collect all the free stuff and do all the free activities, which is always fun. Below is my tentative schedule. Who are you most excited to see?

Thursday

Normani 4-4:45 Lake Shore

H.E.R. 4:45-5:45 Grant Park

Saba 6:30-7:15 American Eagle

Hayley Kiyoko 5:45-6:45 Lake Shore

Lil Baby 9:00-10:00 American Eagle

Friday

21 Savage 5:00-6:00 Grant Park

Janelle Monae 6:45-7:45 Grant Park

Childish Gambino 8:45-10 Grant Park

Saturday

Smino 4:00-5:00 Tito’s Homemade Vodka

6lack 5:00-6:00 Bud Light

Lil Wayne 6:45-7:45 Grant Park

Sunday

Tayla Parx 4:30-5:10 BMI

Shaq 5:15-6:15 Perry’s

Kasey Musgraves 6:30-7:30 Grand Park

Meek Mill 7:00-8:00 Bud Light

Ariana Grande 8:30-10 Grant Park

House of Vans Chicago is hosting a summer concert series. The shows are free, and actually feature pretty big names, like Vince Staples, who just finished his tour (you can see my pictures here) and Anderson .Paak who is going up on tour this summer. Each of the headliners pick out the rest of the line up for the night, which would be a great way to discover new music. In order to get free tickets you must  RSVP, with the list opening about 2 weeks before the performance. You can RSVP here.

House of Vans are skate parks and community spaces with locations in Chicago, Brooklyn and London.

I was first introduced to House of Vans at the 2016 Pitchfork Festival where they had a pop up event where you built your own record player, which was a lot of fun to do. I’m very excited about this concert series. Not only would I love to see Anderson .Paak, Banks and Vince Staples again, but in general I just love pop up events because I feel like they are a bit more interactive than the average concert.

Coachella is livestreaming on YouTube for free again this year, and it is the cheapest (and cleanest) way to catch all the hype from Coachella. Here is my “Couchella” schedule. It is a bit light, but it will actually give me time to rest for all of these late night sets.

You can watch Coachella here.

Friday, April 12

6:45 – Jaden Smith (1)

7:20 – DVSN (3)

8:55 – Ella Mai (3)

11:25 – Childish Gambino (1)

Saturday, April 13

7:30 – Sir (2)

11:15 – Smino (3)

11:55 – Kid Cudi (2)

Sunday, April 14

7:45 PM – Zedd (1)

8:35 PM – Khalid (1)

9:35 PM – H.E.R. (1)

10:35 – Ariana Grande (1)

Panorama, the New York music festival that started in 2016, is taking a year off in 2019. The 2018 festival had its issues; the first day was canceled due to weather. It is taking a hiatus to hopefully allow it to be moved to its original desired location, Queens.

While New York still has the Governor’s Ball, here are other festivals you can travel to and how much much flights cost from New York as of January 25.

Coachella

Weekend 1
NYC to Los Angeles- Coachella 4/11-4/15 Averaging $320 according to Kayak.

Weekend 2
NYC to Los Angeles -Coachella 4/18-4/22 averaging $440 according to Kayak.

Bonnaroo

NYC to Nashville Bonnaroo  6/12/to 6/17 averaging $240 according to Kayak

Lollapalooza

NYC to Chicago-Lollapalooza 7/31-8/5 Averaging $170 according to Kayak 

What festival are you thinking of going to?

After announcing he will be a part of Coachella this year, Smino put out the dates for his “Smino’s Hoopti Tour” in support of his 2018 album Noir.  I am beyond excited for this tour. I’ve seen Smino abut four or five times and I love it each. Such a great, soulful, fun show. Check out some pics I’ve done at his show here.

Presale starts now . Where we meetin at ? (Passcode: WD40) #HooptiTour https://t.co/uHrYdXQmO9 pic.twitter.com/RnwnlSwleq

— Smi (@smino) January 15, 2019

You can get tickets here. The pre sale code is WD40.

Smino 2019 Tour Dates:
03/16 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 3
03/19 – London, UK @ Brixton Electric
03/23 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
03/27 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater
03/28 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
03/30 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada Theater
04/01 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
04/02 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex
04/04 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox
04/05 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theater
04/09 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
04/10 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
04/13 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/20 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
04/23 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
04/25 – Dallas, TX @ Trees
04/26 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
04/29 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
04/30 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
05/02 – Nashville, TN @ The Cannery
05/03 – Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead
05/04 – Tampa, FL @ Orpheum
05/06 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
05/07 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
05/09 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
05/10 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
05/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ The TLA
05/13 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
05/14 – Montreal, QC @ L’Astral
05/16 – Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix
05/17 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall

2019 just started and festival line ups are already being released. Here is who I would see each day.

Friday:

Childish Gambino, Anderson .Paak, Ella Mai, Jaden Smith, dvsn, Janelle Monae

Saturday:

Solange, Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa, Smino, SiR, Idris Elba

Sunday: 

Ariana Grande, Khalid, Zedd, Bad Bunny, YG, Playboi Carti, H.E.R., Blood Orange, Pusha T, SOB X RBE

Seeing the first lineup for festival season is always surprising because people haven’t released new music yet and you haven’t seen who is on the festival circuit yet. So I’m hoping a lot of these artists release new music and albums to play at these festivals. Its interesting to see Ariana Grande on here; there isn’t usually that many pure pop acts on here, and its great to see another woman headliner. Coachella also has a special connection to Ariana Grande because that is where she did a surprise performance of “No Tears Left To Cry” for the first time.

Check up the full lineup below. You can buy tickets starting Jan 4 here. Prices start at $429 for a weekend pass.

Imagine taking one of the hottest rapper’s track from one of the best selling albums of 2018 and making it into a moody, indie song? That’s what Morgan Saint did with Cardi B’s “Thru Your Phone,” the closing track on her Invasion of Privacy album.  Saint’s version was named one of 2018 best covers by MarieClaire.com. And just like Cardi made a name for herself, so has Saint. While she has been compared to the likes of Lorde and Halsey, she is defining her own sound with her EP ALIEN. She is also currently on tour opening for lovelytheband.

Check her out this weekend at Lincoln Hall in Chicago and click here for more tour dates. You can also listen to “Thru Your Phone” and her EP Alien below.