It's time to start making some tough decisions—the Lollapalooza 2016 schedule has been released, allowing attendees to plan out their days (and long walks) at Chicago's biggest music festival.
The main stage headliners each night are mostly who we expected: Lana Del Rey and J. Cole on Thursday, Major Lazer and Radiohead on Friday, Disclosure and Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday, Ellie Goulding and LCD Soundsystem on Sunday. We were pleasantly surprised to see Swedish metal supergroup Ghost headlining the Pepsi Stage on Friday, Chicago-native emcee Vic Mensa closing out the Pepsi Stage on Saturday and the supremely strange South African dup Die Antwoord performing the final set at Perry's Stage on Sunday.
The majority of the major conflicts come late in each day—will you dance to HAIM or Flume on Sunday? Will you opt for the upbeat melodies of St. Lucia or Grimes on Saturday? We're a bit surprised about how early you'll need to arrive to catch some notable acts, though. Acclaimed New Jersey alt-country act Pinegroves are performing at 12:15pm on Thursday, Chance the Rapper associate Saba will turn in a set at 12:50pm on Friday and catching Brooklyn synthpop duo Chairlift will mean arriving by 1:30pm on Saturday.
If you prefer a particular genre of music, Lolla's schedule makes it fairly easy to see likeminded acts within close proximity of one another. Of course, EDM fans can hightail it to Perry's Stage each day for bass-heavy sets from the likes of Griz, Hardwell and Yellow Claw. For hip-hop fans, Sunday's lineup at the Pepsi Stage offers up some solid bookings, including St. Louis emcee Smino, "Cha Cha" originator D.R.A.M. and a late afternoon performance by West Coast rapper Vince Staples. There's even a bit of a dance-rock block on Sunday night, as Bloc Party leads into LCD Soundsystem's headlining set.
Take a look at the full schedule and prepare for four days of non-stop music with our guide to Lollapalooza.