Three major outlets spent the weekend falling over themselves to cover pop stars sharing stages at a corporate music festival, publishing near-identical copy about which celebrity walked out during which song — and the press ecosystem's herd behavior is the only real story here.
The Smashing Pumpkins headlined Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park for the first time in over 30 years, bringing out Olivia Rodrigo for an acoustic "Thirty-Three" and Yungblud for "Luna" off Siamese Dream. Yungblud told the crowd it was "a f**king dream come true," according to VICE. Meanwhile, Charli XCX headlined the T-Mobile stage on the other side of the park, kicking off her tour behind a new album with a cinematic finale featuring David Cronenberg intoning "Oblivion is freedom" across the screens.
That's the news. Here's the problem: VICE, Yahoo, and Rolling Stone all covered the same festival the same way — breathless celebrity guest appearances, nostalgic setlists, artful stagecraft — and two of them published virtually identical copy. Yahoo and Rolling Stone ran paragraphs that are all but indistinguishable, from the "four competing headliners" framing to the "headlining FOMO" line to the description of Charli XCX's freeze-frame finale. The same syndicated prose, the same priorities, the same omissions.
What got left out? The corporate sponsorship plastered across the stages — T-Mobile's name on the marquee, the branding deals underwriting the spectacle. The ticket prices working Americans would need to shell out to stand in the Chicago rain for any of this. The fact that a festival once rooted in alternative culture is now a luxury product with VIP packages and corporate skyboxes.
VICE at least went a different direction, zeroing in on Corgan's cross-generational collaborations and his Coachella appearance with pop artist sombr, who recalled reaching out because he'd "been a fan of Billy and The Smashing Pumpkins since I was a kid." Sombr described a mic malfunction during their Coachella set and Corgan refusing to share: "He's like, 'Nah, we're waiting for my mic.'" That's an actual moment — a rock star insisting on doing it right instead of faking it. But even VICE buried it under celebrity fawning.
The establishment press covers Lollapalooza like it matters to the people actually paying for it — and it doesn't. This is entertainment for the comfortable, sponsored by telecom giants, repackaged by outlets that can't stop themselves from gushing over pop star cameos. Rolling Stone called the night "artful" and "memorable." Yahoo ran the same line. Nobody asked who profits, who pays, or why three outlets with national reach couldn't find a single thing to say that wasn't already in the press release.
The founders didn't risk everything so the press could serve as a free PR arm for T-Mobile and Live Nation. But here we are — "Oblivion is freedom" on the screen, and the press nodding along.
