On Friday, June 14th the annual three-day Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash hip hop music festival began with concertgoers rushing in as the gates opened. Thousands of fans had waited outside the entrance for hours, fueled with the excitement of being the first to the stages, art installations, and vendor displays. The curious Summer Smashers were immediately greeted with monster trucks, gigantic, inflated Minions from “Despicable Me,” and music video set replicas in giant lemonade cartons created by Lyrical Lemonade.
The festivalgoers ran in every direction, covering tons of ground within the first few minutes as they explored everything the sprawling festival grounds had to offer. Top tier artists performed at the gargantuan Lyrical Lemonade Stage, the exciting SPKRBX Stage inside SeatGeek Stadium, and the energy-filled Drink Lyrical Tent Stage, giving festivalgoers plenty of unique options in terms of both performers and venues. The Summer Smashers were largely unphased by the heat throughout the weekend as they took breaks from taking pictures with art installations and listening to music to refresh their water supplies at multiple water refill stations or bought cans of the festival’s signature Lyrical Lemonade. Fans were also delighted to see the large number of options for food and beverages, including McDonalds, Portillos, Crumbl Cookie, and many more.
The huge end of the night performances by the Summer Smash headliners, some of the biggest names in the rap/hip hop industry, made history with truly sensational performances amid pillars of fire and smoke shooting out around the artists on stage. Friday night featured a roaring crowd and unforgettable performances of “FE!N,” “After Party,” and many more songs by Sheck Wes, SoFaygo, Chase B, Don Toliver, and the man that topped off the Cactus Jack group, rapper Travis Scott. Fans got to see mini sets from each artist as they played their hits, plus the five-man group performed together live for the first time ever. Saturday night maintained the energy with rapper Playboi Carti, known for founding the rap collective Opium that includes, Homixide Gang, Ken Carson, and Destroy Lonely who also performed at the festival, stunning everyone by bringing this entire group out for massive, high-intensity performances. Sunday night ended the festival with a stunning bang as the legendary rapper who Summer Smash attendees had been waiting three full days for, the Chief Keef, walked on stage as 40,000 festivalgoers screamed in excitement. The king of drill music hadn’t performed in Chicagoland in nearly twelve years and was in full form as he captivated the audience with old and new songs alike, even bringing rappers Tadoe, Ballout, and DooWop on stage for a star-studded performance that finished the festival off in style.
Historic and extremely well-received performances were the main takeaways for the thrilling festival. Summer Smash and SeatGeek Stadium provided everything fans needed for a fantastic experience and more, bringing record success to Summer Smash 2024.
