This year's festival had eight stages and featured some 130 acts including Eminem, Lorde, and Outkast.
In the park, Samsung's Galaxy Experience had several tents with different activities. In one tent, guests could use the Galaxy Tab S to order lemonade. Using Samsung's new streaming service, Milk Music, guests then picked a favorite genre of music, which matched up with a particular flavor of the drink. Those who liked indie music, for example, were offered strawberry lemonade. PMK-BNC handles marketing activations for the brand.
In another area of the Galaxy Experience, guests could take selfies on the Galaxy S 5, then use a Milk Music dial to change the filter. The lounge had carpets and tufted leather couches that lent a homey vibe.
In the brand's V.I.P. area, Catering by Michael's offered a champagne popsicle bar. The treats came in flavors such as honeydew-ginger and blackberry-rose.
The area had a "glamping" theme and served treats such as s'mores in Mason jars. Catering by Michael's handled food as well as cocktails in the lounge.
The Participation Agency created an activation for Red Bull Sound Select. Within the space, there was a V.I.P. lounge for artist interviews and for guests to lounge; the area was decked with carpets, soft furniture, and a cooler stocked with Red Bull.
Guests who signed up for Red Bull Sound Select could charge their phones for free in secure lockers within the tent.
In a V.I.P. area known as the "Lolla Lounge," Dobel Tequila offered drink samples at a sleek pop-up piano bar.
BMF Media once again produced the lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel, which served as an off-grounds retreat for artists, media, and other tastemakers. Open for daytime and nighttime events, the lounge offered cocktails, concerts, and hairstyling services from Red 7 Salon.
On Saturday, Gilt City returned to EnV Chicago for its annual rooftop pool party. This year's featured performer was Betty Who, who also sang at Lollapalooza. Platinum Events handled production.
Inside the rooftop venue, guests could have their makeup touched up by artists from sponsor Benefit Cosmetics.
Dentologie, a Chicago dental practice, had a table with cupcakes decorated with crumbled graham crackers to look like sand and peppermint candies to look like beach balls. Dental hygienists staffing the booth gave guests cupcakes as well as free toothbrushes so that they could (theoretically) brush their teeth after eating the sugary treats.
On Thursday, M.A.C. Cosmetics hosted a launch party for its new Mia Moretti collection, which is inspired by Lollapalooza and festival fashion, at Fulton Market Kitchen. As guests dined, artist Blue Logan painted the scene on a large canvas set up along one wall of the dining room. BMF Media Group produced.
At the dinner, stylist, artist, and Mia Moretti's close friend Cleo Wade wrote custom poems for guests on a vintage typewriter. Wade would ask guests "how is your heart?" or "what are your favorite things?" before beginning to type.
In keeping with the arty atmosphere, guests could use crayons to doodle on paper tablecloths. Attendees included musicians Joe Jonas and Emily Kokal and Jenny Lee Lindberg of the band Warpaint.
Soho House Chicago opens on August 11, but the property hosted a preview party for musicians and select members of the press on Saturday. The event offered Grey Goose vodka cocktails, samples of the Soho House menu (including herb-filled bream and peach crumble), and a surprise performance from Jon Batiste & Stay Human. During the acoustic set, the band strolled around the venue and performed on bar tops.
A 130-foot flying cucumber, part of the Hendrick's Air campaign for Hendrick's Gin, traveled across 13 cities at 35 miles per hour. The tour ended on July 29 with a viewing party held at Galleria Marchetti in Chicago.
At the MPI World Education Congress, which took place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from August 1 to 4, Visit Anaheim partnered with 3-D pavement artist Joe Hill to create interactive illustrations. Created with chalk and paint, the installations represented aspects of Anaheim, including Orange County beaches, city landmarks, and theme parks. Guests were encouraged to pose "inside" the artwork and share photos on social media.
During the rock music festival, which took place in Chicago's Grant Park from July 31 to August 2, many festival perks were found at sponsor activations on festival grounds. Bud Light brought its traveling House of Whatever activation to the event, and in a V.I.P. area, guests could have their photos snapped inside the "Bud Light Lolla-Scope." The machine took rotating, 360-degree photos of guests, who then posted the images to their social media accounts. The images were automatically populated with the phrase: "And this happened at Lolla 2015," along with the #UpForWhatever hashtag.
At a bar at the Samsung Galaxy Owner's Lounge, guests could order frozen treats using the GS6 Edge device. The flavors were designed to represent different musical tastes. The "R&B" treat had a raspberry-rose flavor, for example, while "Rock" was honeydew-ginger.
Choosing a "Christmas in July" theme, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago hosted "Zoo Ball: Arctic Blast" on July 10. Nadeau's Ice Sculptures created an eight-foot-tall polar bear for the occasion.
For the fifth and final installment of the Icon 50 program, which celebrated the Mustang’s 50th anniversary, Ford Motor Company asked designer Jonathan Adler to create a cultural road trip in July, complete with a detailed driving route. The design-centric course featured destinations spanning both coasts. For a New York event, attendees drove their own Mustangs for the weekend, along with an itinerary of Shelter Island hot spots, Adler's recommended design destinations, and his must-have road trip accessories, which he curated in honor of the car’s anniversary.
GoGo Squeez partnered with MKG for the launch of the "Goodness Machine," a custom, interactive vending machine resembling the health-focused on-the-go snack brand's applesauce packets. The vending machine debuted in New York's Madison Square Park on July 23. Kids could push a button that activated a launching mechanism that shot out applesauce packets attached to parachutes with the brand's label from the top of the machine.
The Watermill Center's summer benefit in East End took place on July 25, showcasing 24 art installations. Once past the main entrance steps and right before the pathway to the Africa House sat two installations as part of Mette Sterre's "Sweet Beans Constrictors" artwork. Atop the landing, the Dutch artist created a pair of headpieces from coiled and tied tubing, representing dramatic forms of negative space in which performances sat and gazed at guests. Piles of fruit, in keeping with the theme, were featured as a complement.
Puerto Rican artist Radames (Juni) Figueroa's "Bed Paintings" installation featured a row of young men asleep in beds along the path of the forest, the artist's figure draped over their bodies (a tropical canvas as bed sheet). Piles of tropical fruit, meanwhile, studded the forest floor.
To allow guests to roam the grounds while indulging in the food prepared by Great Performances, all the self-serve dishes were designed to be hand-held and didn't even necessarily require plates. "We kept it fun and playful, as noted by the fried chicken served in savory waffle cones," said Shaun Roberts, event director at Great Performances. "It was approachable food done in a different way."
Stella Artois hosted a "Sensorium" dinner series from September 10 to 17 in a custom dome on King Street West in Toronto. Inspired by the beer brand's signature glass chalice—crafted to engage all five senses for a superior beer experience—the event was open to the public and each dinner held about 80 guests.
The first course of raw petite vegetables was planted in a plot of mushroom soil that ran down the tables. Servers dug out the vegetables with trowels. Chef Richie Farina created the menu.
London-based culinary duo Sam Bompas and Harry Parr debuted their latest project, Alcoholic Architecture, in July. The concept features a breathable cocktail cloud composed of fine spirits and mixers at a ratio of one to three, made using powerful humidifiers to super-saturate the air. Alcohol enters the bloodstream through the body’s mucus membranes: primarily the lungs but also the eyeballs. By "breathing" the cocktail, alcohol bypasses the liver, allowing guests to consume 40 percent less to feel the same effect, plus the high humidity level enhances the flavor.
