There aren’t too many festivals in the world that’ll give you K-Pop megastars, leaders in electronic of the past decade, and pop sensations at every corner. There are even fewer that set up shop in Europe, given that the only other has been Glastonbury. Unlike a typical single main stage, followed by several smaller stages setup, Lollapalooza Berlin 2024 made the glorious use of two paralleling main stages, as well as the majestic Olympiastadion (and a handful of dinkier venues dotted around), fit for big names galore.

One such musician of sizeable acclaim was EDM legend Martin Garrix, who shook the stadium with an explosive DJ set that didn’t give the pyrotechnics a miss for a single track. Fellow nostalgia forgers of the 2010s The Chainsmokers were just as trigger happy with the fireworks: warranted, yes, and which decorated the sky spectacularly as they closed the festival in celebration. You couldn’t close your eyes if you tried.

Winding back the clock, DJ and ambient electronic musician Elderbrook had graced the same stage, soothing attendees’ souls with the best of his elegant sound. His incredibly atmospheric set allowed listeners to breathe and calm their senses as the festival’s lineup reached its midpoint.

Much like the Brits who won’t pass on a 99 flake cone in January, a warm pretzel is still a comforting treat on a scorching 32C day to the European attendees of Lollapalooza Berlin. Lucky for the festivalgoers that the place was absolutely abundant in pretzel stands and walking beer vendors: making sure everyone’s needs were met properly.

If you were over at the mini village of stalls, you could probably forget the event was about music for a brief time: the area was populated with charming attractions like the Coca-Cola ferris wheel, the Olympic pool (of which its diving boards had a queue of festival attendees awaiting a refreshing plunge), a house of mirrors, a glass igloo, neon-coloured Tic-Tac photo booths, and endless food stalls of all sorts of global cuisines. There was even a Coca-Cola club for when visitors had got tired of moshing at the stages and decided to take a break by… partying.

Lollapalooza was quintessentially a huge inner conflict for the attraction seekers and the general music enjoyers. But a pleasant one.

Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan had their sets on different days, gracing packed audiences with Britpop-ish anthems and the odd sprinkling of a One Direction throwback. Loyle Carner had an absolutely dreamy run of laid-back, sunny tunes; no one could’ve been a better performer on stage as the sun crept lower in the sky, leaving a pleasant golden haze in the eyes, ears, and hearts of all who were there for it.

Variety is one word to describe the assortment of leading names of the festival. The only female headliner, Shirin David, brought a very different and powerful feminine energy to her stage that none of the others could have matched. The German star was an absolutely irresistible performer that kept coming back as watchers demanded. Another much-loved singer was of course international household name Sam Smith, whose emotional performance struck a warmth in the hearts of the entire audience.

OneRepublic and Burna Boy, noteworthy names in pop rock and afrobeats respectively, were just one example of a lineup that never showcased artists of the same genre consecutively. Was this a deliberate choice or a delightful consequence of holding a global festival with no limits on genre or performer? K-Pop GOATs SEVENTEEN couldn’t tell you, but after watching their set, you wouldn’t care for the answer either.

Given that it was only their second ever performance on the continent after nearly a decade on the scene, the 13-piece (12 in attendance) boygroup received buckets of love from the European crowd, before they’d even had a chance to say “Guten tag!”. With the boys gifting fans with long-awaited live performances of their beloved hits, we couldn’t go without mentioning the nearly 15-minute version of “VERY NICE”: a lively bop from their earlier years that kept coming back for one last encore. “MAESTRO” and “Spell” were other particularly loved songs, all with complementary dances. We’ve all still got the line “Yeogi ocean view” in our heads after that.

No matter what you’re into, Lollapalooza Berlin was truly not one to miss.