The choice between Lollapalooza’s Sunday night headliners was the addictive pop-ballads of Tate McRae and the dreamy, minimal sounds of The xx’s. 

For many, that wasn’t a hard decision to make.

The xx’s, made up of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith, formed in 2005 and released its debut album in 2009. From there, there was no turning back. The album became a massive success with critics and hit big on Tumblr. 

It wasn’t long before it became a staple of the indie music scene.

Since then, The xx’s have been lying relatively low. The band released only two more albums, with its most recent being in 2017. Its members also took an eight-year break from touring and reunited in February for a show in Mexico City.

Despite the lack of new music and tour dates, The xx’s clearly still have a dedicated fanbase.

Festivalgoers gathered at the Bud Light stage for a serene 75-minute set that featured the band’s lulling vocals and balmy melodies.

It opened the set with the thumping drum beat and driving guitar melody of “Crystallized” as a gentle chill filled the air.

Unlike Turnstile’s performance on the Bud Light stage just a few hours earlier, The xx’s set was gentle and melodic, asking little of the audience other than being present. 

People lay splayed out on the grass or swayed tenderly along to the music, holding their loved ones close.

“Intro,” the band’s most popular song, which has over 800 million streams on Spotify, was the night’s final song.

The song’s moody beginning drew immediate cheers from the crowd, as people pulled out their phones to capture the song that took over Tumblr years ago.

As the two-minute song came to an end, so did Lollapalooza 2026 — marking a bittersweet conclusion to the four-day festival.

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