The best and worst moments of Lollapalooza 2018

CHICAGO - Lollapalooza lucked out in a lot of ways in 2018.

For the first time in ages, no massive storms rained on the fun or forced a full evacuation of Grant Park. Heightened security ran smoothly, and there were no major issues -- a greater concern following the Route 91 Harvest Festival tragedy in Las Vegas last October. (The gunman in that shooting had checked out Chicago hotel rooms overlooking Grant Park during Lollapalooza 2017 that he never checked into.)

And in terms of talent, Lollapalooza had one of the single most entertaining headliners since rebranding as a Chicago destination festival 13 years ago.

After four days and more than 180 acts, here's a look back at some of the highs and lows at this year's Lolla.

Best set

Making his Lollapalooza debut (excluding an Eminem set cameo seven years ago), Bruno Mars dazzled on a perfectly cool summer night with effortlessly incredible showmanship and an infectious homage to '70s soul, '90s R&B and other momentous chapters in the history of black music.

Even with enough fireworks for a Fourth of July bonanza, it was Mars, first and foremost, who burned brightest, whether he was passionately pouring his heart out with his velvet pipes for the sultry "Versace on the Floor," or dancing brilliantly without a single note of music to back him up when "Runaway Baby" took a pause. Bravo on the booking, Lolla --- now let's see if you can top it.

Honorable mentions

With bandmates wearing face stockings, beige suits and blond Moe Howard wigs, and fever dream visuals including a crown of severed gloved hands, St. Vincent took Lollapalooza back to the large-scale weirdness of the early days with her futuristic baroque pop. She also made the electric guitar queen again, if only for an hour, with her jagged, brilliant riffs.

And at a festival dominated by new rappers used to big streaming numbers, but not playing big shows, hip-hop legend LL Cool J showed 'em how its done, performing with the swagger of a young hotshot with so much left to prove.

Worst set

Living meme Lil Pump's set was the perfect storm of awful. With just 45 minutes to play, Lil Pump still had a DJ warm up the packed, combustible crowd, followed by a little-known rapper no one cared to see. Then when Pump was finally supposed to take the stage, the DJ's laptop overheated, prompting thousands of fans to boo and scream "(Expletive) you" and "This is (expletive)," and a few people to chuck full water bottles on the stage.

The DJ had no backup plan, of course, but some smart crew members plugged in fans to cool down the laptop -- and miraculously, it worked. But when Pump hit the stage, he only did two short songs before pausing the set after security pulled several faint people -- plus a hysterical woman, a vomiting girl, and a boy no older than 10 -- out of the crowd chaos into the photo pit.

Pump just did a couple songs after that, and later on social media, the 17-year-old rapper blamed the festival.

And he's right: Lollapalooza planners deserve most of the blame.

Last year, the festival had rapper Lil Yachty play an afternoon slot at Grant Park's Petrillo Bandshell, dubbed the Tito's Handmade Vodka stage at Lolla. It's one of the smallest stages on the grounds, with one of the most narrow viewing areas, and Yachty's crowd was so huge and aggressive that some fans nearly took out a chain link fence. It was an irresponsible decision having him play there -- and Lolla planners made that same terrible mistake, by booking Pump to play that same stage Saturday.

Lollapalooza promoter C3 Presents, and the fans who trust the festival, should consider themselves lucky that Pump's disastrous performance didn't end in real tragedy.

Dishonorable mentions

Unstoppable hits like "Rockstar," "Better Now" and "Psycho" drew the largest crowd of the weekend to Post Malone's set, but ugly vocals, a dull stage presence and an amateurish acoustic guitar-singalong unfit for an open mic showed the rapper's not ready for prime time.

And after a bloated gospel rendition of her country smash "Meant to Be," Bebe Rexha left the stage 23 minutes ahead of schedule. It was a fake ending, but thousands of people didn't bother sticking around.

Most promising newcomer

Feminist punk group The Regrettes reigned supreme in front of a regrettably empty field during a fest opening set Sunday, with 17-year-old frontwoman Lydia Night triggering an all-girl mosh pit for the blemishes-embracing self-love rocker "A Living Human Girl."

A close second place goes to electrifying hip-hop collective Brockhampton, which offered a much-needed energy boost immediately after Post Malone's morose performance.

Best cover

At an already exhausting Lollapalooza's halfway point early Saturday, Milwaukee native Grace Weber offered soothing replenishment, lending her pristine church-groomed vocals to a nourishing rendition of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature."

Keep an ear out for her forthcoming soul album produced by Chance the Rapper's go-to team the Social Experiment.

Coolest cameo

Some ladies in the front of the Weeknd's show were certainly excited to see his lady, supermodel Bella Hadid, walk through the photo pit to a VIP area, but I was more thrilled by Chinese superstar Lay Zhang's cameo appearance during DJ Alan Walker's otherwise uneventful set.

Flanked by four other dancers, Zhang performed the kind of dazzling, perfect routine you'd expect from a member of K-pop band EXO.

Sweetest fan interaction

This one's a tie, too. Eight months after the Tumblr post "Petition to give Carly Rae Jepsen a sword" went viral, Jepsen finally got one from a fan at Lollapalooza.

And after rapper G Herbo saw a paraplegic fan crowd surf during his set, he invited him on stage to shake his hand.

Biggest flex

Vampire Weekend playing "A-Punk" three times in a row at the start of their set is certainly a bold move, but we have to hand this one to Travis Scott. Three years ago, his Lolla set ended after just five minutes when he encouraged fans to storm the stage; he was arrested that night for disorderly conduct.

But not only did Kylie Jenner's other half headline Lollapalooza Thursday -- he used the show to promote his new album "Astroworld," which came out just an hour after his set ended. That's some serious clout, but Scott was humble enough to relinquish the spotlight to a couple who got engaged on his stage.

Most common look

Body glitter was the hot trend for thousands of ladies, and Hawaiian shirts and NBA jerseys for the gents, and even Lollapalooza's stars embraced a recurring fashion trend: Chicago Bulls jerseys. Bruno Mars and his band all wore them on stage, and so did the Regrettes, Chance the Rapper's younger brother Taylor Bennett, Chicago up-and-comer Femdot, Chicago rapper G Herbo, Canadian electronic producer Ekali -- and yes, even Lil Pump.

KIRO