Joe Keery returned to Chicago and he felt.
The actor and musician – known for Steve's role in “Stranger Things,” viral hit “End of String” – he and his band DJO relaxed a bunch of Chicago love on Friday night, and then on the second day at Lollapaloolooza, thousands filled the swollen crowd of Grant Park.
Although DJO is largely a solo project, Friday’s DJO is a seven band, each member heading to the T-Mobile stage individually, starting with a slow-building instrumental explanation of Kraftwerk-style “Runner” from DJO’s 2022 sophomore album.
When Keery took the stage, loud screams rang out in the crowd as some fans pushed to the front, which made it clear that it was not just a group of people waiting for the headlines of the day Olivia Rodrigo.
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Fan Sports Sunglasses Support Producer Dan Nigro, DJO, performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Fans filled the field while DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage on Friday, August 1, 2025 at Lollapalooza in Grant Park.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO cheered fans as they performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO sang on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Fans watched from under the tree as DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
DJO performed on the T-Mobile stage the next day at Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Friday, August 1, 2025.
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Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Keery clutched Gibson’s hollow guy and led the band into 2022’s “Glow,” an optimistic jangle-pop tune that evoked the early 80s Devo. Just then, the curtains behind the band fell, revealing the giant silver balloon in the shape of a “cloud door” – starting an hour-long love story between Keery and Chicago.
“You're not wandering around, man!” Keery told the crowd, showing the energy of the fans.
Eventually, he took off his green button-down shirt that matched the original light show on the stage. Now, Keery, 33, wore a fitted white vest top, shaking his signature mop and causing steady screams from fans.
Keery and Co.'s latest release “The Crux” has passed a wave of songs that include “Link”, “Basic Basic Basic” and “Charlie's Garden.”
For “Charlie's Garden,” the band struck a more baroque pop, tilting sound, emphasized by Ludwig's drums and titular Charlie – co-star Charlie Heaton of Keery's “Keery's Stranger Themings. Fans raised their camera phones, hoping for a cameo appearance. Chicago’s own trumpeter and producer extraordinary Nico Segal does appear on the stage and offers the superb “Penny Lane”.
After a moment, Keery grabbed a drink, strode to the car aisle and sat down to face his band, looking incredible. Eventually, he lay down and stared at the sky, as if he had put it all in – before bounced up and picked up the camera hanging from the live feed on the stage. Keery trained the camera on the band and turned it to the crowd as if he needed to share his experience with everyone.
“Playing with you on this stage means the world means the world to me – something I never thought I would do,” Keery said in his 2019 debut in The Twenties.
At that time, Massachusetts native and 2014 DePaul University alumni had just decided to leave his beloved Chicago for Los Angeles and have a full-time acting career, leaving behind close friends and his band Post Animal. Standing on that cliff will be his biggest song, the end of 2022, which jumped into the spotlight last year through social media, accounting for over a billion streams on Spotify.
But before Keery initiated fans’ shoutouts, super shots of the formative Chicago era self-shooting shots appeared on the video screen. “I want to do this song for you,” he told the crowd. His friends and former bandmates' family movies flashed on the screen, some of whom were on the stage, including Teddy Matthews of Chicago Independent Stand, and Wesley Toledo and Javier Reyes of Postal Animals, both of whom will get the lollapalooza moments when the animals are played on Sunday after Sunday.
When Keery stood out on Gibson acoustics, the ocean of cameras rose and some fans jumped on their shoulders for a better view. Thousands of choirs met Keery's voice and opened and said, “When I returned to Chicago, I felt, another version of mine, I was inside,” Golden Hour hit the hazy skyline.
Keery ended the suit with a “Back to You” tender, with the real choir, the voice of unity in Chicago (formerly the Chicago Children’s Choir). Choir director Josephine Lee leads young members to sing “Back home, buddy, I remember who you are, who you are” – marking the end of a homecoming.
DJO's Lollapalooza 2025 episode list:
Runners
gloom
Related
Basic is basic
Charlie's Garden
Roddy
Smile teeth
Castle (feels fine)
Potion
Delete ya
Egg
Begin and end
Back to you