Review: Olivia Dean is ‘all about love’ in feel-good Lollapalooza performance

<p>If <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/lollapalooza/2026/08/01/review-charli-xcx-delivers-jaw-dropping-drama-amid-made-for-movies-downpour" >Charli xcx’s headlining set</a> was a moody arthouse film, fellow Brit Olivia Dean’s Lollapalooza moment was the feel-good classic you screen on a cozy rainy day — except on Saturday, fans waded in a Grant Park swamp to sing, get emotional and share space with the beloved crooner.</p><p>The night was Dean’s first headlining a festival in the U.S., an occasion she welcomed with soul-baring singalongs, bits of wisdom and candor between songs, and a fireworks show that brought a level of connectedness to a mud-covered crowd.</p><p>She reflected on having first played Lollapalooza two years ago, telling fans she’d been in tears all day processing her place as Saturday’s headliner.</p><p>“To be headlining this year is just crazy and truthfully I’ve been crying all day because I feel so privileged to do this,” Dean confided to the massive crowd that blanketed the field in front of the T-Mobile stage.</p><p>The London native’s bright smile and honeyed, slightly raspy, pitch-perfect vocals felt like a balm at the end of a rainy, chilly day. She glided across the main stage in two different silver dresses as her voice floated over her immaculate seven-piece band, rounded out by a horn section and two angelic background singers.