Joe Keery’s DJO delivers a love letter to Chicago: Lollapalooza review

Joe Keery’s back in Chicago, and he’s feeling it.

The actor and musician — known for his role as Steve in “Stranger Things” and the viral hit “End of Beginning” — was met with a massive swarm of Chicago love as he and his band DJO eased through their Friday evening set before a swelling crowd of thousands packing out the southern end of Grant Park.

Although largely a solo project, DJO on Friday was a band of seven, each member making his way to the stage individually, starting in on a slow-building instrumental interpretation of the Kraftwerk-esque “Runner” from DJO’s 2022 sophomore album, “DECIDE.”

When Keery stepped onto the stage, high-pitched screams rang out through the crowd as some fans made a push toward the front — making it clear that this was not just a mass of people waiting for Olivia Rodrigo, the day’s headliner.

Clutching a Gibson hollowbody, Keery led the band into 2022’s “Glow,” an upbeat jangle-pop tune evoking the early ’80s zaniness of Devo. Just then, a curtain behind the band dropped to reveal what appeared to be a giant silver balloon in the shape of “Cloud Gate” — kicking off what would be an hourlong love fest between Keery and Chicago.

“You’re not messing around, man!” Keery told the crowd, appearing gobsmacked by the energy and sheer volume of fans present.

He eventually shed the green button-down shirt that matched the stage’s initial light show. Now in a form-fitting white tank top, Keery shook his signature mop and elicited a steady flow of screams from fans.

Keery and Co. jammed through a slate of songs off his latest release, “The Crux,” from April, including “Link,” “Basic Being Basic,” and “Charlie’s Garden.”

For “Charlie’s Garden,” the band struck a more baroque-pop, Beatles-leaning sound, emphasized by a Ludwig drumset and a pre-recorded message from the titular Charlie — Keery’s “Stranger Things” co-star, Charlie Heaton. Fans raised their camera phones in hopes of a cameo. Chicago’s own trumpeter and producer extraordinaire Nico Segal did appear onstage, delivering a masterful, “Penny Lane”-leaning solo.

Moments later, Keery grabbed a drink, strode out on the catwalk and sat down to face his band with a look of disbelief. He eventually laid down and stared up at the sky, appearing to take it all in — before springing up to grab a camera hooked to the stage’s live feed. Keery trained the camera on his band, before turning it onto the crowd, as if he needed to share the sheer magnitude of what he was experiencing with everyone.

“To be playing on this stage with you people means the world to me — that’s something I never thought I’d be able to do,” Keery said, before strumming on a starburst Gibson acoustic for his next song, “Chateau (Feel Alright)” from his 2019 debut, “Twenty Twenty.”

Back then, the 2014 DePaul University alum had just decided to leave his beloved Chicago for Los Angeles and a full-time acting career, leaving behind close friends and his band, Post Animal. Standing at that precipice would inform his biggest song, 2022’s “End of Beginning,” which catapulted into the limelight last year via social media, racking up more than a billion streams on Spotify.

But before Keery launched into the song fans were clamoring to hear, a supercut of self-shot footage from those formative Chicago years appeared on the video screens. He told the crowd: “I wanted to make this song about you.” Home movies of his friends and former bandmates flashed on the screen, some of whom were with him on stage, including Teddy Matthews, of Chicago indie mainstay Slow Pulp, and Post Animal’s Wesley Toledo and Javier Reyes — who will both get their Lollapalooza moment when Post Animal plays Sunday.

As Keery strummed on a starburst Gibson acoustic, a sea of camera phones went up and some fans hopped on shoulders for a better view. A chorus of thousands met Keery’s voice, belting out, “And when I’m back in Chicago I feel it, another version of me, I was in it,” as golden hour hit the hazy skyline.

Kerry closed out the set with the tender, “Back On You,” joined by an actual chorus, the Uniting Voices Chicago, formerly the Chicago Children’s Choir. Choir director Josephine Lee led the young members, who angelically sang “Come back home, buddy, I remember who you are, who you are” — marking the end of one heck of a homecoming.

DJO’s Lollapalooza 2025 set list:

Runner
Gloom
Link
Basic Being Basic
Charlie’s Garden
Roddy
Gap Tooth Smile
Chateau (Feel Alright)
Potion
Delete Ya
Egg
End of Beginning
Back on You