THE BMI STAGE LIGHTS UP DAY ONE OF LOLLAPALOOZA WITH UNFORGETTABLE PERFORMANCES
CHECK OUT SETS BY LARKIN POE, WES PERIOD, FLETCHER, GASHI, SUPA BWE & MADISON BEER
On Thursday, August 2nd the BMI Stage at Lollapalooza kicks off with six incredible performances. For the thirteenth year in a row the stage continues to showcase the industry’s biggest and brightest.Day one kicks off with sister rock duo Larkin Poe, eccentric West Coast rapper, Wes Period, and boundary pushing pop upstart Fletcher. Roc Nation backed lyricist GASHI urs in the second half of the day’s performances with a set by rapper/producer Supa Bwe to follow. Chart fixture Madison Beer will entertain the crowd with her signature sultry R&B vocals, closing out the first day of the festival.
BMI STAGE SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, AUGUST 2nd
LARKIN POE | 1:00-1:40pm
“These women are seriously badass. Don’t mess with them.” – Paste MagazineRebecca & Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe are singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist sisters creating their own brand of Roots Rock ‘n’ Roll: gritty, soulful, and flavored by their southern heritage. Named for one of their familial ancestors who was also a distant cousin of Edgar Allan Poe, Larkin Poe’s music mines a reverent blend of blues and Americana with the patina of a Southern Gothic sensibility, punctuated by the sisters’ seamless harmonies and gritty interplay between electric and slide guitars.
WES PERIOD | 2:10 – 2:50pm
“West Coast rap exists in Kendrick Lamar’s celestial shadow, but that doesn’t mean Los Angeles isn’t speckled with intriguing young voices putting their own twists on the genre. One of those voices is Wes Period.” – NYLONThis native Californian rapper/songwriter/producer began making music in 2010. Flecked with a bright, celebratory and hazy lyrical flow, Wes’ music is upbeat, sunny and singularly Californian. His music fell into the hands of hit songwriter, Justin Tranter (Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, DNCE), who quickly signed Wes to his label, Facet Records, where he released the track “Trap Star,” and the mixtape Pretty Words.
FLETCHER | 3:20 – 4:00pm
“One of the most exciting female artists to emerge in the pop…Even in the face of growing fame FLETCHER has remained unquestionably authentic – and ‘s only just getting started.” – Paper MagazineOriginally hailing from Asbury Park, the rock capital of New Jersey, striking singer-songwriter Fletcher made a tremendous splash when her rousing pop track “War Paint” was essentially declared the anthem of the summer 2015 via the Spotify Viral 50 Chart. The single became the #1 most socially shared track on Spotify in the U.S. for two consecutive weeks, and #3 across the world, earning nearly 5 million streams. After that auspicious opening statement, Fletcher unlead the Finding Fletcher EP, which added “Wasted Youth” to her arsenal of provocative pop, racking up 2.9 million views on YouTube.
GASHI | 4:30 – 5:10pm
“It’s difficult to not to be captivated by his songwriting and his distinctively strong personality as it’s carefully woven into his music.” – The SourceBorn in Africa, bred in Brooklyn by parents of Albanian descent, Gashi seamlessly sings, raps, blends and melds musical elements into a singular style that has made him an artist to watch. His single “Disrespectful” has accrued 4.6M views on YouTube, and his single “No No No” has been streamed over 6 million times, landing on Spotify’s New Music Friday billboard in the middle of Times Square.
SUPA BWE | 5:40 – 6:20pm
“Supa Bwe has already challenged the current state of rap as he transcends genres with his eclectic production and blend of melodies and rhymes.” – HipHopDXChicago rapper/producer Supa Bwe (real name Frederick S. Burton) dropped his full-length solo debut, Finally Dead, last December, and the bold release proved to be an audacious opening statement, premiering at number 3 on iTunes and earning critical shout-outs from XXL, Hype Beast and others. As equally influenced by classic hip-hop from his father and the punk, metal and alternative rock championed by his British mother, Supa Bwe’s music is an assertive blend of inventive rhymes, in-your-face attitude and striking vocal melodies that meld his influences into a single, distinctive style that sets him well apart from his contemporaries.
MADISON BEER | 6:50 – 7:30pm
“Don’t be fooled by her age: 19-year-old Madison Beer is a force to be reckoned with and an old soul.” – BillboardMadison Beer is a Long Island native who started posting her covers of pop and R&B songs online at the age of 12. Since then, Beer has racked up YouTube views past 83 million, ’s amassed 10.7 million Instagram subscribers and 2.6 million Twitter followers. She signed with Island Records after Justin Bieber shared one of her covers. Her recent EP, As She Pleases, featured the hits “Dead” and “Say it To My Face” and racked up streams in the millions.
