John Summit has spoken about the mixed response to him headlining Lollapalooza 2026, saying that he has seen a lot of people online asking “who the fuck” he is.
The Illinois DJ and record producer is set to headline this year’s edition of the Chicago festival alongside Lorde, Charli XCX, The Smashing Pumpkins, Olivia Dean, Jennie, Tate McRae and The xx.
He is a huge name in the dance world, having kicked off his career in 2017 and dropped the hit house single ‘Deep End’ in 2020. His debut album ‘Comfort In Chaos’ arrived in July 2024, and he followed it up with the sophomore record ‘Ctrl Escape’ earlier this year.
While he is widely recognised in the electronic music world as an icon of tech-house and as the founder of the Experts Only label, he is lesser known in pop music circles – and his inclusion at the top of the Lollapalooza bill seemed to leave some festivalgoers stumped.
“You still see the comments of all the pop fans being like ‘Who the fuck is John Summit?’,” he told Billboard when asked about the response he saw after securing the huge headline slot.
“I was like, ‘Damn, I thought I was doing pretty well’… but I still have a lot of heads to turn,” he said, also adding that dance artists need to “prove themselves more than pop artists”.
“I’ve touched the pop realm, but I think I’m fully in dance music, because I still haven’t had a Billboard [Hot] 100 track or anything,” the DJ continued, explaining that while his songs “chart in dance music” lists, it is “a different world” when it comes to the pop charts.
He went on to share other differences between dance and pop, saying that the former is led more by standalone singles than full albums, and adding that the electronic record labels work more as “tastemakers” than their pop counterparts.
Summit’s upcoming headline slot at this year’s Lollapalooza comes following him revealing three years ago that he decided to be a DJ after seeing deadmau5 perform at that same festival back in 2011.
“I feel like everyone always has that moment when they’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is my genre,’” Summit told Billboard at the time. “That’s when I knew I wanted to be a part of electronic music.”
The Chicago festival takes place between July 30 to August 2 this year, and will be held at the usual Grant Park location.
Others on the bill include Geese, Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, Ethel Cain, Turnstile, Lil Uzi Vert, CMAT, Little Simz, Zara Larsson, Clipse, The Neighbourhood, Yungblud, Beabadoobee, and Sombr.
Also set to perform are the likes of 5 Seconds Of Summer, JADE, Skye Newman, Viagra Boys, Oklou, Blood Orange, Suki Waterhouse, Major Lazer, Empire Of The Sun and The Chainsmokers. Visit here for remaining tickets.
Earlier this year, John Summit performed at Coachella 2026, and his set on the Do LaB stage made headlines after a speaker reportedly fell and injured a member of the audience.
