Music
Lil Yachty pulls out all the stops to make Red Bull Setlist unforgettable
The sold-out U.S. debut of Red Bull’s new interactive concert format gave Chicago a night of unique performances, creative activations, and enough mosh pits to rival a festival.
As the Windy City breeze settled over Cermak Road, the bite in the autumn air did absolutely nothing to slow down the energy gathering outside Radius Chicago. A long line wrapped around the building, packed with fans who had been posted up since early afternoon—all determined to beat the doors and secure prime real estate in front of the stage.
If you hadn’t guessed already, last night wasn’t just another show—Lil Yachty was in Chicago to headline the flagship U.S. debut of Red Bull Setlist. The one-night-only concert completely flipped the traditional show model on its head, empowering fans to curate the setlist by voting on song selections, performance arrangements, and surprise moments in real time—all in celebration of hip-hop culture and the art of rhyme.
Excited about being the first headliner to take the stage as part of Red Bull’s interactive new live series, Yachty—who despite hailing from Atlanta, shares a deep history with Chicago and the broader Midwest—spent months preparing to deliver a truly unpredictable, multi-genre experience for his Chi-Town followers. “The idea of giving the fans some creative control on top of it being a night of flipping things around excites me,” he explained prior to the event.
Lil Yachty performs to a packed audience at Red Bull Setlist
© Faith Nguyen
The Grammy-nominated rapper’s set wasn’t the only thing that drew people to Chicago this week. Leading up to tonight, Red Bull teamed up with the Chicago Hip Hop Heritage Museum for a multi-day pop-up at Cherry Mountain Arts, honoring the Midwest’s profound impact on the culture through panel discussions, live beat sampling sessions, and local label showcases.
That deep community focus extended right onto the concert’s bill. Alongside Yachty, the lineup featured a stacked roster curated in partnership with Red Bull Setlist’s official media partner Lyrical Lemonade—including BabyTron, kels!, Thirteendegreezº, and the Concrete Boys. Rounding out the lineup was Myquale, the Milwaukee-raised rapper who earned the opening slot after winning the Red Bull Setlist Rap Booth competition.
Welcome to the Party
The walk—or frantic dash for those early-bird barrier hunters—through the doors of Radius began as a modest entry into what initially felt like any conventional music venue. But after stepping under the “Your vote. Your set. Your show” banner hanging out front, the standard-sized hallway gave way as five lanes fanned out into an expansive, interactive labyrinth. The venue revealed its true form: a sprawling open-plan music maze built on the scale of an aircraft hangar.
Everywhere you looked, there was something to explore: urban art displays, themed drink stations, a buzzing merch hub, and a variety of different sized screens running Red Bull Setlist promo reels on loop. The whole venue was drenched in blue spotlights, the cool hue of which bathed the space in a sleek, bubbling ambiance. It was a sensory-loaded fun house that turned entering the building into an experience by itself.
Lil Yachty at Red Bull Setlist, Chicago
© Faith Nguyen
Early highlights drawing the crowd’s attention included Red Bull’s specialty cocktail menu, featuring custom creations like the Peach Paloma, Hugo Spritz, and Peach Lemonade—a refreshing mix of Red Bull Peach Edition, Original Lyrical Lemonade, soda, and lime. The merch booth was equally magnetic, swarmed by fans eager to score limited-edition drops before they sell out. The collection—a joint collab between Red Bull Setlist and Lil Yachty’s Concrete Boys crew—spanned a bold red tee, a crispy blue jacket, a co-branded baseball cap, and what ended up being the night’s standout piece: a retro blue, yellow, and white soccer jersey.
The area with the heaviest foot traffic, however, belonged to the McDonald’s “Fuel the Final Track” activation. A long, winding S-shaped queue snaked toward a set of service windows underneath the fast food chain’s iconic glowing golden arches, where fans picked up a complimentary Red Bull creation—with an interactive twist. Every drink selected doubled as a direct vote for Yachty’s setlist: ordering the Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer casts a ballot for “Pretty,” while opting for the reduced sugar version tallied a vote for “Poland.”
Let the Music Play
As the venue continued to fill, the first act on stage took control of the room. DJ Preme Nite Show stepped up to warm up the early crowd, punctuating his set with signature “He’s on fire!” tags while dropping heavy-hitting tracks from the likes of Waka Flocka Flame, Big Sean, Glokk40Spaz, and a fully-charged rendition of Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa.” Taking the mic between transitions, he shouted out every corner of the city—calling on the North Side, West Side, and South Side to make themselves heard.
Another lap around the building as the first support act prepares to go on revealed a darkened hallway tucked between two bars, hiding a staircase that led up to a VIP balcony. It offered a prime vantage point to watch kels! crash the stage in dramatic fashion. As the eerie, iconic strains of John Carpenter’s Halloween theme echoed throughout the venue, the emerging Chi-Town rapper and his crew stormed out in horror masks—including the iconic Ghostface from Scream. The energy instantly hit 100. Screaming at the crowd to open up the floor, kels! ignited a wild frenzy, kickstarting a mosh pit before diving headfirst into the sea of fans for a crowd-surf that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Mosh Pit Mayhem
More mosh pits ensued as Thirteendegreezº and his Clique City Mob crew rolled out next to take their turn at the helm. Hooded up and draped in heavy gold chains, he commanded the mic against a backdrop of crisp, black-and-white animated visuals pulsing across the giant rear LED screen. His DJ seemed determined to out-shout the previous one, firing off a non-stop barrage of “Put your hands up!” chants that kept the entire floor moving in unison—priming the room for the arrival of the Concrete Boys.
BabyTron at Red Bull Setlist in Chicago, Illinois, USA on October 24, 2026.
© Daniel Zuliani
Crowd at Red Bull Setlist, Chicago
© V Sidaugaite
BabyTron at Red Bull Setlist in Chicago, Illinois, USA on October 24, 2026.
© Daniel Zuliani
Entering from stage right to the iconic, blazing orchestral horns of Kanye West’s “All of the Lights,” Lil Yachty’s crew wasted no time launching into their high-octane anthem “GO!” From there, the Concrete Family crusaders—all rocking different pieces from tonight’s exclusive merch collab—briefly slowed the tempo down with “MO JAMS,” before repeatedly commanding the floor to “open it up.” A highlight of the night comes when the crew spotted a pair of fans dressed as Nintendo’s Mario Bros.—seemingly a nod to BabyTron and Certified Trapper’s joint 2024 project, Mario & Luigi—right in the center of the crowd, deputizing them to lead the resulting mosh pit chaos.
Like a rubber-band caricature, BabyTron bounded into the spotlight next with noodle-like energy and spaghetti-leg strides. Shielded behind dark sunglasses, a beanie, and some heavy ice wrapped around his neck, the Michigan rapper kept the room at a boil while mini drones swooped through the rafters overhead. Backed by his maniacal, laughing ad-libs, the crowd lost its collective mind as each song commenced and more mosh pits broke out. The aforementioned Certified Trapper added even more energy to the set, punctuated by a standout moment when Tron delivered his verse from Eminem’s “Tobey.”
Concrete Boys at Red Bull Setlist in Chicago
© V Sidaugaite
Crowd at Red Bull Setlist Chicago
© V Sidaugaite
Rio Amor from Concrete Boys at Red Bull Setlist in Chicago, Illinois
© Daniel Zuliani
A Brotherly Dedication
By this point, 3,800 people had filled every square foot of the venue. The merch booth had been stripped completely bare, leaving the exclusive drop totally sold out, while the drink stations remained packed. Following a quick intermission courtesy of Preme Nite Show, the stage was cleared for Red Bull Setlist Rap Booth winner Myquale. Having promised prior to the event that he’d deliver an explosive set packed with “crazy visuals” and a lot of energy, he made good on his word, proving exactly why he earned his spot on the bill.
Up on the VIP balcony, the view of the packed floor told the whole story: the crowd was completely bought into Myquale’s story. His performance kicked off with a cinematic screen montage charting his triumph in the Red Bull Setlist Rap Booth contest. After delivering his opening track, the set’s emotional core arrived when he played a voicemail from his incarcerated brother, JT, who couldn’t be there to witness the milestone. Turning personal pain into collective power, he rallied everyone to roar “Free JT!” in unison, maintaining the chant straight into his next track. Expressing heartfelt gratitude to Chicago, Myquale left no doubt that he earned every bit of his spotlight.
Myquale at Red Bull Setlist in Chicago, Illinois, USA on October 24, 2026.
© Daniel Zuliani
Lil Boat Sets Sail
The transition to the headline set began on screen with a stylized promo video detailing the night’s interactive voting mechanic, depicting Lil Yachty glitching on screen while fans dueled for control over the setlist pad. Right before he emerges, the visual glitches gave way to a message informing the audience that “Broccoli” won the opening vote—only to note that starting there doesn’t make sense, ending on Yachty’s nod: “...but I f—s witcha.”
Dressed in a custom Red Bull racing bomber jacket and black shades, the rapper also known as Lil Boat stepped out to a sea of phones and opened with a mellow, brooding track rather than an immediate banger. Addressing the crowd, he set expectations for a rare journey through his deep catalog: “This set is a set we’ve never done—so it’s gonna be funky. We’re gonna go up and down... Some of these songs I haven’t performed in seven years. If I f—k up, bear with me, rock with me.”
Before Yachty gave the setlist keys over to the crowd, he took full control of the opening stretch, handpicking the first five songs—including atmospheric cuts like “running out of time” and “sHould i B?” Song titles flashed in the top right corner of the giant screen like classic MTV music video credits, set against shifting backdrops that range from moody cityscapes to trippy technicolor tie-dye visuals.
Pausing to pull a stool up to center stage, he sat down to deliver a soulful rendition of “sAy SOMETHINg.” Pouring his heart into the auto-tuned crooning, he hit a staggering high note mid-song that caught even him off guard—pausing briefly to throw his head back and yell, “Damn!” After firing through a flurry of additional tracks, the screen lit up with a running recap of the setlist, with the songs Yachty handpicked clearly circled so fans can see exactly where his vision left off and theirs began.
Yachty’s Fans Take Over
The first song officially chosen by the crowd was “SOLO STEPPIN CRETE BOY,” and from there a string of fast-paced bangers turned the energy in the room up to a fever pitch—none more so than “Coffin,” the 2020 smash that soundtracked his viral Lyrical Lemonade Festival intro video. Yachty even reenacted the iconic dance for the Red Bull Setlist audience. From the raised VIP platform to the right of the stage, the sight was stunning: a sea of fans raging in unison, throwing every single word back at the stage with relentless intensity.
Crowd at Red Bull Setlist in Chicago
© V Sidaugaite
After taking a brief breather—asking the entire room to inhale and exhale with him, before cracking a joke that their collective breath stinks—Yachty ticked off the interactive setlist categories one by one: “Must-Hear Tracks,” “Three Songs You Want to Hear in a Medley,” and “This or That.” What followed was a legendary four-track run as “Minnesota,” the repositioned “Broccoli,” “One Night,” and “iSpy” detonated back-to-back across the system. To cap the section off, the winner of the “Deep Cut” category, “TESLA,” sent another surge through the floor.
With a few more tricks up his sleeve, Yachty followed up performances of fan favorite “Poland” and “A Cold Sunday” by lifting the lid on a massive surprise: a live orchestra hidden behind the rear LED screen. Brought out to perform “drive ME crazy!”, the grandeur didn’t stop there. Out of nowhere, a shirtless Teezo Touchdown stormed the stage, wearing a studded cowboy hat and clutching a bouquet of roses. He injected an unhinged surge of energy into the room, bringing a huge, ear-to-ear grin to Yachty’s face. Watching his friend’s delightfully absurd, larger-than-life persona hijack the moment, Yachty broke into laughter before belting out on the mic: “Teezo crazy than a muthaf—a!”
Lil Yachty at Red Bull Setlist
© Faith Nguyen
Lil Yachty at Red Bull Setlist, Chicago
© Faith Nguyen
Lil Yachty at Red Bull Setlist, Chicago
© Faith Nguyen
Closing Out Strong
Among the night’s closing tracks, “the BLACK Seminole,” saw Yachty’s live band take over. The profound, sprawling anthem peaked as his guitarist dropped to her knees, wringing a soaring, emotional solo from her six-string that left the entire hangar utterly speechless. Moments later, Yachty passed the torch to his backing singer, whose powerhouse vocals lifted the song’s outro into a full-blown gospel experience. With the crowd still reeling, Yachty posed a simple question to the floor: “Can we go home on a great note?” Of course, the crowd responded in kind, cheering the rapper, who tore into “Pardon Me” to close out the show.
Proving once again why he remains one of the most captivating and beloved figures in modern pop culture, Yachty stayed long after the final lights dimmed. Tucked away near the back of the venue, he spent time signing merch, taking selfies, and connecting one-on-one with the fans who shaped his setlist. It was a humble, authentic capstone to a stunning night—leaving no doubt that Lil Boat was the ultimate choice to dock and kick off Red Bull Setlist on U.S. soil.
