One of the crucial memorable moments of this yr’s Lollapalooza — Earth, Wind & Fire becoming a member of Sabrina Carpenter as a shock visitor — got here collectively in lower than 24 hours, in accordance with member Philip Bailey.
In a post-festival interview with Vulture printed Tuesday (Aug. 5), the frontman revealed that his band solely had a day’s discover earlier than their massive second on stage, with Carpenter’s group reaching out to the Nineteen Seventies/80s icons with an invite, flying them into Chicago on a non-public aircraft and internet hosting them for rehearsals all inside a 24-hour time interval. “We needed to actually flip this factor round,” Bailey advised the publication.
“We hopped a aircraft at seven within the morning, went in, and had the rehearsal,” he continued. “It was very fast and sort of sketchy. I used to be nearly involved about it. However by that night, that they had dialed every part in, and [Carpenter] did her homework on what verses she was going to take. We went on the market and floated on all that power.”
“She’s very cordial, very type, and really approachable,” Bailey famous of the Gen Z singer, whose work he hadn’t beforehand heard except for smash hit “Espresso.” “Her power and our power had been very appropriate and complementary to 1 one other. How she places her present collectively, when it comes to the way it accelerates and builds, was implausible.”
The interview comes three days after Earth, Wind & Hearth took the stage with Carpenter, who closed out all the 2025 pageant by headlining the final of its 4 days on Sunday (Aug. 3). The opposite headliners included Tyler, the Creator, Rufus du Sol and Olivia Rodrigo, whereas Doechii, Gracie Abrams, KATSEYE and dozens of different artists additionally carried out over the weekend.
Throughout Carpenter’s set, it got here as a complete shock to her crowd when — in the midst of her traditional setlist of tracks from Billboard 200-topping album Quick n’ Candy — Earth, Wind and Hearth’s “Let’s Groove” began enjoying over the audio system. “We will simply let free, proper? We will simply groove,” the Lady Meets World alum stated moments earlier than the soul singers walked out on stage. “I believed, ‘Why not convey out my buddies from Chicago?’ Give it up for Earth, Wind & Hearth!’”
The musicians went on to carry out “Let’s Groove” and “September” collectively. Summarizing the entire expertise, Bailey added to Vulture, “We had been honored to be requested and really appreciative to her and to her followers for embracing these moments we had been capable of share.”
Carpenter is now gearing as much as launch her seventh studio album, Man’s Greatest Pal, on Aug. 29, following a whirlwind yr of breakout success due to Quick n’ Candy. Up to now, followers have solely gotten to listen to one of many songs on the LP — “Manchild,” which dropped in June and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — however the vocalist did not too long ago unveil the full tracklist.