Culture
At its best, LaLaLa Festival turns a carefully programmed weekend into an exercise in musical serendipity, with smaller stages offering discoveries beyond the big names.
Larger than life: The Flaming Lips perform on the first day of the 2026 LaLaLa Festival on Aug. 22, 2026, at Jakarta International Expo (JIExpo) Kemayoran in Central Jakarta. The set featured four enormous inflatable pink robots during “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1,” alongside fan favorites including “She Don't Use Jelly” and “Fight Test.” (Courtesy of LaLaLa Festival/-)
The best thing about a music festival is often the artist you did not come to see.
That is becoming harder to experience outside festivals. Streaming platforms have made discovering music almost effortless, but they have also become good at predicting what we already like.
