Photo Gallery: The Lumineers at Soldier Field • Chicago
The Lumineers
August 30, 2025
Soldier Field
Chicago, IL
Recap and photos by Curt Baran
The Lumineers perform music that wouldn’t feel out of place being performed on a dilapidated front porch adjacent to a gravel road. Yet there they were on a perfect Chicago summer evening, taking the stage inside a massive football stadium.
Formed in Denver twenty years ago, the band was a leading light of the alternative folk movement that emerged around that time. Their fifth album (Automatic), released earlier this year, has been followed by a massive tour that finds the band (surprisingly?) playing to the largest audiences of their career.
The band casually ambled onto the stage at Soldier Field with a vibe so laidback, you’d swear the floorboards were sawdust-covered.
As they sauntered their way through what would become a massive, 28-song set, it became readily apparent just how ubiquitous their catalog has become. Radio staples like “Ho Hey,” “Angela,” “Ophelia,” and “Cleopatra” nuzzled up seamlessly with newer songs like “Same Old Song” and “Plasticine.”
On the surface, the music’s aesthetic doesn’t seem like the type that could fill cavernous spaces like a stadium. Still, it also has an element of timelessness that’s equal parts nostalgia and finely crafted songwriting. On this particular night, it served as the perfect soundtrack to a summer that’s slowly slipping away.
Category: Featured
