Iliana Silva’s suitcase is overpacked.
After days of preparation, the 25-year-old successfully stuffed a colorful selection of tops, skirts, belts and accessories into her luggage to heave up the stairs to the Kenosha Metra train headed to Chicago.
It’s Silva’s third year in a row attending the Lollapalooza music festival, which continues through Aug. 2. She’s one of hundreds of Gen Z fans taking a trip from Wisconsin to see their favorite artists.
She drove about 40 minutes to get there on July 29. The train departed at 6:08 p.m., and she and her sister made it onboard just before the doors closed.
Some people drive, and others take trains. Some fans commute daily while others fork over hundreds of dollars to stay at nearby hotels. But almost all of them are making grand sacrifices to see artists that skipped Wisconsin venues during this year’s concert season.
That mindset is growing more common for the country’s youngest working generation.
According to July 2026 data from Luminate — a data analytics company focused on the entertainment industry — while concert attendance is steadily growing across generations, Gen Z fans are the primary drivers of growth in the live music economy.
Attendance for two concerts a year by Gen Zers grew from 29% in the first four months of 2024 to 37% during the first quarter of 2026. Compared to other generations, Gen Z respondents made up the largest contingent of superfans − people who attend more than five music activities per year.
Despite rising ticket prices, the generation’s sensitivity to high costs has also trended downward over the past two years, the July 2026 study found.
While Gen Z faces economic struggles shaped by student loans, record-breaking credit card debt, a challenging job market and an AI boom that has eliminated some entry-level jobs, live music and entertainment remain a critical source of joy and escapism.
“I think a lot of young people now view these experiences as a luxury that is attainable, that they can see and grasp,” said Lillian Zhang, author of The New Money Rules: The Gen Z Guide to Personal Finance. “It’s not something abstract like getting married or buying a house that requires very high investment but could seem almost impossible for a lot of people.”
The high costs, many say, are a worthwhile expense to make their concert dreams come true. In the meantime, they’re finding creative ways to skirt around additional expenses without overspending on shoestring budgets.
Seeing acts that skipped Milwaukee
Craig Peterburs and his 20-year-old daughter Marissa, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, book a hotel 30-minutes from downtown Chicago near O’Hare International Airport to cut down costs.
Parking is cheaper, and the commute is easy enough to tackle without interrupting their festival arrival.
“The last two years we had such a good time that we wanted to make sure we were a part of it,” Peterburs said.
He and his daughter talk about budgeting, but he covers the accommodation and parking costs.
Peterburs knows that for young people, securing concert tickets can be a struggle both in securing a ticket and acquiring the financial means to support their attendance. Beginning at the ticket-purchasing process, fans are pressed to compete against thousands for a spot in the venue, and resale prices skyrocket moments after a show is sold out.
“I bought them the day tickets went on sale, and I was actually surprised this year that they sold out so quickly,” he recalled. For two days at the festival, Peterburs spent $800.
Together, the pair are spending the weekend seeing John Summit, the Smashing Pumpkins, Lorde and Charli XCX, who last performed in Milwaukee during her “Crash” tour in 2022.
Their decision to come to Chicago for the festival was an easy one that they make frequently to see other artists that don’t pay visits to Milwaukee.
“Those are just not acts that are coming to Summerfest,” Peterburs said. “The (Summerfest) lineups are more country-based and that’s an added value for some people, but for more EDM, electronic and younger artists, you have to go to Chicago.”
They’ve waited for artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan to return to Milwaukee but had to travel to make it work.
“We’re willing to go down there, but the cost is more expensive to see a concert just for travel purposes,” he said.
Rodrigo made a surprise appearance at The Smashing Pumpkins’ Lollapalooza set on July 31.
Since artists like Olivia Dean, Charli XCX, Leon Thomas and 5 Seconds of Summer all opted to skip Wisconsin venues on their recent U.S. tours, festival attendees told the Journal Sentinel that an underwhelming local music lineup made the pilgrimage to Lollapalooza worthwhile.
Though Peterburs and his daughter also attend Summerfest together, he said he wishes that the festival would book more millennial and Gen Z-oriented acts that span across more genres than country and pop.
“There could be something to bring a more diverse attendance into what they have going on for sure,” he said.
A June 2026 survey by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel echoed similar sentiments from individuals between the ages of 18 and 30, who said they longed for more up-and-coming acts to appear on smaller, free stages at the city’s local music festival.
Juggling costs and making it work
Calvin Whitney, a 20-year-old Marquette student, is attending Lollapalooza 2026 for two days and is commuting from Milwaukee twice to save money.
Whitney purchased two single-day tickets, which cost $175 each. He believes the opportunity to see multiple artists in one day is better than spending a small fraction of that cost to see one artist at a local concert venue.
He considered seeing Oklou, a French pop singer, at her show at the Pabst Theatre, but he ultimately chose Lollapalooza for an opportunity to see artists who missed Milwaukee on tour, like Slayyyter, Charli XCX and Ninajirachi, artists he did not expect to visit Milwaukee venues within the next year and whose ticket prices could exceed $150.
But mostly, he longs for the community-based experience of concerts.
Matt Lundquist, a personal finance-focused psychotherapist based in New York City, said Gen Z’s longing for community and belonging through entertainment is likely directly linked to their upbringing during intense periods of economic and political turmoil.
“Their college experience was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so that had an impact on the job market, their social lives and their entry into the world,” Lundquist said.
Young people who came of age without social experiences like graduations, proms and other large in-person gatherings that might be anticipated in that period of life, are now making up for lost time while also making their first significant financial decisions.
“COVID absolutely played a major part in my generation wanting to experience big communal things, and the rise of gargantuan concert tours like Coldplay and Taylor Swift leave a lasting impression,” Whitney told the Journal Sentinel.
Lexi Hernandez, 29, is at the festival without paying for a ticket at all.
Beyond paying for gas to support her three-hour commute down to Chicago, she’s volunteering at the festival with Reverb, a nonprofit focused on implementing sustainability in the music industry.
At the festival, volunteers encourage attendees to recycle products they purchase on the festival grounds, staff water refill stations, pick up litter and talk to attendees about sustainability. Before and after her shifts, she’s free to roam the festival grounds and watch shows.
“It’s very competitive,” she said. “I’ve worked with them for three years now, and I was still waitlisted for Saturday.”
Though the volunteer shifts are occasionally physically taxing, keeping Hernandez on her feet for most of the day rain or shine, it’s an exhilarating opportunity to see shows without draining her bank account.
The YOLO mentality
Financial experts say a dreary economic landscape could be to blame for Gen Z’s eager embrace of live entertainment events.
In a 2024 survey by Merge, 86% of 1,000 Gen Z consumers said they were drawn to overspend on live events due to fear of missing out on shared sentimental experiences with peers, artist guest appearances, limited-edition merchandise and other rare aspects of a concert experience.
Social media also plays a dynamic roll in shaping the conversation around live entertainment, said Soyeon Shim, dean of the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Human Ecology.
When music fans see an artist start a dance trend on TikTok or Instagram or have a viral onstage fan moment, they long to be a part of it.
“There’s so much social media promoting this global entertainment that the desire to participate has become borderless,” Shim said.
Saving money for things like buying a home might not feel like as significant an investment for the age group, she added. Their generational identity and value system is grounded in experience over things.
Jesilyna Gonzales, a 24-year-old Rhinelander resident, frequently travels to see musical artists on tour for the same reason.
She’s seen her favorite stars in cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Though she has seen concerts in the Milwaukee area, and occasionally attends Summerfest, no Milwaukee venue offered an opportunity to see 5 Seconds of Summer.
This year, she drove more than five hours to go to Lollapalooza for the first time.
The costs for the trip added up quickly. Her two-day ticket was $385, gas to fuel her trip cost approximately $130, she spent $985 on the hotel and more than $200 for parking. Food on the festival grounds can cost anywhere between $15 and $25.
Two of Gonzales’ purchases, her hotel and tickets, were made using a buy-now, pay-later service that she’s paid for over several months.
Financial experts like Zhang said companies like Klarna and Afterpay market “buy now, pay later” as an attractive solution to high-cost expenses, including entertainment experiences.
“There’s a bit of a YOLO mentality,” she said.
Many people are willing to take on high-interest debt for these experiences, Zhang detailed, but young people sometimes enter into those agreements without a comprehensive understanding of payment deadlines and potential debt.
“Our internet use just makes it a lot easier to like buy something with like two clicks and have this experience with little investment down,” said Zhang. “On the flip side, there’s not a lot of education or explanation around the consequences of relying on these tools too much.”
Gonzales feels prepared to address the costs without taking on unnecessary debt, but missing out on another festival experience was out of the question.
“To this day, I have regrets about not going to Lollapalooza last year because I absolutely loved a bunch of the artists,” Gonzales said.
She acknowledges that there are other financial considerations she could prioritize instead, like buying a house or settling down. However, Lollapalooza felt like something she had to experience at least once.
“They’re getting older. Who knows when they’re gonna stop touring? And I could go my entire life without seeing them live,” she said.
Tamia Fowlkes is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at tfowlkes@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin music fans explain why they make the trek to Lollapalooza
Reporting by Tamia Fowlkes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Tamia Fowlkes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
