As Kidzapalooza returns for 2022, the little kids get a stage of their own

The kids’ stage at Lollapalooza may have had less mosh pits, fewer gyrating background dancers and lower volume than other stages. But the kids learned how to dance to rap.

All you need to do is nod your head up and down, performer Pierce Freelon told the tots watching his set Friday.

“Now you gotta make a face like you smelled something stinky,” Freelon said, conjuring a crowd of mean-mugging, head-bopping youngsters.

The performance came at Kidzapalooza, a Lollapalooza stage dedicated to young children that returned to the festival this year for the first time since 2019. The stage gives kids a festival experience of their own.

“There’s a lot of big festivals,” said Freelon, whose Friday night Kidzapalooza headline show started at a bedtime-appropriate 5:15 p.m. “Not many carve out a space intentionally curated for a young audience.”

The Kidzapalooza space — replete with magic shows, an arts-and-crafts station and milk box giveaways — offers parents attending the festival to see nostalgia-drenched favorites like Green Day and Metallica the chance to explore music with their children, Freelon said.

The decision to cut the kids’ stage last year was difficult, Lollapalooza spokesperson Brittany L’Heureux said. But the return of the long-standing tradition means the festival once again offers something for everyone, she added.

“We couldn’t be happier to offer a joyful place that kids and parents can come and enjoy really fun activities and music in a space all their own,” L’Heureux said.

Lollapalooza runs through Sunday in Grant Park, put on by Texas-based C3 Presents. Along with Green Day and Metallica, adult headliners include Dua Lipa and J. Cole. Kidzapalooza was not on the slate last summer as the music festival returned after being scrapped by the pandemic in 2020.

When Freelon was coaching the kids on dancing to rap, 11-year-old Eliza Gaboyan joined him near the stage and head-bopped as fans watched.

“It was so cool, it was so happy,” said Gaboyan, who also counted to 10 in Armenian and Russian for the crowd.

In a song called “My Body,” the performer sang about consent and bodily autonomy as his live band laid down a funky beat.

“Listen here. You don’t want to touch? You don’t need to fear. This is your body, no one else tells you how to feel,” he rapped.

The tune was favorite Birdie Benuska’s favorite.

“Not everybody’s a hugger. Some people don’t want to be touched. That’s a form of respect that kids should definitely know,” the Joliet 10-year-old said. The glitter-faced girl seemed overjoyed in the children’s area.

“Kids can come here and be kids and not have to have all that stuff, that running around and bustling,” Birdie said. And there’s space for “crazy gymnastics moves” in the Kidzapalooza area too, she added.

Janelle Benuska, Birdie’s mother, appreciated the inclusivity of Freelon’s set, the diversity of offerings for kids at the festival and the Lollapalooza policy of letting children ages 10 and younger in for free.

“We love to expose her to music,” she said. “This is kind of our little respite.”

Both mom and daughter were eagerly anticipating Saturday’s Koo Koo Kanga Roo show on the Kidzapalooza stage. Freelon also performed again Saturday.

For Freelon, a musician, educator and former city council member from Durham, N.C., the show was another chance to mix the enthralling beats of rap with lyrics that are relevant to kids’ experiences, all from an unapologetically Black perspective. He learned as a father that kids can wrap their minds around complex ideas and sounds.

“Serving them up dope music that their parents can also enjoy, that feels really important. And broaching topics like boundaries and consent is really important to me, because their big brains are wide enough to absorb it,” he said.

Freelon’s childhood was “full of the rich sounds and vibes that come out of this Black tradition,” he said. His mother, jazz singer Nnenna Freelon, has been nominated for multiple Grammys. He grew up listening to mainstream music appropriate for kids from artists like Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire.

“I really appreciated the songs that I could relate to,” said Freelon, whose last album, the afro-futurism-inspired “Black to the Future,” was nominated for this year’s Best Children’s Music Album Grammy.

As he makes music for all kids, he tries to center Black experiences too. His lyrics nod to shea butter and box braids in one song about fixing his daughter’s hair. He celebrates actor LeVar Burton in another tune.

“It’s important for us as Black Americans to have a voice… so we can see ourselves in our fullness at all ages,” Freelon said.