After taking to Bacardi stage on Sunday, Cult played some of their biggest hits like “Bad Things,” and “Always Forever,” as well as some songs off of their new album.

The indie rock pop band — based in New York City and comprised of Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin — formed in 2010, and their debut album released in 2011.

Despite their massive success over the past decade, including critically acclaimed albums and over 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Cults remained very humble during the interview, acting as if they were just starting out. 

When asked about how they have measured their success over the years, Oblivion said that they still felt like teenagers who were just getting started. 

“We feel like we have so much left to prove,” Oblivion said. “It hasn’t turned a corner for either of us really. We’re just like, ‘Okay, some people are interested in our band. We’ve really gotta work hard and deliver for them,’ you know? It’s weird … We’ve been making music for a while but it doesn’t feel that way.”

Cults performed an intimate set Sunday evening to a younger audience. Though the band has been making music for over a decade, they gained the attention of Gen Z as many of their songs went viral on TikTok the past few years.

“It’s fun to see a lot of young kids still enjoying the band,” Follin said. “We played at Grand Rapids once and the audience was very young … Seeing all of these teenage girls who were maybe one or two when we started playing music was really cool to see. That was really neat.”

Follin’s delicate vocals drifted through the trees as she sang “You Know What I Mean,” her voice effortlessly gliding through the lyrics.

“Thank you guys so much,” Follin said to the crowd. “We’re so happy to be here.”

During the interview, Oblivion mentioned that it is the band’s second time at Lollapalooza, their first time being over 10 years ago.

“It’s nice,” Oblivion said. “Compared to last time we played here we’re a little bit bigger. We’re still terrified but not as worried.”

During their set, Follin swayed behind the microphone, stomping her feet to the beat of the songs as the audience cheered.

“Okay guys, we’re called Cults and we have a new record out called ‘To the Ghosts,’ so we’re going to play another song off of that,” Follin said about halfway through the set.

“To the Ghosts” was released on July 26, an album that the band described as being a full circle moment.

“We’ve been trying to one-up ourselves throughout the years, especially earlier in our career,” Oblivion said. “Now it’s a little bit easier, we’ve been having more fun.”

The crowd screamed as the band started on “Onions” off of their new album, with people dancing while purple fluorescents shone from the stage.

“It’s almost like touring is an exorcism of the album,” Oblivion said. “Until you play it with people, you can’t really let it go.”

“Bad Things,” one of their most popular songs off of their debut album “Cults,” got screams from the audience.

“Thank you so much,” Follin said to the crowd. “Guys, we had so much fun with you, thank you for receiving us. We’re Cults and we’re from New York City. This is our last song.”

The familiar melody of “Always Forever,” started playing, and the audience cheered as they held up their phones.

“Thank you so much,” Follin said again. “We love you so, so much.”

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