North West’s – On day one of Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash at SeatGeek Stadium, North West delivered her first-ever solo festival set—while fans outside Lenny’s Tent Stage weighed curiosity, respect, and skepticism in real time.
When North West sprinted onto the stage at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview on Friday. the crowd’s choice before her set felt almost like a referendum. Festivalgoers had to decide whether to catch veteran Chicago rapper G Herbo on the main stage or lean into North’s overlapping performance—North West. the oldest child of Kim Kardashian and Ye. formerly Kanye West.
In the middle of that tug-of-war, Lenny’s Tent Stage filled up anyway. The decision wasn’t clean, and people admitted as much. Hazel Crest native Aaron Crawford, 23, said of North West’s set, “I want to see it.” He added, “Low-key, I might have to go back and forth.”
Organizers said SeatGeek Stadium drew 50,000 attendees on Friday for its largest single-day crowd, and curiosity ran high for North. Some showed up wondering if she’d make good on her music—and whether she’d bring out Ye. Others came with a more basic kind of respect. pointing to her new EP. “N0rth4evr. ” a rage rap. emo and hyperpop project that had mixed but generally positive reviews. And still others were there for the songs and the Goth-inspired fashion, shrugging off naysayers.
Ana Stone, 20, of Texas—who snagged a spot near the front row—summed up the defense she kept hearing. “She’s very cute,” Stone said. “I see a lot of bad comments about her. They think that she’s being a poser, but she’s literally a child.”
Just three days shy of her 13th birthday. North played her first-ever solo festival set and her Chicago debut with confidence and style. Her stage design looked like Gothic gates that wouldn’t be out of place at an old cemetery. She wore sunglasses. a Balenciaga shirt. a matching skirt. spiked jewelry. piercings on her hands. a black grill. and signature blue hair.
On “D!e,” North rapped, “How am I younger than you, but I’m who you look up to?” On “H0w Sh0uld ! f33l,” she flipped her hair and rapped, “Copyin’ my hair, I’m ‘bout to trademark the teal.”
North walked the stage, danced, and occasionally switched microphone setups. But at times, her vocals were buried too low in the mix. Her direct interaction with the audience—teens and people in their early 20s—stayed limited. She seemed to be enjoying herself anyway.
At one point, the set’s energy shifted when Lil Wayne’s son, Lil Novi, joined her onstage. Together they performed “Mula Tha Root of All Evil,” the collaboration featuring braggadocious lyrics and North’s lively production. North rapped, “It’s Yeezy and Weezy, we be where the racks be.”
Even so, the chants of “We want Ye!” floating ahead of the show never turned into the moment some had been waiting for. Neither her father, who grew up in Chicago, nor her mother were present. North did not mention her father during her set.
She performed tracks from her new EP, “N0rth4evr,” and also included “Talking,” a song with her father.
Her EP leaned into three recurring themes: she has too much money. too many haters. and she can’t trust anyone. Some lyrics carried a darker edge. On “#N0rth4evr. ” she raps. “Know my mind’s in a place that is not safe.” On the same project she also says. “So much people ’round me. but I know they all fake.”.
For fans in the crowd, whether that darkness felt like fiction or a preview of reality was part of the debate. Brianna Perkins, 15, of Aurora, said, “People think her lyrics are corny,” but added, “I think she’s a cool artist. I think what she’s doing at her age is really cool.”
North’s position in mainstream rap also stood out to listeners. Unlike young emcees of the past, her songs aren’t about puppy love. Even when critics have pointed to her more “mature” fashion choices. her lyrics haven’t yet been dissected in broader conversations about the sexualization of female artists.
Her sound also carries heavy Asian influence. She samples Japanese artists and songs, raps in Japanese on “Childlike Things,” a collaboration with FKA Twigs on her 2025 album “Eusexua,” and name-checks Hatsune Miku, the blue-haired mascot for Vocaloid voice software.
The show included North’s producer tag—an audio signature usually played at the beginning of a track—set to “North-Chan” in Japanese. But despite the volume of attention her fame brings, one thing was still missing: a large, passionate, blue-haired fan base. A festival-goer caught the gap when two aquamarine-haired attendees North fans were mistakenly assumed—and met with puzzled looks.
Still, the crowd jumped and screamed lyrics during at least one moment, and the noise hit hardest on “Talking.”
Not everyone walked away fully convinced. Cole Biggers. 18. of Washington. D.C. said after her set. “She’s a nepo baby.” He added he wasn’t trying to spread hate and that “her music’s decent. ” and he said he liked the set design. Biggers also said he wanted more crowd interaction, but chalked it up to North’s age and inexperience.
Makenna Sebastian, 18, of Michigan, gave a different read. “I thought it was really good,” she said. “I like the type of crowd she brings — hype and lit.”
The through-line of the night was simple: North West’s first solo festival set didn’t just land songs onstage. It forced a room full of young fans to decide, in real time, what they believed about a child rapper—and what they were willing to give her as her fame keeps expanding.
North West Summer Smash Lyrical Lemonade SeatGeek Stadium Kim Kardashian Ye G Herbo Lil Wayne Lil Novi N0rth4evr Talking Mula Tha Root of All Evil