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Lollapalooza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lollapalooza | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Official logo for Lollapalooza | |
| Location(s) | North America touring (1991-1997, 2003)
Chicago (2005-present; scheduled through 2011) |
| Years active | 1991-1997, 2003, 2005-present |
| Founded by | |
| Date(s) | June, July, August |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock, hip hop, punk rock, rock |
| Website | http://www.lollapalooza.com |
Lollapalooza is an American music festival featuring rock, alternative rock, hip hop, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. Conceived and created in 1991 by Perry Farrell, singer for the band Jane's Addiction as a farewell tour for his band, Lollapalooza ran annually until 1997, and was revived in 2003. The festival encapsulated American youth culture for the 1990s much as Woodstock did for the 1960s.
From its inception through 1997, and a revival in 2003, the festival toured North America. After poor ticket sales forced the 2004 tour to be canceled,[1] it was retooled in 2005 by Austin, TX based Capital Sports Entertainment into its current format as a weekend destination festival in Grant Park in Chicago.
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The word dates from an American idiom of the early twentieth-century—originally meaning "remarkable or wonderful person or thing" and sometimes alternatively spelled and pronounced as "lollapalootza". Common in popular usage throughout the early decades of the 1900s, the word steeply declined in popularity by mid-century. Farrell, searching for a name for his festival, liked the euphonious quality of the now antiquated term upon hearing it in a Three Stooges short film. The term also refers to a large lollipop (or "all-day sucker"), one of which is held by the character in the festival's original logo.
Perry Farrell conceived of the festival in 1990 as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction. During the Summer of 1990 "A Gathering of the Tribes" festival was a successful collaboration between legendary concert promoter Bill Graham and Ian Astbury—lead singer of the band The Cult. This festival played only two dates, both in California. The concerts were held in San Jose and Los Angeles. This festival set the mold of a mix of diverse musical acts and a progressive/alternative marketplace. The musical acts signed to perform at the festival included: Iggy Pop, Soundgarden, Queen Latifah, The Cramps, The Indigo Girls, Lenny Kravitz, Joan Baez, Steve Jones (of the Sex Pistols fame), and Public Enemy. Perry Farrell attended the Los Angeles concert and decided the time was right for a national version of such a diverse touring festival.
Unlike previous music festivals such as Woodstock, The Gathering of The Tribes, or the US Festival, which were one-time events held in one venue, Lollapalooza was a touring show—a modern-day Chautauqua—that travelled across the United States and Canada. Instead of drawing music enthusiasts from around the country to one spot, Lollapalooza came to them—bringing West Coast and East Coast underground culture to cities in the heartland. Because of this, many more people saw, and participated in Lollapalooza than had been to any previous music festival.
The 1991 lineup was daringly eclectic, drawing in headliners from rap such as Ice-T as well as industrial music such as Nine Inch Nails. Crossing popular music's rigidly-drawn genre lines gave the festival an air of independence from corporate rock. Another key concept behind Lollapalooza was the inclusion of non-musical features. Performers like the Jim Rose Circus Side Show, an alternative freak show, and the Shaolin monks stretched the boundaries of traditional rock culture. There was a tent for display of art pieces, virtual reality games, and information tables for political and environmental non-profit groups. Lollapalooza's charter was not just a super-star rock jam—it was a cultural festival, albeit for the newly-formed 1990s counterculture.
After 1991, the festival included a second stage (and, in 1996, a third stage) for up-and-coming bands or local acts. It began a churning effect for alternative music—as underground bands broke through to the mainstream, they drew listeners to Lollapalooza, who would then see the next generation of underground bands on the second stage. Many of the bands that played second stage at Lollapalooza later had more widespread commercial success.
The explosion of alternative music in the early 1990s propelled Lollapalooza forward; the 1992 and 1993 festivals leaned heavily on grunge and alternative acts, and usually had a "token" rap artist. Punk rock standbys like mosh pits and crowd surfing became part of the canon of the concerts. These years saw great increases in the participatory nature of the event. Booths for open-microphone readings and oratory, television-smashing pits, jungle-gyms and group-musical pieces, and tattooing and piercing parlors made the event seem more like a county fair than a concert.
In the early 1990s (prior to the advent of the ability to order tickets online via a website on the Internet), many attendees would have to camp outdoors in front of Ticketmaster outlets for hours (or even days) at a time in order to purchase tickets. Attendee complaints of the festival included high ticket prices as well as the high cost for food and water at the shows.[2] When the festival played at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan (near Detroit) in 1992, concertgoers ripped up chunks of sod and grass and threw them at each other and at the bands, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the venue.[3] At one point Al Jourgensen of Ministry stopped the music to tell the crowd that he would walk off the stage if the crowd didn't stop throwing the dirt on stage ("I'll walk out the fuck out of here, I get paid either way!"). Once the sun went down, attendees also lit several impromptu bonfires (after Perry Ferrel held a lighter above his head and said something about lighting it up) across the lawn using blankets, trash, sleeping bags, etc., in large heaps. There were about seven or eight huge bonfires across the half moon shaped lawn, encircled with dancing concertgoers. Security attempted to put out the fires with blankets they took from the crowd, but only added to the fuel. Some attendees also climbed the scaffolding and lighting rigs surrounding the stage and overhanging the seats. This behavior resulted in the festival not being invited back to Pine Knob in 1993 (it was held at a dragway in Milan that year), but for reasons not explained, the festival was invited back to Pine Knob in 1994 to stay. In 1993, most items were banned at the gate and beer sales were closed three hours before the end of the event to stop any similar events from ever happening. This resulted in angering the crowd and causing what they had hoped to stop-a replay of the previous year. This behavior would also be repeated a few years later at Woodstock '94 and again at Woodstock '99.
1994 was the high-water-mark of the grunge era and a year of tragedy for Lollapalooza. Nirvana, the band that had kicked off grunge's breakthrough into mainstream music, was scheduled to headline the festival, but they officially pulled out of the festival on April 7, 1994. Kurt Cobain's body was discovered in Seattle, Washington the next day. Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, made surprise guest appearances at several shows, including the Philadelphia show at FDR Park (usually taking time given to her by The Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan), speaking to the crowds about the loss.
In 1996, Farrell, who had been the soul of the festival, quit the organization to concentrate on his new festival project, ENIT; most of his financial interest was sold to the William Morris Agency. Ideas and musical genres that had been edgy and risque at the beginning of the 1990s were now mainstream or passe by this time. Many fans saw the addition of Metallica in 1996 as going against the practice of featuring "non-mainstream" artists. Efforts were made to keep the festival relevant; including more eclectic acts such as country superstar Waylon Jennings and emphasizing more heavily electronica groups like The Prodigy. By 1997, however, the Lollapalooza concept had run out of steam, and in 1998 failed efforts to find a headliner willing to do the show resulted in the festival's cancellation.[4]
In 2003, however, Farrell reconvened Jane's Addiction and scheduled a new tour. The festival schedule included venues in 30 cities through July and August. The 2003 tour achieved only marginal success with many fans staying away, presumably because of high ticket prices.[3] Another tour scheduled for 2004 was to break the mold a bit, with each tour stop consisting of a two day festival. It was canceled in June due to weak ticket sales across the country.[1]
Farrell partnered with Capital Sports & Entertainment (now C3 Presents), which co-owns and produces the Austin City Limits Music Festival, to produce Lolla. CSE—along with Charles Attal Presents—resurrected Lollapalooza as a two-day destination festival in 2005 in Grant Park, Chicago, with an even greater variety of performers (70 acts on five stages) than that of the touring festival. The festival was generally successful, attracting over 65,000 attendees, despite a 104 degree Sunday heat wave (3 people were hospitalized for heat related illness). It returned to Chicago from August 4-6, 2006. On October 25, 2006, the Chicago Park District and Capital Sports & Entertainment agreed to a five-year, $5 million deal, keeping Lollapalooza at Grant Park in Chicago until 2011.[5]
Farrell is sometimes credited with changing the fortunes of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Following the festival's disastrous first year in 1999, the event was not held in 2000. In 2001, a decision was made to organize the festival again, but just a few months before the festival was set to occur, there was still no headlining group. Farrell, who was friends with the festival's organizers, decided to reunite Jane's Addiction for the 2001 event, which helped draw large crowds and allowed the festival to yield a profit (which was not the case in 1999). This also started a Coachella tradition of reuniting at least one major artist each year. To date, Perry Farrell is the only artist to play every year.
- The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza" is inspired by this festival.
- The South Park episode "Timmy 2000" refers to Lalapalalapaza inspired by this festival.
- Further information: List of Lollapalooza lineups by year
- ^ a b The Associated Press. "Lollapalooza 2004 cancels all dates". USA Today. June 22, 2004.
- ^ Volpi, Matt. "Lollapalooza festival alternates cool music with dumb people". The Daily Collegian. August 1, 1994.
- ^ a b Grimes, Taylor and Longton, Jeff. "Lollapalooza History Timeline". Billboard.com. 2007.
- ^ "Lollapalooza Cancelled". Billboard. April 6, 1998.
- ^ Herrmann, Andrew. "Lollapalooza to rock city for 5 more years". Chicago Sun-Times. October 26, 2006.
- Lollapalooza 2007
- The Complete 2007 Lollapalooza Lowdown by Araceli Cruz
- Chicago's Unofficial Lollapalooza 2006
- SPIN's Photography Portfolio - Lollapalooza 2006
- Chicago's Unofficial Lollapalooza 2005
- Lollapalooza in 1992 Takes off with the birth of Grunge (video clip)