MUSIC FESTIVALS
LOLLAPALOOZA
Page created by Rose Wall
Lollapalooza is an annual four-day music festival held at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois every August. Its performances span a number of genres such as alternative rock, punk rock, heavy metal, pop, hip hop, and EDM. Hosting upwards of 400,000 attendees per year and consistently selling out all its tickets, Lollapalooza has historically been one of America's largest summer music festivals.
Lollapalooza was founded in 1991 by Perry Farrell, lead singer of the rock band Jane's Addiction. He originally conceived it as a multi-city farewell tour for the group, and they visited 20 cities in the United States and Canada with additional performances from bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T, and the Rollins Band. The show's emphasis on alternative rock (with a little bit of rap thrown in) still remains part of its modern legacy, but it was especially important in the 1990s considering the genre's popularity at the time.
Given the tour's massive financial success, Lollapalooza returned the next year and went on another tour. This pattern continued until 1998, when Lollapalooza became canceled after it had become no longer profitable. In 2003, the tour was revived, but it was not to last: the year after, Lollapalooza was canceled a second time.
Not giving up, Farrell decided to revise Lollapalooza's format and give it one more try. For the 2005 event, Lollapalooza settled in Chicago, Illinois as a two-day music festival. When that proved successful, another day was added in 2006; in 2014, the event expanded to four days and has continued that way ever since. In fact, Lollapalooza has become a global event since 2011, now hosting festivals abroad in Germany, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Sweden, and France.
Lollapalooza offers a number of events and attractions for its attendees. Beyond the obvious concerts, major companies often offer "brand activations" at music festivals in order to engage with potential customers. In past Lollapalooza events, Samsung has offered henna tattoos, Starbucks created a lounge with oversized Connect Four and chess sets, and Godiva set up a giant Plinko-esque drop board with various prizes at the bottom.
For the children and families that visit Lollapalooza, there exists Kidapalooza, a child-friendly version of the more adult festival. It has its own concerts, music workshops, art exhibits, and more.
TRIVIA
- Perry Farrell, founder of the Lollapalooza Festival, named it that after hearing the word being used in a Three Stooges episode. The actual definition of lollapalooza is something extraordinary or unusual, though it also can refer to a type of lollipop.
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The creation and popularity of Lollapalooza had a minor effect on the English language: calling something a [___]-palooza is a slang term that denotes something that has an event or crowd of people surrounding it. For example, Berry College has an annual event called Marthapalooza named after its founder, Martha Berry.
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In both the 2018 and 2019 festivals, a single person died while attending the event. When a Chicago Tribune reporter asked if Lollapalooza would improve its onsite medical treatment facilities in response, the company did not return any comment.
Click here to listen to artists and songs from this performance.
Click on this lineup to see it in a pop-up screen. The image was originally published by @lollapalooza on Twitter on March 20, 2019.
Lollapalooza in 2017. Photo by Lacrossewi via Wikimedia Commons.