Lollapalooza was created in 1991 by singer-songwriter Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band Jane’s Addiction. Unlike one-time music festivals such as A Gathering of the Tribes or Woodstock that were held in one venue, Lollapalooza was a touring festival traveling across the U.S. and Canada. Along with performances by artists from various genres, it included non-musical features.
Lollapalooza quickly became popular in the wake of the explosion of alternative rock in the early 1990s. However, its popularity began to decline in the mid-1990s when Farrell withdrew from producing Lollapalooza in order to focus on his new project, the Unit Festival. As a result, Lollapalooza was canceled two years later after having failed to find a headliner for its 1998 edition.
In the early 2000s, Farrell reconvened Jane’s Addiction and scheduled a new Lollapalooza tour for 2003. The tour wasn’t exactly successful, and a follow-up tour scheduled for 2004 was canceled due to weak ticket sales. That’s when Farrell decided to transform Lollapalooza into a destination festival. The first edition took place in 2005 in Chicago’s Grand Park, attracting more than 65,000 attendees. It has been held in Chicago every August ever since.
Lollapalooza went international in 2011, when a daughter festival was held in Santiago, Chile. Local editions of Lollapalooza are also held in Brazil (since 2012), Argentina (since 2014) and Germany (since 2015). An Israeli version of the event was announced in 2012 but the plan fell through due to undisclosed reasons.
Lollapalooza is a multi-genre music festival featuring rock, hip-hop and EDM. Its program also includes dance and comedy performances. Besides, the festival serves as a platform for craftsmen, visual artists, non-profit and political groups.
Lollapalooza is held over two or three days, attracting over 160,000 music lovers (the Chicago edition). It has helped expose and popularize many artists such as Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Of Monsters and Men, Rage Against the Machine, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Björk, Franz Ferdinand, Lorde, Arctic Monkeys, Lady Gaga, Betty Who, and others.
Photo: Benja Salazar
