Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza is an American traveling music festival featuring alternative rock, rap, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. Organized in 1991 by Perry Farrell, singer for the band Jane's Addiction, Lollapalooza ran annually through 1997, and was revived in 2003. The festival encapsulated youth culture for the 1990s much as Woodstock did for the 1960s; Lollapalooza Generation is sometimes used as a synonym for Generation X.

Overview

Farrell conceived of the Lollapalooza festival in 1990 as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction. The name Lollapalooza means "something outstanding or unusual"; Farrell heard the word in a Three Stooges short film and liked the sound.

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Unlike previous music festivals such as Woodstock 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. It was an important vehicle for disseminating the alternative music of the period.

Related Topics:
Woodstock - US Festival - Chautauqua - West Coast - East Coast

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The 1991 lineup was also 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.

Related Topics:
Rap - Ice-T - Industrial music - Nine Inch Nails

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Another key concept behind Lollapalooza was the inclusion of non-musical features. Performers like the Jim Rose Circus, an alternative freak show, or 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.

Related Topics:
Jim Rose Circus - Shaolin Monks - Virtual reality

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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.

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Success and decline

The explosion of grunge music in the early 1990s propelled Lollapalooza forward; the 1992 and 1993 festivals leaned heavily on grunge acts. 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.

Related Topics:
Grunge music - 1990s - Mosh pit - Crowd surfing

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1994 was the high-water-mark of the grunge era and a year of tragedy for the Lollapalooza. Nirvana, the Aberdeen, Washington band that had kicked off grunge's breakthrough into mainstream music, was scheduled to headline the festival, but had to cancel because of the suicide of Kurt Cobain. (The Smashing Pumpkins headlined instead.) Cobain's widow Courtney Love made surprise guest appearances at several shows (usually taking time given to her by Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan), speaking to the crowds about the loss. Increased accidents and unruly fans at the shows were breaking down the feeling of community.

Related Topics:
Nirvana - Aberdeen, Washington - Kurt Cobain - Smashing Pumpkins - Courtney Love - Billy Corgan

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The final years of Lollapalooza saw the festival lose its focus. 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. Efforts were made to keep the festival relevant, such as 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 rang the deathknell for Lollapalooza.

Related Topics:
ENIT - William Morris Agency - Country - Waylon Jennings - Electronica - The Prodigy

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Revival and rebirth

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 because of high ticket prices and heavy corporate sponsorship. Another tour scheduled for 2004 was canceled in June due to weak ticket sales across the country.

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Farrell sold the Lollapalooza brand to Capital Sports & Entertainment, which has managed the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Capital resurrected Lollapalooza as a two-day festival 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 30,000 attendees, despite a 95-degree heat wave, and is expected to return in 2006.

Related Topics:
Capital Sports & Entertainment - Austin City Limits Music Festival - 2005 - Grant Park - Chicago - Heat wave - 2006

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