The Lollapalooza Festival

Lollapalooza is an American travelling 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 til 1997, and was revived in 2003. The festival encapsulated American youth culture for the 1990s much as Woodstock did for the 1960s; Lollapalooza Generation is sometimes used as a synonym for Generation X.

Perry 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.

Unlike previous music festivals such as Woodstock or the US Festival, which were one-time events held in one venue, Lalapalooza 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.

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.

Farrell sold the Lllapalooza 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 104 degree Sunday heat wave.(Only 3 people were hospitialized for heat related illness.)

Lollapallooza 3 Day Pass

Lollapalooza [3 Day Pass]