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Lollapalooza
 

Information About

Lollapalooza




  Music Festival Name Lollapalooza
  Caption Official logo for Lollapalooza
  Location North America touring (1991-1997, 2003)
  Years Active 1991-1997, 2003, 2005-present
  Dates June, July, August
  Genre Rock , Alternative Rock , Rap , Punk Rock
  Website http://wwwlollapaloozacom


From its inception through 1997, and a revival in 2003, the festival toured ''. June 22 , 2004 . 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 .


ETYMOLOGY

The word--originally meaning "remarkable or wonderful person or thing" and sometimes alternatively spelled and pronounced as "lollapalootza"--dates from the American idiom of the early twentieth-century. Common in popular usage throughout the early decades of the 1900s, the word steeply declined in popularity by mid-century.http://www.flickr.com/gp/56211401@N00/1c1gR4 (Due to a stereotyping Meme purporting that Japanese struggled to properly pronounce the letter "l," the word was also used as a Shibboleth by American soldiers to identify Japanese during World War II .) The term is also a Trademark of Carvel , designating an Ice Cream novelty on a stick covered in colored Sprinkles . Farrel, 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.


HISTORY

Perry Farrell conceived of the festival in 1990 as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction. Z100 has sponsored this event since 1991.

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. It was an important vehicle for disseminating the alternative music of the period.

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 .

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.


Success and decline

The explosion of Alternative Music in the early 1990s propelled Lollapalooza forward; the 1992 and 1993 festivals leaned heavily on grunge acts. Punk rock standbys like Mosh Pit s 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. Depending on the location, some of the shows fell on weekdays, resulting in attendees not showing up for work that day (or the following day). Attendees were also upset by the high ticket prices, the high cost for food and water at the shows, and the general lack of order or security in the open "lawn seat" areas at some venues. When the festival played at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston , Michigan (near Detroit ), 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. Once the sun went down, attendees also lit several impromptu bonfires across the lawn using blankets, trash, sleeping bags, etc. Some attendeed also climbed the scaffolding and lighting rigs surrounding the stage and overhanging the seats. This behaviour would be repeated a few years later at Woodstock '94 and again at Woodstock '99 .

In 1992 the side stage premiered many important and legendary poetry acts including Jeffrey McDaniel , Chris Stroffolino, David Baratier, and others.

1994 was the high-water-mark of the grunge era and a year of tragedy for Lollapalooza. Nirvana , the Aberdeen, Washington 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 8 , 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 (usually taking time given to her by Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan ), speaking to the crowds about the loss. Increasing numbers of accidents and unruly fans at the shows were beginning to erode the feeling of community.

In its final years, Lollapalooza began to 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. Many fans also 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 rang the deathknell for the festival tour.


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, presumably because of high ticket prices and heavy corporate sponsorship. 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.

Farrell partnered with Capital Sports & Entertainment (now C3 Presents), which co-owns and produces the ''. October 26 , 2006 .

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 has played at more Coachella festivals than any other performer.


REFERENCES IN CULTURE AND MEDIA

  • The Simpson Episode Homerpalooza is inspired by this festival.

  • The South Park episode Timmy 2000 refers to Lalapalalapaza inspired by this festival.



LOLLAPALOOZA LINEUPS BY YEAR



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