Gear up for an extra dose of music, dance, comedy and lots of fun with your friends as this festival gives you an opportunity to enjoy a diverse music genre which also provides a platform for non-profit artists to perform. In the global hall of fame for festivals, this music festival is certainly one of the best festivals in America. Held in the heart of Chicago, it is one of the best festivals in Chicago that hosts big celebrity names like Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande with wild energy.
Location: Grant Park, Chicago
Festival dates: 28th July – 31th July
Famous For: Music Festival
Lollapalooza History
Creation
Inspired by events such as Britain’s Reading Festival—which Lollapalooza cofounder Perry Farrell had been due to play in 1990 Farrell, Ted Gardner, Don Muller, and Marc Geiger conceived the festival in 1990 as a farewell for Farrell’s band Jane’s Addiction.
Unlike previous festivals such as Woodstock, A Gathering of the Tribes, and the US Festival, which were one-time events held at single venues, Lollapalooza toured across the United States and Canada from mid-July until late August 1991. The inaugural Lollapalooza lineup was diverse and made up of artists from alternative rock (such as Siouxsie and the Banshees who were the second headliners), industrial music (such as Nine Inch Nails), and rap (Ice-T rapped and used the platform to launch Body Count, his heavy metal band). The premiere in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 18, 1991, was covered by a report on MTV, which ended by journalist Dave Kendall saying “Lollapalooza could be the tour of the summer”; the tour finished off in Seattle on August 28, 1991.
Another key concept was the inclusion of nonmusical features. Performers such as the Jim Rose Circus Side Show, an alternative freak show, and the Shaolin monks stretched the boundaries of rock culture. There was a tent for display of art pieces, virtual reality games, and information tables for political and environmental nonprofit groups, promoting counterculture and political awareness. “Basically, I’m bored”, Farrell said at the time. “I just want to see things that are unexpected and slightly bizarre. The way Barnum & Bailey perceived putting on a show…well, they had a different angle.
Lollapalooza Festival tickets and pricing
Tickets to the flagship and original Lollapalooza edition, in Chicago, usually sold out extremely quickly. For the 2016 event, the four-day general passes sold out in about one day after the sale began. The one-day passes sold even more quickly: they were gone less than three hours after organizers revealed the lineup for the four-day music festival. Because of this phenomenon, people who cannot buy the passes try to get them through alternatives sources such as Craigslist and StubHub. This is a common practice, although the prices tend to be significantly higher on these websites. In 2018, the festival experienced unusually slower sales, so they released the lineup about eight hours earlier.
In its earliest editions, the official passes cost $31.50. However, with its growth and prominent relevance in the music world, Lollapalooza pass prices have increased substantially over the years. Comparing the weekend passes for Lollapalooza 2016, which cost $335, with the ones for Lollapalooza 2015, at $275, the increase was more than 20%. The price for weekend passes from 2016 to 2018 remained the same. In 2020, a slight increase of five dollars was added to weekend passes, making them $340.