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Lollapalooza promoters had
few surprises Friday when they finally announced the lineup for the
revitalized concert, scheduled to take place in Grant Park on July 23-24.
Concert founder Perry
Farrell joined promoter Capital Sports & Entertainment of Austin, Texas, at
a press conference to announce 33 of the promised 60 to 70 acts playing on
five stages in Hutchinson Field between noon and the 10 p.m. curfew.
Additional "after-hours"
gigs will take place at clubs throughout the city, including the House of
Blues, promoters said.
More
bookings to come
Tickets for the
"experience-based festival" are now on sale at www.lollapalooza.com.
A two-day pass costs $85, plus a $9 service charge and shipping fees. The
base price will increase to $100 and then $115 "without notice when
quantities run out," according to the Web site.
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THE BANDS
The acts confirmed for Lollapalooza so far are:
Ambulance Ltd., the Arcade Fire, the Black Keys, Blonde Redhead,
Blue Merle, the Bravery, Cake, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the
Changes, the Dandy Warhols, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for
Cutie, DeSol, Dinosaur Jr., Digable Planets, G. Love & Special
Sauce, Billy Idol, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, the Killers, Liz Phair,
Los Amigos Invisibles, Louis XIV, M83, the Pixies, the Redwalls,
Tegan and Sara, the Walkmen, the Warlocks, Weezer, Widespread Panic,
World Leader Pretend and Z-Trip.
Promoters promised that 30 to 40 more acts will be announced in
the weeks to come at www.lollapalooza.com.
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Some 50,000 fans from across the country are expected to attend each day.
Lollapalooza headliners include modern-rockers Weezer, the Killers and
Dashboard Confessional; reunited indie-rock heroes the Pixies and Dinosaur
Jr.; the jam bands Widespread Panic and Cake, and New Wave relic Billy Idol.
So far, only three acts have ties to Chicago -- local up-and-comers the
Redwalls and the Changes and Winnetka native (and now Los Angeles resident)
Liz Phair -- but Capital Sports promised more local names as other bookings
are confirmed.
Festival used to tour
The promoters are donating a percentage of the profits to the Parkways
Foundation, a non-profit group that raises funds to benefit city parks.
Neither party would say what that percentage is, but Charlie Jones, the
event producer with Capital Sports, said he hopes Parkways will receive at
least $250,000.
The former leader of Jane's Addiction, Farrell launched Lollapalooza in
1991 as a touring day-long alternative rock festival. Reconfigured in 2004
as a two-day event, the tour was canceled several weeks before the first
show because of poor ticket sales in nearly every market except Chicago.
Checked out 25 cities
Capital Sports purchased a share of the Lollapalooza name last year.
Farrell, who is billed as a "creative consultant," wouldn't say how much of
a stake he still owns, though he noted, "I've got enough of a share that I
can tell anybody to shut up."
Jones said that Capital Sports looked at 25 cities before choosing
Chicago. He added that his company conducted "three years of brand analysis
and marketing surveys" to determine that "not only does this brand still
have merit, but Lollapalooza is the most recognized name in music today."
High hopes
The company has remodeled the concert after the Coachella and Bonnaroo
festivals and the Austin City Limits Festival, which Capital Sports
produces.
The promoters hope to make Lollapalooza an annual event in Grant Park and
"the premier music festival in the world," Jones said.
Farrell said he is not disappointed that Lollapalooza is now a
single-city concert instead of a tour. "Sure, you'd like to date nine women,
but if you can meet a great one, you'd marry her," he said.
"I'd like [Lollapalooza] to be all over the country, but we're not going
to do it right and achieve greatness in that way," Farrell added. "However,
if we do it right here, artistically, I'll be satisfied."
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