Feel Good Hit of the Summer 03.22.06

Posted by Frank Estrada on 03.22.2006

This week I’m going to discuss the past, present and future of Lollapalooza. I hope the future is not as bleak as I see it.

Welcome to this weeks Feel Good Hit of the Summer. I'm Frank and this week is part one of my look at 2006 summer festivals in the U.S. As a music fan I buy less music and really go to more shows. The live show can really make up for a bad album. It can also ruin your image of a band as well, if you catch them on an off night. My favorite part of the year for concerts is the summer. This is the time where we get many traveling package concerts where we can sample many sets on any given day. I love it and so do a lot of others. If you go to enough of them, you realize you start recognizing people, and you then realize there is this culture that develops. Enough of that, what I'm going to say is next week I am going to be looking at these big non-traveling festivals. Comparing and contrasting the line ups, and figuring what's best for your money/weekend. Today I feel I need to talk first about my fears with the show that started it all in America, the Lollapalooza. While I still think Lollapalooza is as American as apple pie, I am here to tell you that I think we may lose it due to competition and a dilution of its acts.

Lollapalooza Past Present & Future
Hopefully you have read about the Lollapalooza line up. While I will discuss and compare the lineup more thoroughly next week, I do want to talk about Lollapalooza as a summer staple. I am afraid we are going to loose the Lollapalooza soon (or for the third time actually). The Lollapalooza is an American institution that really got a lot of good music out to the public and helped change the mainstream. As a fan of music I like what they are trying to do, but I cannot help to notice that they are a bit behind the curve. One of the big problems of last year, as I understand, is attendance. Now locally tickets sell, I know that. If you are trying to plan one of the biggest shows in the country, you are going to need many bands and stages. If make up the cash, you need people from out of state/country to come to this. From what I understand, last years lineup didn't bring in as many people as they wanted from outside the Chicago area. So what did they do this year? Kept the same formula? No. Cut down the acts and stages to have more of a focus? No. They added a 3rd day, added three more stages, and increased the bands from 80 to over 130. To be honest, this doesn't make sense to me, but if they are going to add to this, they better have talent get people there. Now the history of Lollapalooza is classic, because they seemed to be ahead of everyone while bringing in headliners like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Beastie Boys and Jane's Addiction. Now what really worked, I thought, was being forced to see certain bands while waiting for the main acts. This multi stage set up really kills what made Lollapalooza unique. I mean if it weren't for the first Lollapalooza, would Nine Inch Nails be on our radar? The second annual Lollapalooza helped usher the Grunge era, by having Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, and if you were lucky teamed together to perform as Temple of the Dog. I mean this is what the legends were made of. Now if you don't want to see a specific band, you can run to a different stage. Now as big as a champion of all-day European style festivals as I am (more on that next week), I feel Lollapalooza really took steps back by trying to copy the format that Bonnaroo and Coachella are currently doing better.

Now again if I was living out in Chicago and couldn't afford to fly to California or Tennessee, I would be spending my summer at Lollapalooza. I understand that and that is not my point. My point is that all of a sudden the summer festival is becoming the place to be, and promoters are reaching out for more than their local customer's dollar. As a person who travels to see concerts, I, the consumer these promoters are trying to woo, ask you, what are you going to do for me that the other guy isn't? Lollapalooza is a name brand that I identify with being ahead of the curve. Bringing me good music that I may not hear on the radio; i.e. Ministry, Shonen Knife, The Butthole Surfers, The Orb, or Jurassic 5. I know I sound like I am repeating myself, but I am really trying to drive home a point. Every Lollapalooza I was able to attend was great and I always came out liking new bands, who cd's I bought the next day. For those of you who went to the early carnations of Lollapalooza, you can attest to this. As the last major summer festival being announced, I can't help but notice that Lollapalooza shares a few of their artists with Bonnaroo, Coachella and the not mentioned Sasquactch Music Festival in Washington. The difference between all these weekend festivals are the strength of the headliners that they don't share with each other: Bonnaroo – Radiohead, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Les Claypool, Coachella – Depeche Mode, Tool, Madonna, Daft Punk, Massive Attack, Sasquatch – Nine Inch Nails, Beck, and Lollapalooza – Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kanye West. The other major acts are being shared by one or two or all of these festivals. Since Lollapalooza is the last big festival to announce their lineup, I really see that they are promoting a lot of the same bands that these other festivals have, saving us the trip to Chicago. No Smashing Pumpkins reunion either.

Lollapalooza's Mistakes
The first two missteps of the Lollapalooza past mistakes were lack of a big headliner. 1998 was the first summer without a Lollapalooza because the 1997 lineup, in my opinion, was way way way ahead of its time. Too ahead of it's time for its own good. At this point in time I think promoters thought the name Lollapalooza was enough to sell tickets. If this lineup was around today, it would be so successful. Actually Coachella took a similar line up and make a successful festival. Lollapalooza 1997 brought electronica to the main stage, because this was supposed to be the "next big thing." The Prodigy, Orbital, The Orb, and Tricky were sharing the main stage with Tool and Korn? Yea I know. I wasn't there either. But looking back I sure wish I was there and I bet you were too. I really though Korn as a headliner was an odd choice, especially since Metallica in 1996 really had people scratching their heads. Who was Lollapalooza for? Alternative music killed the hair/heavy metal bands, yet as headliners we get Korn and Metallica? As a footnote, a year later Korn releases their breakthrough album Follow the Leader as well as launch their successful Family Values Tour. Say what you will, hindsight being 20/20, Lollapalooza was way ahead of the curve, even though that was the last tour for a while.

In 2003 Lollapalooza returned and was very successful thanks to a very specific and strong lineup for the main stage. Headlined by a reunited Jane's Addiction, we were treated to the super group Audioslave (all Lollapalooza alumni), the popular at the time Incubus, and depending on which half of the tour you went to you saw Queens of the Stone Age or the returning A Perfect Circle with ex-Smashing Pumpkins James Iha and ex-Marilyn Manson Jeordie White (Iha, lead singer Maynard James Keenan and drummer Josh Freese all Lollapalooza alumni as well). With 2003's success, the Lollapalooza brain trust had a great idea. The 2004 Lollapalooza was going to be 2 days in each city and in each day was going to have a different line up. Now when I heard this, I thought great Idea. It is revolutionary and ballsy to do this, especially after having one successful year after a six year hiatus. The Achilles heel? Only one major headliner. Now granted having Morrissey as a headliner is a big deal and he is going to bring huge crowds, but he was only a headliner for day one. For this experiment to work, you need another major headliner for the next day. While The String Cheese Incident is an excellent band, them coupled with the Flaming Lips are not bringing anyone to your groundbreaking festival. Even with the additions of the Pixies after wasn't enough to save this eclectic line up. I could have worked, but it was a lack of a second headliner that sent it to a one way ticket to cancellation.


2005 saw the emergence of the 2-day festival in Grant Park, which looks like the final resting home for this iconic festival. Now on to this year's lineup. 2006 Lollapalooza, can't it be strike 3? It's good, but is it good enough? They are touting more than 130 acts (so is it 131?) and 8 stages. 8 stages a day. How is it possible to see anything? Coachella has 2 outside stages, 2 tent stages and one huge rave tent. I only have so much time during the day, and if I'm splitting sets I have to make time from running through the crowds to the other stage. I cannot imagine running between 8 stages. Another thing about the Lollapalooza line up is, while it is 8 stages, a lot of the bands here share the same fans. To say their lineup is diverse is to say that a box of chocolates are diverse, they are all chocolates (the writers of Forrest Gump got it wrong). Yea you got a few hip hop acts, a couple of jam bands, but it is mostly alternative bands. They are going to make fans choose between bands they like. A more diverse lineup would alleviate this problem.

2006 Line Up
Let's review the headliners: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, and Queens of the Stone Age. Still no Smashing Pumpkins reunion, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kanye West are the only two headliners that aren't playing for their immediate competition. Do you think they are worth seeing? Maybe, you know that Red Hot Chili Peppers have been saying they want to tour with Kanye this year. That said, that is not a one-two punch that going to get me to Chicago, because chances are they are both coming to a venue local to me. They do have the U.S. debut (so far) of Jack White's new band The Raconteurs, which might be the most interesting, must see act announced so far; but they are far from headliners. Right away looking at the line up, I'm not sure if I would buy the tickets. They say there is more act to be announced and for their sake, they better be headliners, because the current lineup isn't anything to get my attention. Actually if this was the first festival lineup announced, I would probably be thinking the same thing. I have a few suggestions if they are going to add; how about Angels and Airwaves. While not a headliner, this is that guy from Blink 182 who made this band to show that he is more than a snotty punk. He said he modes this band after the Cure and U2. How about Devo and Devo 2.0? One of the odd things last year was the Kiddypalooza stage that had bands that played children's music. Here you could have legends Devo on the main stage and 2.0 on the smaller stage. Want a headliner who isn't doing anything this summer, the Beastie Boys. They have a film to promote and this week they showed up at SXSW doing a secret show. The people love the Beastie's, even if they have grown older. Since Lollapalooza is sharing a number of acts with Coachella, get Lollapalooza alumni Tool. That will to all the people who are from the east and haven't had a chance to see Tool in years. They will defiantly sell. Talking about SXSW, Morrissey recently stated that he turned down $5 Million for a Smiths reunion. He claims that the money wasn't an issue. Well Lollapalooza promoters & Perry Farrell, pull a George Clooney, and offer them $5. Say if it isn't for the money; promise them you would send the rest of their payday to charity. I know that is stretching it but come on, you need to bring people to your show. When Coachella announced they had Tool, Massive Attack and Daft Punk, I know how rare these bands play, so I knew I was in. When Bonnaroo announced Tom Petty and Radiohead, I kicked myself for already buying Coachella Tickets. When Coachella announced Madonna, I knew that Coachella now owned the summer, at least for 2006. I had a feeling that Lollapalooza really needed to keep their spirit but needed that rare headliner to pull us in to fill up Grant Park. I was pulling for you to get that Smashing Pumpkins reunion. Hell I was pulling for you to bring back Porno for Pyros. I want you guys to be in the race. I just don't want to lose a great institution like Lollapalooza. It is important and could still be relevant, but right now it is behind the curve, when it used to ride in font of it