Lollapalooza Returns to Chicago and to Some of Its Former Glory

Back at its birth the musical festival known as Lollapalooza was a traveling circus of a sort. A musical festival that went from town to town with a lineup of supposedly alternative or cutting-edge acts. It was a tremendous success for a while and then, like most things, the entire event seemed to become diluted and interest began to wane. The people who started the event dropped out of it and it struggled on for a while before vanishing. It seemed like Lollapalooza was gone forever.

Then last year the people who brought the original Lollapalooza idea into existence decided to resurrect the show but do it differently. Rather than a traveling circus why not just make it a multi-day festival in one place. They chose Chicago and happened to have the concert in Grant Park in downtown Chicago on the hottest weekend of the year in 2005. Despite the heat the concert was a huge success. It turned Lollapalooza into an event again.

One year later and Lollapalooza is once again returning to Chicago’s Grant Park and this time the event is even bigger. August 4-6 the bands will play and downtown Chicago will become the center of the musical universe. It truly seems as if anyone who can play an instrument is scheduled to play here over those three days. At times multiple acts are playing at the same time, making deciding which one you want to see all that more important.

The great thing about this festival is that it is not just the supergroups that are playing. Like the second stage that became famous during Lollapalooza’s touring days there are plenty of lesser-known and local bands getting play.

One of the big stages is the AT&T stage. They have acts playing there on the first day like Panic! At the Disco, Umphrey’s McGee and Ween. On the same day, however you can also catch Blue October, eels, Ryan Adams or Death Cab for Cutie on the Bud Light stage. Meanwhile that same day you can catch some of those lesser-known bands on various stages with names like deadboy & the Elephantmen, Aqualung, Stars, Cursive, Editors, Lady Soveriegn.

There are even comedy stages with various improve groups such as Second City and Mission IMPROVable.

The list of acts on these stages goes on and on. The Raconteurs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, Queens of the Stone Age, Sonic Youth and Poi Dog Pondering are all scheduled over the three days.

To check out the full lineup along with ideas of where to stay and who is playing when you should check out Lollapalooza’s website: www.lollapalooza.com. It looks like it is going to be quite a part here in the Windy City.