Lollapalooza Lives--For One Weekend

Fri., Apr. 22, 2005 5:00 PM PDT by

Chicago is apparently Perry Farrell's kind of town.

The Jane's Addiction frontman and Lollapalooza cofounder has dusted off his famed music festival for a two-day run in the Windy City this summer.

The downsized Lolla, coming off a 2004 tour scuttled due to poor ticket sales, will take place July 23-24 in the city's Grant Park, organizers announced Friday.

Formerly a touring road show, Lollapalooza has been reincarnated as a two-day music lovers' paradise, not unlike the annual Coachella festival in California.

The Lolla lineup will feature 70-plus acts, including the alt-rock likes of the Killers, the Pixies, Digable Planets, Liz Phair, Weezer, Billy Idol, the Arcade Fire, Kaiser Chiefs, the Bravery, Louis XIV, Death Cab for Cutie and the recently reunited Dinosaur Jr.

Per tradition, the event will also offer up art, fashion and food. And, in recognition that many alt-rock fans are now married with children, "activities for kids," according to a press release. The so-called Kidsapalooza area will also feature family-friendly performers.

Around 30,000 fans are expected each day; tickets are on sale now.

Farrell and company first launched the circus-like fest in 1991, with the intention of kickstarting the alternative music revolution by introducing under-the-radar bands to mainstream audiences.

Lollapalooza proved successful in that endeavor; hitting at least 20 cities every summer during the mid 1990s, until the fest took a breather in 1998. The tour was dusted off again in 2003, only to experience a few problems in select cities due to weak ticket sales in a bad economy.

Last year, despite a lineup featuring the resurrected Pixies and Morrissey, the venerable festival ran into more serious trouble as slow ticket sales forced cancellation of the entire tour before it even had its first date.

Now, a new group of Austin-based promoters in conjunction with Chicago's Parkways Foundation have come together with some of the original principals to reinvent the festival.

One of the Austin-based promoters, Charles Attal of Charles Attal presents, told E! Online Friday he was excited about booking and helping produce the new Lollapalooza.

"Chicago is such a great music town, and Grant Park is such a great downtown green space, we thought it was the prefect place for us to re-launch Lollapalooza," he said.

Marc Geiger, a Lollapalooza cofounder and head of contemporary music at the William Morris Agency, told E! Online that he was also happy to be involved with the new-look Lolla.

"I'm thrilled with the transition of Lollapalooza from a touring road show to a location-based European-style festival. Plus the lineup is killer!"

The Killers couldn't agree more.

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