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Mike Mignola Self Portrait

Lolla Land

For live music on an epic scale, head to Chicago for next month's Lollapalooza.

By Alicia Miller

OK, ALL YOU 30- TO 40-SOMETHING MUSIC LOVERS: How many of you still have your T-shirt from the original Lollapalooza in 1991? The concert events created by Jane’s Addiction (now Satellite Party) front man Perry Farrell defined Gen X to nearly the degree that Woodstock defined boomers, becoming so iconic that soon everything big-deal was slapped with the suffix -palooza. After seven summers of touring with one-day fests, a five-year hiatus, and a 2003 revival, the show set up in Chicago’s Grant Park in ’05 as a three-day blowout, featuring old-school faves like the Pixies and newer names like the Arcade Fire. It’s possible that nothing will ever capture the indie energy of those early years, when “alternative” was just beginning to fill amphitheaters and airwaves, but music fans who remember the old Lolla (and those who don’t) can find plenty to get excited about at the modern fest. The ’06 lineup boasted low-profile gems like The Frames (now known via the Oscar-winning Once) as well as big names like Sonic Youth, and ’07 kept the bar high with acts including Amy Winehouse, Regina Spektor, Peter Bjorn and John, Roky Erickson, and Iggy & the Stooges. So, if it’s time for a new T-shirt, head to Chicago August 1–3, where more than 100 artists from The National to Kanye West to Radiohead will perform on nine stages. The basic ’90s idea—way more music than you could ever take in—now has added bells and whistles: a Kidzapalooza mini-fest, deluxe cabanas, a dramatic setting below the downtown skyline, a teched-out Web site (lollapalooza.com) with iPod festival guide, and a lot more that I, for one, couldn’t have dreamed of in ’91, when cooling off in the mist tent seemed pretty high-frill. But never fear, purists: The thing that made Lolla legendary, loads of incredible music, lives on.


Alicia Miller is Hemispheres’ senior editor.


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