Lollapalooza: beginnings and history of a festival full of enthusiasm

What began as a simple national tour of musical alternatives is now one of the most distinguished international music festivals in the world of entertainment.

With the purpose of celebrating the South American editions of Argentina and Chile in this month of March (Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday March 20), we will tell you briefly about the beginning of Lollapalooza and the history of its particular name, until now unknown by many. of the people who have ever had the privilege of attending the great event.

Foundation

Do you remember the Californian alternative rock band, Jane’s Addiction? This musical group founded in the 80’s is essential for the beginning of the festival.

The lead singer of Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell, was the brilliant creator of Lollapalooza in 1991. At first, it was a short tour with the intention of saying goodbye to the band, also led by guitarist Dave Navarro; and providing musical alternatives of different genres predominant at the time such as alternative rock, indie and punk in the United States and Canada.

The tour of the first edition took place between the middle of July and the end of August. It was an unexpected success for its organizers and from that moment the legend of Lollapalooza was born. From that moment on, many bands wanted to be present and even the famous animated series The Simpsons paid tribute to the festival in one of its most memorable episodes.

Pause

In 1997 and due to financing problems from advertising sponsors, the festival was not held for five years and since 2003 it made its triumphant return that has not been interrupted until now and has even become international.

However, the beginning of the second phase was not easy. In 2004, the event faced serious economic problems due to low ticket sales, a problem that could be solved thanks to Farrell’s management by associating with the company C3 Present, in which they defined the only venue (Grant Park, Chicago). for a single annual show.

Since then everything has been a success and annually in the main edition of the city of Chicago, they receive around 400,000 spectators.

Why the name ‘Lollapalooza’?

Strange, atypical, and sometimes even difficult to pronounce. The history of Lollapalooza’s name comes from one of the episodes of the iconic comedy series The Three Stooges. According to Farrell, the name sounded like a kind of lamp that was turned on, and when he heard that word, he thought that it could be called his goodbye tour with his band Jane’s Addiction.

Lollapalooza around the world

The internationalization of the event came in 2011 when the city of Santiago de Chile hosted the first Lollapalooza outside of North America. This was added in the following years: Brazil (San Pablo, 2012), Argentina (Buenos Aires, 2014), Germany (Berlin, 2015), France (Paris, 2017), Sweden (Stockholm, 2019) and Colombia (Bogotá, 2021).