A LOLLAPALOOZA OF A FESTIVAL
By Ray Waddell
When Lollapalooza organizers resurrected one of the best known brands in rock history last year, they were hoping music fans focused more on the event's glory days than its recent history as the poster child for a misguided tours.
Now Lollapalooza has a new persona as a stationary festival and a major music event.
After a tour that was cancelled before it ever left the station in 2004, Lolla rose from the ashes as a two-day fest at Chicago's Grant Park, produced by Charlie Jones at Capital Sports & Entertainment (CSE) and Charles Attal Presents, along with Lollapalooza owners William Morris Agency and Perry Farrell.
CSE and Charles Attal, both based in Austin, are the brain trust behind the successful Austin City Limits Festival, which in just a few years became one of the most respected events on the music fest map. The producers brought the Austin City Limits model to Chicago for Lolla -- making the transformation from tour to one-off event a success out of the box.
The model, Attal says, includes a lower-than-expected ticket price, local food vendors, accessible stage layout and fan-friendly set times, as well as an amenity-heavy backstage vibe. "You got to send a message," Attal says. "You take care of the bands, you take care of the music consumer who's buying the ticket, and they'll come back for more."
So why not just a rock fest without the Lollapalooza image, good or bad?
"We're concert promoters, but we're also a marketing firm, and we pay a lot of attention to brands and brand vibe," Jones says. "During our research, 'Lollapalooza' consistently popped up in every category as the most-recognized [festival] brand. Ninety-eight percent of the American public had heard or recognized the Lollapalooza name."
A lot of those who knew the name showed up. Organizers say more than 60,000 attended Lollapalooza 2005. For 2006, they expanded Lollapalooza to three days (Aug. 4-6) at the same Grant Park site.
Lolla 2006 boasts 130 bands on nine stages. It's a music lover's bonanza that touches on a remarkable range of musical styles. The diverse lineup includes Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Common, Matisyahu, the Raconteurs, Ryan Adams, the Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, the Shins, Gnarls Barkley, Violent Femmes, the New Pornographers, the Secret Machines, Eels, Panic! at the Disco, Sleater-Kinney, the Dresden Dolls, Hard-Fi, Wolfmother, and many, many more.
"Our goal was to put together an eclectic lineup of great music that would give the fans not only an opportunity to enjoy bands they already love, but also to be introduced to some hot new acts that are just breaking," Attal tells Billboard.com. "We also wanted to make sure the lineup had a real Chicago flavor, so we tried to involve more bands with Chicago roots."
Lollapalooza seems to have settled comfortably into its new home. "While we are excited about all the acts on the bill, perhaps the biggest star of all will be Grant Park," says Attal. "This year the Parkways Foundation and the City of Chicago have graciously allowed us to use the entire park, all the way from Lower Hutchinson north to Monroe Drive."
This gives the fest room to expand to nine stages without anticipating any noise bleed issues. "Grant Park is truly one of the signature parks in America and I think people will be amazed when they see how we transform it into a musical playground," says Attal.
As a touring franchise, Lollapalooza was as groundbreaking as it was inconsistent. Farrell launched the festival in 1991 as an experience-heavy event, with a lineup of his band Jane's Addiction, along with Nine Inch Nails, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Ice-T/Body Count, Living Colour, Butthole Surfers and Rollins Band.
According to Billboard Boxscore, Lollapalooza's best year was 1994, when it reported more than $21 million in grosses. The last year of its initial incarnation, 1997, was its weakest, with $7.4 million in grosses reported from 24 shows that featured Snoop Dogg, Korn, Tool, Tricky and others.
After a five-year hiatus, Lollapalooza re-emerged with a lineup of Jane's Addiction, Queens of the Stone Age, Audioslave, Incubus, Jurassic 5 and the Donnas. Far from a home run, it grossed $13.7 million from 25 shows.
The 2004 touring festival was to be a two-day affair featuring Morrissey, String Cheese Incident, Wilco, the Pixies, Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth, among others. The tour was cancelled before it ever started due to poor ticket sales.
Now those bad memories have been erased by newfound success. "When Perry Farrell started Lollapalooza in 1990, he created one of the signature brands in rock'n' roll," says Attal. "Our goal has been to reinvigorate the festival is such a way to recapture the magic that Perry created 16 years ago."
Attal say Lollapalooza has always been about creating something "outstanding or unusual" and that remains the goal. "The city of Chicago has really embraced this festival as their own, and we could not be happier," he adds.