10 Awesome & Awful Lollapalooza Moments

Since kicking off in 1991, Lollapalooza has had its fair share of ups and downs. With a comfortable residence in Chicago’s Grant Park and an all-star 2010 lineup that includes Lady Gaga, Green Day and Arcade Fire, Lollapalooza is set to produce even more rock memories this year. Before Lollapalooza 2010 kicks off on Friday (Aug. 6), come with us as we look back at 10 of the most memorable moments from the festival’s wild past, and tell us what stands out in your mind as the festival’s defining performance.

next: Them Crooked Vultures

Soundgarden & Pearl Jam Enter The Temple of the Dog

1992

2010 makes Soundgarden three-time Lolla vets, and ’07 headliners Pearl Jam are twopeaters. But back in 1992. the bands played the fest for the first time just as grunge’s star was on the rise, and their short, back-to-back early afternoon sets paved the way for tour-long hijinks. Frontmen Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell drank bile from the belly of a Jim Rose Circus performer on a side stage. Pearl Jam’s Vedder made like Tarzan and swung from the rafters of venues from Wisconsin to Long Island. But they aptly capped the summer by taking the stage together to play “Hunger Strike,” the hit by the two bands’ one-off co-incarnation as Temple Of The Dog, at the fest’s last show in Irvine, California.

next: Them Crooked Vultures

next: Metallica

Them Crooked Vultures Steal Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Beastie-Subbing Thunder

2009

Lolla experienced a sad shake-up last year when the Beastie Boys had to bow out of their headlining set due to Adam “MCA” Yauch’s cancer surgery. Although Brooklyn rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs delivered a solid show filling in for the rappers, another trio — Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones — ended up outshining the headliners. The late-night, post-Lolla debut performance of rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures at Chicago’s Metro easily became the weekend’s most buzzed-about performance.

next: Metallica

next: Kanye and (No) Obama

Metallica on the Mainstage

1996

Conceived by Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Ferrell as an alternative to the mainstream rock tours that dominated before its 1991 start, Lollapalooza’s fifth run drew plenty of rolled eyes and cries of hypocrite when monster metal gods Metallica were named headliners. Alternative? You call this alternative? “I think we do fit in [at Lolla] because we have always been going-against-mainstream. When the mainstream came to us It’s very clear that they came to us,” drummer Lars Ulrich told MTV with a straight face at the time. Ooohkay, whatever you say, Lars.

next: Kanye and (No) Obama

next: Nine Inch Nails

Kanye Remembers His Mama, But Obama’s a No-Show

2008

Kanye West brought his bombastic Glow In the Dark Tour to Grant Park in 2008, setting off an epic laser light show and rolling through hits from 2007 disc “Graduation.” In the midst of the giant production, West took time to dedicate the set to his late mother, Donda, before launching an emotional rendition of “Hey Mama.” Although the performance was well-received, the weekend’s biggest rumor — a festival appearance by then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama — never materialized.

next: Nine Inch Nails

next: Rage Against A Riot

Nine Inch Nails Trashes The Stage
1991

For a man who would “rather die than give you control,” electrical problems on stage in Phoenix during the festival’s inaugural year turned Trent Reznor’s rage, literally, against his machines. What better finale for an outdoor July-In-Arizona set full of “Pretty Hate Machine” cuts than for Nine Inch Nails to smash all of their gear before stalking off the stage in anger.

next: Rage Against A Riot

next: Lolla & Janes Return

Rage Fans Make Like Bulls On Parade

2008

15 years after their first Lolla controversy, Rage returned to the festival in 2008 and once again earned negative headlines. Vicious mosh pits and crowd-control problems resulted in a tense atmosphere of packed, jostling concertgoers that the band tried to calm in between songs. Frontman Zach de la Rocha also called out “brother Obama” and spoke about corporate injustice in between safety warnings, but a huge contingent of ticketless fans took it as an opportunity to bumrush the gate and into the maw.

next: Lolla & Janes Return

next: Lolla Lands In Chi-Town

Lollapalooza — And Jane’s Addiction — Returns

2003

Following a six-year break, Farrell brought Lollapalooza back in 2003 with alt-rock mashup Audioslave, Incubus and Queens of the Stone Age on the bill. However, the biggest attraction was the return of Farrell’s own band, Jane’s Addiction, which headlined the festival in the midst of a massive reunion tour. With Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro stealing the show, the band ripped through old favorites like “Been Caught Stealing” and “Mountain Song,” reminding the crowd the band was responsible for the existence of Lollapalooza in the first place. The ’91 fest had been conceived by Farrell as a Jane’s Addiction farewell tour.

next: Lolla Lands In Chi-Town

next: Courtney Sings For Kurt

Revived Lolla Finds New Chicago Home

2005

The future of Lollapalooza seemed uncertain after the touring festival was cancelled in 2004 due to low ticket sales. One year later, however, Perry Farrell introduced a two-day version of Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park, with The Killers, Widespread Panic and Death Cab for Cutie tapped as headliners. The festival went off without a hitch, and festival has since stayed in Grant Park while expanding to a three-day format, and been a hit ever since.

next: Courtney Sings For Kurt

next: Naked Rage

Courtney Sings For Kurt

1994

Nirvana was supposed to be the headlining jewel in Lollapalooza ’94’s lineup, but on April 7, the band cancelled. One day later, Kurt Cobain’s body had been found in Seattle. The band’s absence was noted by festival fans from coast to coast, but it wasn’t until the Philadelphia date that a surprise visit from Cobain’s wife and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love gave voice to the void. Taking the stage during the headlining set of her pals the Smashing Pumpkins, Love played a pair of Hole hits, changing the final lyric of “Miss World” to “why’d you have to die” and calling for “a moment of silence for my husband.”

next: Naked Rage

Naked Rage

1993

Back when Al Gore’s wife Tipper was in the headlines for leading the Parents Music Resource Center, the PMRC raised the ire of music fans everywhere by pushing for the adoption of the ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker on explicit albums and singles. Never ones to abide censorship of any kind, Rage Against the Machine let it all hang out during their mainstage set at the Philadelphia stop of Lollapalooza ’93 when they decided to stand there completely naked, with black tape over their mouths, and the letters PMRC spelled out across their chests, in silent protest of the organization.