This year Chicago will holding their world famous Lollapalooza music festival taking place August 1st through August 3rd, in Grant Park where over 150 performances will take place over the weekend. Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival began in 1990 as a farewell tour for Perry Farrell’s band Jane’s Addiction, however Jane’s Addiction helped Coachella gain more notoriety by joining their line up as a reunion act. But nevertheless, Lollapalooza keeps getting bigger and better each year as their lineup has featured Lady Gaga in 2010 to this year having Grammy award winning Lorde, Eminem and Skrillex.
According to the Huffington Post, in 2013 Lollapalooza welcomed over 300,000 visitors to Grant Park looking off into Lake Michigan to watch over 150 bands perform and check out their kiosks with Lollapalooza merchandise and food. Lollapalooza has even become kid friendly offering their Kidpalooza that allows children 10 and under to enter for free and encounter Lollapalooza from a child’s standpoint located in its own area of the park.
Yet like most music festivals, there are always going to be the concert goers that bring illegal substances into Lollapalooza, however the Huffington Post reported that in 2011 no marijuana arrests had been made at the festival, but there are claims that the Chicago police had become more lenient with their marijuana policies during the weekend of Lollapalooza. Apparently, during Lollapalooza police are given the option to give tickets instead of arresting participants with up to 15 grams in their possession.
Lollapalooza sold out their hundreds of thousands of their tickets for the 2014 show in less than a day and a half, as tickets were priced from $100 for a one day pass to $250 for a three day pass. The year’s lineup exclusively includes Illinois native Chance the Rapper, breakout group The 1975 and the increasingly popular Artic Monkeys, all who had made appearances at Coachella earlier this year.
Lollapalooza is one of the highlights of Chicago culture, bringing in visitors from all over the world to a three day music festival with a wide variety of artists. Whether you are there for the music or just for the experience, Lollapalooza is always going to be a fan favorite.