Lollapalooza Through the Years

by Mia Sciabica

Summer in Chicago will have you going to nonstop events. From live shows and festivals to the beautiful Lake Michigan, there’s something for everyone to enjoy in the windy city. Arguably, though, the biggest event of the summer is Lollapalooza, and it has been since 1991. It was created by the lead singer of the band Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrel, and was a touring event. The first Lollapalooza was held in 20 different cities across the US.

The first two-day show debut was in 2005 in Grant Park featuring Arcade Fire, drawing a large crowd. The following year, the festival had Kanye West as a headliner, which expanded the musical genres and size of the festival. With the festival expanding, this was also the first year there were three consecutive days of music. Continuing with genre expansion, Daft Punk headlined in 2007, drawing an electronic music crowd that became a staple for the festival, having an entire stage dedicated to that genre, Perry’s (named after Perry Farrel). In 2011, the festival started touring across cities again, but this time internationally. It started with Santiago, Chile and Sao Paolo, Brazil. Now Lollapalooza is in Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris, Mumbai, and Stockholm.

The festival has taken a couple of hiatuses. Of course, no concerts were happening in 2020, but the festival quickly came back in 2021 and drew in thousands of people anxious to get out of their houses. The festival also took a hiatus from 1997 to 2003. The festival became a four-day event in 2016 when celebrating its 25th anniversary. Since then, the festival has continued to be four days since the demand has stayed steady.

I’ve attended a couple of Lollapaloozas and have had two four-day experiences. Going all four days is definitely a struggle on the body, but so much fun in the moment. I have so many great memories attending the festival and am excited to go this year for the Saturday lineup featuring Deftones, The Killers, Ethel Cain, and TV Girl. For 2024, Lollapalooza has a wide variety of headlining acts. On one stage Tyler, The Creator will be making his second headlining performance in Chicago, while on the other stage, Hozier will be making his headlining debut on Thursday, August 1.

There are a couple of throwback artists who will be performing, as well. The Killers and Blink-182 will be on stage again in Grant Park, drawing in more of a diverse age group to the festival.  Lollapalooza has grown into a massive multi-genre music festival, and has perfected being able to get as many people in attendance as possible, incorporating rising stars as well as staple iconic performers. There will be over 170 bands playing this year, bringing Chicago together to enjoy the summer and great music.