by Ellis Hamburger
Originally published in LEAD Magazine
Every August, 95,000 music fans from around the country make a mass exodus to Chicago to hear their favorite bands play at the Lollapalooza Music Festival. You’d be hard pressed to find anything quite like the eccentric three-day event, with its astounding variety of acts from Hip-Hop to Indie Rock to Folk to Rap. Located in Grant Park alongside Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago, the festival is only a few short hours’ drive, Amtrak train, or MegaBus trip away from Michigan students staying in Ann Arbor for the summer. The Magnificent Mile shopping area, as well as the towering John Hancock building, are steps away from the music, and you can often hear the steady thump of a band’s kick drum from several blocks away. This is exactly what makes Lollapalooza such a unique experience—the hipsters brushing shoulders with the highbrow, and the synthesis that takes place between a modern city like Chicago and 95,000 music fanatics nestled in its most famous park.
Lollapalooza Lawn, photo credit: Ellis Hamburger
Lollapalooza 101
Many different facets of Chicago culture seem to have their place at Lollapalooza, from the vibrant music culture to green energy innovation and organic food (which you can find on the “Green Street” area of the park), to incredibly hot and humid summers (bring a tank top and sunscreen to survive the 100-degree weather). What began as a traveling road show, Lollapalooza finally settled in Chicago in 2005 and has since become a landmark event each summer. Our neighbors to the Southwest provide a homey Midwestern sense of hospitality—and while there is violent moshing aplenty at the more hardcore band performances, as well as an aggressively priced general admission ticket (at 200 dollars), the atmosphere is almost always friendly and benevolent.
The festival boasts eight stages and 95 bands, as well as 36 DJ’s who take turns spinning all day at Perry’s Stage—a rave of sorts where people of all ages go to dance and sometimes, even, cover themselves in paint. The contagiously energetic tribal dances and rituals that seem to be transpiring at Perry’s always draw a large crowd and are worth checking out.
Lollapalooza Crowd, photo credit: Ellis Hamburger
Advice From a Four-Year Lolla Veteran
It is not uncommon to hang out on a patch of grass waiting for your favorite band for a few hours, where you may come to meet an incredible variety of people. There is no formal “seating” available at Lollapalooza besides in the astronomically expensive VIP area, so prepare to sit and stand on the grass for the entirety of your time in the park. I’ve met music fans from China, California, and many other corners of the world that have all made the mecca to Chicago for the music festival. The more open you are to talking to strangers, the more fun you’re bound to have at the festival, and the less distracting the omnipresent stench of wet socks and body odor will be.
One nagging predicament for festival-goers each year is deciding which bands to see. The festival schedule is published a month or so beforehand, so you have some time to ruminate about your priorities and cry over the fact that two of your most beloved bands are playing during the same time slot at two opposite ends of the park. Accept it—it is impossible to see everyone. Get close to the stage for your favorite bands and those bands you haven’t seen before, and you will not regret it. While it was a disappointment to have missed Hot Chip and The Dirty Projectors, seeing The Strokes for the first time (and from fifteen feet away) is a memory that will be impossible to forget.
Phoenix at Lollapalooza, photo credit: Ellis Hamburger
Over the last four years that I’ve attended the festival, I’ve noticed that the festival organizers have steadily increased the capacity of the park, causing shoulder-bumping and a mild form of claustrophobia at every turn. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, because it made me realize that Lollapalooza isn’t as much about the “festival” as it is about the co-mingling of the bands and the people attending. I found myself having a sort of spiritual experience during Arcade Fire’s performance, dancing and bobbing jubilantly, covered in my own sweat and the sweat of twenty others around me. The sense of camaraderie is what the festival is about—nearly a hundred thousand people all rejoicing in the love of music, singing along in unison to Arcade Fire’s song, “Wake Up.” Considering that the festival is so close to Ann Arbor, it is an American experience too good to pass up for Michigan students.
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