On This Day: We Celebrate The Anniversary of Lollapalooza

The first ever Lollapalooza tour kicked off on July 18, 1991.

Perry Farrell, singer of Jane's Addiction, conceived and co-created the music and arts festival. It was supposed to double as a farewell tour for the band.

The word lollapalooza, sometimes spelled lollapalootza or lallapaloosa, means a fun and memorable event.

That’s exactly what Farrell’s ‘Palooza became.

The inaugural festival featured a diverse assortment of bands, including Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T, Butthole Surfers, Henry Rollins Band, and others.

The first stop on the Lollapalooza tour kicked off in Chandler, Arizona. It ended on August 28, 1991, in Enumclaw, Washington, just south of Seattle.

I remember the festival premiere being highly publicized on MTV. As an 11-year-old, it looked like an incredible time and something I would love to attend one day. Philadelphia, however, didn’t get a tour stop on the inaugural Lollapalooza run in 1991.

Another cool feature of Lollapalooza was the inclusion of “side shows” and nonmusical acts like the Jim Rose Circus & the Shaolin monks. There were tents displaying funky art along with information tables for political and environmental nonprofit groups.

The early '90s was the dawn on the “alternative” rock culture. Lollapalooza, a bit like a traveling circus, encapsulated all of it.

The first Lollapalooza was a watershed moment in the history of music festivals. It helped to popularize alternative rock and alternative culture, and it paved the way for other successful festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo.

The festival also helped to launch the careers of many of the bands that performed on the bill, including Nine Inch Nails and Tool.

Lollapalooza continued their annual traveling circus throughout most of the 1990s, featuring up-and-coming bands like Rage Against The Machine, 311, Soundgarden, Rancid, Cypress Hill, Beck, Green Day, the Smashing Pumpkins, and countless others.

By the early 2000s, the musical landscape was changing again. The popularity of the traveling Lollapalooza festival was also fading a bit.

In 2005, Farrell and ‘Palooza organizers decided to make the event a destination rather than a city-to-city tour, by setting up shop at Grant Park in Chicago. Every year since then, the US version of Lollapalooza has taken place at the massive Grant Park in Chi-town.

Since 2011, Lollapalooza organizers have expanded the event to Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.

One of my all-time favorite Lollapaloozas was in 2003. I went to the Chula Vista, California (San Diego) stop on the tour which featured Jane’s Addiction, Audioslave, Incubus, Jurassic 5, The Donnas, and more on the Main Stage. A few baby bands like Kings of Leon, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Burning Brides played on the secondary stages.

July 18^th also marks the anniversary of a legendary Lollapalooza stop in Philadelphia in 1993 on the site of  the (then) recently demolished JFK Stadium in South Philly. It featured Alice in Chains, Primus, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Fishbone, Arrested Development, and about 50 other bands.

Were you there? I wasn’t, but I sure wish I was!!

Lollapalooza was first launched on July 18, 1991.

Originally launched as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction, the festival has had a unique history from its initial run from 1991 to 1997. It was then revived in 2003, canceled in 2004 but has been active from 2005 to today. In the video below, Jane's Addiction frontman and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell offers a brief history of the festival.

Perry talks about the definition of the word "Lollapalooza" and says, "I thought about that and I went, 'I can take all these different elements of music and art and lifestyle and swirl them together and make something wonderful.' So, I thought it was the perfect name."

This week, the 2024 Lolla lineup was unveiled. As with previous years, its lineup is incredibly diverse.

Taking place August 1-4, the headliners include SZA, Tyler, the Creator, blink-182, The Killers, Future x Metro Boomin, Hozier, Stray Kids, Melanie Martinez and Skrillex.

Other notable acts on the lineup include deftones, Renee Rapp, Pierce the Veil, Sexyy Red, Two Door Cinema Club, Destroy Boys, Cults, Cannons, Waterparks, In This Moment, Militarie Gun, Hanabie and many more.

Lollapalooza has definitely evolved over time from a traveling festival to its current multi-day extravaganza in Chicago’s Grant Park. The festival's partnership with the City of Chicago helps give back to the host city. Per a Live Nation press release, " ... Organizers created the Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund, a $2.2M donation to support arts and education in Chicago Public Schools."

The press release notes the festival supports other local nonprofits. They include Community Goods and Yollocalli, the Sueños Festival Job Fair, the African American Heritage Festivals, Teens in the Park Fest, Black Culture Fest, and Musically Fed.

So, how has the festival fared musically over the course of three decades?  Here’s a look at past headliners and other notable acts from years past.