Lollapalooza Tickets

Lollapalooza History

Chicago’s Lollapalooza is one of the world’s largest and most important music festivals. It draws fans from all over the country and beyond. These dedicated music fans descend upon Chicago’s Grant Park to enjoy Lollapalooza’s unique mix of musical styles and performers. The festival attracts top acts from all corners of the music industry, including alternative rock, electronica, rap, and even country. Over the years, Lollapalooza has seen iconic performances, band reunions, and more. It’s also seen its share of troubles. Lollapalooza wasn’t always the iconic destination festival that it is today. In fact, the festivals long and complicated history is part of what makes it such an essential experience for true fans of music and live performances.



Lollapalooza is known for being an annual event that takes place in Chicago’s Grant Park. But when the famous festival first debuted in 1991, neither of those things were true. Lollapalooza wasn’t a one-time party or a Chicago-based production: it was originally a traveling festival that played in a variety of venues and had multiple concert dates.

The Lollapalooza tour was the brainchild of Perry Farrell, the frontman of the band Jane’s Addiction. The festival was originally conceived as a 1991 farewell tour for Farrell’s band. Farrell wanted Jane’s Addiction to go out with a bang, so he came up with the idea of a traveling music festival as an alternative to a traditional one-band farewell tour. The festival would be modeled in part on A Gathering of the Tribes, a two-day festival that Farrell helped engineer in California.

But unlike A Gathering of the Tribes (and unlike future editions of Lollapalooza), the inaugural Lollapalooza festival would tour North America. Fans would buy Lollapalooza tickets all over the country and see the acts in their local venues. On Lollapalooza’s first run, Jane’s Addiction was joined by top acts like Nine Inch Nails, Ice T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Violent Femmes, Rollins Band, and other popular bands. And it wasn’t just about music: from the beginning, Lollapalooza also included non-musical performers, games, and visual art. Booths promoting political causes were also along for the tour.

The massive success of Lollapalooza’s first run in 1991 led to the return of the tour in the following years. Like the inaugural festival, most of the follow-up tours in the early 90s focused on alternative rock and rap groups. The diversity that marks Lollapalooza’s current lineup wouldn’t come along until years later.

In 1994, the show suffered its first serious setback. Lollapalooza had snagged the perfect headliner when they brought Nirvana on for the festival. But amidst personal turmoil in the life of Kurt Cobain and rumors that Nirvana would break up, the band pulled out of Lollapalooza. Just one day later, the body of Kurt Cobain was found in his Seattle garage.

But Lollapalooza went on, and in 1996, things took another turn. Perry Farrell took a step back from organizing the festival, and changes came to the lineup. The popular heavy metal band Metallica, a group with more mainstream appeal and aggressive music than those previously featured in the festival, became the 1996 headliner. Farrell felt that this undermined the spirit of the event, which in his mind should have focused on alternative acts and positive vibes. Farrell responded to the change in direction by quitting in protest.

For its part, the festival began expanding its musical offerings to include more diverse genres. Country, electronica, and other genres came on board in the form of superstars like country singer Waylon Jennings.

It wasn’t enough to save Lollapalooza. The festival couldn’t find a headliner in 1998, and alternative rock as a genre began to wane in popularity. There was no Lollapalooza in 1998, and the festival remained dead and buried for half a decade.

In 2003, everything changed again. Perry Farrell’s band Jane’s Addiction was reuniting. To celebrate the occasion, he decided to bring back Lollapalooza. The first birth of Lollapalooza had come out of the retirement of Jane’s Addiction; the second birth came out of the return of the band. As it had in 1991-1997, Lollapalooza took to the road.

But Lollapalooza tickets were far from cheap that year. Fans complained about high prices, and the 2003 tour was only a moderate success. Responding to the high prices of Lollapalooza tickets and the mediocre reception of the 2003 tour, fans stayed away from the 2004 effort. Due to weak ticket sales, it never got off the ground.

But Farrell was determined not to let Lollapalooza die. He partnered with the company known for producing the popular Austin City Limits festival and worked with them to revive Lollapalooza for good. Farrell’s new business partners helped conceive of a new version of Lollapalooza: one that stayed put and asked fans to come to it. Lollapalooza would no longer be a tour – it would be a destination festival in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois.

In addition to the stationary venue, Lollapalooza would become a once-a-year event that would last only three days. That made Lollapalooza tickets much more sought-after, as the impressive and eclectic lineups were only available for a short time in an iconic location.

The first Chicago-based Lollapalooza festival took place in 2006. It drew strong crowds despite a record-setting heat wave. Fans couldn’t stay away from a lineup that included Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, Violent Femmes, Broken Social Scene, and dozens of other high-profile acts.

Lollapalooza continued with strong years in 2007 and 2008. After the success of the ’08 festival, the city of Chicago signed a deal with organizers that would keep the festival in town for at least another decade. Finally, Lollapalooza was here to stay.

Lollapalooza is now a Chicago phenomenon, but it still brings music to fans far and wide. In addition to traveling super fans who come from all over the country to see the Chicago festival, Lollapalooza brings music to fans in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and other countries through affiliated festivals abroad. No matter where fans are, they know that Lollapalooza tickets are their passes to an unforgettable festival.