All language subtitles for Lolla.The.Story.of.Lollapalooza.S01E03.SURVIVING.SUCCESS.720p.AMZN.WEB-D

♪ MTV ♪

Hi, I'm Alison Stewart
with an MTV News brief,

coming to you from
the rehearsal site

from the very first
Lollapalooza '95 date,

three and a half hours
outside of Seattle.

Most bands have been
driving in.

Beck was here rehearsing
last night,

as were headliners
Sonic Youth.

This morning,
Sinead had a two-hour...

Let me pick it up
on "this morning."

Oh, I should do it
all the way through once.

Yeah.

When you started
with the first Lollapalooza,

did you ever think
that it'd be as popular

as it is today,
like a worldwide name?

You know what, I never
considered worldwide name.

You got the call
that said, "Hey,

would you folks
headline Lollapalooza?"

Well, we thought, you know,
that if Pavement did it

and Beck does it, we'll do it.

- We flipped coins.
- And Beck said...

- They all came up heads.
- ...he was gonna do it

- if you do it...
- "Well, I'll do it

- if you and Beck do it."
- We'll all do it together.

Pavement's like the guys
down the hall

in the dorm or something,
and then Sonic Youth

are kinda like the parents.

And we like little Beck,

'cause he's like
the little kid brother

of the tour, I think.

This is how much money
I'm making, look.

20 bucks.

Who would you
come to see if you guys

were just, like,
taking the summer off?

Sinead.

- Really?
- Yeah.

You mention
that you liked Hole.

Fuck you!

Anyone else you're interested
in trying to get into?

Cypress Hill.

- Sinead O'Connor.
- Yeah.

- Really?
- Yeah.

- Why?
- She's just out there

on her own level.

♪ Give you a shave ♪

I think
it got so big in '94

that they wanted to be
more indie-based in '95.

In terms of your set,
is it gonna be the hits?

Sonic Youth
doesn't really have hits.

I think "Kool Thing"
was a hit.

"Kool Thing" was all right...

Yeah.
Hits are for squares.

We decided
we should go back

to college radio roots
and punk roots,

and we purposefully
went very left.

But is it possible
to go backwards

and be successful?

♪ What'd he say ♪

♪ I don't wanna ♪

♪ I don't think so ♪

♪ I don't wanna ♪

♪ I don't think so ♪

One, two, three,
in the place to be.

What's up, this is
Brother Question

representing The Roots,
live from Lollapalooza '95.

♪ I shall proceed, hey ♪

♪ And continue
to rock the mic ♪

♪ Proceed, proceed,
proceed, you know what ♪

Which Lollapalooza
has been the best for you?

Gosh, I don't know,
they've all been really good.

- Yeah?
- I don't know-- whoops.

Do you think the idea
of the tour has changed?

- Um...
- Here you go.

No, it's just gotten
to be more popular.

I like
the alternative bands,

you know, rather than...

you know, they don't have
any trendy bands

or anything like that,
so that's really good.

I remember in Chicago, we're
at the World Amphitheater.

The second stage
was in the parking lot.

So, The Jesus Lizard
is on the main stage

playing maybe
to 800 or so people.

♪ Jazz is a slut again,
jazz is a slut again ♪

♪ Jass is a slut again ♪

And Coolio's playing
to 18,000 people

in the parking lot.

In a way, to have
The Jesus Lizard,

to have these acts
that probably were more suited

for the second stage,
carry the whole thing,

I thought
wasn't fair for them.

By that point,
there was definitely much more

of a "let's party" contingent.

Pavement's getting pelted
with clods of dirt

by people who are like,
"What the fuck is this?"

If you're coming
to Lollapalooza

because you thought
fucking Rage was awesome

and you wanna see
the Rage of tomorrow,

and instead,
someone hands you Pavement?

You're gonna be like,
"What's this sissy shit?"

Ooh,
what a rough show that was.

It was a good idea on paper,

you know, really good bands
and, you know.

But I think that year
was probably the downfall

of Lollapalooza.

That was the year
we didn't sell out every show.

I hate this fucking place!

I remember the press
in '94 slagging us,

saying Lollapalooza
has lost it.

It should have been
Hole and Sonic Youth.

Hello?
Hello?

Hey, you guys okay?

The next year,
we had Hole and Sonic Youth,

and the same press
said Lollapalooza's a rip-off,

there's no headliner.

♪ I went away to see
an old friend of mine ♪

And did you ever
have any doubts

about this year's festival
at all, Perry?

-Doubts?
- Yeah, like doubts like...

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

I think there'll be
next year's Lollapalooza

will be--
it's gotta get better.

A week that
brought the official word

that Metallica, one of
the biggest rock bands

in the world, will headline
the 1996 edition

of Lollapalooza,
traditionally a showcase

for less imposingly
successful bands.

I did not like
what I saw.

I just didn't think
they were alternative music.

Metallica's one
of the best bands on Earth,

certainly one of the best
live bands.

And sadly, got in a pretty
strong argument over it.

I felt disrespected.

I'm not putting
this thing together to--

to make the most money.

I'm putting this thing
together to--

to make the most joy.

I felt like, okay,
so now you giants

are gonna try to, like,
trample me.

That was it, I told 'em
I didn't wanna have anything

to do with the year.

They're criticized
because it's like,

they're saying, "Well,
this isn't alternative music."

Alternative music, Ted?
What do you think?

- A oft, overused, dead...
- Finished.

- Uh, ancient.
- It's something

- new, creative.
- Misused.

Let's get something
new and creative,

and we'll put on
a show with it.

I hate it.
It's like, it used to be like,

a whole lot of small bands.

Like, six years ago, this was
the different thing to do.

Now, it's the normal
thing to do.

Have you noticed that there's
not a lot of girls here?

Yeah.
That's good for us.

Come the fuck on, baby!

When we were
asked to come

and play Lollapalooza '96,
I mean, we didn't bat an eye.

It was, "Well, of course.
Fuck yeah."

We felt that we came out
of a punk aesthetic.

We felt that we came
out of an alternative world.

We felt that we had
never belonged,

and you know, we had
always felt a kinship

to anybody
that was doing anything

outside of the mainstream.

♪ I'm sent here
by the chosen one ♪

Give it to me!

Everyone I know in the
underground likes Metallica.

There's no-- it's like
Metallica and everybody else,

as far as that genre, for me.

It's like, they're the best,
so why shouldn't they play it?

♪ Yes, I'm creeping death,
ah! ♪

The one thing
that we shared

with our alternative
brothers and sisters

was that we all felt
that we were trying

to chart our own path

and not play the game
of the industry

or of the record business.

But did they wear flannel
and we didn't?

Fine, if that's where
you wanna separate us.

But I never associated it
with like a musical style.

In the past, we had gone
out of our way

to explain how
we didn't want to be limited

to one particular thing
musically.

There is
this dip in 1995

where it was almost like
Lollapalooza's public apology

for not being cool enough.

And then in 1996,
Lollapalooza's apology

for not acknowledging
its own commerciality.

To go from Sonic Youth
one year

to Metallica the next year,
that's-- that's a giant leap.

What's the bridge
between the two?

There was strategic
errors that year.

The Metallica crowd
was a little aggro.

Bathrooms got broken.

Metallica had
very specific demands.

One of 'em is they didn't
want to play amphitheaters,

so we could only play
in fields.

There was no infrastructure.

We had to bring
everything in.

It was very expensive,
and on top of it,

we raised the ticket price.

We raised it
from $27.50 to $35.

That seems like nothing now,

but still,
this was a big jump in price.

Metallica came,
we built a lineup with them.

It was the first time
we had a guest slot

where we had
a rotating lineup.

And we had
everybody from Devo,

to the Cocteau Twins,
to Waylon Jennings.

We had the Ramones.
Nobody had put the Ramones

- on a festival.
- One of my favorite bands.

Johnny, Joey, Marky, Dee Dee--
the Ramones.

It's one of those
things when you bring it up,

"How do we not have the Ra--
they're the Ramo--

you know,
they're the Ramones!"

The Ramones were a big part
of what fueled me

in the late '70s.

Is it good to expose,
you know, yourselves,

your music to other fans?

It's good to expose yourself.

- Exactly.

Some people think
this lineup

has strayed away from what
Lollapalooza was meant to be.

Well, I don't agree.

I mean, like, you know,
you have, what, three stages?

You have indie bands
and alternative bands.

And I mean, like,
the Lollapalooza festival

I guess is kind of like
the summer event.

That year,
we took more chances.

The audience were even bigger.

It broke all kinds
of attendance records,

but it got its level
of criticism.

Like the year before
was too indie,

and this was too big.

Wow, it's like Woodstock,

only with advertisements
everywhere

and tons of security guards.

- He's cool.

Are you being
sarcastic, dude?

I don't even know anymore.

Rolling Stone
called it a cash cow.

I don't mean to wave
my "I'm right" flag,

but... I was right.

In 1997, I came back
to Lollapalooza.

By then, I'd fallen in love
with electronic music.

I first went to England.

We were listening
to Orbital.

Prodigy.
Tricky.

I was loving
what I was hearing.

♪ Don't wanna be
on top of your list ♪

♪ Monopoly
improperly kissed ♪

At my suggestion,
I brought in electronic music.

Okay, so '97...

We had Marleys, James,

Korn, Tricky,

Snoop, Tool,

Prodigy, Devo.

I helped with that.

The Orb.

What do you think of the
whole mixed lineup this year?

The lineup this year is not
as good as it was last year,

because they had more of the
mainstream bands last year.

I knew the groups better
last year,

but Tool's here,
and Korn's here,

and Tricky was good,
so I'm having

just as good of a time
as I did last year.

Perry wanted to go
early into dance

and leave this
rock world behind.

I think it's brave,
you know what I mean?

And the proof is
as in ticket sales.

The ticket sales
ain't going too well,

and that's always the case.

Sadly, it didn't do well.

Wasn't that it
shouldn't have done well,

it was just too early.

And he was just
too ahead on that one.

Right around that time,

you also have chat boards
and discussion rooms.

You had connectivity,
so what ended up happening

is you have the internet
kind of being a place

where you can go learn it all,
see it all, know it all.

But Lollapalooza
used to be the place

where you could do that.

What does Lollapalooza
mean to you guys now?

It means nothing to me,
just music and entertainment.

No meaning at all.

Why do you think there were
less people here this year?

I don't know,
I just think that, um...

I don't know.

It's getting worse.
It's good, but like,

it's not as good as before.

So, what ended up happening

is the total annihilation
of subculture.

This summer,
promoters have assembled

over a dozen festivals
and package tours.

Ozzy Osbourne leads a
cross-country hard rock march

with his Ozzfest.

Vans Warped Tour,

aimed at the extreme sports
and skateboarding crowd.

The Horde Tour features
Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

The House of Blues
Smokin' Grooves Tour

has George Clinton's
P-Funk and Cypress Hill.

Turning down the testosterone
a bit, there's a new festival

featuring mostly
female artists

called the Lilith Fair.

Were you concerned at all
with the shows like Horde

and Lilith Fair,
that some of the best

and most popular acts
would somehow be snatched up

on other tours?

Well, it makes you
have to think hard.

How are you gonna get
the artists

that the other guy wants?

How?
This is how.

The managers were like,
"Who wants me?

Pay me."

I think it's--
this year is so great

because Jon Spencer
Blues Explosion is here,

and that's just,
you know, such a--

that's the perfect band,
I think, you know?

I think-- I think they--

I think they were taken
off the bill, unfortunately.

- Oh, that's right.
- Oh, whoa!

- I'm sorry to break the news.
- Oh, man!

It was ending of sorts
for a lot of things.

♪ Life is hard
and so am I ♪

♪ You better give me
something so I don't die ♪

That's life.

Things evolve, things change,
things blow up,

what goes underground
becomes mainstream,

what's mainstream
becomes old,

just shrivels up and dies.

Everything's always moving,
you know,

in good ways and bad.

The creativity
was getting stifled.

It was like when Jane's
ended the first time.

So, I'm not sitting there
fighting for that.

I just let it lay.

And it went away.

♪ Before I sputter out ♪

We changed the industry,

and then we were a victim
of our own success.

That's how I see it.

♪ Before I, you know ♪

It was horrible.

I mean, this was a family.

And all of a sudden,
it was over.

Lollapalooza,
the original

alterna-rock summer tour,
died this week

at the age of seven
from a faltering

of its hipness factor,
and complications brought on

by competition.

The tour was pronounced dead
by cofounder Ted Gardner,

who also cited
a severe deficiency

of A-list star power.

Mourners were asked
to remember Lollapalooza

not in its years of decline,

but in its giddy infancy
way back in the day.

MTV News.
You hear it...

...first.

So, '98 to '03 was dead.

Coachella then became
the new exciting proposition

for a music fan.

And it wasn't necessarily
about a cultural movement.

Now, it was about
a lot of bands

on a lot of stages,

which was the change
of the format

from the traveling festival
to what Europe always did,

which was the location,
three day,

now we're 125 bands.

And then Lolla came back
in '03 and...

did okay in '03.

Tried to do a tweak
on the format in '04.

The national
rock tour Lollapalooza

won't be around upstate
New York this summer.

It's been canceled.

It is the second date
dropped from the summer tour.

Made some bad mistakes

trying to--
trying to revive something

that probably shouldn't have
been revived,

and should have
just gone to...

the Reading format right then.

It was a mistake.

It fell on its face.

I told my wife,
I hate to admit it,

but I think that's that
with Lollapalooza.

I don't think it's gonna
ever happen anymore,

and it feels weird.

It's kind of like
losing a limb

or something like that.

We had been through so
much, and the ups and downs,

and trying to stay on edge
when there isn't an edge.

There just isn't
an edge anymore.

There was always a commercial
versus art conflict.

And that's good,
that was healthy.

But the market
really changed,

so everybody was open
to new ideas.

I didn't know
what I was gonna do,

and I was very embarrassed.

I was hurting for money.

And I don't know why,

but Rick Rubin decided
to make an offer to me

to buy the name...

for like a million dollars.

I won't tell you
exactly how I put it,

but I said no.

Thank you so much.

This has been
so much fun for us.

In '04, we were
producing Austin City Limits.

That was starting to blow up.

And we were looking
for other sites

to start doing
other music festivals.

It was kind of the new model
moving forward, right?

I mean, ACL, Bonnaroo,
Coachella,

all had been born
out of this new model.

But Lollapalooza was the
biggest festival brand name

recognition in the world.

So, you know,
we contacted Perry,

and it was literally
right after it went down.

Okay, can the presentation
happen on Friday?

I flew out
to Los Angeles,

had lunch with Perry Farrell.

And you know,
Perry was upset.

I mean, he looked like
he had lost a child.

And... I was like,
actually, no,

this is a great opportunity
for us to, like,

hit the reset button
and do it a new fresh way.

♪ A change will do you good ♪

There was this guy,
Charlie Jones.

I really--
I really like this man.

I like what they were doing
with Austin City Limits.

He's got a location,
and he's dedicated

to that location.

And then I got to meet
his team.

Potentially bringing

Lollapalooza into the fold,
it was too good to be true.

I was very familiar
with Lollapalooza

as a fan in 1992.

It was incredible,
life-changing,

just such a--
I mean, it was the height.

It was a brand-new
experience for everyone.

They said,
"Man, listen,

"we all went
to Lollapalooza.

We know what you bring."

And they were
independent promoters.

You have to understand,
there are only four

independent promoters
in the country.

Everybody else
is under somebody's...

They've got a collar on.

They don't.

We just didn't know
what we didn't know back then,

so we were just kinda
blindly doing

whatever we felt
like was right.

There was no handbook
or playbook,

and we didn't have
another company to follow,

because there wasn't one
growing the same way we were.

It's a bit like a band that
has new members

and new energy.

The Charlies came in,
and it was reborn.

Well, cheers.
Here's to success.

Yeah.
The music has begun.

- Whoo.
- Whoo!

What do we do
from here?

We had success with the
ACL festival business model,

and were actively soliciting
other venues and cities

of where that kind of model
might work.

And some staff in the office
came to me and were like,

"Hey, Chicago Park District

"is having their annual
budget meeting tonight.

"And on the agenda,
it states, you know,

"the creation of a new event
to raise $250,000

for programs that were cut
throughout the Park District."

Lightbulb.
This is like,

it's carpe diem moment.

And I get emotional
when I think about that.

But there was a unique
carpe diem moment.

We were like, who's--
who's the best speaker,

and who could we send
to this annual budget meeting

in Chicago?

We unanimously elected
Stacy Rodrigues.

They had
a budget meeting

for the Chicago
Parks District

where they are listening
to all of the public

talk about all the things
that they want them

to spend money on.

And here I was saying,
we have this new festival.

We think that we're gonna
bring you about $500,000.

And they were like,
"Can we talk to you

after this meeting?"

We were honestly
a little scared

to even say Lollapalooza,

because the last time
that they had done a festival

in Grant Park was in 1970.

There was a huge riot
actually that year.

Sly and the Family Stone
was three hours late,

people started throwing
bottles and rocks,

and suddenly there were
fires and cars overturned.

So, no concerts in the park
ever since then.

Whee!

Perry Farrell's
here in Chicago

in our Q101 studios,
Mancow's Morning Madhouse.

When the trash is being
picked up, how many people

will have gone through
Grant Park for this thing?

We're expecting approximately
70,000 in total.

- Wow.
- Excellent.

How much bullshit
did you have to go through

to get Grant Park?

I mean, they didn't do music
in it for years now.

It was hard work, man.

But, you know,
it's done.

It's kinda like negotiating
a marriage, right?

Once it's done, you don't
have to worry about it.

I don't know,
it should be fun.

There's a lot of good music,
but it's probably

a lot of security,
a lot of cops,

five-dollar waters, I'm sure.

- Yeah.
- $10 pizzas.

$20 a day for parking.
Yeah.

Early on,
there was a lot of resentment.

Grant Park gets cordoned off
for fucking weeks

before and after Lolla.

I mean, it's a very
Chicago thing that people

were like, "How dare
Lollapalooza come and bring

"this fucking monstrosity
of a festival here.

Nobody's from here."

We just got beat up
in the press.

The biggest critic
was Jim DeRogatis

from the Chicago Sun Times.

This city should not be
in the concert business.

The parks were not designed
to be privatized for weeks--

in the case of Lollapalooza,
months at a time.

Should the parks
not be for softball,

and dog walking,
and-- and people?

Organizations in the city
tried to shut it down,

"You can't use Grant Park,"
but, it happened.

This group is one
of the seminal rock bands

- of the '80s.

They were reaching
their height,

and then they
suddenly disappeared,

and we lost them
for a decade or more.

But I'm happy to announce,

today at Lollapalooza,
we are all privileged

to see, once again,
our Pixies!

♪ And this I know, his teeth
as white as snow ♪

♪ What a gas
it was to see him ♪

♪ Walk her every day
into a shady place ♪

♪ With her lips she said ♪

♪ She said hey Paul,
hey Paul ♪

Finally, I'm here
tonight watching the Pixies

play at Lollapalooza.

The rebirth.
Version 2.0.

♪ Gigantic, gigantic,
gigantic ♪

What are you most
looking forward to?

Who will you be in the
audience for, Perry Farrell?

Pixies is gonna really...

- That's cool.
- ...blow this place up.

And I'm gonna be there
for Billy Idol.

Absolutely, I just can't
wait to see him snarl.

All hell's coming with me!

-Weezer?
-Weezer, for sure.

- Weezer!

I tell everybody, you gotta go
see Brian Jonestown Massacre.

- Ah...
- We got Dandy Warhols...

I think Lollapalooza

needs to reestablish
some of that credibility

that they once had
back in the day,

because it did
slip there for a while.

Perry knows the years
when he's not as proud of it,

or people were throwing
rocks at it, or whatever.

I think it's a smart move
that he's doing

a single weekend event
here in Chicago,

as opposed to a tour.

Hello, everybody.

First year in Chicago,
was a little worried.

But I had confidence.

Good things
can happen, right?

♪ Racey days help me through
the hopeless haze ♪

To see
how the world has changed

and festivals have flourished
and withered on the vine.

With Chicago, I couldn't
have imagined that.

♪ And I can't even
recognize... ♪

You name it,
we had problems.

But we did not cut corners,

and we did everything
that the city asked of us.

- Right now.
- It's a good time to do one.

Everybody's excited.
The vibe was fantastic.

And there's a picture,
everybody's cheering,

and I'm standing there
in the back

mortified of how much
money we just lost.

You know, it was all
our own money,

and it was a gut punch.

But we knew we had something,

we knew the vibe of
the festival was gonna grow.

And on Monday
after Lollapalooza,

in the Chicago Tribune
above the fold,

it said "Successapalooza."

And right then,
you could feel it.

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

I think when they
came back 2005, 2006, 2007...

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ If could blow up the world ♪

...I felt that there was
a really incredible curation

that was starting again.

You know, to get to see
the Flaming Lips

as one of the big bands.

♪ Does that make me crazy ♪

Gnarls Barkley
was brand-new.

♪ Crazy ♪

♪ That make me crazy ♪

♪ Possibly ♪

♪ I never knew for sure
what a wonderful man he was ♪

So many
great bands here.

And it's just been
a great time out here.

The vibe is really positive.

♪ Quelle est cette ivresse
qui nous entraine ♪

This year, they had so many
different types of bands.

And so, all the culture
is coming together,

and everybody just
getting along and having fun.

At Lollapalooza,
there's so many different

genres of music.

You have hip-hop,
you have everything.

And I be telling my homies,
man, Chicago loves hip-hop.

There was a great feeling

back at Lollapalooza again
in the mid-2000s,

and I felt that it really
brought back the spirit

of why it started, and I think
they were nailing that.

Lolla had now taken off.

We had Pearl Jam
and Daft Punk in 2007,

and the epic Daft Punk set
with the pyramid.

That was crazy.

♪ Around the world,
around the world ♪

And then I think
the Rage set in 2008

was-- was the most legendary.

The energy was wild.

At this point, Lolla's
doing 100,000-plus people.

When Rage Against the Machine
came back,

the first note
of "Killing in the Name..."

♪ Rock! ♪

The audience,
the whole mass, boom.

We got a problem.

♪ Killing in the name of ♪

I was at the front
gate when they went on,

and about that time,
the front gate got stampeded

by 200 or 300 kids
from outside.

It was insanity.

I mean, they were coming
in every direction.

♪ Fuck you, I won't do
what you tell me ♪

♪ Fuck you, I won't
do what you tell me ♪

You have a hook like,

"Fuck you, I won't do
what you tell me,"

what do you think's
gonna happen?

That's a riot in a can.

It was like something
I had never seen before.

The crowd just kept
moving in, moving in.

- They would stop the show.
- Yo, yo, yo.

Hold it, hold it, hold it.
What's up?

Yo, you gotta take care.

Please, please,
take a few steps back.

Please.

Y'all gonna be all right?

Y'all gonna look out
after one another tonight?

That's one
of the things I love

about Lollapalooza and this
community that we have,

is that you have
to look out for each other.

It was one
of my favorite nights

- of rock and roll.
- * Unh ♪

Playing at
the height of our powers,

rocking, you know,
my hometown city furiously,

celebrating this--
you know, a band

that had been away
for a while, and coming back,

a festival that had been
away for a while,

coming back together,

it was really,
really pretty awesome.

♪ We found your weakness ♪

♪ And it's right outside
your door, now testify ♪

We definitely walk
a fine line

with keeping
the traditions of Lolla

and keeping the heart
and soul of Lolla,

and making sure that
it still feels like Lolla,

but that we are growing
with the times.

Yeah, it looks good.

I like to change a lot,

so I'm really into that.

I hate when I see bands
that are very talented,

and they're wearing t-shirts
and jeans,

and they're dirty,
and they didn't shower--

unless it's grunge.

We're so ready.
Chicago's not ready.

- I can't wait.
- Chicago is not ready

for Gaga.

Whoo!

That girl
is gonna kill herself.

Don't you just hate it
when your disco ball

won't fit in the overhead?

♪ Babe, last night
you took me to the mall ♪

♪ Then it started
to get physical ♪

I think it is still
a real vehicle

for music discovery.

All these random artists,
you're gonna see some of them

on really tiny stages

and be able
to be close to them.

My name is Lady Gaga.

♪ In your brown eyes ♪

♪ I walked away ♪

I saw the first Gaga year.

I didn't even know
who she was.

I was just walking past, like,
what the fuck is this?

♪ Don't be,
don't be dirty ice cream ♪

♪ Don't be, don't be... ♪

And I remember
being like,

oh, she's really
got something.

Emergency, there's
something in the tracks!

But then,
Gaga goes and becomes

the first pop headliner.

From 1pm at the
BMI stage, our smallest stage,

and then three years
later headlining

- the main stage is...
- It's wild.

♪ Ohh ♪

We did it, Little Monsters.

We made it to the
main stage at Lollapalooza.

We made it
to the Monster Ball!

Gaga in some ways,
kinda like Metallica,

was really hotly debated
internally.

In some ways, we're still
trying to hang on

to this alternative ethos, right?

It was stupid
that we even thought that.

She had a historic performance
and killed it.

♪ Bad romance ♪

♪ I want your love
and I want your revenge ♪

♪ You and me could write
a bad romance ♪

♪ I want your love
and all your lover's revenge ♪

♪ You and me could write
a bad romance ♪

Jump!

Lolla really picks
great people

at great times
in their career,

like when they're--
when no one's heard of them,

when they have millions
of fans, when they're doing

an anniversary,
when they're, you know.

Just like, all these, like,

key pivotal moments
in my life,

I kind of can
even think about them

based on, like,
this Lolla time plot.

You know, it's a--
it's a deep thing.

My first Lolla experience
was insane.

Like 12 of us rode down
to Grant Park.

Obviously, none of us
had tickets, right?

Tickets for Lolla
are impossible,

especially when you're broke
and a teenager.

But there's all these
different licks,

like you know,
going over the bridge.

Man, let's go,
let's go!

Rushing the gate.

So, there was a gate push, and
everybody starts running in.

Once we get over, like,
everybody starts splitting up,

running in
different directions.

I went straight
through a crowd,

and I remember somebody
out of nowhere hogged me.

Straight spear
to the side of the body,

and I'm just like,
basically paralyzed

on the ground.

And they pick me up
or whatever,

and they was about
to do me so dirty.

But luckily, the people
that were in the crowd,

they was like,
"Let him go, let him go!"

And I was able to just,
like, walk out

with this other
security dude.

And he was so cool
that he let me

post up in the festival.

One of, like,
the craziest days of my life.

I saw Beirut in person
at Lolla

and sampled them
on my first project.

And the next year,
I was up there.

And we came back in 2014,
it was Perry's Stage.

I was really proud 'cause
I got to produce a show

for the first time.

Tapped into all the, like,
Chicago foot workers

and dancers, and like, had it
set up in separate acts.

2017 has already
been no problem

for Chance the Rapper.

And the Grammy goes to...

And the Grammy
goes to...

And the Grammy goes to...

Chance the Rapper!

♪ Am I the only nigga
still care about mixtapes ♪

Here we go.
One, two,

one, two, three, go!

♪ Am I the only nigga
still care about mixtapes ♪

I'm already hyped up
on the fact

that I brought three trophies
home to the crib.

Like, that's a big deal,
and like,

people really
campaigned for it.

Like, Chicago really was like,
really wanted me to win.

It was a big thing.

Hands up!

♪ Bad little bitch wanna
know how the lips taste ♪

Lolla's definitely a mainstay
for Chicago at this point.

It's a big deal
for Chicagoans,

and we all know
when it's coming,

like, you know, the traffic's
gonna be fucked up,

like, where all these
tourists are coming in.

But your ass
gonna end up there,

you know what I'm saying,
you're gonna figure out a way

to get a ticket last minute.

♪ Am I the only nigga
still care about... ♪

I spent my whole life here,

and now I'm here,
you know...

and just in a--
in a different standing.

♪ I'm a kid in a candy shop! ♪

At this point,
it's a Chicago thing,

and it's-- I don't see
any time soon

when it won't be here.

I just remember
how quickly it happened.

I see this news item of
something out there going on,

and I think it's just
a bird flu thing, right?

Like, it's never
gonna get here,

it's never gonna
affect anything.

And then, like,
two days later,

I'm hearing, like,
every show's canceling.

Fuck, right?
We are really fucked here.

There was to be
nothing in '20.

Music and entertaining

has always been in my blood.

When I was a little boy,
I used to sing for people.

I started singing before
I actually could form words.

So, my first song was called
"Alaboony Ratsanoody."

♪ Alaboony, alaboony ♪

♪ Ratsanoody-noody-noody,
alaboony-boony-boony ♪

And I'd go around
the neighborhood

singing songs to people.

In fact, my true last name
is Baerenstecher,

which means
"handsome entertainer."

The live, "get up there, man,
and rock our world"?

Man, nothing like it.

But in an instant, and with a
blink of an eye, it went away.

And I felt sad
for the world.

♪ We'll make great pets ♪

After a year off
due to the pandemic,

concerts could be back
in Chicago this summer

if COVID cases
keep going down.

I started getting asked
questions about Lolla

back in early spring.

"Is it happening?
Is it happening?"

With amazing regularity.

This is a big deal in Chicago.

It is definitely part of the
DNA of who we are as a city.

And businesses
benefit from having

this iconic music festival
here in Chicago.

So, listen,
I just talked to the doctor,

and she's giving us
the green light.

What do you think?

- Etty?
- Yes?

- It's on.

- Yes! Whoo!
- Lollapalooza! Ooh!

Normally, it takes
a full 12 to 14 months

to plan out
a Lollapalooza Chicago.

When we got the greenlight
from the mayor,

we had 12 weeks
until show day.

Our staff was depleted,
we were at about 15% or 20%

of what our full-time staff
was at that time.

To be able to go
from really zero

to producing one of the first
festivals in the world

coming out of COVID
was a massive undertaking.

Thursday's the big day,

the start of thousands
of people

taking over Grant Park
for Lollapalooza daily.

COVID cases are on the rise
across the country.

That has prompted
Lolla organizers

to require all attendees
to either be fully vaccinated

or have a negative COVID test

within 72 hours
of their attendance.

I feel confident
that the Lolla folks

have a good solid plan
in place,

and we're gonna obviously
hold them accountable

to make sure that
that plan is enforced.

There's a lot of risk.
Lori took a lot of risk.

Local government
took a lot of risk,

C3 took a lot of risk.

Nobody knew what
it was gonna be.

It's gonna be
interesting to see

how much fun we could have
while being so safe.

It went from like,
"Oh my God,

Gibby Haynes
is blowing off shotguns,"

to now like, "I'm checking
to see if you're vaccinated."

But it is what it is, man.

We went to
the last Lollapalooza.

It was like the best weekend
literally, like, ever.

That was the one thing
I was looking forward to,

like, during COVID,
like, till like,

for this festival
to come back.

- We got vaccinated.
- Vaccinated.

We're hoping
for the best, you know.

Lolla, baby!

Because of this pandemic,

we've been ready to, like,
get back in the action

and feel the music again.

And I've always wanted
to come to Lollapalooza.

- Yeah?
- But Miley as the headliner

was the-- the sign that
this was my year to come.

I need to be front row
to see Miley.

I've watched her
since "Hannah Montana."

I just think that you look
at Miley Cyrus,

and she's like a deity.

I'm dripping sweat,
and I'm here for her.

-I know.

What's up?
What's up, Lollapalooza?

I'm gonna need y'all
to make some noise!

Huh?

♪ I'd drop my nuts
on a hater ♪

♪ Fuckin' these hoes,
I'm a player ♪

♪ VVS chains,
watches and rings ♪

♪ Blowin' that kush
on a acre ♪

It felt
like a community project.

Like everybody
just coming together

to make that shit work,
'cause we needed

to get out of the house,
we needed to get drunk.

Like, we needed to have fun,
you know what I'm saying?

Listen to some good music

on some crazy-ass
big-ass speakers.

The motherfucking goat.

Chano in the building.
My real brother.

Hey, Chicago, make some
fucking noise for G Herbo!

What this goes to say
about live music...

Lollapalooza!
What the fuck is up?!

When people get
together to celebrate life.

Let me hear you say
"Whoo, ahh!"

Whoo, ahh!

The world
will never grow tired.

You mean the fucking world
to me.

I always wanted
the people to feel

like it was theirs
and not mine.

To be able to mesmerize,
and hypnotize,

and raise the consciousness
of 100,000 people?

Just imagine that.

♪ Never loved nobody harder,
never, ever felt stronger ♪

It's so important
to see music live.

Like, it's so important,

and it shows the truth
of an artist.

See them in the flesh,
and like,

be in connection with them.

There's nothing like that.

People come here to connect.

During COVID, we learned
to connect with our friends

and family,
and that's beautiful.

But there's something amazing
about connecting

with people you don't know.

This is the thing
I live-- I live for.

Lollapalooza has always
allowed for a lot

of different genres
and walks of life.

As an artist,
I love to play to people

that would be like,
"I heard of Steve Aoki,

but I would have never
gone to a concert."

That they're like
a Miley Cyrus fan,

they're like, "I wanna go see
him play for a little bit."

I love that.

Miley! Miley!

I wanna talk
to y'all for a second.

I think it was a very
humbling experience

for all of us
to be humanized together

and experience the last
year and a half,

the pain of being
disconnected.

And I think
we remembered the value

of having one another
in our lives.

Because sometimes
we take that shit for granted.

We're here,
we made it through.

It's not how we saw it,
not how we planned it,

not exactly how we wanted it.

But there's light
at the end of the tunnel,

and Lollapalooza is that
light for many of us.

Hey!

♪ I can almost see it,
that dream I'm dreaming ♪

♪ But there's a voice
inside my head ♪

♪ Saying,
"You'll never reach it" ♪

♪ Every step I'm taking,
every move I make ♪

♪ Feels lost
with no direction ♪

We thought we were
gonna be all right,

and we prayed we wouldn't be
a super-spreader,

which we weren't.

It was a big moment
I think for the industry

to like, "This can happen,
let's go."

After COVID, coming back
is absolutely

the biggest challenge
I've ever had with the event.

But I think we,
as festival producers,

really thrive
on the challenges.

And that's really
in full force

when we do
the international Lollas.

While Chicago became
bigger and established,

I was pretty adamant
that we push internationally,

that we take this festival
we created

and start to go to places

where festivals
like this didn't.

♪ Come on, come on,
come on, come on ♪

Lolla was one
of the first festivals

to go to South America
in 2011,

working with
our partners Lotus,

the young Charlies
of Chile down there.

They do concerts all the time,
they do arena shows.

It's not like concerts
are rare,

but festivals were not
a normal thing for them.

Este es
un grand festival!

But they've never had
a multi-genre,

multi-stage festival,
and it's really cool

to see people together
experiencing that

for the first time.

- Go out there and tear it up.
- I will.

All right,
we'll be watching.

I will. Oh my God.

I want the greatest musicians

to be heard and seen.

And I want every nation
to be able to experience that.

Chile was first,
and then that expanded

into Argentina and Brazil.

And then the European
expansion from there--

Berlin, Stockholm, Paris,

up until this past year
with Lolla Mumbai.

Mumbai is like a whole
different ballgame, right?

Mumbai is, you know,
booking a market

that very few bands
have played,

very difficult to get to.

That one probably has the most
logistical challenges,

just getting stuff to India,
and the artists to India.

But we were fortunate
to find a great partner there

who wanted to do
Lolla with us.

♪ I don't wanna talk anymore,
wanna walk anymore ♪

♪ Tell my stories to no one ♪

♪ I don't wanna talk anymore,
wanna walk anymore ♪

♪ Share my stories
with no one ♪

Let's bring
great real music

to the world.

That's what this has become.

India-- probably the best
first-year show we've done,

and we'll be back next year.

We've got a few other cities
on the radar,

and then we'll keep growing.

♪ That I'm a bad liar ♪

It's fun just to be
able to kinda, like,

reinvent yourself everywhere.

To bring something
like Lollapalooza

around the world,
besides my family,

it's one of the greatest
honors of my life.

♪ I can feel ♪

♪ Your breath ♪

It, like, started out
as this farewell tour,

but it's still
a culture-changing event.

♪ I want to go ♪

Lasted and changed
people's lives

and put millions of smiles
on people's faces.

And I'm sure it will continue
for years to come.

Lollapalooza,
Saturday night!

Get off your feet, let's go!
One, two, three, go!

♪ Ooh, ooh, hey ♪

How many words
become synonymous

with an experience?

Everybody knows what
Lollapalooza means,

even if they haven't been
to a Lollapalooza.

There are certain elements
that live in our zeitgeist

that are just timeless.

Metallica.

Now, I can tell you
I was wrong.

I've come to know those guys,
have become friends with them.

The relationship is one
of not just a friendship,

but one of just respect
and admiration.

All of us that have
endured 30 or 40 years

doing what we're doing,
we form a kinship.

Anybody who's still
left standing,

I think you share
something mutual with.

Twenty-six years ago
in 1996,

Lollapalooza took a chance
on inviting Metallica.

Thank you, Perry.
Thank you, C3.

Thank you, Chicago,
for having us.

We fucking love you.
We will see you very soon.

Now that, you know,
I'm becoming sophisticated

in my 60s...

we can really, really,
really do some amazing things

with this beautiful vehicle
that we've built.

I just don't want
this festival of expression

to turn into something
that you build with analytics.

I only-- I add everything up
just with my heart.

I'm not a great mathematician.

Or am I?

Perry went through
a lot of different phases.

I think he didn't accept Lolla
for a long time,

because for Perry,
anything that got big

or possibly commercial
was a stain on his art.

I think over time, he accepted
what he had created.

ICE-T: He's a pioneer,
he wants to do

what hasn't been done.

His real happiness
is his creating new shit.

That's an artist.

At a young age,
he knew what moved him.

He went for it.

He had his own sense
of rhythm and phrasing,

and what was cool,
and he did it.

And it's unlike anything else.

One of the most
dangerous living artists

that ever stalked
the Venice Boardwalk

really made something that,
you know,

will sort of
transcend our time.

The music landscape
would be completely different

if Lollapalooza didn't exist.

It really helped a lot
of people, a lot of bands.

Lollapalooza
shifted culture in a way

that I don't think a single
band on its own could have.

It was good for music.

It was good
for weird teens.

It's something I'm proud
and grateful to be--

have been involved in,
and happy to see

that it's turned
into the kind of part

of American culture
that it is--

world culture that it is.

To those of us
that were there at the time,

we all needed it.

A bunch of people
came together creatively,

professionally,
and most importantly, as fans,

when there was no other way

for us to connect
to each other.

No matter how successful,
no matter how commercial,

there's a soul,
there's a spirit,

there's a DNA that
surrounds Lollapalooza

that is rooted in
the beautiful soul

that Perry is.

Lollapalooza's a gift,
it really is.

I'll always be very,
very proud

that I...

gave a stage
to these artists.

No matter what happens,
it was a wondrous event.

It's wondrous that it happened
on this Earth.

♪ Gimme back that automobile,
turn off that smokestack ♪

♪ And that goddamn radio ♪

♪ Hum along with me,
hum along with the TV ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, no ♪

♪ No one's! ♪

♪ Gonna! ♪

♪ Stop! ♪