Original subtitles

* MTV *

[guitar playing]

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.

WOMAN: Yeah.

[guitar playing]

WOMAN: 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.

[Sonic Youth, "Kool Thing"]

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.

STEWART: 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 *

MATT PINFIELD: I think it got so big in '94

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

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

THURSTON: Sonic Youth doesn't really have hits.

I think "Kool Thing" was a hit.

"Kool Thing" was all right...

Yeah. Hits are for squares.

STUART ROSS: 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 *

WOMAN: 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.

[The Jesus Lizard, "Destroy Before Reading"]

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.

[music playing]

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.

[band playing]

JESSICA HOPPER: By that point, there was definitely much more

of a "let's party" contingent.

[guitar feedback]

Pavement's getting pelted with clods of dirt

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

[cymbals crashing]

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?"

[crowd shouting]

STEPHEN MALKMUS: 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. [laughing]

[crowd shouting]

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

I hate this fucking place!

[crowd shouting and cheering]

ROSS: 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?

ROSS: 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 *

STEWART: And did you ever have any doubts

about this year's festival at all, Perry?

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

- Yeah. - Yeah.

I think there'll be next year's Lollapalooza

will be-- it's gotta get better.

TABITHA SOREN: 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.

[people screaming]

FARRELL: I did not like what I saw.

I just didn't think they were alternative music.

MARK GEIGER: 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.

WOMAN: 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.

[Metallica, "Creeping Death"]

Come the fuck on, baby!

[exclaiming]

LARS ULRICH: 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! *

ULRICH: 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.

[band playing]

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.

RUBELI: 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.

[song ends]

[cheers and applause]

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?

[Ben Folds Five, "Philosophy"]

ROSS: There was strategic errors that year.

The Metallica crowd was a little aggro.

Bathrooms got broken.

["Philosophy" continues]

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.

[Devo playing]

GEIGER: 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.

GEIGER: 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.

- [laughing] - 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.

GEIGER: 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.

["Simpsons" theme]

Wow, it's like Woodstock,

only with advertisements everywhere

and tons of security guards.

- [snorting] - He's cool.

Are you being sarcastic, dude?

I don't even know anymore.

FARRELL: Rolling Stone called it a cash cow.

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

but... I was right.

[Orbital, "The Box"]

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, "Firestarter"]

Prodigy. Tricky.

[Tricky, "Overcome"]

I was loving what I was hearing.

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

* Monopoly improperly kissed *

FARRELL: At my suggestion, I brought in electronic music.

[electronic music playing]

Okay, so '97...

We had Marleys, James,

Korn, Tricky,

Snoop, Tool,

Prodigy, Devo.

I helped with that.

The Orb.

MAN: 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.

ROSS: 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.

ROSS: 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.

RUBELI: 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.

MAN: What does Lollapalooza mean to you guys now?

[screaming]

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.

BOY: 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.

REPORTER: 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!

[Eels, "Novocaine for the Soul"]

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 *

FLEA: 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.

FARRELL: 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 *

ROSS: 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.

[song ends]

KURT LODER: 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.

ANNOUNCER: MTV News. You hear it...

[record scratching] ...first.

GEIGER: 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.

REPORTER: 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.

FARRELL: 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.

[music]

GEIGER: 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.

FARRELL: 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.

[cheers and applause]

SHERYL CROW: Thank you so much.

This has been so much fun for us.

[Sheryl Crow, "A Change Would Do You Good"]

CHARLES ATTAL: 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?

CHARLIE JONES: 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 *

FARRELL: 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.

COURTNEY TRUCKSESS: 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.

FARRELL: 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.

[muffled chatter]

- Whoo. - Whoo!

FARRELL: What do we do from here?

JONES: 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.

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!

MANCOW: 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.

WOMAN: 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.

HOPPER: 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."

JONES: 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.

[cheers and applause]

This group is one of the seminal rock bands

- of the '80s. - [cheers and applause]

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!

[cheers and applause]

* 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 *

GEIGER: Finally, I'm here tonight watching the Pixies

play at Lollapalooza.

The rebirth. Version 2.0.

* Gigantic, gigantic, gigantic *

MAN: What are you most looking forward to?

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

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!

- MAN: Weezer? - FARRELL: Weezer, for sure.

- Weezer! - [cheers and applause]

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

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

LES CLAYPOOL: 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.

BRANDON FLOWERS: Hello, everybody.

[cheers and applause]

[The Killers, "Change Your Mind"]

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 *

TRENT REZNOR: 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.

[cheers and applause]

ATTAL: 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 *

PINFIELD: 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.

[band playing]

You know, to get to see the Flaming Lips

as one of the big bands.

* Does that make me crazy *

PINFIELD: Gnarls Barkley was brand-new.

* Crazy *

* That make me crazy *

* Possibly *

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

MAN: So many great bands here.

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

The vibe is really positive.

[Thievery Corporation, "Shadows of Ourselves"]

* 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.

[cheers and applause]

PINFIELD: 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.

[cheers and applause]

HUSTON POWELL: 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.

[Daft Punk, "Around the World"]

* Around the world, around the world *

And then I think the Rage set in 2008

was-- was the most legendary.

[cheers and applause]

The energy was wild.

[Rage Against the Machine, "Killing in the Name"]

GEIGER: 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.

[music]

* Killing in the name of *

WALKER: 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 *

VERNON REID: 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?

[cheering]

Y'all gonna look out after one another tonight?

[cheering]

TRUCKSESS: 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.

[Rage Against the Machine, "Testify"]

TOM MORELLO: It was one of my favorite nights

- of rock and roll. - * Unh *

MORELLO: 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.

WOMAN: Yeah, it looks good.

LADY GAGA: 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!

WOMAN: That girl is gonna kill herself.

GAGA: Don't you just hate it when your disco ball

won't fit in the overhead? [laughing]

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

* Then it started to get physical *

HOPPER: 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.

[Lady Gaga, "Brown Eyes"]

* In your brown eyes *

* I walked away *

HOPPER: 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... *

HOPPER: And I remember being like,

oh, she's really got something.

MAN: Emergency, there's something in the tracks!

[cheers and applause]

HOPPER: But then, Gaga goes and becomes

the first pop headliner.

[alarm blaring]

WALKER: 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!

GEIGER: 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: Man, let's go, let's go!

CHANCE: 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.

[Beirut, "The Shrew"]

CHANCE: 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.

[cheers and applause]

WOMAN: 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!

[cheers and applause]

* 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.

[wind whistling]

[music]

POWELL: 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.

FARRELL: 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."

[snapping] * 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.

[echoing] * We'll make great pets *

REPORTER: 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. - [gasps]

- Yes! Whoo! - Lollapalooza! Ooh!

[music playing]

TIM SMITH: 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.

MAN: 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.

FARRELL: 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.

[people chattering]

WOMAN: 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!

[cheering]

MAN: 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.

GIRL: 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.

- WOMAN: I know. - [cheers and applause]

FLO MILLI: 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 *

CHANCE: 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.

[cheers and applause]

The motherfucking goat.

Chano in the building. My real brother.

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

[cheers and applause]

FARRELL: What this goes to say about live music...

Lollapalooza! What the fuck is up?!

FARRELL: When people get together to celebrate life.

Let me hear you say "Whoo, ahh!"

CROWD: Whoo, ahh!

FARRELL: The world will never grow tired.

You mean the fucking world to me.

FARRELL: 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.

[Kim Petras, "Icy"]

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

CHANCE: 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.

[electronic music playing]

STEVE AOKI: 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.

[music continues]

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.

[crowd chanting] Miley! Miley!

MILEY CYRUS: 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.

[cheers and applause]

[Miley Cyrus, "The Climb"]

[cheers and applause]

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 *

POWELL: 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."

[cheers and applause]

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.

GEIGER: 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.

[The Hives, "Come On"]

* Come on, come on, come on, come on *

SMITH: 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.

MAN: 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.

FARRELL: I want the greatest musicians

to be heard and seen.

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

[loud music playing]

[cheers and applause]

SMITH: 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.

[music]

POWELL: 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 *

FARRELL: 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 *

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

reinvent yourself everywhere.

JONES: To bring something like Lollapalooza

around the world, besides my family,

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

[Twenty One Pilots, "Trees"]

* I can feel *

* Your breath *

RUBELI: 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!

[electronic music playing]

* Ooh, ooh, hey *

ULRICH: 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, "Master of Puppets"]

Metallica.

Now, I can tell you I was wrong.

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

[band playing]

The relationship is one of not just a friendship,

but one of just respect and admiration.

[vocalizing]

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.

[cheers and applause]

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.

[cheers and applause]

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?

[laughing]

GEIGER: 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.

MORELLO: 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.

HERMAN: The music landscape would be completely different

if Lollapalooza didn't exist.

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

HOPPER: 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.

RUBELI: 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! **

[loud gunfire sound effects]

[guitar feedback]

[cymbals crashing]

[microphone thuds]

[cheers and applause]

[music]