Lollapalooza kicks off on Saturday (July 5) in Indianapolis, Indiana, two days after the original start date in Ionia, Michigan (July 3), which was cancelled before the start of the tour. This year’s tour will not only feature sets by Audioslave, Incubus, Queens Of The Stone Age, and headliners Jane’s Addiction, it will also be an interactive experience. Tour mastermind Perry Farrell has set up several interactive gaming components for this year’s Lollapalooza.
Lollapalooza is known as the mother of all traveling festivals in the U.S. but the purpose and scope of this year’s festival, which returns after a five-year absence, is very different from when the tour was conceived in 1991. Farrell revealed about the difference 12 years makes in planning a music festival the magnitude of Lollapalooza.
“This is the dilemma that you have when you’re building festivals today,” Farrell says. “You’ve got to consider how are you going to get the package together that will make the promoters say, ‘Yes.’ But, you can’t give anything away or take anything for granted. But then from there, once the promoters say, ‘Yes,’ then you see what you have leftover, then you start going after things that are more eclectic, new foundlings and then things that you just absolutely love and you want.”
The bands hope for camaraderie on the festival, and some of the bands like Incubus may be playing new music in their set. Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd said that the band has a special set lined up for Lollapalooza, which will be their first shows in the new year. “We’ll definitely maybe be playing some new music,” Boyd says. “We learned, like, 10 covers for a Halloween show here in L.A., and so I’m hoping that we’ll do a cover-maybe a different cover every day.”
Some of the covers Incubus is thinking about include off-beat ’70s and ’80s pop songs ranging from Lionel Richie’s “Hello” to Frankie Valli’s theme from the movie Grease.
Bands on Lollapalooza’s mainstage include Jane’s Addiction, Audioslave, Incubus, Queens Of The Stone Age (first half), A Perfect Circle (second half), Jurassic 5, the Donnas, the Distillers, and Rooney (on select dates).
Bands on Lollapalooza’s second stage include: Steve O from Jackass, Cave In, Kings Of Leon, Burning Brides, Boy Sets Fire, 30 Seconds To Mars, the Music, the Mooney Suzuki, MC Supernatural, Fingertight, Billy Talent, and Bellydance Superstars.