Lollapalooza the aftermath – 2017 lineup announcement
Highlights, Overlooks, WTF’s, and Woots
An alternative music lovers wet dream, a hip-hop mystics-sucka please, and a metalheads dreary wall of death in their bedroom running at their own wall.
Quick history recap: Lollapalooza was originally formed by Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band Jane’s Addiction. Over the years, the fest has taken many faces: a huge push for the alternative, then a year of grunge, and the year Ferrell took a hiatus in planning the event to focus on his other festival project ENIT. LP took on the brutal face of metal with Metallica headlining in ‘96. The next years saw additions of electronica, and country which failed to help attendance. From 1998-2002, failing to produce a headliner due to decline in alternative music popularity, there was no festival. In ‘03, Jane’s Addiction got back together, and so did the tour, which generated dismal success, leading to 2004’s tour being canceled. The years 2005 through 2007 led to little growth, and 2008 came with better headliners and more stages; the tour’s success was revamped by staking its stages in one location. From 2005 onward, the concert has taken place exclusively at Grant Park, Chicago, with exceptions in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and France. A deal was signed to keep Lollapalooza in Chicago through 2018, and now here we are.
2017. New line-up announced. Like many music festival nerds, I find myself sitting around, anxiously awaiting the announcements of line-ups for festivals to see if they’re worth the coverage. The time of the year when I throw together a plan for pieces, fly staff out to places, accumulate the credentials, barter all the barters, dot all the I’s, and find something that get music fans excited about—again. Poised with the ever present existential quandary I had to question: why should we give a fuck about Lollapalooza? 
Thursday: Muse always has one hell of a light show, while Lorde will surely float on stage and, with her strong, echoing vocals, confuse the crowd by playing most of her upcoming album Melodrama, out June 16th, alongside that one hit that made her Royal-ty. As for Cage the Elephant - will they have a super meltdown mid-performance that leads to another break-up? Only time will tell. Another strong personality roaming the festival grounds that day is Liam Gallagher; will he spit and kick and curse out the crowd? Talk to his brother in laced tongues or just enjoy the vibe? Has age and time finally chilled him out? That alone is worth a visit on Thursday. Lil Uzi Vert, Migos, and Whiz Khalifa will awake the rap demon, and Jon Bellion will push the party to its edges with glow sticks and the smell of patchouli in the aisles. A stand out performance is sure to come from Spoon. They’ve been going at this life since ‘79 and if you want to see someone adept to the stage on many levels, do not miss this set. The undeniable black sheep of Thursday’s event: Atlas Genius. Don’t sleep on this band! Too many have and I’m surprised they landed such a festival in spite of it. Rub the gnome if you get a chance.
Friday: Festival hounds Blink 182 are certainly not strangers to the stage, playing to 50,000 people nightly with their new album California. New music and a new line up are only a few reasons why you should wander over to their set on this day. Don’t forget about hip-hop happy campers Run The Jewels and their cult-like following; I wonder how many of ‘em you’ll see running amuck in the crowd.
Other amazing artists not to miss this day are The Pretty Reckless, and Kaleo! And I want to hear about what happens with Ryan Adams… CD quality performance, but please do not flash this man. It hurts him physically due to having Ménière’s disease and he will be apt to let ANYONE know. Stay safe, and enjoy the show. Must see: Shutter Alumni Phantogram, whose new album Three has opened many doors for them. What a treat for this crowd! Alternative pop queens Tegan and Sara will be taking the festival stage and if you haven’t checked them out by now, you’ve got some serious homework this weekend. Politically-charged, super cool, and catchy-yet-meaningful pop music; what’s not to love?! WTF’s of the day – The Killers headlining is a disservice to the fans as any experience with their live show is lackluster and off key; hopefully they get their set tight before this outing.
Saturday: Multi-Grammy award winner Chance the Rapper is a huge draw, but again, confusing to the regular alternative fanbase of this festival. 21 Savage, Alt-J, Sylvan Esso, and the XX are truelight performers. Black Sheep - Vance Joy, with hits like “Riptide,” seem to stand out as a question mark. He’s known to do a festival or two but something about this lineup just doesn’t seem to fit. I hope the crowds enjoy him anyway! Take a chance on the smaller bands while you’re here, too; you never know where they might end up! Acts like Car Seat Headrest and Joseph are sure to top your year-end list as must-see acts, not to mention they’re veterans to festivals like these. Woot: Stand out performance – beyond CTR will be Highly Suspect and the highly anticipated original line up of the band Live. Let’s be honest, all us alternative nerds had an orgasm when we heard Ed was coming back! Who?: The rest of Saturday are mostly a big question of who are these bands and how did they get on LP?
Sunday: By Sunday, you are going to be exhausted from dancing the nights away. Save some energy for Arcade Fire, Big Sean, Rae Sremmurd, Tove Lo, and Lil Yachty – you might have seen his new sprite commercial or his Super Bowl weekend Target debut commercial featuring remake of “It Take’s Two,” with Carly Rae Jepsen. Lastly, we’re looking forward to Machine Gun Kelly, who recently has matured thanks to his role in HBO’s Roadies. We saw his career blossom as an artists and he got to stretch out his talents into just more than being some rap rat. These standouts of the night give good entertainment and what a mix. Whatever could go wrong? Black Sheep, don’t sleep. Sofi Tukker’s show is energetic, engaging, and downright strange. You will love it. Flor will be the sure bet if you’re wanting to get your pop dance on. What in the actual *f*: Charli XCX is so much pop filled junk I can’t for the life of me explain why she is among all these talented bands. I was subjected to her show early December and became bored quickly. This would be the time to get your beer and rehydrate, maybe even a bathroom break and a snack. Indie-rock favorites The Shins are bringing their Grammy-nominated music to the festival stage; a true standout in the sea of hip-hop, seeing as Sunday’s lineup is mainly pop/hip-hop oriented. No complaints here!
(via Lollapalooza’s youtube)
While excited for a handful of bands-a-day, the question left to answer is can Lollapalooza survive until 2018 and how big of a party is this going to be? We can’t wait to find out!
