Extra! Extra!

The official lineup for the 2005 Lollapalooza Festival was announced on April 22.

The following is a link to an article by Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times and an article by Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune. Each article discusses festival details and the city's deal to bring rock and roll to Grant Park this summer.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-nws-lolla23.html

Pixies, Weezer, Widespread Panic headlining Lollapalooza

By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic

April 23, 2005

Lollapalooza announced 38 bands Friday for its July 23-24 festival in Grant Park, including headliners the Pixies, Widespread Panic, Weezer, the Killers and Liz Phair.

Two-day tickets for $85 also went on sale at www.lollapalooza.com, even though the city has not officially approved the festival. Promoters are still working out crowd control, safety, traffic management and beer-sale issues with the city. But Parks Supt. Timothy J. Mitchell said the festival "absolutely will happen."

"Everyone is working closely together," he said in an interview. "Within a week, I expect the permit to be approved."

Promoters still aim to add about 30 more bands to play the festival on five stages, said Charles Attal, talent buyer for Capital Sports & Entertainment, the Texas marketing and management company that bought the Lollapalooza name last year.

Lollapalooza is expected to draw at least 50,000 fans over two days to Hutchinson Field on the southern edge of Grant Park, though promoters said attendance could climb as high as 100,000. Mitchell said capacity issues were still being resolved, but that 30,000 to 35,000 fans per day "sounds reasonable."

The festival, scheduled to run from noon to 10 p.m. each day, is expected to bring at least $250,000 into park coffers. Though the city has turned back rock concerts on the lakefront in recent years, including the Smashing Pumpkins in 1998 and Grateful Dead spinoffs the Other Ones in 2002, Mitchell said the dooris open to a long-term relationship with Lollapalooza.

"I can't speak for the decisions made by my predecessors," he said, adding that he's intrigued by the idea of creating "a world-class music festival in Chicago. The hope is that we could continue doing it."

Perry Farrell, the founder of Lollapalooza in the '90s when it was a traveling alternative-rock festival, said he and the promoters settled on a single destination for the festival this year to avoid playing in "sterilized environments." "We're not cookie cutter," he said. "We needed a grand city for a grand festival. We visited 25 cities and we all ended up saying Chicago is the spot."

Plans are in the works with several clubs, including House of Blues, to host after-hours parties and concerts involving Lollapalooza performers.

Farrell said that, after a national Lollapalooza tour was canceled last summer because of poor ticket sales, "I had no expectation of ever doing it again." But he later forged a partnership with Capital Sports and Entertainment, which produces the Austin City Limits festival in Texas. Executive producer Charlie Jones said the Lollapalooza name still has merit: "It's the most recognized brand in music today."

The rest of the lineup announced Friday includes Ambulance LTD, the Arcade Fire, Billy Idol, the Black Keys, Blonde Redhead, Blue Merle, the Bravery, Cake, Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Changes, the Dandy Warhols, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for Cutie, DeSoL, Dinosaur Jr., Digable Planets, G. Love & Special Sauce, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Los Amigos Invisibles, Louis XIV, M83, the Redwalls, Tegan and Sara, the Walkmen, the Warlocks, World Leader Pretend and Z-Trip.