Lollapalooza About Good Times, Good Music, And A Mystery Name
Lollapalooza is back, and though it’s too soon to know if it’s better than ever, the music festival is still as good as ever if ticket sales are anything to go by. Lollapalooza fans snapped up tickets faster than Les Paul, Johnny Winter, or Mick Barr (once timed at 24 notes per second) play guitar. Chicago Business reports on the Lollapalooza ticket sales shred.
“Three-day passes for the whole festival sold out in about 45 minutes yesterday, according to a Lollapalooza spokeswoman. Those eager festival-goers took a gamble buying tickets before the lineup was even announced. Both the $250 early bird and $275 regular three-day passes were all taken.”
The one-day passes to Lollapalooza disappeared by noon on Wednesday March 25, the day they went on sale.
Check out the full #Lolla lineup by day NOW! Single-Day Passes go on sale at 10am CT. http://t.co/GzoIyqJ94o pic.twitter.com/p1qVPJlC62 — Lollapalooza (@lollapalooza) March 25, 2015
Lollapalooza is 25-years-old if you count the few years in the 90s when it foundered and was canceled. Originally a grunge festival, in its rebirth, Lollapalooza has become a celebration of some of the biggest indie bands along with rock royalty like Paul McCartney. Fans from the early days still love the festival, but sometimes wonder what Lollapalooza is really about with such a wide range of musicians and styles. Nate Scott, writing for USA Today, has an answer.
“The correct answer to that question is: It’s about trying to get a ton of people together to have a good time listening to music. Of course. That’s all Lollapalooza owes anyone, and I know plenty of people who will happily go, and don’t give a hoot that this lineup leaps around genres like James Hetfield will creakily leap around the stage.”
No one is entirely sure how Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell came up with the name though there are many stories, including a famous one about a Three Stooges episode. But Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. assistant editor Michael Ray told the Chicago Tribune that this story probably isn’t true.
“The story Perry’s been sharing with people for years is he heard Moe say [Lollapalooza] in a Three Stooges short, but a good amount of time has been spent looking into whether anyone can come up with the actual episode. To the best of my knowledge, no one has actually come up with a source.”
The Oxford English Dictionary gives several examples of “lollapalooza” in everyday speech, dating back to the early 1900s.
“Saturday night we had our final parade with the fireworks finish, and it was a lollapalooza!”
Here’s another example:
“I distinctly remembered it as a lollapalooza.”
Fans don’t really care where the name Lollapalooza comes from though. They only care about the fabulous Lollapalooza music.
tb because Lolla is now in the near future :’) @lollapalooza @DukeDumont pic.twitter.com/c3Itl5100N — Helena Wynn (@helena_wynn13) March 26, 2015
Lollapalooza is a three-day annual festival held in Chicago. This year’s festival runs from July 31 until August 2.
[Image source tix4cause.com]
