For three days each summer, one of music’s biggest festivals occupies Grant Park in downtown Chicago, in a musical takeover known as Lollapalooza.
Lollapalooza was founded by Perry Farrell in 1991 as a farewell tour for his band Jane’s Addiction, but became a traveling festival featuring multiple different acts. After a hiatus and failed revival, Lollapalooza transitioned to a three-day festival based permanently in Chicago, similar to Coachella, held in Indio, Calif.
This year’s Lollapalooza will feature established and emerging artists from across the musical spectrum. Headlining the festival are heavy metal icon Black Sabbath, blues-rock power duo The Black Keys, perennial alt-rock favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers and lo-fi mastermind Jack White. Other popular bands in attendance include The Shins, Bassnectar, Passion Pit, M83, The Head & The Heart, The Black Angels, Sharon Van Etten, Avicii, The Weeknd, Franz Ferdinand, Frank Ocean, FUN., Justice, Florence and the Machine, Kaskade, Sigur Ros, The Gaslight Anthem and White Rabbits.
While Lollapalooza is not a camp-on-site festival like Coachella, there will still be a plethora of amenities throughout Grant Park, such as food and merchandise vendors, autograph tents, water stations and more.
Bands will perform from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on eight different stages, with headliners on the Bud Light stage and Red Bull Soundstage, which are rather inconveniently placed on opposite ends of the mile-long park. Black Sabbath and The Black Keys both play at 8 p.m. on Friday, August 3, on the opposite stages.
The next two days are more merciful, with only Avicii, Frank Ocean and Santigold competing against the Red Hot Chili Peppers at 8 p.m. the next evening, and Jack White closing out the festival at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday, August 5 with Justice, Childish Gambino and Kaskade performing at the same time on other stages.