Rage and Wilco to play at Lolla, too?
The other reason I arrived early to this year's South by Southwest festival was the opportunity to interview the “three Charlies” who run Austin-based C3 Presents — Charlie Jones, Charles Attal and Charlie Walker — the men behind Lollapalooza, and the trio who just secured an exclusive deal to book the Congress Theatre, in addition to bringing more music and other entertainment events to Soldier Field. Their home office overlooks Town Lake here, and the conference room where we met includes a beer keg and a giant fish tank stocked with piranhas — which may or may not be a metaphor for the company’s voracious appetite.
Obviously, I’ll be writing much more about that interview in the days to come. But I will note here that the Charlies continued their adamant refusal to confirm or deny published reports that Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails will perform at Lollapalooza on Aug. 1-3 in Grant Park.
They won’t announce the lineup until next month, they insist, but now new rumors are swirling that Rage Against the Machine and Wilco also will perform.
If true, those four bands alone mean that the reinvented destination festival will be the best major festival bill of the summer.
Comments
You know what is bad about all these bands playing there? That guarantees they will play nowhere else in Chicago over the summer. There are PLENTY of venues Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine and Wilco could be playing, but instead for 90 days, they can't play anywhere else except Grant Park with too many people.
Chicago is getting gypped if it only gets Radiohead at Lollapalooza. Even though Wilco is my favorite band, I think Radiohead would be the biggest loss to the concert season if they were only allowed to play there. I'll drive to Indianapolis instead to see them, I'll get a full show.
Posted by: Eric H. | March 12, 2008 12:52 PM
http://www.lollapalooza.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=149538
http://boards.1up.com/zd/board/message?board.id=egmofftop&thread.id=1561926
Here're two somewhat compatible fully rumored full line-ups (& 1 itinerary). No mention of NIN or RATM, but that's the rumoring business for ya. (No offense, Jim)
Posted by: Chadams | March 12, 2008 07:52 PM
Eric, that "official" looking lollapalooza line up you linked is not real. Its just a composite that someone put together of a line up that they hope happens. If NIN RATM and Radiohead are playing . . . that settles it . . . I'm going!
Posted by: E | March 13, 2008 09:27 AM
Eric H., If what I've heard is true, the bands playing Lollapalooza can't play in Chicago for 90 before or after lollapalooza, meaning we won't see any of the big headliners (at least) for six months. That's a bit outrageous...
Posted by: another E | March 13, 2008 09:45 AM
Regarding that 90 day rule....
Think about it. How often do Radiohead, RATM, etc really come to Chicago? This rule is going to have no effect on bands like these.
As for smaller bands on earlier in the day, I doubt this rule applies to them.
Posted by: KevinV | March 14, 2008 12:12 PM