[Review] Lollapalooza celebrates 25 anniversary in a big way
The Chicago staple of music festival excellence brought forth yet another unforgettable weekend of music and stellar performances. Lollapalooza celebrating it’s 25th anniversary in the biggest way possible. Extending the festival to four days created a marathon of incredible musical moments.
Lollapalooza had many highlights that came from inside and outside the music festival. Chicago transformed from the city with broad shoulders into, during for the four-day festival, music mecca.
The first two days had rain showers that spanned over a few hours. The temporary muggy start didn’t effect the mega celebration of the 25th anniversary. In fact, the only set backs to the festival were the uncontrollable rain and that the festival is already over.
Over the years Lolla grew not only in size but it also grew in multiple genres. It first started as an alternative rock festival in 1991 as a farewell tour for Jane’s Addiction. Now with over 170 acts and an extended four-day festival, Lollapalooza provided many history making moments.
It was announced by Lollapalooza that next year’s music festival will also be a 4 day festival.
Thursday, July 28 (Day 1)
Lollapalooza fixed up this problem from past years. The clear winner to the first night was hip-hop. Hip-hop actually had a deeper impact throughout the festival but it made a bold statement the first night with performances from Chicago’s own Towkio, G-Eazy, and J. Cole. Danny Brown also gained many fans with his energetic performance. Towkio brought out Chicago’s Joey Purp and Vic Mensa in a complete Chicago music takeover. Towkio from sneaking into Lollapalooza before his musical break to now setting the stage definitely was a crowd pleasure.
Another Chicago artist made headlines closing off the Perry’s stage this time from the electronic music duo Flosstradamus. They didn’t disappoint bringing their signature non-stop thrill ride of electric beats. They also brought out surprise guest Chance The Rapper, Michelle Williams, and Dwyane Wade.
From “Wet Dreamz” to “Work Out”, J. Cole stole the show with non-stop performance of hit after hit. With no back track, fans matched Cole jumping and rapping along with the Dreamville rapper. It’s important to note that Cole was the only rapper to close off the Samsung stage throughout the weekend. The others were Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and LCD Soundsystem. The biggest stage at Lollapalooza was the perfect fit for J. Cole’s unforgettable set.
Lollapalooza 25 Year Anniversary Lineup Announced
Celebrating 25 years as a world-renowned festival, Lollapalooza 25 Year Anniversary delivers an all-star lineup with Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, LCD Soundsystem, J. Cole, Lana Del Rey, Future, Ellie Goulding, Major Lazer and Disclosure topping the bill. The diverse lineup also features performances from G-Eazy, Chris Stapleton, Leon Bridges, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Miike Snow, Kurt Vile & The Violators and much more. To commemorate this milestone anniversary, Lollapalooza will bring four full days of music and over 170 performances to Chicago's beautiful Grant Park, July 28- 31. View the full lineup and lineup-by-day here.
Legacy acts from the early days of Lollapalooza will be front and center with the return of Jane's Addiction, fronted by Lollapalooza creator and founder Perry Farrell - with a set full of surprises, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers, who headlined the festival in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
"I've immersed myself in this experience for 25 years now, but it's in a constant state of evolution, living and breathing. As long as we always try to find the eye of the hurricane, the epicenter of the music that is truly connecting right now, I think we can go for another 25 years! And we'll do it by always making sure to keep it fresh. Four days this year, over 170 of the best bands, including acts from all over the world as the music community connects globally more than ever; the best sound, staging and lights. We promise the festival will always strive to be the 'lifeblood' of the music scene," says Perry Farrell.
This year's collection of fresh faces include ZHU, Aurora, Bryson Tiller, Oh Wonder and Låpsley as well as heavy-hitting female artists including HAIM, Grimes, Alessia Cara, Lindsey Stirling, Kehlani, Melanie Martinez, and a highly anticipated return from Halsey following last year's breakthrough performance.
Flosstradamus, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Duke Dumont, GRiZ, Big Gigantic, Marshmello and more will bring the beats for Lollapalooza's beloved dance music fans.
4-Day General Admission Tickets sold out on March 22. A limited number of 1-Day General Admission Tickets ($120) and 1-Day VIP Tickets ($650) will be available for purchase today,March 23 at 10am CT. 4-Day VIP Tickets ($2,200), 4-Day Platinum Tickets ($4,200) and Official Hotel Packages are also available now at here.
Lollapalooza welcomes music fans of all ages, including kids. Children 10-years-old and younger will be admitted free of charge with a ticket-holding adult.
Fans worldwide who can't make it to Grant Park can watch The Official 2016 Lollapalooza Live Broadcast exclusively on Red Bull TV, which is distributed digitally for free on the web, connected TV platforms, smartphones and tablets as well as Lollapalooza.com. A full schedule of performances will be announced this July on Lollapalooza.com.
Lollapalooza 2016 is generously sponsored by: Samsung, Red Bull Sound Select, Bud Light, Pepsi, Toyota, BMI, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Citi and Cupcake Vineyards.
[Video] Hardwell: "Dare You" (Feat. Matthew Koma)
Dutch DJ sensation Hardwell was named Mixmag's No. 1 DJ in the world in 2013. That's quite an act to follow up, but the 25 year old EDM wunderkind is hard at work already this year, today dropping his video for the song "Dare You" featuring Matthew Koma. The video is an upbeat and soul-elevating mix of vocals and production, with Koma opening the songs singing, "We're a million lonely people, ". It is a freeing experience filled with mundane stares and a lot of empty space. The character's dream are realized, finally, at a Hardwell show. Of course. Check it all out for yourself and keep an eye on Hardwell as he makes a run at back-to-back major festival seasons.
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Ultra Music Festival Announces Packed 2014 Lineup
Ultra Music Festival is the annual Electronic Dance Music super-festival that is easily the largest such event, outside of EDC Las Vegas and Tomorrowland/world. For the sixteenth installment of the neon-splattered mega-rave, organizers went a bit, H.A.M. The first phase of 2014's installment of Ultra Music Festival includes a who's who of artists in the EDM world, including the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Afrojack, Kaskade, Avicii, Krewella and MixMag's No. 1 DJ in the world, Hardwell, who top a packed list.
An interesting tweak at Ultra Music Festival is the split between a DJ and Live lineup. The live lineup has grown and this year includes M.I.A, MGMT, Cut/Copy, Empire of the Sun and Pusha T. I've written about a lot of festivals with over the top lineups, but Ultra may have pushed the envelope another step forward, it's hard to imagine there could be more phases of artist added. The full list of performers can be found below, it may take you a minute to digest the entire situation.
The festival will take place March 28-30 at Bayfront Park in Miami. While VIP tickets have sold out, you can still drop a cool $399.95 for General Admission tix here. Check out a recap video of last year's Ultra and the full list of performers, below.
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Grading the Grammy Nominations
As the music industry has evolved over the past decade into the digital world, things have changed quite a bit. Hard copies are hardly ever bought anymore, nor does anyone seem to buy whole albums at all, as the iTunes Store model has taken over and the industry has increasingly become about what the consumer wants as opposed to what the labels want the listeners to hear. While this has resulted in a sort of musical reawakening, creating a culture where listeners can stream, download or play any track they can think of with the touch of a button, music has expanded at a rapid pace, creating new genres and sub-genres and infinite new off-shoots that don't fit cleanly into any one established genre or sound.
Standing behind this industry, bearing the largest prize of all, is the Grammy Awards. This year, the award show enters its 56th installment and, while a dance music category was finally introduced last year, the judging seems more out of touch than ever, but of course this has been an issue for some time. The Grammys are like Social Security. You don't really care about it much until you're too old to get up from the sofa. Generations have rallied against the award for years. In 1991 Sinead O'Connor simply refused to show up and boycotted the show, despite being nominated in four categories. After winning "Best Hard Rock Performance" in 1998, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder stood onstage perplexed and, staring at the golden trophy, said into the microphone, "I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything." It's not news that the team behind the Grammy Awards has been out of touch for some time, but at no time in history has it been so blatantly about the money in an industry that today makes significantly less money than it used to. It's macroeconomics of the current American condition played out with celebrities and gold gramophone statues. Plus, Kanye already spoke out. So, for this latest round of Grammy nominations, I figured I would sift through who was chosen and offer up my own choices for the top prizes in music this year.
Hardwell Releases "Dare You" Via Shazam
Dutch EDM artist Hardwell, recently named the world's No. 1 DJ by DJ Mag, broke new ground today as the first artist to release a song strictly through the music-id application Shazam. Listeners are prompted to "Shazam" a 20 second clip on Hardwell's Youtube page that will then unlock his latest single "Dare You" featuring songwriter Matthew Koma, exclusively on the Shazam app. It opens a new avenue for artists to reach fans with their music, as if that landscape wasn't pretty cluttered already. It should push forward the proliferation of corporate cross-promotions to subsidize label money. Check out the song below and for the full download, get your Shazam app out and hit here.
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Hardwell named No. 1 DJ
Hardwell rose up the ranks over the past year through incessant marketing, a radio show and a live set that is a highlight at every festival and lineup to become the world's number one DJ, according to DJ Mag. Ranked last year at number six, the dutch sensation hit the top spot in 2013 against stark competition from the likes of Avicii and Armiin Van Buren. I had the chance to catch him while covering Electric Daisy Carnival in Joliet this past May, check out the interview below via The Frontliner.
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