[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 announces over 55 afterparties for 25th anniversary
There’s going to be plenty of incredible music to check out during Lollapalooza. If you missed your chance to snag up passes now’s your chance to get in on the action with these stacked afterparties.
For six nights, the schedule is on out to catch some of your favorite artist throughout Chicago. Announced artists like: Major Lazer, Vice Staples, Two Door Cinema Club, Mac Miller, and Halsey all headline their own afterparty.
Afterparties are a great way to see your favorite artist in an intimate setting. With other heavy hitters like Janes Addication and X Ambassadors set to host their own afterparties we known tickets will go fast.
With over 110 musical acts Lollapalooza afterparty tickets go on sale Friday, June 3 at 10 a.m. CT.
For the view list of afterparities visit Lollapalooza’s site here.
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.
[Album Stream] Major Lazer: "Apocalypse Soon"
Major Lazer has been teasing his latest project, Apocalypse Soon for a minute now, and over the weekend the moombahton king dropped a stream of the album on his Soundcloud. In the past couple of weeks, the side project of mega-producer Diplo offered up "Aerosol Can" with Pharrell and the revival of dancehall singer Sean Paul who seems to have been gone from the spotlight since MTV stopped broadcasting 'TRL'. The project is a continuation of the kind of back-side wobbling production that lead Major Lazer to host a 'twerk wall' at last year's Electric Zoo festival. Top to bottom, the project shows Diplo can launch a variety of bass-infused attacks under whatever moniker works. Check out the project, streaming below.
[Songs of the Day] 2/19/14 (Feat. Schoolboy Q, Major Lazer, Hudson Mohawke & More)
Wednesdays tend to be a bit slow for new music on the web, but we scoured our way through everything ot find some gems that hit airwaves today. Schoolboy Q teased his highly-anticipated debut album Oxymoron with the lead single, "Blind Threats" featuring none other than 'The Chef' himself, Raekwon. The Legion of Dudez got together to spin a remix of their hit single "Diamond Girl" by Blakkass Westley and Chandler London, with fellow LOD member Cadillac Duke dropping a verse on the updated version. We got a solid song from newcomer Joyner Lucas in "That's Okay", Hurt Everybody, the duo of Supa Bwe and Carl dropped "God Shit" and Major Lazer continued to keep fans salivating with another cut from his upcoming album, this time reviving Sean Paul for a cameo spot. GXNXVS gave Sway Clarke II's "I Don't Need Much" a remix, Cosby Sweater, a production duo out of Indiana released "Your Girlfriend's a Stoner" and "Bound 2" producer Hudson Mohawke gave listeners a new track with Olivier Daysoul in "Forever I".
Track of the Day: Schoolboy Q: "Blind Threats" (Feat. Raekwon)
Schoolboy Q: “Blind THreats” (Feat. Raekwon)
Blakkass Westley & Chandler London: "Diamond Girl Remix" (Feat. Cadillac Duke)
Joyner Lucas: “That’s Okay”
Hurt Everybody: “God Shit”
Major Lazer: "Come On To Me" (Feat. Sean Paul)
Sway Clarke II: "I Don't Need Much" (GXNXVS Remix)
Cosby Sweater: "Your Girlfriend's A Stoner"
Hudson Mohawke & Olivier Daysoul: "Forever I"
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[Video] Major Lazer: "Sweat" (feat. Laidback Luke & Ms. Dynamite)
It seems as if Major Lazer are aiming to shoot videos for all their songs on Free The Universe, their latest full-length release. "Sweat," the boisterous collaboration with producer Laidback Luke & rapper Ms. Dynamite, is the newest visual treatment they've put together and they did so with help from Noisey. The clip was shot in a dark-room filled with neon lights and people dancing, check it out below.
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Major Lazer x Zed's Dead: "Turn Around" (Feat. Elephant Man)
Diplo's Major Lazer is just a huge moving party. The project has spawned it's dancehall offshoot of Moombahton and brought it to the collective consciousness of white girls in crop tops across the country and creating a "Twerk Wall" in honor of his "Bubble Butt" track. Anyway, they managed to squeeze the loaded production of EDM duo Zed's Dead alongside Major Lazer onto one track, with Elephant Man on there as well. It's always nice to Elephant Man getting work out there. Check out the track below:
Mad Decent Block Party: Q&A with Big Gigantic
The Mad Decent team has been steadily criss-crossing the country with an also-steadily changing group of performers. As the summer begins hitting the homestretch, Mad Decent heads to Texas for an all ages performance at the Whitewater Music Ampitheater before the festival series heads off to the west coast for a pair of final dates in Los Angeles and San Diego. The New Braunfels stop includes headlining sets by Major Lazer, Bauuer, Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus, as well as Big Gigantic who we were able to catch up with before they hit the Lone Star state for a brief Q + A. Check out the interview below with drummer Jeremy Salken and head here for tickets if you'll be in the area this weekend.
Jake: Last time I talked to you two, you were preparing for New Year's Eve in Chicago. How have things been since?
Jeremy: Wow that was a long time ago! Now we’re prepping for this tour and New Years in NEW YORK!! Things have been freaking incredible. We literally just finished up our summer festival season and it couldn’t have gone better. We didn’t play as many festivals as last year but we headlined a few which was a huge step up for us! Cant wait to be back in Southern TX though! Things tend to get a little crazier down there!
Jake: What's the experience playing Mad Decent Block Party so far?
Jeremy: We’ve done 2 so far and they’ve been great!! Its an earlier show and the music literally never stops. It goes hard from start to finish and is always insanely entertaining!
Jake: Where is the direction of the music headed/plans for a new album?
Jeremy: The music is constantly growing and evolving. We were hoping to drop the new album this fall but are pushing things back to the beginning of 2014 to really get it where we want it to be. Dom has been working endlessly night and day writing, producing and working on putting this masterpiece together. He has the vision of what he wants it to be and you just cant rush that kind of thing. As much as we wanted to put it out as soon as possible, it’ll be better to take a little more time with it and get it perfect (or as close to perfect as he can get). We’re dropping a few tracks here and there for kids to check out to hold everyone over until 2014!
Jake: You two have been touring incessantly for a couple years now, any burnout? Going strong?
Jeremy: Stronger than ever!! The more we do it the more we figure out about how we want to do it. We used to just hit the road endlessly and tour tour tour. Now we kind of do it in chunks and take little breaks in between to recooperate. I think that’s one of the tricks to keeping it fresh!
Jake: Plans for the rest of 2013?
Jeremy: We’ve had a mellow summer so we’re hitting the West Coast for 2 weeks now, then we have a break before ROWDYTOWN at Red Rocks!! That’s like our hometown throwdown. It’s the most beautiful venue we’ve been to and just such an epic place to play and have all our friends and fam come rage with us! We have a break after that then we do a month long tour of the rest of the country in October! November/December is pretty much open to finish album stuff then Mayan Holidaze w/ the homies and 2 Nights in NYC for New Years! Then we get a short break and things start right back up again! I Guess we don’t take off as much time as I thought! Haha, good thing we LOVE playing music!
