Forget for a few moments about lobster corndogs and social media tents with smartphone charging stations. You're here for the music. [Text by Casey, photos by Mike.]
That's what I kept telling myself on the walk to Lollapalooza — specifically, the 20th anniversary of the iconic music festival, held once again in Chicago's Grant Park. The anniversary aspect was hard to forget — it was emblazoned on wristband passes, mentioned by countless bands and promoted endlessly on the festival’s website. But the inaugural, raunchy traveling festival's roots and the corporate-backed mega-concert it's become couldn't be more different.
Despite this fact, there were an estimated 270,000 music fans gathered inside the massive public park nestled between mighty Lake Michigan and the skyline of the Chicago metropolis, and paid the hefty price of $215 for regular three-day passes — not bad, until you factor in hotel and food costs.
But you get what you pay for, and the grounds were clean, spacious and thoughtfully laid out. The vendors served foodie-quality morsels and about 140 acts took to eight stages. We tried to see as many as humanly possible. Read about the highlights after the jump:
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.