Lollapalooza, the brainchild of Perry Farrell, started out as a touring show with an entire day’s line up of bands in 1991. My first Lollapalooza was on August 16, 1995. My college boyfriend and I celebrated my birthday by spending the day enjoying music at Cal Expo Center in Sacramento, CA.
There are a few moments from this 1995 show that still stand out in my mind:
- Courtney Love telling a fan that she had the picture of Kurt Cobain s/he was holding up in her house
- Love in her babydoll slip dress and her guitar in between her legs
- Beck performing “Loser”
- Cypress Hill’s giant Buddha inflating on stage with a pot leaf on its stomach
It would be another eight years before I attended my next Lollapalooza. The tour came to Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA on August 19, 2003. Highlights that I remember from this show are:
- Jane’s Addiction headlining the reincarnated Lollapalooza after a six year hiatus
- Brad Wilk of Audioslave playing the drums with his back towards the crowd so that the crowd would have a better angle to see him play
- Rooney performing their hit “I’m Shakin’”
I had purchased tickets for the 2004 touring show, but unfortunately this was cancelled due to weak ticket sales. In 2005, Perry Farrell found partners to hold Lollapalooza as a two-day destination festival in Chicago’s Grant Park. Sadly I wasn’t able to make it to the inaugural year in Chicago, but I was going to do whatever I could to go the next year. And I did.
