Rick Rubin, the American record producer, offered to buy the Lollapalooza name for a million dollars shortly after its 2004 revival cancellation. Perry Farrell, the founder of Jane’s Addiction and the annual music bash in Chicago’s Grant Park, spoke about the failed revival in the docu-series Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza. Marc Geiger, Lollapalooza co-founder, said in the series that they had made mistakes trying to revive something that no longer worked. He said: “We’d been through so much…trying to stay on edge where there just isn’t an edge anymore.”
After Geiger spoke, Farrell added, “I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I was very embarrassed. I was hurting for money. I don’t know why, but Rick Rubin decided to make an offer to me to buy the name for like a million dollars. I won’t tell you exactly how I put it, but I said no.” In 2005, Farrell re-launched Lollapalooza as a stationary Chicago fest, which is now a successful music festival with events around the world.
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza is a three-part docu-series directed by Michael John Warren giving insight into the creation of Farrell‘s music festival, which went from a touring punk event to the annual music bash in Chicago’s Grant Park. The series features interviews with the likes of Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Ice-T, Chance the Rapper, and more.
The documentary is set to premiere on Paramount+ in the US and Canada on May 21 and May 22 in the UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Lollapalooza is also set to headline acts like Blink-182, Tyler, The Creator, Hozier, SZA, The Killers, and more at its annual Chicago music festival. Even with the acts giving their best at the festival, there is an undercurrent of imperfection at the event that makes it approachable and real. Despite the imperfections, diversity in sound and highlighting fresh acts are always a priority at Lollapalooza. The festival’s dedication to putting music first and drawing in fans who mirror that effort has helped make Lollapalooza a successful music festival for more than three decades
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