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8 friends, 2 cars, 1 hotel room, 2 beds & 1 ...
I had been working @ UPS for several weeks in my hometown of St. Louis... Hated the job! A few of my closest friends were all... More
acid dropping friends
lollapalooza.irvine,ca. my senior year in high school.it was me and a couple of other friends i remember getting pretty high... More
Lollapalooza Before I Ever Heard It Called "...
It was August 20, 1991. I had graduated from high school just 2 months prior and was engaged to be married in 3 months. It was ... More
The First Ever Lollapalooza!!!
I had just graduated from high school and my best friend and I wanted to something fun and memorable to mark the occasion. When we heard that Siouxsie and the Banshees were going to be playing at "World Music Theater" we were stoked. Imagine our thrill to find out that Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T, the Rollins Band and Janes Addiction were going to be there too. We thought we had died and gone to heaven, these were the people we idolized all through high school. Their music summarized our total high school experience. Needless to say, this was the first concert that I had ever been to and I had the time of my life. For the first time in my 18 years, I had found a place that I fit in. I can remember thinking that I did not want this to end. But, like all good things, Lollapalooza came to an end, but I remember the elated feeling I had, knowing that there were more freaks like me out there in the world. So, to those wonderful individuals that made up those bands, I thank you for the feeling of fitting in and letting me know that there are more of us freaks out there than "normal people". Ali
2 Broken Wrists - The Shoeless Pit Starter and Destroyer of Pizza
At age 16, a few weeks before the 91 concert I had broken both my wrists and had casts covering both arms, from finger to elbow. This happened because I was laying shirtless on my friends Buick Regal as he drove around a parking lot at the Lake Zurich K-mart. He decided to drive the wrong way into the exit of a KFC drive-thru and I fell off. At the show - The casts were mighty helpful weaponry in persuading about 20 square feet of people to make way as I started the lawn pit with a friend at the start of the NIN set. Folks who didn't move had their pizza slices and blankets promptly stomped on and tossed. After mere seconds we had erected an army who'd silently waited for a leader to begin what we did. We circled and in pure paradoxical angst-love became an entity of bruising musical gravity. After the first song my weathered Vans ripped from my feet and I thrashed on, immune to pain of combat boots crushing my toes. The freedom to be so immersed in music and community was animism amplified. No concert since has returned that bliss. Anyway, maybe some of you punks remember the lanky cast-clad kid. My only regret was not giving the proper respect to Rollins and starting it earlier in the day. I would love to go to Lolla this year but I'll be attending a 7-day zen retreat in NY at the time. Just wanted to share the story -Dan
Trent is out to get me!
Havin a great time at the Waterloo Village show in Stanhope, NJ. During the NIN set Trent has red Solo cups all over the stage that he's drinking from. Took my eyes off the stage for a second and wham! something hard explodes on the side of my head and I'm soaking wet. Turns out Trent was also tossing these half full cups into the crowd, too. He still owes me.
The Greatest Comeback EVER!
1991. The very first Lalapalooza. Sold out. I went to a cousin's wedding in the South, and returned from the longass road trip the very morning of Lala to a (old school answering machine) message from a friend with an extra ticket! I was dead tired, but I was going for it for sure! In my haste to get ready and get there (St. Paul, Minnesota - Harriet Island), I only had the orange I sucked after tequila shots for my day's sustenance. Nothing could dampen my spirits, I was going to finally get to see my favorite band - Jane's Addiction - LIVE! (In fact, I didn't really jive with the friend who had the extra ticket my whole life until we bonded over our shared love for Jane's at a party one night ... Jane's as a peace-maker!). Well .. nothing could dampen my spirits until I felt the heat, crowd, no food in the belly, and tequila gang up on my in that spinning queasiness that indicates you are about to puke for three days. In front of everyone as you're trying to look hot. NOOOOOOO! As I balanced over the side of one of those giant metal trash bins (the Porta-Potty lines were way too long for this emergency), I could hear Siouxie & The Banshees (another favorite) playing, and knew that Jane's was up next to headline. My friend's face was a mix of concern, frustration, and panic - that he might also have to miss our beloved Jane's. NOOOOO! So ... never before, never since ... somehow I was able to dig so deep within, for both physical and mental power to overcome this sick nightmare. After a few more gags and heaves, I stood up straight, wiped my sweating brow and tearing eyes, slugged back some water, chewed some gum, and said, "Let's Go!" My friend looked on in disbelief as I strode ahead, straight through the sardine-packed crowd, and made my way all the way to the front of the stage, just in time to see Perry and the boys KILL IT, without missing even one note of the show. As the music played, I was not only feeling better, but fully cured, feeling the best I'd ever felt, having the most fun I'd ever had!!! The power of music, Man. I'll never forget that day, that rush, that epic band, Jane's Addiction. Denouement: Cut to about 18 years later. Somehow in life I'd gotten myself to living in California. Turning my love for music into work writing about it. Finding myself on a tour with Perry and his darling wife, Etty. Becoming friends with their entire family, and going to Jane's shows 20 years later, feeling the same joy and magic as that first miracle show. Life is crazy, and such a profound blessing that we get to live these dreams. I WISH I had photos, but the old school disposable camera I had with that day was lost in the crowd ... along with one of my shoes. Thanks for the memories, Jane's, Perry, and Lalapalooza! Happy 20th!!!
My love for music and rockin out!
I love alternative music and love going to concerts. After I started making my own money (I was 19 at the time), I fully invested in going to as many concerts as I could. I absolutely LOVED Jane's Addiction and saw they were going to have a concert with a bunch of other bands..and not just openers, but a whole festival of awesome bands! I almost peed my pants I was so excited. So I bought tickets for me and my best friend..of course in the grass section...thats where all the best stuff happens...gotta mosh right! Ah man, when Ice-T and Perry Farrell came out with that song, I about exploded in my pants! That was the one thing that stood out of everything I remember 20 years ago from that concert. Then the last act (what I had been waiting for)...total darkness and an introduction for Juana's Addiccion (bestow my heart...). The girls in the rocking chair...everything. All of the bands there were classic. C'mon now...I had all the cassette's of all the bands that were there (lol...cassettes..).
1991
Lollapalooza Is Born
Initially planning a farewell tour for his band – the groundbreaking alternative rock group Jane’s Addiction, frontman Perry Farrell’s ideas for a final show grew in scope to become a multi-city, “traveling” music festival. Naming the new festival Lollapalooza – a word meaning “something or someone very striking or exceptional” – the festival’s debut established a knack for finding up-and-coming artists that would become par for the course in coming years. The result? A consistently diverse array of performers from hip hop, alternative, electronica, rock and pop music.
More than just a music festival, tolerance and diversity for new ideas and communities would become a hallmark of the Lollapalooza experience over the years. The festival’s appearance in multiple cities, an anomaly in music festivals at the time, allowed fans that wouldn’t usually travel long distances to see a concert a chance to expose themselves to new and unique artists. The success of alternative acts like Nirvana and the growing popularity of Grunge placed it firmly on the cutting edge, where it has remained for almost two decades.
The first Lollapalooza show took place on July 18 in Phoenix, Arizona. Tickets were $25, and there were 30-minute breaks between acts to allow time for stage setup - due to the lack of a second stage (it was the only Lollapalooza that featured this scheduling, as more stages were added in the following years).
Things got pretty wild that first year. During The Butthole Surfers set, the band fired blanks from a rifle into the air, and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and his backing band destroyed several instruments and left the stage in the midst of their song “Sin”, due to some technical glitches during their set. Adding to the carnival-esque feel of the tour, there was even an actual “circus” with live zoo animals to entertain fans.
Bucking the recession of the early 90s, Lollapalooza was one of the few successful music festivals of the year, selling out most of its 22 dates.
Festival highlight
Nine Inch Nails Gets Sinful
Things got pretty wild that first year. During The Butthole Surfers set, the band fired blanks from a rifle into the air, and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and his backing band destroyed several instruments and left the stage in the midst of their song “Sin”, due to some technical glitches during their set. Adding to the carnival-esque feel of the tour, there was even an actual “circus” with live zoo animals to entertain fans.
First Stop: Pheonix, AZ
The first Lollapalooza show took place on July 18, 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona. Tickets were $25, and there were 30-minute breaks between acts to allow time for stage setup - due to the lack of a second stage (it was the only Lollapalooza that featured this scheduling, as more stages were added in the following years).
Bucking the recession of the early 90s, Lollapalooza was one of the few successful music festivals of the year, selling out most of its 22 dates.
Culturally Speaking
- Rodney King beating by LAPD officers ignites riots.
- Nirvana's Nevermind is 1991's album of the year.
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System debuts.
- Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen, dies.
- Pagers are all the rage.
- Beverly Hills, 90210 gains popularity on TV.
tour stops + dates
- 07/18/1991 – Compton Terrace, Tempe, AZ
- 07/20/1991 – Devore Stadium, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA
- 07/21/1991 – Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, Irvine, CA
- 07/23/1991 – Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, Irvine, CA
- 07/24/1991 – Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, Irvine, CA
- 07/26/1991 – Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
- 07/27/1991 – Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
- 07/30/1991 – Sandstone Amphitheater, Bonner Springs, KS
- 08/01/1991 – Harriet Island, St. Paul, MN
- 08/03/1991 – World Music Theater, Tinley Park, IL
- 08/04/1991 – Pine Knob Amphitheatre, Clarkston, MI
- 08/05/1991 – Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
- 08/07/1991 – Canadian National Exhibition, Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON
- 08/09/1991 – Great Woods, Mansfield, MA
- 08/10/1991 – Great Woods, Mansfield, MA
- 08/11/1991 – Waterloo Village, Stanhope NJ
- 08/13/1991 – Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
- 08/14/1991 – Waterloo Village, Stanhope NJ
- 08/16/1991 – Lake Fairfax, Reston, VA
- 08/17/1991 – Walnut Creek Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC
- 08/18/1991 – Lakewood Amphitheater, Atlanta, GA
- 08/20/1991 – Central Florida Fairgrounds, Orlando, FL
- 08/22/1991 – Starplex Amphitheater, Dallas, TX
- 08/23/1991 – Starplex Amphitheater, Dallas, TX
- 08/25/1991 – Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre, Greenwood Village, CO
- 08/28/1991 – King County Fairgrounds, Enumclaw, WA
