It appears Lollapalooza will return to Hutchinson Field at Chicago’s Grant Park, with dates tenatively set for Aug. 4-6. Lollapallooza is produced by Austin, Texas-based Capital Sports & Entertainment and Charles Attal Presents, who also stage the annual Austin City Limits Festival in September.
The lineup for the event won’t be announced for weeks, but Chicago media reports have suggested a primary target for a headliner is Smashing Pumpkins, who are making rumblings about a reunion. Thievery Corporation told Billboard.com last week it would be on hand for the festival.
Chicago promoters Jam Productions, on the other hand, appear to have been stymied in their attempt to stage a multi-band festival at Grant Park this summer. “I tried for six months,” Jerry Mickelson, co-president of Jam with partner Arny Granat, tells Billboard.biz. “The park district would not give me dates. I’m more than disappointed.”
Mickelson says Jam “blazed the trail” for producing events in Grant Park, dating back to 2001. “Now Jam is unable to get dates from the Park District and I’ve given up because it’s too late,” he says. “This is anti-competitive. As far as I’m concerned Arny and I and Jam have a right as Chicago taxpayers to rent Park District space, but yet we are being excluded. We’re shut out.”
Representatives from the Park District could not be immediately reached for comment.
Source billboard.com.
