For the full story, check out Jim Derogatis’ post here. For the sake of brevity (and the fact I know you can read yourself), I’m only going to write on my thoughts, and not breakdown the entire thing. Long story short, Lollapalooza is being investigated by the Illinois State Attorney for anti-trust, which stems from Lollapalooza’s performance radius clauses that state a band may not play within a certain radius from Chicago for X amount of months prior to the event and/or X amount of months after the event.
Why does this piss me off? The state of Illinois is BROKE. Chicago, is BROKE. And broke would be putting it nicely. I could go into how disgustingly out of money the state and city are, but that’s totally unrelated to music. The fact that at an economic time like this, the state of Illinois thinks this is an issue worth pursuing is absolute bullshit. Fix the fucking state. Fix the cities. You assholes can’t fix the fucking potholes plaguing the state, but you have the money to investigate a music festival? Get your fucking priorities straight Illinois.
Point 2. Lollapalooza actually GIVES money to Chicago. Money that helps clean the parks. Money that has helped fix Buckingham Fountain. Money that actually HELPS the city. Every year, Chicago and the state can count on Lollapalooza to give them money. In this economic climate, what else can boast this claim?
Point 3, and perhaps the biggest point. While radius clauses may have been a bigger deal a few years ago, today, they are almost irrelevant. And evidence is ALL over the bill. And here’s my evidence:
-MGMT, the 8th band on the bill, and who according to the Lolla site, have over 21,000 fans attending their set (most out of ANY band), JUST played The RIv last weekend, 2 months before Lollapalooza.
-Spoon, according to the Lolla site, has more fans attending their set than Soundgarden AND Green Day, the 2 top-billed acts, will be playing a street festival, approximately a mile away from Lollapalooza, less than a month before Lolla.
-The Morning Benders, Frightened Rabbit and Mumford & Sons, 3 middle of the bill acts, just played sold-out shows in May in Chicago.
If you want me to go back to April, I can, but you can see my point. While yes, this was a big issue a few years ago, it’s not any more. I’ll use Milwaukee as a point of reference. A number of acts play Summerfest each year. And this started a few years ago after this whole radius clause came up.
While small venues are claiming they’re feeling the pinch, because a band like The xx or The Black Keys or Chromeo aren’t being booked at their clubs, the fact is, they will be playing their club, just not during the summer. While they may complain that they have less money, they have to realize that there are a number of fans who wouldn’t be able to afford to see 6 separate bands at INSERT SMALL LOCAL VENUE, but CAN afford to see those 6 same bands at Lollapalooza, along with 120+ other acts for them to choose. For many, it’s getting the most bang for your buck. And Lollapalooza can deliver a lot of bang for your buck.
To quote Joe Shanahan, the owner of the Metro, “I’ll still be standing in the fall, and they’ll come back to work for us then or in the winter..” And it’s true. The Metro isn’t going anywhere. The House of Blues isn’t going anywhere. The Empty Bottle isn’t going anywhere. They know every summer that Lollapalooza will be coming to Chicago, and will continue to do so until at least 2018, which to me, is more than enough time for them to adapt to a slow summer.
PD
