Perry Farrell Considers Evolving Lollapalooza Presentation Yet Again
The '90s gave us Lollapalooza as a traveling festival with an eclectic lineup of a handful of bands. In the early 2000s, attempts were made to expand it to a larger lineup traveling festival, before it eventually became the destination location festival in Chicago that we know today. But given the weirdness of 2020 and having to adapt, might founder Perry Farrell be looking to evolve the festival presentation yet again?
Farrell told Spin that the 2020 virtual edition of the festival provided some new ideas, and ones that might last beyond the year. "[The pandemic is] not gonna stop me from thinking and conceiving of new ways to do it," explained Farrell. "Like what we did with the virtual Lollapalooza. So I’m going to take that and evolve that concept. Let’s say this time next year everyone’s good to go out, but some are reluctant. So we can scale it. Instead of Lollapalooza for 120,000, we do it in selected areas or gardens with social distancing. We can do it all around the city. Hey, man, that could be a pretty cool party too!"
The Jane's Addiction singer adds, "You look at the environment and make an assessment. With the Internet we have the ability to send the message and make it that much fiercer. We were able to go into Afghanistan and Syria with Lollapalooza this way. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to perform like I used to. We are chomping at the bit to do that, but in the meantime we’re writing."
Farrell revealed that he's currently writing a new song with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, but did not reveal if this is a new project or will be targeted for one of the musicians' already developed projects. Farrell did work with Hawkins on his most recent Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders album.
This year's edition of Lollapalooza, presented virtually, did find Farrell reuniting his mid-'90s era act Porno for Pyros. "It had been a long time since Porno performed. I love Porno. Jane’s was great, Porno was great. Touring with Mike Watt, Pete [DiStefano] and Steve [Perkins], I have so many fun, great memories, but also horrific and catastrophic ones too. Got lost at sea, attempted murders, went to jail," laughed Farrell. "But still, I wouldn’t trade any of it … Well, maybe I would trade one or two of those times."
He also hinted that we might not have seen the last of Porno for Pyros, adding, "Why would I bring Porno back now? Because for this Lollapalooza cycle we couldn’t perform on a stage, but we could get together as a small collective and project it out to the world. Maybe next year we can do it live for four different countries."
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