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MTV News:
Lollapalooza Canceled; Organizers Cite Poor Ticket Sales
06.22.2004 12:51 AM EDT

Three weeks prior to kickoff, Lollapalooza has been canceled.

Organizers cited poor ticket sales as the reason the 31-date, 16-city trek was called off. This year's lineup was set to include Morrissey, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, the Flaming Lips and the String Cheese Incident (see "Lollapalooza Adds Danger Mouse, Von Bondies; Dates Unveiled").

"My heart aches along with the bands and all of our employees, whose hard work developed one of the most exciting and important tours that this nation was to see," read a statement from Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell. "My heart is broken."

The decision to scrap Lollapalooza was made Monday evening (June 21), when organizers and promoters realized they stood to lose several million dollars. In all markets except New York, advance ticket sales were below estimates.

"On the average, the losses, had ticket sales not dramatically picked up — which they showed no indication of doing — the people involved faced losses in the mid-to-high six figures on a per-show basis," said the William Morris Agency's Marc Geiger, another Lollapalooza co-founder.

Fans who purchased tickets will be given refunds.

Geiger said Lollapalooza's plight is indicative of a summer touring season on the slide.

"Lollapalooza is not alone in this," he said. "Everyone from the Dead to Dave Matthews to Norah Jones is suffering. There's not one explanation for this. It might be that ticket prices are too high, which doesn't account for Lollapalooza, because our tickets were priced between $15 and $25. Maybe it's the sundry add-ons [like service charges] that up the cost? Maybe gas prices are too high? Just like the record industry is suffering, the concert business is not exempt.

"After people get through this summer season," he added, "there's going to be a lot of fixing that needs to be done in the concert industry."

Early on in its 13-year history, Lollapalooza built a reputation for eclectic lineups, but as the years wore on it became more well known for having trouble getting off the ground (see "Perry Hits Lollapasnooza Button: Tour Sleeps Another Year"). After 1997's outing with Korn, Tool and Snoop Dogg, the tour lied dormant until last year, when it returned with a lineup that featured Jane's Addiction, Queens of the Stone Age and Audioslave (see "Jane's Addiction Headline But Audioslave Steal Show At Lollapalooza Launch").



—Joe D'Angelo

anxiety,you just won't listen to me,will you?

So I'll tell you again...

See Madonna instead

whoa...and i remember when a friend of mine went to lollapalooza back when we were freshmen in high school. that shit used to be happenin!

how times have changed...

you know, back when I was debating about leaving town to catch lollapalooza vs. the cure, one of the reasons I decided on the cure was the instability of Lollapalooza. Last year Ia number of the dates scheduled were canceled. It's really too bad. This year's festival had an awesome line-up.

oh well, at least now I won't regret not being there. AND, maybe Morrissey, Basement Jaxx, etc will tour alone.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I had the time of my life at Lollapalooza in '94: The Boredoms, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Luscious Jackson (I'm talkin' bout "In Search of Manny" Luscious Jackson, mmkay?), The Breeders, Beastie Boys and George freakin' Clinton!!!

Oh yeah, Smashing Pumpkins headlined it, but whoop-de-doo.

It's sad to see that Lollapalooza has become Lollapaloozer - I can't say I bought tix either, even though I dig the Flaming Lips and I'm a big Sonic Youth fan. It just wasn't worth it to me to take the time off work, brave the throngs of drunk/rude idiots, and sit through stuff I don't wanna see (String Cheese Incident, Morrissey - bleargh)...if Sonic Youth were to breeze through Chicago on their own, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Anxiety said:

and The Verve! That lollapalooza was the only time I was able to see them.

Damn, that festival used to rock it!

DavidEye said:

Yeah, like paying 900 bucks to watch Madonna lip-synch "Hanky Panky" is my idea of a good time.

I was looking forward to seeing the Flaming Lips. Maybe next time.

OdysseyMiles said:

I'm not even really sure why they were touring in the first place...I don't think they have anything new coming out, do they?

I was lucky enough to see them setting up and performing a spot for a local Chicago news station - they were doing a free little mini-concert outdoors last summer, at like 8am...I was walking to work, and the last thing ya expect to see after you get your morning bagel is THE FLAMING LIPS right outside your place of employment! It was a great surprise, and I got to hear them play "Do You Realize" like five times, ha.

DAMMIT!!!!

if one more show i'm excited to see gets canceled i'm gonna cry! i was so psyched to see morrissey, sonic youth, brmc, modest mouse...it was an awesome line up. how can ticket sales for this be low (at 40 ducats) yet madonna is selling out $300 tickets? damn. first britney (laugh though you may) and now this.

Lollapalooza sucks anyway.

EvilWhiteMale said:

well, yes. apparently so. but some of the acts on this year's lollapalooza don't suck. and hopefully this means they'll be headlining their own tours so i don't have to sit through the string cheese incident to get my fix of kim & thurston.

Anxiety said:

You lucky summofa...
I don't think they have anything new coming out, so I was kinda surprised too.
I missed them when they were touring with Beck, but a friend hooked me up with a cd of the show. I'd love to see those animal costumes and all that other crap close up!

I would've missed it anyway, but I guess I'm not really surprised.