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Illinois: Chicago, Grant Park Showcases Lollapalooza and Kidzapalooza. Lollapalooza Music Festival Grant ParkEach summer the ever popular Lollapalooza serves up 130 bands showcasing big names including Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Iggy and the Stooges, Muse, Modest Mouse, Interpol, and Satellite Party. And to the list Kidapalooza - a festival within a festival; Mindfield - an interactive experience, and the always popular Last Band Standing. This year bands converge on eight stages in Chicago’s Grant Park from August 3-5. 

In previous years Lollapalooza has filled Grant Park with more than 166,000 attendees of every stripe—figuratively and literally—with a healthy diet of favorites and a diverse array of new discoveries. Delivering a mélange of pop, indie, funk, avant-garde, garage, and solo performers, it’s a show with few boundaries. A distinctive and essential element of Lollapalooza is its location: Grant Park in downtown Chicago. The show embeds itself into the fabric of the city’s most vibrant public space, in the shadow of the skyline and alongside Lake Michigan, making it a part of the city. 

Checkout Kidzapalooza - A fesitval within a festival. Music is the main attraction, but Lollapalooza is bulging with sights, sounds, and energizing activity. Most popular with families is Lolla's Kidzapalooza open each day of the festival from 11AM to 5PM and includes amazing activities meant to be shared with kids. Here’s the deal: Kids ten years old and younger get into Lolla free. Check out Kidzapalooza for details.

Get your groove on. One of the most popular activities at Kidzapalooza is the Hip Hop Dance workshop with Happiness Club. Learn the latest hip hop and fly boy/girl moves and practice with the pros. The Q Brothers will teach kids how to scratch, beat box and rhyme. Wait for it! The Double Dutch workshop demonstrates the moves and tricks essential mad jump roping.

Create something cool and loud. John Yost's Rhythm Revolution is all about rhythm, matching sounds, and making noise together from a variety of drums.

Capture the new rocker look. Each year Time Out Kids Magazine runs Photo Shootz within Kidzapalooza.  Youngsters have the chance to with props next to their favorite rock star image and be photographed for their own magazine cover souvenir. Bonus points: Berklee School of Music offer the chance for young Lolla goers to create your own private headphone concert. 

Wake up with rock star yoga. Each day of the festival New York's Sweet Soul Yoga offers Rock-n-Roll-style sun salutations & meditation for kids of all ages. The practice begins with a yawn and proceeds to stretching, singing, laughing, and relaxing before your Lollapalooza adventure begins. Bonus points: Sample some organic Kefir in a spill free pouch provided by Lifeway Probugs. 

Lolla's green initiative. Lollapalooza’s green initiative will be in practice across the park. Highlights include a repeat of the hugely popular recycling program, which offers incentives to patrons to participate; souvenir beer cups can be taken home by patrons or recycled on site. Lollapalooza will use biodiesel in generators and purchase renewable energy credits to offset the impact of the show. Not to be missed: Lollapalooza's Green Street that includes dynamic eco-demos, modern & fashionable sustainable goods for home and human, and eco-interaction on the solar stage. Lollapalooza offers a rare opportunity to reach out to thousands of patrons to educate, to influence, and perhaps even to inspire to a greener way of life.

Mindfield at Lollapalooza in ChicagoCheckout Mindfield. A brainchild of Perry Farrell, this element is part guerilla theatre, part technology, and part game show. The concept mixes improv from Chicago’s legendary Second City troupe, a short film festival, PlayStation SingStar competition, scavenger hunting, and mobile messaging to create a chaotic, surreal, and interactive demonstration of technology and live gaming. Mindfield participants receive text message clues that lure them into a Mindfield prank, all caught on film. 

Service charge-free ticketing. Although not an actual show feature, it is a customer-pleaser nonetheless—and a first in the concert industry. Organizers have done away with additional service charges traditionally attached to ticket prices at the cash register. In addition, buyers will have the option of printing tickets themselves to avoid shipping fees.

For all of the details including artists and their performing schedule, go to www.lollapalooza.com or call toll-free 1-800-977-9020.

 FamilyTravelFiles.com staff notes.

The kids of the Woodstock generation (and even those proverbial Woodstock-goers themselves) will find nothing lacking at the second annual Chicago-area Lollapalooza. With top artists and an energy that is positively exhilarating, Lollapalooza is the must-do music event for the summer. This year’s festival will span three days and feature such notables as hip-hop sensation Kanye West, perennial favorites the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and indie kings Death Cab for Cutie. The crowd is as diverse as the line-up; attendees shouldn’t be surprised to see everything from black-dyed hipsters and hip-hop devotees to “original” rock & rollers and jazz aficionados – at Lollapalooza music really has brought everyone together.

Kidzapalooza is the best. Kidzapalooza Lollapalooza Children
For those with younger music fans Kidzapalooza offers the answer – located just beyond the main music festival stages is a series of smaller performance venues with well-known musical artists of kid-centric performances. Kidzapalooza runs from 11-5 each day of Lolla with activities like a hip-hop workshop, drumzone, funky hairdooz, and photo shootz, parents might find themselves participating as much as the kids. Lollapalooza really offers something for everyone – no matter your music taste, age, or your level of rabid fandom. Check out Kidazpalooza. And don't forget, children 10 and under are free!

Need to know if you go. Chicago in the summer can be quite hot (last year the temperature at the festival hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit) – sunscreen is a must, as is an ample supply of water, baseball caps might be a great idea as well. Stay hydrated and you’ll survive to rock-out past sundown. Knowing where Grant Park is, and how you intend to get there, is also essential. For the super-fan staking out a stage early is important, but don’t worry even casual fans will be able to see the stage and enjoy the show. Bring a blanket to sit on – and a poncho in case of a sudden summer storm. Cameras are permitted and a definite must for the backpack of any Lollapalooza attendee; the shows are fantastic, the crowd unique, the energy incredible – the entire event is well worth documenting. For those with a must-see list of artists, planning is crucial. Discuss with your friends and/or family which bands you simply cannot miss, and plan accordingly. Above all enjoy the festival – it’s truly an unforgettable music experience.

Images provided by Lollapalooza and comments about 2010 provided by AL Nelson-Duac. Updated copyright 2012.

 




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