Galapalooza

It's been 17 years since I went to Lollapalooza 2 and I remember that being a very fun experience. That tour had Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Ministry and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as the main bands and I saw it twice that summer, once at the World here in Chicago and up in Alpine Valley Wisconsin. I think the tickets were $40 or $50 bucks. Fast foward till today and tickets are damn near $200, and they take over Grant Park in Chicago and it is a large festival of music. This is a major step for Chicago because it was 10 odd years or so when the city refused to have a Smashing Pumpkins concert in the same location because of fears of the type of crowd and management of said crowd. I've lost interest in it to be honest, bands have not been those I wanted to see, tickets were too pricy and it's always one of the hottest weekends of the year. Ya, I'm old and my desire to walk around and be sweaty all day has waned however I'd always take a free ticket if one was thrown my way.

So I made it known to my good friend who has been my ticket angel this year that if she came across Lolla tix to remember me. She was unable to help me out, however she did invite me to a party ahead of the festival which was supported by the organizers. Titled Gallapalooza, it was a benefit for the Parkways Foundation in Chicago. The Parkways Foundation was created in 1994 as an avenue to raise private funds for projects within the Chicago Park District (CPD) for the enrichment of the physical and cultural landscape of Chicago's neighborhoods. Their scope includes, but is not limited to, the needs of children and families as well as historic preservation. Parkways also works to raise needed funds for the growth and enhancement of educational programs and camps in our neighborhoods. Lollapalooza has for the past several years partnered with Parkways to raise nearly $2million for the resoration of Buckingham Foundtion and for kid programs.

So on a hot Thursday night I made my way downtown to attend this benefit in Grant Park in business casual attire. Walking past all the people who were in town for the weekend festival, I was more than jealous I wasn't able to t-shirt and cargo short my way around that night. The evening would include as many cocktails as I could drink and as much food as I could eat. Lolla even leant some of the lesser known acts to play on the main stage. The area in front of the stage took on the theme of a lounge, with couches and tables made avaialble for sponsor parties. Performance artists were all around, even a chick with a napkin dress. I thought I'd stay until 8 or so, the bands weren't all that (to me) and I had to drive back so right before I was about to leave my friend's assistant let me know that Perry Ferral was on hand to introduce the next band and that he normally walks around and talks with people. This made me stay a bit longer I mean afterall it's not every day you get to meet someone who you've been a fan of for 20 years. Sure enough he came down and I got to meet him and grab a pic with him. It was a pretty neat experience for me as normally when I'm in that park I'm a sloppy mess, but here I was about 180 opposite. Perry must weigh about 100 pounds, he's skinny as hell but very nice and we made idle chit chat for a few minutes before he was molested by another fan for pictures. Totally fun night here's some pics.