Eminem performing at the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP
Lollapalooza's just-announced bill includes Skrillex, Arctic Monkeys, Eminem, Calvin Harris, and Kings of Leon. In fact, its biggest names easily make up at least a partial list of the acts on offer from just about any major summer music festival over the past five years. These are curiously stale choices on the part of the big-ticket festival bookers - particularly as this is Lollapalooza's fourth year running without a female headliner (their last was Lady Gaga in 2010). The three-day Chicago event's uninspired curation is a staunch reflection of years gone by, and headliners OutKast, who last released an album in 2006, will play over 40 other festivals this season.
OutKast's participation could have created the most excitement about (and ticket sales for) Lollapalooza, given their voraciously talked-about return after a seven-year hiatus - if only they weren't making so many other appearances this season. They begin with a highly anticipated debut show at Coachella in April and play several European dates, including one at the UK's Bestival in September. Lollapalooza will be the 17th of these shows, which is a less-than-thrilling position on the timeline of OutKast's international comeback.
The rest of Lolla's big names paint a less extreme, but still puzzling, picture of festival monotony. Calvin Harris will be performing at Coachella this year, as will Skrillex and Arctic Monkeys, both of whom will also appear at Bonnaroo and various international festivals - including, respectively, dates in Portugal, the UK, Canada, Spain, and France. Many festivals, of course, continue to book a variety of fledgling acts in addition to their big moneymakers, but their main stages are increasingly populated by familiar faces and sounds.
Although Lollapalooza is 2014's starkest example of the increasing homogenization of music festivals, it's far from alone. In Arcade Fire, Coachella shares a headliner with over a dozen festivals worldwide this summer, including Barcelona's Primavera in May and Italy's Rock in Roma in June. Some years back, it was conceivable that a person might want to see more than one festival in the same year in order to take in a wider range of artists. But if you did this in, say, 2011, then you would have already seen 2014's crop of A-list festival performers - Arcade Fire headlined Coachella, Bonnaroo, Spain's Benicassim and plenty of other international showcases then, too.
But Lollapalooza is a repeat offender. Barring OutKast, five of the festival's six headliners have played at Lollapalooza post-2008 before (with Eminem and Kings of Leon appearing in headlining spots), making this year's offering feel especially warmed-over. Just to keep score, that's five recycled acts, one reunion show out of 40, and nary a woman in sight at the top. This is strange, considering Lorde is on the bill, but not in one of its top-tier positions.
Lorde, a recent Grammy winner whose record Pure Heroine has sold over 1.5million copies worldwide, would surely draw a fresher, more multifaceted crowd than a bland stalwart like Kings of Leon - a band, if you've been to a American music festival sometime since the late noughties, you've likely already seen, intentionally or otherwise. But then, if you don't catch her at Lollapalooza, it doesn't matter. She's also appearing at Coachella. Just like everybody else.
Post By http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/26/lollapalooza-festival-lineup-monotony-outkast-eminem-arctic-monkeys
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