The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1991–2004
Lollapalooza revived the touring festival — weak ticket sales ended it in a day
Lollapalooza's 2004 comeback as a 16-city touring festival was cancelled on 21 June 2004, weeks before opening night, on weak ticket sales.
Lollapalooza · 2004-06
What happened
Lollapalooza invented the American touring festival: from 1991 to 1997 it travelled the country as a two-day alternative showcase. After a five-year hiatus it returned in 2003, and for 2004 organizers planned a 16-city tour with a stacked lineup — Morrissey, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips and the String Cheese Incident among the headliners — due to open 14–15 July at Auburn, Washington's White River Amphitheatre.
Ticket sales never caught up. On the morning of 21 June 2004 the festival announced on its website that the entire tour was cancelled, citing poor ticket sales and 'the weak economic state of this year's summer touring season'. Ticket holders were told refunds were available at their point of purchase.
That was the end of the touring model. When Lollapalooza returned in July 2005 it was reborn as a destination festival — two days in Chicago's Grant Park, sixty-plus bands, no buses — the format it has kept ever since.
Why it happened
- A two-day festival costs more to move than fans would pay to see it in 16 separate markets.
- The 2004 summer touring economy was weak across the board; the lineup couldn't outsell the season.
- Cancelling early cost less than running a half-empty amphitheatre tour into the millions.
The lesson
Lollapalooza proved the touring festival twice — and twice the model ran out of road: the 2004 revival was cancelled three weeks out, and the brand survived only by standing still in one park.
Aftermath
The festival returned in July 2005 as a fixed Grant Park event of about 66,000 fans, produced by Capital Sports & Entertainment and Charles Attal Presents, and became the template for the destination-festival era.
Sources
- The Seattle Times, 22 June 2004 — Lollapalooza cancels all shows (cancellation posted to the festival's website the morning of 21 June 2004; travelling two-day rock festival was to begin 14–15 July at White River Amphitheatre, Auburn WA; headliners Morrissey, Sonic Youth, the String Cheese Incident and the Flaming Lips; cancelled over poor ticket sales and 'the weak economic state of this year's summer touring season'; refunds at point of purchase; festival ran 1991–1997, resumed in 2003 after a five-year hiatus)
- Rolling Stone — Lollapalooza Strikes Back: Full Report on 2005 Fest (after the cancelled 2004 tour, Lollapalooza returned 23–24 July 2005 in Chicago's Grant Park as a fixed destination event; about 66,000 fans over two days; more than sixty bands; produced with Capital Sports & Entertainment and Charles Attal Presents)
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
T in the Park drew 255,000 fans — a castle move and two troubled years ended it
Condé Nast cut Glamour to a skeleton crew a year shy of its centennial
BENlabs, Bill Gates' product placement firm, wound down after a failed AI pivot
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.