Lollapalooza Briefly Evacuated Following Severe Weather
Lollapalooza was briefly evacuated Sunday afternoon after unexpected thunderstorms swept into the Chicago area, bringing severe weather to Grant Park. “Lollapalooza officials are continuing to coordinate with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) to monitor weather conditions and determine when the park is safe for festival-goers to return,” the fest said in a statement. Grant Park reopened to Lollapalooza attendees an hour later.
At approximately 2:45 p.m. CST, organizers tweeted, “Lollapalooza will briefly evacuate for a small storm. Head to the nearest exit & follow our social media for updates.” Attendees were then asked to head towards one of the three nearby emergency evacuation shelters. Thirty minutes later, Lollapalooza tweeted, “Thank you for the safe and orderly evacuation. Keep following us for the latest on when the festival gates will re-open.” The Lollapalooza livestream also went to a “Weather Delay” graphic.
Moon Taxi, George Ezra, Marina and the Diamonds and Strands of Oak were among the artists whose sets were scuttled by the hour-long evacuation. Bassnectar and Florence and the Machine are scheduled to serve as Sunday night’s headliners, while A$AP Rocky, TV on the Radio, FKA Twigs and Of Monsters and Men are also booked for the festival’s closing day.
Lollapalooza is just the latest festival to be hit by bad weather in 2015: In June, Delaware’s Firefly Fest had to cancel Kings of Leon’s headlining set due to severe weather that forced the evacuation of the festival grounds; the following night at Firefly, the Killers covered Kings of Leon’s “The Bucket” to ease disappointed fans.
A month later at Quebec City’s Festival D’ete De Quebec, Foo Fighters attempted to brave insane rain in order to complete their headlining set but “Mother Nature” proved to be too powerful and the show was stopped after 20 minutes.