Lady Gaga, Soundgarden, Green Day Set for Lollapalooza: Perry Farrell on 2010’s Big Lineup
After a few rounds of a Wheel of Fortune-style guess-the-lineup game, Perry Farrell and the organizers of Lollapalooza have revealed the full list of artists scheduled to appear at the 2010 festival, which will take place August 6-8th at Chicago’s Grant Park. This year boasts the Illinois fest’s most eclectic and bold-faced-named slate of headliners yet: the reunited Soundgarden, Lady Gaga, Green Day, the Strokes, Arcade Fire and Phoenix. MGMT, Erykah Badu, Spoon and the Black Keys are also among the 130 bands on the bill.
The biggest catch — and in Farrell’s opinion, the toughest catch — was Lady Gaga, who will present her Monster Ball in front of its biggest audience yet. “Lady Gaga represents to me the music industry today. She’s a good representation of where it’s at and where everybody’s trying to get to. If you look at the Grammys, it looked like everybody was trying to catch up to Lady Gaga,” Farrell tells RS. “We just see the vision of Lady Gaga in Chicago in Grant Park surrounded by all those beautiful buildings — we all just thought that it would be an epic performance.”
The headlining slot marks the second time Gaga will perform at Lollapalooza; Before she became Lady Gaga, she performed on the much-smaller BMI stage at the 2007 fest, and was eager to return on the big stage. “She had a real interest in doing it as well because she felt like we had given her a break to go into the world of legitimate music, you know not just pop,” Farrell said.
Lollapalooza’s other huge coup was snagging Seattle grunge legends Soundgarden to headline, marking the first gig of any kind Chris Cornell and the Superunknown gang have performed since their 1997 breakup. “It was a very tough catch for us,” Farrell says of adding Soundgarden, who announced their reunion on New Year’s Day but have gone silent since. “They were ready then they weren’t ready, then they didn’t know what they were going to do and then they were going to go out with another group to tour. So we were really kind of on edge to secure them and it came down to the wire.” Soundgarden had previously performed on two Lollapalooza circuits when the festival was a roving tour, so Farrell was set on booking them again: “We’re happy that it all worked out and we have the exclusive first comeback show for them.”
With so many festivals to compete against — each with their own exclusivity clauses — and so many artists still in the studio working feverishly to complete their new albums, Farrell admits that compiling this year’s lineup was more “nerve-wracking” that previous years. “For Arcade Fire, we were going to miss the window and we just love them so much we were like, ‘OK, we’ll give you another 30 days, we’ll keep the slot open,’ and the patience worked out,” Farrell says. “They all have new material and I don’t think there’s a better place to present it than Lollapalooza.”
Perry’s, the DJ and electro stage, will return with 2ManyDJs, Empire of the Sun, and a set by Farrell himself. As for whether he’ll will take the Lollapalooza stage with Jane’s Addiction, who Rolling Stone reported officially added bassist Duff McKagan to their roster last week, Farrell isn’t promising the band will appear at Chicago’s Grant Park. However, don’t be surprised if they do show up at an afterparty or two in the days following the fest, much like Them Crooked Vultures did last year. “It’ll be similar to what they did but maybe not in a club. Maybe somewhere really special,” Farrell hints.
Full Lollapalooza 2010 Lineup:
Soundgarden
Green Day
Lady Gaga
Arcade Fire
The Strokes
Phoenix
Social Distortion
MGMT
Jimmy Cliff
Hot Chip
The Black Keys
The National
Spoon
Devo
Cypress Hill
Cut Copy
The New Pornographers
Erykah Badu
Slightly Stoopid
Grizzly Bear
Gogol Bordello
Chromeo
Wolfmother
Yeasayer
X Japan
MUTEMATH
Metric
Dirty Projectors
AFI
Mavis Staples
Matt & Kim
The xx
Drive-By Truckers
Blues Traveler
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
The Temper Trap
Jamie Lidell
Frightened Rabbit
Fuck Buttons
Deer Tick
Blitzen Trapper
Stars
Raphael Saadiq
The Cribs
Minus the Bear
Switchfoot
The Walkmen
Mumford & Sons
Wild Beasts
Rogue Wave
Los Amigos Invisibles
The Big Pink
The Dodos
Hockey
Cymbals Eat Guitars
B.o.B
Dawes
Warpaint
The Antlers
The Soft Pack
Rebelution
Balkan Beat Box
Wavves
American Bang
The Ike Reilly Assassination
Company of Thieves
Nneka
Harlem
The Constellations
Miniature Tigers
Mimicking Birds
The Kissaway Trail
HEALTH
Javelin
The Morning Benders
Foxy Shazam
Violent Soho
Royal Bangs
NEON TREES
Freelance Whales
Semi Precious Weapons
Dan Black
The Band of Heathens
Dragonette
My Dear Disco
Shawn Fisher
Neon Hitch
Skybox
The Ettes
Jukebox the Ghost
These United States
MyNameIsJohnMichael
Lollapalooza 2010 Perry’s Lineup:
2ManyDJs
Empire of the Sun
Digitalism
Perry Farrell
Tiga
Felix da Housecat
Rusko
Erol Alkan
Kaskade
Flosstradamus
Wolfgang Gartner
Joachim Garraud
Mexican Institute of Sound
Caspa
Peanut Butter Wolf
Dirty South
NERVO
Cut Copy (DJ Set)
Beats Antique
Steve Porter
Didi Gutman of Brazilian Girls
Ancient Astronauts
Ana Sia
Team Bayside High
Dani Deahl
FreeSol
DJ Mel
BBU
Vonnegutt
Only Children
Lance Herbstrong