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FROM CHICAGO Earlier this week the lineup for this year's Lollapalooza after-shows—a series of concerts that take place in venues throughout the city, showcase acts from the festival, and generally strike up at around 10 p.m.—posted on the event's official Web site. The after-show schedule begins on August 5—two days before the fest officially returns to Chicago—and runs through August 9. Performances will include a Beastie Boys concert at Congress Theater on August 6 and a Fleet Foxes show at Metro on August 8. If you're looking for offbeat business entertaining options or information about possible conflicts when scheduling events during that time, ticket info and a complete lineup for the late-night shows are available here. —Jenny Berg

Lollapalooza, Beastie Boys, Fleet Foxes

NEWS 08.05.08 5:01 PM

Record Attendance Brings Rave Reviews, Few Arrests, and One Close Call for Lollapalooza 2008

The grass may still be trampled and muddy in Chicago’s Grant Park after Lollapalooza’s fourth showing since settling in the city in 2005, but there has already seen enough media reaction to assess what everyone thought of the festival. Landmark attendance, A-list parties, and celebrated performances sprinkle the glowing reviews, but a little extra reading reveals that things got a little scary for some on Saturday night.

The Chicago Tribune took time to acknowledge the magnitude of the event (a record-busting 225,000 fans, with all three days sold out) and to assess the damage. Fortunately, a mere 14 people were arrested, most for being drunk and disorderly. As far as injuries, about 100 were treated during the first two days for dehydration and twisted ankles, and a solitary hooligan received attention for a punch wound. MORE >>

Lollapalooza

NEWS 08.05.08 3:00 PM

Official Lolla After-Party Canceled at Just About the Last Possible Moment

FROM CHICAGO Perry Farrell's official Lollapalooza after-party was scheduled to take place at 11 p.m. on Saturday night. With sponsors like Belvedere vodka and Beatport.com on board, and performances from Farrell and the band Does It Offend You, Yeah? slated for the evening's entertainment, the event was expected to lure 1,400 guests and was set to take place in a warehouse space on Magnolia Avenue.

At 9:45 p.m. on Saturday evening, event publicists sent out a mass e-mail to notify guests that the after-party had changed venues and was going to take place at downtown's Sound Bar. By 10:40 p.m., an apologetic follow-up note explained that the event had been cancelled and offered no further explanation. At this time, event organizers have no official comment on the cancellation. MORE >>

Lollapalooza, Perry Farrell

EVENT REPORT 08.05.08 2:57 PM

Lollapalooza Adds More Stages—and a Beer Garden—to This Year's Sold-Out Festival

Concert performance screens at Lollapalooza's beer garden
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash

FROM CHICAGO For Chicago's fourth-annual Lollapalooza, which took over Grant Park Friday through Sunday, festival organizers C3 Presents from Austin, Texas, offered a smorgasboard of choices for music—not to mention art and beer—lovers. Eight stages featured performances by 120 acts running concurrently over three days, while new distractions abounded, from Perry's, an electronica stage named after festival founder Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction, to Lederhosen's Biergarten, a popular stop for brews and brats.

The sheer size of Grant Park coupled with the diverse array of acts—mash-up wizard Girl Talk, gypsy punks Gogol Bordello, and headliners like Wilco, Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails—could make getting the lay of the land difficult for any concertgoer. However, several helpful tools were on hand, such as pocket-sized official schedules, a centrally located information tower, and hordes of volunteers holding "Fest Info—Ask Me Now" signs. This is the first time Lollapalooza has sold out all three days in Chicago, with crowds upwards of 75,000 attending each day. MORE >>

Lollapalooza, Perry Farrell, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Going Green, Whole Foods, AT&T, PlayStation, Dell

EVENT REPORT 03.17.08 6:55 PM

Eastsport Offers Media and Musicians a South by Southwest Sanctuary (and Backpacks)

Members of the media crowded the Eastsport Café.
Photo: Hal Harowitz for Elevation Photos

FROM AUSTIN, TEXAS The novelty of standing in line for more than an hour, inching closer to stages through sweaty crowds, and subsisting on whatever domestic beer is being given away can only last for so long—certainly not for an entire week.

People need to be able to escape from the din long enough to rest their feet, collect their thoughts, and, in the case of the throngs of media and musicians who descend on the South by Southwest festival every year, get some work done. This year, backpack brand Eastsport teamed with the BMF Media Group to create an environment where they could do it all, safe from the distraction of live music.

Looking for an opportunity to tap into the SXSW crowd with some sort of café, Eastsport senior vice president of advertising and marketing Joseph Janus turned to BMF, having seen the production company’s work on hospitality lounges at similar events like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The result: the Eastsport Café at Austin’s iconic Moonshine Bar & Grill, which ran Thursday through Saturday during last week’s festival. MORE >>

South by Southwest, Austin, Lollapalooza, Eastsport, Adriano Goldschmied Jeans, Cafe Bustelo, Altoids, Don Julio, Izze, Warner Bros. Records, VH1

EVENT REPORT 08.09.07 3:00 PM

Lollapalooza Lounge Oozes Almost Famous Vibe

The Blender Sessions.
Photo: Hal Horowitz

FROM CHICAGO Indie rockers and 167,000 fans who love them descended upon Chicago’s sun-baked Grant Park this past weekend to catch Lollapalooza’s 130 bands and performers (Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, and Amy Winehouse among them). Returning for the second year—and running the only swag-and-tattoo concept in town—was the CK IN2U music lounge produced by the New York-based BMF Media Group. The event ran out of the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, offering up an AC-blasted venue for bands and industry V.I.P.s to hang out in between the “Lolla” (that’s band-talk for the festival) shows.

“The bands only get so much time in their trailers before they’re kicked out, so we offered them an indoor retreat away from the sun and the throngs of fans,” said BMF Media talent and branding maestro (no joke, that’s his title) Bruce Starr, who was aided in production by BWR Public Relations vice president Mary Kaye Daniels and senior account executive Joanna Kelsey. “The space is almost like a greenroom, with catering, an open bar, and other amenities you’d be accustomed to on the road. It’s a place for them to recharge, get a haircut and some new underwear.” MORE >>

Blender, Calvin Klein, Red Bull, KY, Lollapalooza

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