Lolla is lacking by Sadie Ruppert

For one weekend every summer, Lollapalooza music festival (commonly referred to as Lolla) pretty much takes over the city of Chicago. The festival is full of bright lights, loud music, and fun. However, this positive energy is often overshadowed by the exhaustion, expensiveness, danger, and overcrowding of the festival. 

Primarily, public transportation across the city is taken over by people headed to Lollapalooza. Anyone who is just trying to get around the city is faced with crowded buses and trains, which is very inconvenient. Also, festival goers who are trying to get to Lollapalooza have to take busy public transportation. More specifically, when leaving the festival after it ends, huge crowds of people end up at Union Station taking trains, or taking the EL. These trains end up incredibly packed, and sometimes get so full that people are left waiting in the train station for the next train to come. Most of the Metra lines only come once an hour or even every other hour, which is a long delay to wait for the next train. 

The festival itself poses a lot of dangerous situations, especially for teenagers and young adults. Countless people have had their phones, wallets, and other valuable items stolen while they are at the festival. They are then forced to spend double what they paid for tickets on a brand new phone, or dedicate a day at the dreaded DMV to replace their lost IDs. Inside the festival there is almost no cellular service, so if people get separated from their friends it is very hard to reach them to find each other again. The festival gets very crowded and hectic, and there are people everywhere, making it a scary place to be alone or lost.  

Furthermore, as someone who went to all four days of Lolla this year, it is very exhausting. By the final headlining performances on Sunday it is hard to even enjoy the music because of how tired you get. It is a marathon of a weekend. It is so exhausting to go all four days of the festival that even when there is a very good lineup of performers, it is still not worth it. At a certain point it becomes hard to enjoy yourself because you’d rather just go to bed. 

Additionally, the ticket prices of Lolla are no joke. Truthfully the usual salary of a high school summer job is not high, and the price of a Lolla ticket can consume nearly half of it. That price is not even including the cost of train tickets back and forth from the suburbs each day, and the shockingly pricey food, drinks, and water. The first look at your bank account after a weekend at Lollapalooza is always an upsetting experience. Also, unless your absolute favorite artist is performing at Lolla it would be an overall better experience to spend money on good seats for a performer you love. Floor seats at a Soldier Field concert would provide a better experience than being in a muddy field with your view of the stage completely blocked by a clan of six foot tall boys.

Overall, in combination with the messy transportation, overall tiring experience, and high expenses, Lollapalooza is not worth attending. There are much better opportunities to experience live music than at Lollapalooza.

Love for Lolla by Julia Ludden 

Picture this: You are swaying along to the beautiful voice of Lana Del Rey while engulfed by the most gorgeous, Instagram-worthy, pink and purple masterpiece of a sunset setting over the Chicago skyline. 

For some of you this may have been a reality, at least for any fellow students who attended the music festival Lollapalooza (more commonly called Lolla) on Sunday, Aug 6. Haters gon’ hate, but personally I am a big fan of Lollapalooza. 

One of the best things I find about living near a big city is the access to all different types of music performances. From Taylor Swift’s reputation tour (I didn’t get tickets to Eras Tour dhmu (don’t hit me up) to seeing Milky Chance, I have had my fair share of musical experiences, but Lolla was by far my favorite. Not only does Lolla bring in an enormous amount of tourist money, it gives back to our city in many more ways than just what is on the surface. In 2021, Lolla Cares reaffirmed its commitment to the city with the creation of the Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund, a $2.2 million donation to support arts education in Chicago Public Schools, according to the Lollapalooza website. This money is projected to support over 100,000 students through 2026. 

Another positive of Lollapalooza is the delicious food. Many of the vendors present at the festival are local Chicago restaurants, which is another way that the festival supports the city, and gives back to small local businesses. 

On a bigger scale, Lollapalooza attracts many different types of people to Chicago, but specifically it brings many young adults to the city for the first time. This gives them their first taste of Chicago and spotlights the city in a positive light. This festival is hugely important for the city’s tourism industry, as well as business in general. It offers job opportunities for people who rely on big festivals for their employment. 

At the end of the day Lolla is also just fun. Who doesn’t love a musical festival only a train ride away? It is a great way to see musicians that you like–but not enough to go to their individual concerts–and discover other new artists as well. Besides the musical aspect, if you attend Lolla you can see fun festival outfits, stroll around with your friends, or even just check out Kidspalooza. There is something there for everyone. If crowds aren’t for you, Grant Park offers enough open space to enjoy what’s on the stage from a distance. If you are worried about safety, Lolla has both a great medical team always on call, and a strong security presence ready to help out. There are also sufficient rest stations, I never once had to wait more than 10 minutes in line for the bathroom. It is clear that Lollapalooza management puts in a lot of effort to keep it running smoothly. 

I personally only attended two days of Lolla which was the perfect amount. I didn’t want to commit to paying the full price of a four-day pass, but also wanted to make sure I could see a good amount of the artists I liked. I think I may have had a spiritual awakening during Noah Kahan, but that is besides the point. 

At the end of the day it’s easy to see that Lollapalooza has way more pros than cons. It is well planned, gives back to the city, puts Chicago on the map, and it is just undeniably a lot of fun.