We had a great time at Lollapalooza this year. Who wouldn’t? But like anything, there’s always room for improvement. Here we’ll count down the top 5 ways we think Lollapalooza can improve for next year.
More water refill stations
This is an easy one. The water fill-up stations were sparse. The lines were huge. If we’re gonna play green and brag about fill-up stations preventing the use of plastic bottles, then why not just double down and put these stations everywhere? Try if you will to think of any reason why it doesn’t make sense to provide free water in abundance at a hot music festival…well other than makin’ bank.
Don’t book Metallica
Metallica was super fun in their headlining slot on Day 2. Their people were not. In a lot of ways their fans changed the entire dynamic of the day on Saturday. Accept these generalizations if you will, as they are informed observations and no more, no less: The average Metallica fan on Saturday had most likely consumed 8 or more beers before lunch. They probably had poor hygiene and smelled rank when it got hot. They probably wore black, so they would sweat and stink more as the day progressed. They were probably disgruntled and sullen all day long during any band that was not Metallica. They probably sang along as loud as they could to damn near every song Metallica played in a drunken discordance. They probably had a mullet. They probably had a great time at the time. They probably don’t remember the great time they had.
Have a more orderly evacuation plan
These evacuations are becoming commonplace at Lollapalooza. I’ve experienced 3 evacuations in the four years that I’ve attended, this year being no exception. To be fair, many people are absolutely going to be apoplectic when festival organizers tell them they have to leave. Especially if they’ve only just arrived. Especially if they’ve been drinking. There has to be a way to pacify the meatheads in situations like this. People were shoving and fighting, which only caused more delays, further jeopardizing the safety of concertgoers in the event of imminent extreme weather events.
Move Perry’s stage
To the moon. Or the bottom of the ocean. Or to North Korea. That’s harsh, yes. But that noise was even worse as it bled into one of the more endearing moments of Paul McCartney’s set. There has to be a way to contain that noise bleed from the ever-cycling bass drop. Maybe that means moving the stage to somewhere else on the grounds. Maybe that means building a box around it and sucking out the oxygen. How dare Kaskade interrupt my special moment with Sir Paul. Shut the front door.
Drop the megaheadliners
Spend those benjamins to fill out the rest of the lineup. Don’t get me wrong – crossing Paul macdaddy McCartney off of that bucket list of concert acts was a dream come true. He killed and was with a certainty, the best part of the weekend. With that said, the rest of the lineup felt a little hollow compared to other years. I’d rather see 7-8 great sets from smaller acts than go all in for a headliner and only leave with 3-4 acts a day worth writing home about.
