Photo by: Juan Aguado (Getty Images).
Anniversaries are about reflection. As Lollapalooza heads into its 25th year, its founder, Perry Farrell had a lot to say about the music festival, including three click-bait worthy words… “I hate EDM.”
The Jane’s Addiction frontman’s statement is ironic considering that the stage named in his honor “Perry’s” is primarily associated with EDM music. As Farrell told the Chicago Tribune in a recent interview, “When they said they wanted to name a stage after me, I was honored. I like the adulation. But now you say, ‘Perry, what’s going on with your area here?’ Believe me, I’ve got questions myself. I hate EDM. I want to vomit it out of my nostrils. I can’t stand what it did to what I love, which is house music, which was meditative, psychedelic—it took you on a journey. … I sometimes cringe at my own festival.”
Farrell may sound like a “get off my lawn” curmudgeon, but he’s a DJ himself, just not a fan of the more pop-friendly EDM that you hear everywhere. “You’d have to do away with pop to escape it, and if you want to do a festival you can’t do away with pop,” explained Farrell, who sounds like he’s done with Lollapalooza, which he created back in 1991 when he curated an eclectic lineup (Living Colour, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Rollins Band, Nine Inch Nails, the Butthole Surfers and Ice-T) centered around the Jane’s Addiction farewell tour. “
Farrell isn’t finished with festivals altogether as he spilled the beans on a new project we should hear about in 2018, “It will be music-centric, I’m going to make a new scene, a new place, a different feel. Music will be at the heart of it, but it will be a completely new experience. You can expect the project to launch 18 months from now. That’s all I can tell you.”
So, will there be EDM music?
“At my new project, there will be great house music,” Farrell told the Tribune. “I hope I will keep EDM at the door. They will be turned away.”
To read the full Chicago Tribune article go here.
Lollapalooza happens July 28-31 in Chicago’s Grant Park. We are giving away a pair of tickets and two pairs of exclusive 25th Anniversary Lollapalooza New Era Caps (go here to enter).
