America’s Lollapalooza festival was beset by terrible weather and storms over the weekend, so bad that they were force to cancel much of the afternoon and evening’s set of music.
BBC News reports that the Chicago Lakeside venue was hit by a powerful thunderstorm last Saturday afternoon, halting the music proceedings as tens of thousands of the sold out crowd in attendance took refuge in parking garages that had been designated as evacuation centres for the three day music event.
An extended curfew allowed the evening’s headline, Red Hot Chili Peppers to perform as scheduled, but not before nearly three hours had passed, with the cancellation of several high-profile acts; including Alabama Shakes and our own Temper Trap.
It might seem like the popular Australian five-piece are cursed by the festival weather gods, as it’s the second time this year that a major festival slot for the group has been shut down due to inclement weather.
Less than two months ago, The Temper Trap were forced to cancel their headline appearance as part of Triple J’s One Night Stand in Dalby, Queensland after flash floods and torrential rain washed out the main stage’s power and equipment.
In a sorry sense of deja vu, the band once again took to their Facebook to thank fans for their support and apologise for the unfortunate cancellation: “We are so sorry to everyone that came down to see us perform at Lollapalooza yesterday.”
“An hour before our set we had to evacuate the site,” they wrote, “…and once the storm was over we were told our show could not be rescheduled. We were so excited to play but some things are out of our control. Hopefully we will be back to Chicago soon.”
It may be some time before they return though, considering their touring schedule is booked up with European dates until their homecoming to Australia in November to support Coldplay on their nationwide stadium tour.
As for the torrential weather at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, the storms forced festival promoters, C3 Presents to make the decision to evacuate the Grant Park festival site “in response to warnings from the National Weather Service. In all, more than 60,000 festival-goers and nearly 3,000 staff, artists and vendors were safely evacuated in 38 minutes.”
In related news, the festival has also announced plans for a 2013 extension into Israel, at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park in August of next year. A press statement from festival organisers says that Israel will join Chile and Brazil as the third international location for the music event in addition to the traditional Chicago locale.
The Israel leg is being put together by NMC United, a prominent home entertainment and music distributor and publisher in Israel, together with Plug Productions Generator, a leading production and promotion company.
The press statement from festival organisers reads: “Lollapalooza Israel will be the first-ever large-scale international music festival in the country and will provide the same world-class experience that fans across the globe have come to expect, beginning with the location.” The festival’s location at Yarkon Park stretches for “hundreds of acres along the Yarkon River and is the largest and most popular park in Israel. Tel Aviv is widely recognized as an international culture capitol and is known across the world for its art, architecture, and bustling nightlife.”
The international expansion is thanks to Lollapalooza founder and rakish Jane’s Addiction frontman, Perry Farrell, who has made it his personal and professional goal to bring the music to music-lovers worldwide.
“Lollapalooza began as music’s premier traveling festival,” says Farrell. “As a musician, I really missed the days when we were on the move. In the last few years we’ve widened our scope, presenting Lolla to the ‘festival generation’ around the world. Next stop- Tel Aviv.”
