Lollapalooza for families

I wanted to find out if Lollapalooza, which ran over three days, on eight stages and 130 bands is a good family/kids event. So I got my press credentials in order to get my brood in the high security event. Lollapalooza used to tour the country but due to sagging ticket sales it now only takes place in Chicago’s Grant Park. In 2006 it was August 4, 5 & 6.
Chicago Parent, my sponsoring press organization was not interested in running an article about Lollapalooza or Kidsapalooza. My editor said the price was too steep.
Tickets were $160 for the three days or $65 a day. Kids get in free.
I went alone on Friday to get my press credentials. Boy, did I feel old. Everyone seemed to be high school or college age.
First of all, my information on the location of the media tent was wrong and none of the security or volunteers knew where the media tent was. So I did a lot of walking to get my entry band. It’s good I left my kids with a friend they would have been very pissed off and tired with all that walking.
Finally I headed over to see Lady Sovereign the white, female British rapper. The crowd seemed to lover her. The song lyrics “Love me! Hate me! Fuck you!” were so angry and lame. But the crowd seemed to love her energy and adolescent rebellious spirit.
And what fun to go to a concert.
Caring for our kids didn’t allow us to go to the shows on Saturday.
On Sunday, between lunch and dinner we headed over, wading through crowds on the bus and in the streets. Again we were the only ones with kids and probably the oldest folks there. Made it to the Kidsapalooza area. Watched a break dancing demonstration, which the elementary school-age kids seemed to like,
Then we watched Asheba, a Putumayo label, artists. It was all very loud and my kids were clinging and stunned by the noise and activity.
We strolled around the activities while the amplified teen-agers from the School of Rock performed.
Thanks Kidsapalooza for the free ear plugs!
The children of our kids school yoga teacher, Adina Linker, won an electric guitar. They’re nine-years-old and they seemed psyched.
Finally, we joined the Drum Circle program. We loved that. It was our favorite. Facilitator/band leader John Yost is awesome! All schools should invite him to their event.
When we tried to head over to listen to Matisyahu the Lubavitch singer who fronts Dub Jamaicans, both of them praising their god, we were met with a sea of youthful humanity. The gravel laid in Grant Park made stroller pushing hard.
We turned around and called it a day. Our two boys, age 3 & 5 were hungry and tired anyway.
It was fun and I would definitely go back. Only in small doses, though.