Lollapalooza 20 Sucks ………. ……(But Not The Freebies) – UPDATE Free Tix, Downloads, YouTube Webcast Schedule

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UPDATE: Watch 20th Anniversary Lollapalooza August 5th – 7th at youtube/lollapalooza

Lollapalooza celebrated its 20th year in Chile in early April 2011 with The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Jane’s Addiction, Cat Power, The Flaming Lips, Kanye West and others.  Later that month, the line-up for the American 20th year festival was announced – to be held August 5-7  in Chicago’s Grant Park.  Those hoping the festival – which has taken to booking arena acts in recent years – would return to its “alternative nation” roots got Coldplay, Eminem, Foo Fighters and Muse instead…

There’s no shortage of interesting artists to check out, including My Morning Jacket, Local Natives, Lykke Li, Ween, Cee-Lo Green, Big Audio Dynamite, Arctic Monkeys, Black Lips, Sleigh Bells, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Bright Eyes, Explosions in the Sky, OK Go, The Kills, Deadmau5, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Nas, Death From Above 1979, Cold War Kids, The Mountain Goats, Best Coast, Crystal Castles, White Lies, Wye Oak, The Drums, Smith Westerns, The Naked and Famous, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Noah & The Whale and Two Door Cinema Club…

It’s a pretty sweet weekend ahead for the fans that won the “seriously sick package of 2 VIP tickets, flight, and hotel” (from StubHub/ Spin)… and for the Lolla veteran that submitted their top memory to the Lollapalooza History pages (i.e. 1994 history page) and was picked by Perry Farrell to win a flyaway package for two to the fest (free flight, hotel and 3-Day passes)…

And there’s still more contests giving out free tickets just days before the concert (see bottom of this post)….

…but is this line-up really worth $215.00 and three days of baking in the sun?

Consider the local competition:

The Pitchfork Festival was closer in spirit to what Lollapooza began as than what it’s become in its twentieth year.  Held at Chicago’s Union Park on July 15-17, Pitchfork’s line-up included Animal Collective, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Yuck, Deerhunter, Guided By Voices, Fleet Foxes, No Age, Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile, Woods, Sun Airway, Gang Gang Dance, Neko Case, James Blake, The Fresh & Onlys, Superchunk, The Dismemberment Plan and TV on the Radio, among others.  And it was just $110 for three days!

Hell, even $195 Dave Matthews Band Caravan – July 8 to 10 at Chicago’s South Works site on the Far South Side – was closer to what Lolla was in the ’90s: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Drive-By Truckers, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub, The Jayhawks, The Wailers, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Vieux Farka Toure, Alberta Cross, Amos Lee, Ben Folds, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Mariachi El Bronx.  And oh yeah, The Flaming Lips played The Dark Side of the Moon (the weekend after playing The Soft Bulletin twice in Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom).

Those of us too young to have gone to Lollapalooza at its prime circa 1994 will just have to imagine experiencing what the festival built its legacy upon… with a little help from YouTube, of course:

(Warning: ’90s hair alert…)

Enter your details here by 9 a.m. EST, Thursday, August 4th and you may win a pair of 3-day passes to Lollapalooza from CMJ!

DELL via brooklynvegan is also giving away 3-day passes (e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with subject: “Lollapalooza” including your first and last name plus daytime contact number; or enter via Facebook).

Lollapalooza’s 2011 Sampler is available for free download – here (expires September 30, 2011) – featuring My Morning Jacket, Smith Westerns, Best Coast, Bright Eyes, City and Colour, Explosions in the Sky and others…

An additional 30 songs by artists performing at this year’s festival are available for free download from Spinner.

Lollapalooza commemorates its 20th Anniversary with a playlist of past performers – including J Mascis, Jane’s Addiction, My Morning Jacket, Primus, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Silversun Pickups, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth and more. Download the free 20-song sampler on iTunes now, here (UPDATE: sorry, expired July 31, 2011).