Lollapalooza documentary headed to Paramount+
A documentary about Lollapalooza is headed to Paramount+. Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza, which premiered at Sundance in 2024, begins airing on Tuesday, May 21 in the US and Canada. The three-part series, which looks back on the festival’s beginnings as a touring event in 1991 and its ongoing relationship with co-founder Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros, was directed by Michael John Warren (Jay-Z’s Fade to Black, Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known, etc) and executive produced by James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte. Here’s a synopsis:
In the summer of ’91, the Lollapalooza music festival was born. What started as a farewell tour for the band Jane’s Addiction rose from the underground to launch a cultural movement and change music forever. Michael John Warren, veteran filmmaker behind acclaimed story-driven documentaries and innovative concert films, brings a deft understanding of music and culture to his Sundance Film Festival debut, Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza. The untethered energy of 1990s American youth counterculture finds focus in roiling mosh pits, raging to artists like Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, and Sonic Youth, and gaining exposure to social activism, political art, and alternative circuses. A wealth of archival footage from audience and band perspectives leads to an immersive experience akin to the festival itself, touching on behind-the-scenes machinations as much as the impact of music previously out of reach to its listeners.
Watch an interview with the filmmakers from Sundance below.
This year’s edition of Lollapalooza happens on August 1-4 at Grant Park in Chicago, and the lineup features SZA, Tyler the Creators, blink-182, Deftones, The Killers, Vince Staples, Skrillex, Four Tet, Faye Webster, JUNGLE, Killer Mike, Ethel Cain, Chappell Roan, and more.
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