A THREE-PART DOCUMENTARY series titled Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza is heading to Paramount+. Michael John Warren will direct the series exploring the festival’s evolution since it first emerged in 1991 as part of founder Perry Ferrell’s farewell tour with Jane’s Addiction.
Lolla reportedly “will chronicle the wild, exciting and strangely symbiotic 30+ year relationship between the iconic festival and its founder, music legend Perry Farrell, and the evolution of the now global cultural phenomenon that transcends generations of music fans and artists of all genres.”The massively influential touring festival version of Lolla has been endlessly chronicled, but even if the series dredges up no new anecdotes about Courtney Love’s backstage behavior or whatever, presumably there are still some untold stories regarding the fixed-in-place Chicago iteration of the fest, as well as its expansion into international markets.
Back in 1991, Jane Addiction’s Perry Farrell launched Lollapalooza as a traveling circus of bands. Since then, Lollapalooza has hosted thousands of bands and artists in Chicago and extended to festivals around the world.
“When Lolla was launched in 1991, the concert industry felt like a boring car ride that was running out of gas,” Farrell said. “We pumped new life into the live music experience and set the foundation for the youth’s counter culture to become important and exciting again. Now more than three decades young, I am happy to have this opportunity to give people an inside look at the festival’s contribution to music history.”
There is no announced release date for Lolla yet, but hopefully it will premiere before this year’s Lolla kicks off in Chicago on Aug. 3.
