Lollapalooza 2020 has been canceled due to ongoing health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. The annual event, which was set to take place July 30th through August 2nd, is held at Chicago’s Grant Park and typically draws about 100,000 people each year.
Festival organizers wrote, “We wish we could bring Lollapalooza to Grant Park again this year, but we understand why things can’t move forward as planned. The health and safety of our fans, artists, partners, staff and community is always our highest priority.”
Organizers say they will host a virtual livestream festival during the same weekend that will feature “performances from around the city and beyond, epic archival sets from Chicago and the festival’s six international editions, never-before-seen footage from the 1990’s and much more.” A full schedule will be released next month.
Lollapalooza was perhaps the last of the big American summer festivals to finally alter its plans due to the COVID-19 outbreak. An official lineup, usually unveiled in late March, was never announced, with organizers saying at the time that they would continue to consult with local officials and update fans as soon as possible.
South American editions of Lollapalooza in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, originally scheduled for this spring, have been rescheduled to November and December. They are still on for now, with Guns N’ Roses, the Strokes and Travis Scott still set to perform at all three.
As for Coachella, the California desert festival was one of the first major music events to be postponed in the wake of COVID-19, moving from its usual April dates to two weekends in October. But it has now been confirmed that Coachella will not happen this year.
The festival may return in limited capacity format in April 2021, with 60 percent capacity, or perhaps as a full-fledged Coachella experience in October 2021. Whether any of this year’s planned lineup — which included headliners Rage Against The Machine, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean — will return remains to be seen.
