On the spectrum of live music festivals, Lollapalooza is a hoary establishment – the big summer tentpole franchise that walked so Coachella, Bonnaroo and Burning Man could fly.
Michael John Warren remembers when Lollapalooza was cool – which is to say, this curious happening seemingly known only to him and the fellow brooders in his New England high school clique. “We were super into the first wave of American punk rock and making a lot of avant-garde punk-jazz music ourselves,” says the esteemed documentary director. “When I saw the lineup for the first Lollapalooza – Living Colour, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails – we had to go. We walk in and there are thousands of kids moshing, stage diving, pogoing – like, borderline riot status. That’s when I realized it’s not just me and my weird little art friends who feel this way. We’re all fucking angry.”
