Lollapalooza is heading back to Berlin next weekend for its second year in the city, but it hasn’t been a particularly smooth ride for the organizers. Local residents didn’t welcome the festival with open arms; instead they pushed to keep the event on a different grounds than the newly renovated Treptower Park. The site was just refurbished for the slender price of 13 million Euro, so residents championed on the concern that the renovations would be largely trampled by festival goers. With 70,000 people coming through the gates each day, that concern seems pretty reasonable. The festival board quelled their concerns by claiming responsibility for any damage that may occur.
With widely supported online petitions, and a slow moving city board, the Treptower Park location was actually only approved weeks before festival gates open. They faced a similar problem last year when the concert was held at the repurposed Tempelhof Airport. The airport-turned public space- is currently being used as a refugee camp, and could therefore not house the festival this year. Since the use of Treptower Park is limited to this event, organizers may very well find itself homeless again in 2017. Maybe they should get started on year three now, so they’re not left stranded with days ticking down before the show.
Controversal setting vs. crowd-pleasing line-up
And what a shame it would be if the festival was no more in Berlin. Lollapalooza Berlin is a much more rounded version of events usually held throughout the city. The event dips into a handful of disparate genres, rather than segregating itself as an electro or indie fest. You have your pop acts, like JAGWAR MA and THE TEMPER TRAP; your classics like NEW ORDER and RADIOHEAD; and then your electronic rounds like PAUL KALKBRENNER and MAJOR LAZER. They also make it a habit of mixing German and international acts, so expect a solid dash of acts like TOCOTRONIC and MAX HERRE.
Sunday casts a shadow over Saturday solely by putting RADIOHEAD and JAMES BLAKE on the stage; but the other acts are spread out pretty well. With the location all set, and a solid lineup on deck, Lollapalooza is on track for being a success. As long as they remember last year’s plague of the lines, that is.
Lollapalooza Berlin runs from Sep 10 and 11. There are still tickets available for Saturday, and, if you’re feeling fancy, a handful of VIP and Platinum weekend tickets.
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