Coldplay to headline Lollapalooza festival 2011 in Chicago (August 5-7)

Coldplay will headline this year's Lollapalooza festival in Chicago along with Eminem, Muse and Foo Fighters, it's been announced by the festival organisers today. Lollapalooza takes place in Grant Park from August 5-7. More on the Lollapalooza date is at the Coldplay Live forum now [thanks Ebs757, oldmuckers & Lore]

All four headliners will be joined by Arctic Monkeys, Cee Lo Green, Bright Eyes, The Cars, White Lies, Explosions In The Sky and The Kills. Other acts on the bill include Two Door Cinema Club, The Drums, The Black Lips, The Pretty Reckless, The Naked & Famous, and Deadmau5.

This summer will be Lollapalooza’s seventh year in Chicago as a destination festival, yet the three-day music event is celebrating a 20th anniversary.

There haven’t been 20 Lollapaloozas — the tours took a hiatus from 1997 to 2003, and 2004’s was canceled due to low ticket sales before the event was reborn on Chicago’s lakefront the following year. But the website and marketing for the concert package include a “time capsule” with photos and recollections from Lollas past, back to its 1991 founding by Jane’s Addiction leader Perry Farrell as a traveling, multistage festival.

The festival’s daily capacity will remain at 95,000 people, but this year they might have more room to roam. Charlie Jones, a partner in Lollapalooza’s organizers, the Texas-based C3 Presents, told the Sun-Times on Monday that changes to the layout will add several acres to the festival in Chicago’s downtown public park. (The footprint isn’t growing; the festival instead will utilize space it was allocated last year but did not use.) Much of that extra space will be in the softball fields west of Columbus Avenue, which last year was closed to traffic for the festival; Perry’s Stage, a tent for electronic acts curated by Lollapalooza founder and Jane’s Addiction leader Perry Farrell, will move there and double its capacity to about 15,000, Jones said.

“That part is simply responding to the demand,” Jones said. “When we started, Perry’s area was on one of those little tiny shell stages in the north end by the rose gardens. Every year it reaches capacity, and we keep moving it. ... This is going to be the biggest tents you’ve ever seen.”

Other changes will include adjusting the schedule to improve foot traffic in and out of the main stages in Butler Field, which traditionally get jammed in the evenings. Jones said the festival is also adjusting the perimeter and tightening security to avoid a repeat of last year’s rash of fence jumpers.

This will be the second Lollapalooza festival in ’11. In an effort to branch out the brand, C3 Presents launched Lollapalooza Chile early this month, with 57 bands playing a Santiago space much like Grant Park, headlined by the Killers, Kanye West and Thirty Seconds to Mars.

C3 now produces Lollapalooza Chicago, Lollapalooza Chile, the Austin City Limits Festival, and in October they are helping to relaunch the Langerado music festival north of Miami, Fla. The rest of the Lolla Chicago lineup — 123 bands in all — is the usual smorgasbord of acts snatched from various genres to round out a bill attracting a demographically diverse bunch of ticket buyers.

Then again, the lineup isn’t the draw for some fans. “Early bird” three-day passes ($185) went on sale March 29, with only the top three headliners leaked, and sold out within a few hours. Regular three-day passes, available now at lollapalooza.com, are $215; VIP three-day passes go for $850. Single-day tickets are $90 and will be available June 7.

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