Lollapalooza heads to Sao Paulo in 2012

Music fans listen to Lady D perform at the Lollapalooza

music festival in Grant Park 

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Lollapalooza, the giant rock festival celebrating its 20th anniversary with three days of music starting on Friday in Chicago, is set to expand to its second South American event next year in Sao Paulo.

"If we can rub elbows with the Brazilians, who knows what Lollapalooza will be like. They have a long, storied history of partying," said Perry Farrell, who founded the festival in 1991 as a farewell tour for his band, Jane's Addiction.

Farrell's band broke up after the first Lollapalooza, before reuniting at least three times, while the festival lived on as cross-country U.S. tour until being canceled in 1998.

Six years ago, it was reborn as a weekend-long concert at Grant Park in Chicago featuring hundreds of bands, and last year it expanded to Santiago, Chile.

The festival will be held next year March 31 to April 1 at O'Higgins Park in Santiago and then April 7-8 at the Jockey Club in Sao Paulo before the summertime concert moves back to the northern hemisphere August 3-5, 2012 in Chicago.

Ninety thousand fans are expected to attend each day of the festival this weekend in the Windy City, where Coldplay, Eminem and the Foo Fighters, the group fronted former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, headline the event.

"Lollapalooza is a pilgrimage to music itself that these young people come to see groups that they might not have heard of, or that they've heard and are in love with," Farrell told Reuters from his office backstage at the park in Chicago.

LOLLAPALOOZA BARGAIN

Regular-priced three-day passes for the concert, which is sold out, cost $215 and Farrell said it was one of the biggest bangs for your buck, with 140 artists set to perform.

"Economically, the value per dollar, there's never been such a bargain," he said.

Jane's Addiction, which rose to stardom in Los Angeles with two classic alternative rock albums and enjoyed hits such as "Jane Says" and "Been Caught Stealing," is not performing this weekend in Chicago.

Farrell, 52, will instead play on the so-called Kidzapalooza stage, along with his former bandmate Peter DiStefano of Porno for Pyros. He will also DJ at his namesake dance music tent, Perry's Stage.
Indeed, several of the artists Farrell cited as buzz bands for this year's event -- Girl Talk, Afrojack and deadmau5 -- all play fast-tempo dance music.

"I see dance music as the punk rock of our day, of this generation," Farrell said. "The energy in the room is as fierce and compelling as any punk rock show that I've been to."

Farrell said he has no interest in returning Lollapalooza to its roots as a touring festival that stops at amphitheaters across the United States. He is committed to hosting the event in Chicago until 2018.

"The festival cannot be in screwed-in, fixed-in seats -- that's not a festival," he said. "The idea of playing in an amphitheater will not fly."

Iron Maiden’s Giant Zombie Glares as Fans Cheer Heavy-Metal Uproar: Review

Iron Maiden’s twin electric guitars scream out hyperactive solos, the bass and drums machine-gun thunder, the operatic alley-cat vocals reach a crescendo.

Iron Maiden, the veteran U.K. heavy-metal band,

is ending a worldwide tour in its home city at the

O2 arena.

The eyes of Eddie -- a giant statue of a zombie -- literally light up in demonic red as the chorus is bellowed out.

The East London heavy-metal band is coming to the end of its world tour, playing its home territory at the O2 Arena.

You might ask, why would anyone listen to Iron Maiden in 2011? It’s 30 years since Maiden’s heyday, when teenage boys started wearing its T-shirts with pride.

In 2011, Maiden is bigger business than ever. “The Final Frontier,” its 15th studio album, reached No. 1 in more than 20 countries. The group has sold more than 85 million records. It has performed in India, Indonesia and Peru as well as the more usual U.S., Europe and Australia tour staples.

Iron Maiden led the New Wave of British heavy metal as rock became harder, louder and faster. The influence of the blues was stripped away. Maiden’s easy choruses provided a perfect refuge for young males bewildered by the onslaught of hormones. The lyrics delved into fantasy and horror. A dress code involving shirts picturing the grotesque, grinning zombie sealed the deal.

Resolutely untechnological and lacking any of the usual audiovisual trickery, the Maiden show relies on old-fashioned musicianship. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson belts out favorites such as “The Trooper” and “The Number of the Beast,” each with a different painted backdrop.

Cooler Rivals

Maiden was never cool, unlike the raw Motorhead or the brutal Venom. It was never as aggressive as thrash metal bands, Metallica and Slayer. Current rival Mastodon has more complex riffing, Ghost offers more bombastic choruses, Slipknot better grisly slapstick and Lamb of God delivers more pummeling rage.

Still, much contemporary metal is for specialist fans. Iron Maiden’s appeal is broader.

In the crowd, men with faded tattoos and blue denim play imaginary guitars. There are girlfriends and even whole families happily screaming along and wearing their Eddie shirts.

Walk around almost any city for a day and you are sure to see at least one person wearing a Maiden shirt. Lady Gaga is a fan. There’s more to Maiden than teenage boys.

Pearl Jam's anti-Bush lyrics cut

Lyrics sung by Pearl Jam criticising President George W Bush should not have been censored during a webcast, telecoms company AT&T has acknowledged.

Pearl Jam have now put the unedited song on

their own website

The firm broadcast the performance from Chicago's Lollapalooza festival.
 
Two lines from Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall were included as part of Pearl Jam's song Daughter and both were cut.
 
These included the line "George Bush, leave this world alone". AT&T described the decision as "a major mistake".

"We regret that this happened and we're upset," said spokesman Michael Coe.
 
"Those lyrics in no way, shape or form, are something that should have been edited."
 
He promised to address the issue with the company it had contracted to oversee the webcast, which went out last Sunday.
 

AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media Pearl Jam statement

And he said that AT&T would seek permission from the group to put the unedited version of the track on its website.
 
A statement on Pearl Jam's own site described the situation as "a wake-up call", and said this was "about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band".
 
"AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media."
 
The Seattle-based grunge group, led by Eddie Vedder, shot to fame with the release of their 1991 album Ten, which spawned hits such as Alive.
 
They have since sold tens of millions of albums around the world.