Bogota is set to become the fifth city outside North America to host its own Lollapalooza, with the first Colombian version of the US-based touring music festival inked in for October 2016. Since Lollapalooza began touring outside the US and Canada in 2010, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Germany have all hosted versions of the festival.
Lollapalooza, which was first held in 1991, is not your typical music festival, as it seeks to provide a space for several healthy kinds of entertainment, often including dance and comedy acts. Moreover, the festival will include a children’s space.
The video on Lollapalooza’s Colombia website says it strives to change “what you would call a music festival into something magical and life-altering”.
Bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beastie Boys, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Metallica, The Killers, Bjork, and The Arctic Monkeys have all performed at previous versions of Lollapalooza across the world.
T310 and Absent Papa are the promoters in charge of making this dream a reality, with the festival set to be held in one of the city’s most emblematic locations: Simón Bolívar Park.
Philippe Siegenthaler, talent buyer for Absent Papa said: “This is a very important global brand, which aims to differentiate itself by presenting a unique aspect from the city where each festival is held. So in this sense, Bogota will have its own magic and paradisical setting – Simón Bolívar Park – which we want to dress up and present in a completely different style from anything previously seen there.”
Lollapalooza Colombia’s producers hope to offer the public an experience which is suitable for family-orientated audiences in a safe environment, for the very first time: “it is interesting to experience an event of this size, with international artists and art installations, and of course the most important aspect being the sabor bogotano.” Philippe added.
The festival will have four spaces: Kidzapalooza for children, an electronic music tent with two large stages, a main stage and the alternative music stage.
“It’s a big challenge, we have to make the city understand that a large-scale music event is also suitable for minors, by balancing this with an organised and healthy entertainment space and with adequate logistics,” Siegenthaler said.
The festival has yet to announce the line-up and ticket prices, but states: “For now, we have just confirmed the event, there is still plenty of time to announce the artist line-up. Depending on this, we will adjust ticket prices to meet the costs of the bands. We hope to have the full programme by April or May.”