A Fond Look Back: Photographing Lollapalooza 2019!
When I quit my job last July to pursue photography full time, I was excited for a myriad of reasons. One of those reasons was that, in the weeks leading up to my last day, I was offered the opportunity to work as a photographer at Lollapalooza by my friends at Do312.
Here’s a look back at that experience! I don’t know why I didn’t post about this….you know, a year ago.
Fun Fact Break:
I’ve actually won tickets to Lollapalooza like…5 times? And the first time I won was by entering a contest HOSTED by Do312 (oh how life comes full circle). For the contest you had to create a mashup band featuring two artists performing at Lollapalooza in 2013.
On the left is my winning entry.
(Believe it or not my Photoshop skills have actually gotten WORSE!)
The point is, I’ve been to Lollapalooza many times since I moved to Chicago and, as I started to get interested in photography, I began thinking about how phenomenol it would be to photograph Lolla. Hell, I would have even settled for being able to sneak a camera inside the gates. (I did sneak in a tiny bottle of Jack Daniels once, but it made me very nervous).
If Perry Farrell is reading this, I’m sorry.
When I got the word that I’d be shooting at Lollapalooza 2019 in an official capacity I thought—welp, things sure do seem to be falling in to place! In fact, I distinctly rememeber heading to Grant Park to pick up my crew wristband and feeling an overwhelming sense of joy. The kind that you don’t get to have all that often…at least in my experience? (I’m working on it!)
But There’s a Twist!
My job for the weekend wasn’t actually to photograph the bands. Instead I was tasked with photographing the “Lollapalooza Platinum Experience.” And if that sounds fancy to you, it was.
$4,000 per ticket fancy.
I don’t know how interesting it would be to hear about all the amenities Platinum ticket holders have access to, but I’ll briefly highlight my favorite one.
It’s the air conditioning.
(But also here are photos of some of the other crazy stuff that’s included)
PRIVATE GOLF CARTS
ALL THE ALCOHOL
BACKSTAGE VIEWING AREA
FRONT OF STAGE VIEWING AREA
THIS IS WHERE THE AIR CONDITIONING WAS!
A Q&A WITH THE CAST OF HAMILTON
As I write this I’m realizing it’s starting to sound like sponsored content but, I assure you, I have no work at the moment.
Anyway. Being tossed into the lap of luxury like this was super surreal. But then again, as an event photographer, I’m often surrounded by opulence and fancy treats that I would never encounter in my daily life, which is actually big part of why I like doing event photography. There’s a certain curiosity about the world that I get to have fulfilled.
So, how did it go?
Well—it was insane and very sweaty and super fun and great and instead of writing a bunch about it, I’ll just share a bunch of photos! Because, you know, photography.
PART 1: THE FOLKS!
Like I said, the main part of my job was to capture guests enjoying the Platinum Experience, which wasn’t hard to do because it literally looked like the most fun anyone has ever had. Except for this.
Here’s a gallery featuring my favorite shots of folks partying like it’s 2019, because none of us knew the horror that 2020 was going to bring!
PART 2: THE ARTISTS!
Look, even though it wasn’t part of my official job description to photograph the performers…I was up in a pit at the front of the stage, with my camera, so what choice did I really have? I’ve yet to photograph a festival from a purely musical perspective, and obviously won’t be doing so this year—but here are a few photos I managed to snag over the course of Lolla weekend!
Damn, going through these I really thought I had taken more photos of bands. But I guess I was just hyper-focused and vigilant about accomplishing the task at hand! What a diligent photographer (right, potential future clients!?) On a positive note, because music, the photo of Childish Gambino is one of my favorites I’ve ever taken. So that worked out well.
PART 3: THE INSIDERS
Oh, I almost forgot. In ADDITION to capturing all the folks with a platinum ticket, I also had to track down 6 people who had what are called “Lolla Insider Passes.” My understanding about the Lolla Insider Pass is that it cost a lot of money and you pretty much had free reign. Like, I’m pretty sure they were in the artist’s lounge eating pulled pork sandwiches with Kacey Musgraves and one of the guys really wanted to meet Shaq.
Locating all of the Lolla Insiders for individual and group shots was like trying to track down the final 6 missing pokemon from your pokedex so you can finally trade with your neighbor Brian to catch ‘em all, but eventually I succeeded! And here’s the proof! Side note: they were all delightful people!
PART 4: BEHIND THE SCENES!
Well, that does it for my “official photos,” but I figured I’d share a few behind the scenes/personal experience photos just for kicks! Thankfully I didn’t have to be on the clock all day, every day so I got some time to just hang out at the fest, meet up with a few pals and enjoy.
In conclusion
This was a long post and a lot of photos and sort of incoherent, but I felt compelled to finally share all of it because I didn’t get around to it last year. I truly hope digital Lolla is a success, but I know for a fact there’s no substitute for the real thing. Even though I’m more of a Riot Fest guy at this point, I’ve always loved going to Lollapalooza and being able to attend the festival as a photographer really was a dream come true.
I hope that at least one person enjoyed reading this or seeing these photos, but if not—that’s okay, everything is terrible right now anyway! BUT! They aren’t going to stay terrible, and that’s what is motivating me right now.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
See you in the pit.
-Joe