WSJ Interview w/ Perry

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Via: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/08/ ... g-borders/

Perry Farrell Discusses Lollapalooza’s Expanding Borders

Intermittent cloudbursts and headlining sets by Chance the Rapper, Kings of Leon and Skrillex ended Lollapalooza on Sunday. More than 100,000 people came to Chicago’s Grant Park for each of the three days of the festival, which featured 130 acts. Since taking root in the city in 2005, Lollapalooza has scaled up into an international franchise, with recent installments in Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

It’s part of an ongoing expansion plan, according to founder Perry Farrell. The frontman for Jane’s Addiction is probably better known to a generation of young Lollapalooza fans for the stage that bears his name: Perry’s, now enhanced with a wall of video screens and a towering DJ platform, hosts many of the festival’s electronic acts. The big, tightly organized event is a far cry from Lollapalooza’s first incarnation in 1991, when Farrell worked with booking agents to create a touring festival that helped push alternative rock into the mainstream and establish a festival model in the United States.

We spoke with Farrell on site during the festival. Below, excerpts from the interview:

What are you working on during the festival?

From 1991 to 1997, we would discuss who would be performing at the festival maybe three months out, four months out we’d still be talking about things. Now, a lot of it has already been booked for a year from now. The agents are all here, first to see how their bands are doing, but also to establish a connection for next year’s crop. So all this negotiation is going on right now behind the scenes. They want to get their groups down to South America. We’re what you call a “safe play” there. Because you can go to a place like Colombia and perform in front of 40-60,000 people where the quality of the production is there, and you know the audience and the groups are going into a protected festival environment. That’s big for these agents. They hear about where we’re going next, and they want in.

What are some of the risks you face as you expand?

In certain parts of Europe, they do business differently. Start with sponsorship, which does a lot to alleviate the cost of production. The people in Europe are not so used to dealing with sponsorship the way we are. While in South America, that’s their bread and butter. So we’re at a crossroads between all these countries, introducing the way we do business to these new territories. What would happen if we weren’t to get so much sponsorship in Europe? You can’t force it, but the world is always changing. In 1991, we introduced the festival model. Reading, Leeds, Glastonbury, they predated us. But guess what, so did Woodstock. So you have to keep evolving this thing we call a music festival.

When did you first get smart about the business side of music?

Initially I didn’t want sponsorship. It only made sense when it was the right sponsor. Back then it was a company called Airwalk, which doesn’t exist anymore. To me, the youth culture accepted Airwalk because they had snowboards and sneakers and skateboarding equipment. They weren’t offended by Airwalk’s presence. The company brought a halfpipe and Tony Hawk was doing his tricks. There were some other festivals cropping up around us and they were instantly doing sponsorship. So we were losing out on bids to the acts, because the other festivals had more money. So I had to figure out how to compete with them and still have integrity. We could use that money to buy the talent and soup up the production.

How long does your deal with Chicago last?

It’s an evergreen deal. As long as we’re good to the city, the city is good to us. And I like that. We carry those credentials with us when we go globally looking for other sites. The challenges now are all about technology. Wifi on the grounds, for example. We have Samsung covering the grounds, but I understand it didn’t quite hit it. I had another company that I wanted to come in to wifi the grounds. If the technology doesn’t work, suddenly you have patrons complaining.

What kind of things were you dealing with in 1991?

In ’91, it was sillier things. More like band people being strung out and not wanting to go out on the stage. I literally had to bodyslam someone. I will not mention who.

C’mon, that was more than 20 years ago.

I know, but I’m friends with them. At that moment I said, you’re getting out there. “Eh, I don’t want to play anymore.” I literally picked somebody up and slammed them to the damn ground.

How do you deal with the nostalgia factor when you’re choosing the lineup?

I have the greatest respect for the legends. Carlos Santana, Alice Cooper and Paul McCartney and Joe Perry. These guys are actually coming to me and saying we want to perform next year. I’m the youngster in the group. I just recorded a song for Paul McCartney, I recorded one of Alice Cooper. Carlos Santana wants to have his own stage. Musicians are eternally impish enchanted people. They are childish beings who want to be part of the party. Lollapalooza has to keep charging forward, but we want to bring the past. It’s important for the younger patrons to see these legends. Lollapalooza is that swirl. I’m a matchmaker. To put it into the ancient terminology, I’m a matchmaker.

As a rock singer, how do you feel about the decline of rock music? In many cases the audience energy is much higher here for the electronic and hip-hop acts than the rock bands.

Pure electronic is wonderful, I love it. Same with rock music. Rock has got to come back. I think the music industry made a really stupid move, ignoring us and saying rock music isn’t valid anymore. This place was built and still exists today because of rock musicians.