Radiohead fans will be going gaga over Lolla.
Thom Yorke's crew is set to join Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine as the headliners for the annual Lollapalooza festival at Chicago's Grant Park, running Aug. 1 through Aug. 3.
The 2008 lineup is a virtual alt-rock who's-who: Chitown natives Wilco, the Raconteurs, a reunited Love and Rockets, Gnarls Barkley, Bloc Party, Cat Power, Mark Ronson, the Black Keys, Broken Social Scene, the National, Lupe Fiasco, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, G. Love and Special Sauce, and Flogging Molly.
Since morphing three years ago from an alternative-music lover's traveling carnival into a three-day family-friendly affair held in Lake Michigan-adjacent parkland in downtown Chicago, Lollapalooza has rebranded itself as one of America's premiere rock megafestivals, alongside Coachella and Bonnaroo.
The 2007 edition attracted a capacity crowd of 167,330 over the three days, grossing a whopping $9.8 million in ticket sales, per Billboard Boxscore, to rank as the fifth-highest grossing festival worldwide.
And this year's Lolla is shaping up to be the biggest yet.
Since going on sale, three-day $175 Early Bird passes have already been snapped up, while $190 advance passes are reportedly going fast. Once those sell out, a regular festival pass, retailing for $205, will be the only way in.
Aside from featuring 120 music acts, the fest will feature a variety of comedy acts, hip-hop workshops, organic food stands, interactive games, a scavenger hunt and even a petting zoo.
Festival founder Perry Farrell says that organizers are also working on a deal with Apple to hatch iTunes-only unique content, possibly pairing up various acts onstage and, eventually, in the studio as well, which Lollapalooza and Apple would then release.
"These will be recorded in a studio but, of course, because we can share files online, we don't have to be in the same place at the same time—we have finishing studios all over the world for the artists to finish the piece off," Farrell told MTV News. "We'll start to talk with Radiohead about putting them with someone they'd like to collaborate with, tell them how it's going to go down."
Lollapalooza will serve as the kickoff to the second leg of Radiohead's North American tour.
The band has headlining gigs at the All Points West Festival in New Jersey's Liberty State Park Aug. 8 and 9 and the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival at Golden Park in San Francisco. Radiohead is also on track to perform in Indianapolis, Cleveland, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl, before wrapping things up in Santa Barbara on Aug. 28.
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