While the official lineup for Lollapalooza’s 10th anniversary event won’t be announced until next week, industry sources are reporting that the headliners for Chicago’s favourite festival will include Eminem, Skrillex, Kings of Leon and Arctic Monkeys.
The headlining names are being reported by the Chicago Tribune, the local publication who confirmed the Lollapalooza lineup last year. 2013’s 3-day event featured such illustrious acts as The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, New Order and Queens of the Stone Age.
According to the Tribune, Eminem is well placed to helm the 2014 event, having previously headlined the festival in 2011 and with a new release in tow. The rapper late last year released The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which debuted at number 1 in the US and has sold about 2 million copies.
Having just previewed his new record, Recess, to the world hidden within a phone app, EDM maestro Skrillex is also in good standing to be main feature at Lollapalooza 2014. Skrillex’s domination of the scene coincides with Lollapalooza’s increasingly large role in advancing dance-music artists. In previous years, electronic acts such as Daft Punk, Deadmau5 and Avicii have played high-profile sets.
Arctic Monkeys are hot property having collected dozens of awards for their 2013 album AM. The Brits last appeared at Lollapalooza before a huge late-afternoon crowd in 2011, but this year would mark the quartet’s first headlining slot.
The Tribune is also tipping Nashville rockers Kings of Leon to feature as a headlining act, with the band having used the festival circuit as a platform over the last decade to transform into an arena rock band. They headlined Lollapalooza in 2009.
While the official Lollapalooza lineup is expected to drop next week, details of last year’s festival were leaked early, meaning more names may surface in the coming days. In the past, the Lollapalooza line-up has given some indication of what we can expect to see Down Under at the Big Day Out, with both being handled by C3 Promotions.
All of this year’s suspected Lollapalooza headlining acts will have already been in Australia in the past year by the time Big Day Out 2015 rolls around, so they’re unlikely contenders, but the yet-to-be announced remaining lineup may provide some clues as to who will be visting Australia for next year’s festival season.
