Which was the best (pre-revival) Lollapalooza lineup?

94 won for the boredoms, right?

I'm not surprised at all that '96 got a goose egg, that year had the biggest backlash and was the beginning of the end. It was also the only year I attended, I was 14 and a huge Sonic Youth fan and was bummed about not going the year before. I had a blast seeing the Ramones and Soundgarden on their final tours, Ben Folds Five were great, enjoyed Screaming Trees and GVSB and You Am I so much that I don't know why I never got around to buying albums by any of them, and fucking WU TANG were special guests at the show I went to. Still would've loved to go in '95, though, especially for Superchunk and the Geraldine Fibbers the year they released my favorite albums by them.

I still don't entirely understand who 'Psychotica' was or why they were a main stage act, though. man they sucked, wtf.

1995 wins hands-down if my focus was on bands i like the most

but if i was to actually weigh up which festival i'd most like to attend and took into account a number of variables such as what a particular band was doing at the particular time, i could go with 1994 and even consider 1993

Thirty years ago tonight, the first ever Lollapalooza show. Featuring, among other things, this monstrosity:

So the notes going around today that it's the 30th anniversary of the first ever Lollapalooza date leave out one tiny detail. The official T-shirts sold on the tour SUCKED. Look at this terrible as hell but also incredibly of its time thing. pic.twitter.com/xwYccmVrr2

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) July 19, 2021

Meantime, enjoy this piece about The Date That Started It All

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/first-lollapalooza-concert-1991-phoenix-30th-anniversary-oral-history-perry-farrell-11591298

I picked up one of these at a Buffalo Exchange back in high school:

https://www.defunkd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/trentimus_79061335225813.jpg

Has all the official band logos on the back.

I went in '94 and '95. I'm glad I did and I wish I could do it again...

Looking at the wiki, the lineup for the cancelled 2004 tour (a two-day per city affair felled by low ticket sales) was wild:

The Pixies, Morrissey, PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, The Killers, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, The Von Bondies, The String Cheese Incident, Modest Mouse, Le Tigre, Gomez, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Danger Mouse, The Polyphonic Spree, Broken Social Scene, Ross Golan, The Datsuns, Bumblebeez 81, The Secret Machines, Brayndead Freakshow, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Elbow, Wheat, The Coup, Wolf Eyes, The Dresden Dolls

Saw '94 and '97...got to see '97 in literally the front row as somehow the corp. comp tickets fell all the way down to the IT department (as the exec's backstabbed each other around the office trying to get the Jimmie Buffet tickets).

Beastie Boys in '94 was literally about the most pushed to lather I have had ever seen a band do to an audience. They had a circle pit going at the front of the stage where there was FIXED seating in concrete at the Deer Creek shed in Indy. There was just total bedlam going on in the grass up top. After a whole day in the sun, when the Beasties were done so was the crowd and they just vanished. I'd say it was maybe bit over 1/2 full when the Smashing Pumpkins started playing. I ended up booking myself a couple tunes in as I had to start a new job the next day.

Dude, we were at the same Lolla shows! Also saw '96 @ Deer Creek tho.

xp the climactic screams in "Sabotage" ... when they turned on the house lights ... holy shit, i still get chills thinking about it, and i wasn't even *that* much of a fan. (i was, however, 18 years old.)

Yeah the equivalent moment in LA was pretty damn great.