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musicNEWS: Low Ticket Sales Sink Lollapalooza � Perry�s Statement


06-22-04
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Lollapalooza 2004 will not be coming to a town near you. Organizers for the tour have pulled the plug, canceling the tour only three weeks before it was set to kick off. The 2004 outing sported an impressive roster including Morrissey, the Pixies, Wilco, Modest Mouse, PJ Harvey, the Flaming Lips, String Cheese Incident and Sonic Youth. But those names were not enough to draw fans to the shows. 

Billboard reports that the official Lollapalooza website originally Posted a message saying, "This morning (June 22), tour organizers and concert promoters, faced with several million dollars of losses, made the very tough decision to pull the tour." 

The Lollapalooza site has since been updated with a new message from the tour founder Perry Farrell.  It reads as follows: 

To all my Fellow Artisans, Activists, and Feverish Supporters, 

It is with heart gripped despair that I inform you of Lollapalooza's disbandment for the summer of 2004. To say that you terribly miss something that never was born is somewhat odd, yet in this case, it is quite accurate. 

I hope you can accept my apologies for not providing you with the summer that you had your hearts set on. I tried very hard to keep us on course; heading straight into the most ferocious musical storm in history. We were not able to continue; we were taking on huge financial losses. 

And still, I want you to know that I fought for our lives into the final hour. 

Please know that I value your talents and look forward to meeting you again - a little later on to re-discover ourselves as friends. If it makes you feel any better, I am in the same boat as most of you; "Only loaded with talent." But with talent like ours, they can't hold us down for long. 

Upon reflection, I conclude there is a story here. It is the story of a musical community under the influence. No, silly, it's not drugs. This is an influence far more damaging and threatening, as in: "They are threatening to sue us for damages." My prayer is that we live to fight another day and walk together at the victory parade. 

We hoped for comfort but we've never felt too safe. And in these hard times, we've had to navigate through. Unexhausted; is our virtue, 

Peretz 

PS. I am still looking for a shining moment or two for us this summer. I hope you will receive me when I call.

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