Bianca Stelian On Wednesday, April 3, there seemed to be one topic on everyone’s minds.  Within an hour of being at school, I’d had nearly a dozen conversations with various people about Lollapalooza, and overheard even more. Generally, anyone’s opinions on Lolla at Latin fall into three categories: they didn’t plan on going, they had already bought a three-day pass, or they were increasingly anxious about buying single day tickets that came out at 10am.  I, along with most Latin students, fell into the third category. In fact, many students I knew had enlisted their parents (or my favorite, their parents’ personal assistants) to patrol the website, meaning that, while they nervously awaited a confirmation of the purchase in class, tickets would be bought at 10am on the dot. Others chose to simply have their laptops or phones on them at 10am so they could get them personally. Due to most project week meetings letting out early, the hallways were packed at 9:55, laptops resting on nearly everyone’s knees, each person eager to be the first one to buy tickets.  And so, as expected, when the clock struck ten, kids fixed their eyes to computer screens, anxious to relieve the stress they had been feeling for weeks on end. Unfortunately, the traffic this year on the Lolla site proved to be insurmountable when the page wouldn’t load. For a few panic-inducing minutes, the link to the website would not even function, and when it finally would, kids were placed on a standby page until they were allowed into the main site to buy tickets.  At this point, you would select the ticket option you wanted (both choices were one-day, but one cost $9 more for reasons I cannot remember due to my chaotic reaction from passing through to the actual site). However, after all the calamity, upon finalizing my purchase, I –along with many other students at Latin– was alerted that the tickets had already sold out. Reader, if you do not care or even know about Lolla, let me be frank.  April 3^rd was a last resort for all those who had been hoping to purchase the uber-sought-after three-day pass.  The general idea was that April 3^rd would guarantee tickets, given that you bought them within an hour or so of them coming on sale and were willing to spend more money.  I cannot honestly say that I don’t know of anyone who expected for them to sell out so fast, and the emotions behind this realization were palpable at 10:45 when it seemed all hope had been lost. Quickly, though, the mood began to change.  People were searching ticket scalping websites and discovering that thousands of tickets had been purchased just to be resold on TicketMaster or StubHub.  Despite the grossly inflated price, there still was an opportunity to be busy that weekend in August instead of sitting on the couch, overfeeding on ice cream, and feeling sorry for yourself while you scrolled through happy Instagram pictures of the heralded event.  All hope was not lost and is not lost for all of you ticketless students. On a similar topic, the concert lineup for this year sparked much discussion in the Latin community.  With artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper and 2 Chainz coming into popularity within the past months, many were excited when all three announced that they would be present at Lolla.  However, the majority of the artists fell into the ‘alternative’ genre, evident from some of the more well-known bands appearing this year like Mumford & Sons, Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, and The Killers. In a conversation I had with a group of upperclassmen, they were perusing the lineup and pointing out bands that they were excited to see.  For a while I was able to follow along (priding myself on my knowledge of Knife Party, Major Lazer and Matt & Kim), but after a few minutes I was lost.  “I’m going to be at Crystal Castles all day,” said Lolla-enthusiast Olivia Schultz.  Nodding blankly, I racked my mind for any information whatsoever of said group, but came up short.  As the conversation went on, I fell more and more out of touch with each artist that came up.  Machines Are People Too?  Unknown Mortal Orchestra?  Theophilus London?  Convinced that these were fake names that a rather bored insane asylum patient had created, I tried to mask my ignorance by pointing out that Baauer, the instigator of the massive Harlem Shake craze, would be there.  However, this addition was met with hostile jabs at my music taste, claiming that Baauer wouldn’t even be that good, especially during his hit song. So maybe not all of the Lolla acts are well-known or well-regarded.  Just last year, barely-famous artists such as Macklemore were at Lolla, and they stormed to popularity soon after their appearances. Will there be such potential at Lollapalooza 2013?  Will we discover the next great artist?  More importantly, however, who on earth is Frightened Rabbit?  ]]>