Perry Farrell Says Rick Rubin Wanted To Buy Lollapalooza After Canceled 2004 Revival
Lollapalooza is getting the docuseries treatment with a three-part show called Lolla: The Story Of Lollapalooza, which is available on Paramount+ starting today. We already got an official trailer, and Rolling Stone has a new clip from the show in which founders Perry Farrell and Marc Geiger discuss the failed 2004 revival of the fest.
“We made some bad mistakes trying to revive something that shouldn’t have been revived,” Geiger said in the clip. “It fell on its face…We’d been through so much and the ups and downs, and trying to stay on edge where there just isn’t an edge anymore.”
And Farrell offers up an interesting tidbit: Rick Rubin offered to buy the festival’s name following the 2004 iteration’s cancelation. “I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I was very embarrassed,” Farrell said. “I was hurting for money. I don’t know why, but Rick Rubin decided to make an offer to me to buy the name for like a million dollars. I won’t tell you exactly how I put it, but I said no.” (Geiger had previously run Ultimate Band List with Rubin in the ’90s.)
Of course, Farrell held onto the name and Lollapalooza re-launched as a stationary Chicago fest in 2005. Here’s the clip from the documentary: