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by Seth Rogovoy
POWNAL, Vt., June 6, 1996 -- Lollapalooza '96, this year's version of the annual traveling festival of alternative-rock, is coming to the Green Mountain Race Track on July 9, it was announced yesterday by Jay Strausser, president of the Burlington-based All Points Booking promotion agency. Strausser said the all-day festival will be the only New England stop for the Lollapalooza tour, and it is expected to attract up to 40,000 young people from as far as Boston, Burlington, Hartford and Albany.
The event, featuring some of today's top bands, including Metallica, Soundgarden, Rancid, the Ramones and special guest Wu-Tang Clan, will be the first of its kind at the track, and may well be the largest single assembly ever to congregate there or anywhere in the greater Berkshires and Southwest Vermont region.
The annual festival, which has been called "the Woodstock of the slacker generation," will feature three separate concert stages with bands playing simultaneously, along with dozens of food and craft vendors and other exhibitors.
This year's Main Stage lineup, including the aforementioned bands and Screaming Trees and Psychotica, is slanted toward hard-rock and heavy-metal acts, in contrast with previous lineups, featuring more eclectic and experimental bands such as the Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, The Breeders and Sonic Youth.
In addition to the Main Stage, this summer's Second Stage will feature up-and-coming bands including Girls Against Boys, Ben Folds Five, Ruby, Cornershop, You Am I and The Beth Hart Band. This year Lollapalooza is premiering another performance venue, known as the Indie Stage, showcasing bands not yet signed to major record labels. The Indie Stage performers will include Chune, Moonshake, Lutefisk and Capsize 7.
Tickets for Lollapalooza '96 in Pownal will go on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets and by Ticketmaster phone charge at 10am on Saturday, June 8. Tickets are $35 plus $1 for charity and any additional charges that might apply. Additional information about tickets and other festival information is available via Lollapalooza's site on the Internet.
Yesterday's announcement came after weeks of rumors, and residents and businesspeople have had plenty of time to consider their feelings about having this major event playing right in their back yard.
James Winchester, who owns a sandwich shop directly across the highway from the track, said, "I've worked in race tracks all my life, with ten-, twelve-, even fifteen-thousand people there. But this boggles my mind. It scares me. It's going to be an education for me."
Town Clerk Karen Burrington was optimistic about the event, saying it should be profitable for the town and the owners of the racetrack. "I'm not concerned.There'll be plenty of security," said Burrington."It's being well planned and well thought out. There'll be plenty of state troopers."
There are some who are unhappy about the prospect of the town being invaded by such a large number of rock-music fans, however. Paul Harsch, who lives on a farm about a mile up the mountain behind the track to the west, said, "I don't want to sound like an old fogey, but I don't see this as a particularly positive experience for Pownal or the area in general. I don't feel that the area is equipped to handle that quantity of people all at once.
"And we're not talking about a crowd of big spenders here, people who are going to come into the antique shops and finer hotels and restaurants and spend big bucks. They're mostly going to come in and use the area and not benefit it. The promoters and developers will make money and the public has to put up with the hassle."
On the other hand, there are those who are very much looking forward to the concert taking place in their hometown. Allen Palmer, a Pownal native, said, "I think it's great. I'm not as much of an alarmist as some. Any time you get that many people in one place you're bound to have some complications, but I don't foresee any major problems. The people running this are professionals and they've done it before.
"It's great that something like this is coming to our area. It's good for the people of Pownal after all these years of nothing going on to see something going on here. I'm 41. I'm bored. We need some action around here."
Just over the border in Williamstown, Mass., chief of police John M. Kennedy has already been coordinating with Lt. Thomas Fields of the Vermont State Police in anticipation of at least 20,000 people passing through his town twice that day.
"I've got a feeling we'll be busy," said Kennedy, who said this number of people dwarfed the biggest crowds the town has ever had to deal with. "I don't know what to expect, but we're going to try to be prepared." Kennedy added that he has been in contact with the Massachusetts state police, who will be on standby in case their help is needed.
Strausser reassured local residents, stressing that he has been working closely with the town and Vermont state police, who have issued a public safety permit for the gathering and designed a traffic and safety plan.
John Tietgens, the track owner, said "These people are experts at these kind of operations. They're not just fellows who're getting together to put on a show.They've got a very good reputation and the state police have checked them out thoroughly. I don't anticipate any problems at all."
Begun in 1991, Lollapalooza was the brainchild of Jane's Addiction founder Perry Farrell, who now fronts the band Porno for Pyros, as a way to showcase non-mainstream, "alternative-rock" acts and celebrate the culture that surrounds them. In addition to bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Cypress Hill and Butthole Surfers, past festivals have included a midway featuring information booths, interactive games, cyberspace exhibits, films and dance and martial arts exhibitions.
In past summers, Lollapalooza has been held at more conventional sites like summer sheds and arenas.According to festival organizers, in anticipation of record-setting crowds this year the event has "forsaken permanent standing concert venues in favor of more festival-like settings to allow maximum freedom while accomodating the increase of fans," such as open fields, ranches, speedways and fairgrounds.
"Staging an event of Lollapalooza 96's magnitude in non- traditional concert venues presents a monumental challenge," said organizer/co-founder Marc Geiger in a press release. "However, we are prepared to overcome any obstacle and are taking added measures to ensure the safety and comfort of everyone, while providing a festival experience."
Those added measures include the stationing of 120 Vermont state troopers in the area to help with traffic and crowd control, as well as having 400 security people and fire and rescue emergency services on standby at the venue throughout the day.
This year's Lollapalooza kicks off on June 27 in Kansas City, Missouri. Before stopping in Pownal, the festival will touch down in Iowa, Indiana, Ontario and Quebec City, and it will head to Randall's Island in New York City the day after appearing in Pownal. From there it goes to Syracuse, N.Y., on July 13. Other than the July 9th date in Pownal, there have been no other dates announced for New England.
(This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on June 6, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.)
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