Greg Kot Leaks Lollapalooza Headliners ... Again

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 18, 2014 8:40PM

They're all like, "At least we've got Skrillex!" Photo by Jim Kopeny / Tankboy

In what is becoming a Chicago tradition, Tribune rock music critic Greg Kot has tapped his "industry sources" to reveal a portion of the Lollapalooza line-up yet again. According to Kot the headliners will include Eminem, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Skrillex. We have to admit, if this is a harbinger of the general tone of the line-up we're bummed out.

Eminem just headlined the festival in 2011, so boo to that. And Kings Of Leon may be the most depressing example of a band that took the Southern fried fury of their earliest incarnation, sucked all the life out of it and traded it in for bland bombast that would embarrass even the whitest-bread of arena headliners. And Arctic Monkeys, well, they're another one-time band of fireballs that are now slightly less bland than Kings Of Leon. But not by much.

Surprisingly the only possibly exciting pick is one we would have mocked until a few weeks ago. With his latest album, Recess, Skrillex is proving he has talents beyond simply being king of mainstream dubstep; it's a pleasing blend of genres that shows the man has skills we hadn't anticipated and that bodes well for a textured set that reaches beyond another sledgehammer set at the Perry's Stage.

This is the tenth year Lollapalooza has called Chicago its home base since becoming a destination festival, and we'd be lying if we didn't admit we've had high expectations that this year's line-up would shake things up and really do its best to rise above and beyond the competing fests. 2014 thus far has proven to be the year that most of the domestic mega-fests are delivering blandly similar bills—even more so than in recent years—so this is Lolla's year to really make its mark and shine.

We're only four bands in, so we're going to take the optimistic view that "industry sources" released word of these two snoozers and a banger in order to lower expectations so when the good bands get announced people will lose their minds.

At least that's what we hope.