A case for: Lollapalooza 2023

Lolla India

Abhinav and I attended Lollapalooza nearly a month back (Jan ‘23), in what was a pleasant awakening to what the normal succession to 2019 should have been. The fear of Covid was hidden somewhere was pushed to some dusty shelves in our mind, and we were blissfully (un)aware of this fact. With this backdrop, Lollapalooza saw double the enthusiasm — one for being to an event after so long, and second for its first edition in India. The aim of this article is to dissect the pros and cons of the first-ever edition of Lolla India.

Pre-Conditions:

No mobile data / phone connectivity was available once entering the venue. This wasn’t a controllable factor as the density of the network was much too high to be catered by the nearby towers.

Pros:

1. Selection / Lineup: While Lolla was initially written off for having a dated lineup with debatable relevance, I think the artists took it on themselves with crazy motivation to prove them wrong. The lineup was great in terms of representation, from women to diverse genres, it covered it all, making it a place of discovery for new music, while appreciating the ones that we already knew. In addition to the headlining artists who gave exceptional performances (shoutout to: Imagine Dragons, Diplo, Divine), there was quality abound in stage presence with Kayan, Wombats and Jackson Wang.
2. Entry experience: Mahalaxmi Race course is no stranger to big events, and neither are the event organisers to the venue. This was evident in the entry experience, with ample lines to manage crowds, and a seamless check-in experience.
3. Time management: It is a commendable feat that as event-goers, we didn’t notice even one delay throughout the concerts. All artists were time-boxed religiously and rigorously, and in the smoothest way possible. As soon as an act finished, you could hear the strains of music of an act starting up in the adjacent stage. This could’ve been a major pain point, especially with the jostling crowds, but it was handled beautifully.
4. Stage experience: The sound systems, visuals and fireworks were world-class. Even though each stage catered to a high-volume, the quality of sound was not diminished, the screens were ergonomically to cater to event goers of all heights. And the synchronised fireworks were a cherry on top.

Cons:

1. F&B: The bands also served as wallets for the foods and drinks, but there were several breaks in the process here.

a. Wallets: The first was in getting a recharge on the bands wrt long lines and the fact that mobile data was exceptionally slow. The BMS app could have been integrated easily for a self-recharge on the cards, as the recharge process also seemed similar at the counters.

b. Food stalls: There was a central area for getting food, where crowds would be move in a seasonal fashion, getting extremely crowded just after concerts. Though the selection of the food stalls was great - it covered a lot of palettes at fit price points, the accessibility was a problem. It would have helped if the food stalls were distributed over the ground, though this would have required more manpower. However, even with the same selection, there could’ve been 2-3 stalls of the same franchise spread over the premises, aiding the event goers with easy accessibility to food as well as better brand building.

c. Drinks: Drinks were spread out in a hybrid pattern — there were Johnnie Walker stalls at the corners, there were also Corona/Hoegaarden and Bud stalls near the middle area. There were two main stages where the main crowds were, however, that entire crowd could be serviced only by two stalls — One Bud and One Johnnie Walker — this led to a disproportionate crowd at the stalls. It would have helped if there were centralised outlets atleast for Budweiser and Johnnie Walker together, and moreover placed between each two stages.

1. Washrooms: The washrooms were filthy, I re-considered going to the entire fest after nearly gagging on the smell in the area. It’s not like the event had not set-up the right amount of washrooms, they did. They even placed the washroom stations very tactically — one at the entrance, and two within the ground placed perpendicularly around the main areas. The problem was in the management of the porta-potties. The lines were erratically dispersed across the space, the flushes weren’t working, and there was no way to deduce which washroom had just been cleaned. There were sanitation workers all around the area, but they too didn’t know which stalls were to be cleaned leading to a higher load on some stations, and hence the scarring experience. This could be managed by a better flagging system on the toilets which conveyed both to the event goers as well as the staff on just cleaned toilets.
2. VIP areas: These tickets costed 2x of the normal tickets, however the incremental price didn’t justify the incremental value provided. There was one VIP area placed in the centre, and the idea was that it would have a viewing pattern placed radially to all the stages. However, it was much too far from all the stages to have an impact. There were food stalls inside, but no idea how that experience was.
3. Sustainability: The fest made a big step forward by handing out reusable glasses with drinks at an incremental cost of Rs. 50 and 100 bucks. They had placed hydration stations with lines of water filters as well, with reusable glasses as the only options to push adoption with the masses. These glasses came with belt tags to hang off the person to be used further in the event. However, one crucial addition for the next editions would be to introduce lids on the glasses so that these glasses could serve the purpose of dispersed drinking as well as protecting against dust, etc. One major case in point was that one couldn’t refill from the hydration station and keep water with them. The water had to be consumed at that point of time or it would spill over or be exposed to dust. The same extended to all other drinks as well.

Ideas to build up on for the next editions (Theme- discovery):

1. Maps: The organisers had put in a lot of effort to put together art installations and engagement activities. It was laid it in a way that people would discover them on their own, however, it would have seen a lot more engagement if there was a map given out with physical hardcopy with the bands.
2. Genre based stages: The fest was a great place for driving music discovery, I would have however found it more helpful if I knew which ballpark genres would be playing at each stage. This would have helped me prioritize better especially in the early hours of the fest where nearly all artists were unknown to me.