To be or not to be? Organizers will announce fate of Lollapalooza in May

For hundreds of thousands of music fans, it’s the question that’s been swirling since Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered all non-essential businesses in Illinois to close and capped public gatherings to 10 persons or less due to the coronavirus pandemic: What’s to become of Lollapalooza 2020?

On Tuesday, festival organizers reached out with a statement via social media addressing the fate of the music festival slated for July 30-Aug. 2 in Grant Park:

“We remain in touch with our partners in the City of Chicago about this year’s Lollapalooza,” the statement said. “As the festival is still several months away, we are taking careful consideration to work through our options. We are confident that we will have enough information to make a definitive decision about the path forward by the end of May. Chicago is our home, and we will continue to remain optimistic about Lollapalooza 2020. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to listen closely to government and public health leaders and stay safe.”

The announcement came on the heels of Pritzker’s statement last week during his daily press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic in which he urged everyone listening to “think carefully about canceling large summer events.”

“I just don’t, from my perspective today, I do not see how we are going to have large gatherings of people again until we have a vaccine, which is months and months away,” Pritzker added.

Lollapalooza tickets generally go on sale each year in March; the lineup of bands is also made public at that time. To date, there has been no information on tickets or bands.