LOLLAPALOOZA: Opening Date Canceled!

June 17, 2003

Lollapalooza's opening date, July 3 at Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been canceled, reportedly because the performance space provided wasn't large enough to fit the giant stage being used by headliners JANE'S ADDICTION.

"Due to staging and technical difficulties with the event site, unfortunately the Lollapalooza show in Grand Rapids on July 3 at the Ionia County Fairgrounds is being canceled," said Lollapalooza publicist Laura Cohen.

The cancellation came as a surprise to Ionia Fair officials, who were expecting to host the opening show of one of the summer's biggest rock tours.

Korina Haga at the Ionia Fair Association, said Friday afternoon her organization had yet to receive official word of the cancellation from Touring Pro — the company handling Lollapalooza.

The office in Ionia was told of the pending cancellation by a Lansing radio station.

"If (the cancellation) is true, the way they went about it was very unprofessional," Haga said. "It is not a problem with the facilities," she said, adding that Ionia Fair has been working to prepare the grounds for the show.

"We were able to handle 25,000 METALLICA fans a couple of years ago," she said. "I think we could handle JANE'S ADDICTION fans."

Lollapalooza publicist Laura Cohen said stage size was an issue.

"JANE'S ADDICTION recently went into ... rehearsal for Lollapalooza and, in the past week, it became apparent that the production and set for JANE'S ADDICTION was too large for the stage at the venue (in Ionia)," she said. "It would have been cost-prohibitive to make it work at that particular venue."

Rolling Stone magazine recently reported that Lollapalooza — featuring JANE'S ADDICTION, AUDIOSLAVE, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THE DONNAS and others — was experiencing slow ticket sales for some shows on the tour. Officials said about 4,000 tickets were sold for the Ionia show.

Cohen said slow sales were not the cause of the cancellation.

Tickets purchased for the Ionia show can be returned for a refund at the point of purchase. Tickets also may be exchanged for the July 18 Lollapalooza stop at DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston.

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