Lollapalooza aims to be the new Woodstock

In 1969 the Woodstock Music and Art Fair forever transformed the rock world with "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music" in Bethel, N.Y.

Over 500,000 people hunkered down in the mud and rain to watch 32 bands perform. Since then, festivals around the world have been trying to replicate the experience.

Lollapalooza 2010 may not have succeeded in amassing half a million people, but the 240,000 who attended the festival Aug. 6 to 8 were not disappointed.

Over 80,000 fans per day watched 130 acts perform on eight stages spread over 115 acres in Chicago's Grant Park. The show was the most successful Lollapalooza to date.

Founded by Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell in 1991, Lollapalooza changed from a touring festival to a once-a-year event headquartered in Chicago. This year's festival was the sixth annual for Chicago and the 14th Lollapalooza scheduled through the years.

The biggest draw for this year's festival was undoubtedly Lady Gaga. She had time to watch her favorite band, Semi Precious Weapons, earlier in the day and stage dive into the audience.

At the opposite end of the park, a reunited Strokes steamrolled through tracks from their song catalog and a large crowd watched the New York City band sing classics like "Last Nite," "Is This It" and "Someday."

Lollapalooza is also known for keeping the pulse of the music scene and booking undiscovered bands. The Ettes, Mavis Staples, American Bang and The Drive-By Truckers filled those slots for the first day.

The legends of rock also performed including 1980s new wave band Devo, which whipped the crowd into an frenzy with a synthesizer-heavy set of classics including "Whip It," "Mongoloid" and "Jocko Homo."

Reggae legend and 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Cliff wore moccasins and danced the length of the stage as he sang classic hits "Sitting In Limbo," "Vietnam" (Afghanistan version) and "I Can See Clearly Now."

DJ Abel Rock, aka Jason Allison of Fort Defiance, attended Lollapalooza in Chicago for the first time with his younger brother Ryan. The duo said the festival was a great experience.

"It was different," Jason Allison said. "My brother was kind of making fun of me because I wanted to check out all of the 90s bands like Cypress Hill, Green Day and Soundgarden that were playing and he was into the newer stuff like Arcade Fire and 2 Many DJs. Lollapalooza catered to all age groups."

Green Day headlined day two. The 30-song set list started with "Song of The Century" and included "Know Your Enemy," "East Jesus Nowhere" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Other punk legends performed throughout the day, including Social Distortion, Mike Ness, Gogol Bordello, AFI, Against Me!, The Soft Pack and Warpaint.

New bands made their mark as well. Rebelution's energetic set on the main stage had the crowd skanking to the rhythms.

The reggae-tinged lineup for day two also included Blues Traveler. John Popper and company covered Sublime's "What I Got."

For Jason Allison, The xx was one of his favorite bands.

"Lollapalooza was so freaking huge," he said. "The city added a whole different vibe and atmosphere, adding to the character of the festival."

Lollapalooza's final day started out with drizzling, rainy conditions. Nneka kicked off the final day with a soulful, emotional performance.

Chicago-based Company of Thieves also performed in the rain with front woman Genevieve Schatz twirling and dancing shoeless on stage.

The Dodos, Blitzen Trapper, Freelance Whales and X Japan followed.

Los Angeles legends Cypress Hill took the stage and their set included hits off their catalog: "I Could Just Kill A Man," "Dr. Greenthumb" and "Rock Superstar." Jason Allison said Cypress Hill was quite possibly his favorite act at Lollapalooza.

"Soundgarden was amazing but Cypress Hill just blew me away," he said. "I saw them in at the Vegoose Festival before but they weren't as good. They killed it at Lollapalooza."

Finally, the band everyone was waiting for -Soundgarden - stepped on the main stage. They opened their two-hour set with "Searching With My Good Eye Closed" and followed with "Spoonman," "Blow Up The Outside World," "Outshined," "Fell On Black Days," "Black Hole Sun" and "Suicide."

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