Mainstreaming of Lollapalooza Douses Farrell’s Flame

Perry Farrell wants out of Lollapalooza.

The unpredictable rock musician has long felt alienated by some of the directions taken recently in the traveling rock festival that he co-conceived both as a forum for new music and as a platform for social issues and technological innovations. According to various sources close to the situation, Farrell is planning to break away from it and explore the possibility of launching his own new event.

The final straw: The current discussions designed to bring hard-rockers Metallica on as the headlining act for this summer’s sixth edition of the tour. Farrell has nothing against the band per se, but believes that having it on Lollapalooza would be at odds with his vision of the alternative festival.

Farrell, who is on tour in Australia with his band Porno for Pyros and could not be reached for comment, has been outspoken in recent years about his displeasure with some elements of Lollapalooza. Last year, he objected to the addition of Hole to the tour’s lineup, fearing that the band’s leader, the volatile Courtney Love, would detract from the other acts.

While Farrell headlined the first Lollapalooza in 1990 with his former band Jane’s Addiction, his involvement in later tours has been decreasing, usually involving planning for the second stage and the evolution of such non-musical elements as a spoken-word pavilion, Internet activities and the rave that took place after some Lollapalooza shows last year.

“He’s been telling a lot of people, ‘I’m outta here,’ ” says one person involved with the tour. “He wants to move on to other things, more cutting-edge. Metallica is not what he had in mind.”

Farrell apparently is asking for the other main partners in Lollapalooza--the William Morris Agency and his former manager, Ted Gardner--to buy out his share of the enterprise which grossed $12.8 million on last summer’s swing. But it’s unclear what stage negotiations have reached.

The other partners were not available for comment. If an agreement is reached, Farrell would likely use his settlement to finance a new event that would include performances by Porno for Pyros and others, plus a variety of multimedia elements. This could happen--at least in a brief trial-run--as early as this summer.