By Stefanie Boyd
Arizona Daily Wildcat
There was no shortage of alternative music devotees at this year's Lollapalooza concert in Phoenix on August 24. The eight-band, nine-hour festival filled nearly 80 percent of Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion's 20,000 person capacity.
There was, on the other hand, a shortage of shade. Phoenix's high temperature was recorded at 107 degrees on the 24th, a fact that will burn the word "HOT!" into the crowd's collective memory of Lollapalooza '94.
In addition to the music, the festival offered some other welcome distractions from the blazing sun. There was expensive fast food and cool drinks a-plenty at several different vending tents.
Assembled misting systems made an attempt at creating at least a couple of comfort zones.
A poetry reading contest invited brave concert attenders to read their original works before an audience of judges who were selected from the crowd by the contest sponsors. Most of the poems were loud and free associative, and a few of the poets were pretty weird. Through perhaps compromised but certainly wise judgement, the judges always awarded tens to the contestants who appeared the most prone to violent outbursts.
But the scorching heat was beneficial in one sense: it gave concert-goers an excuse to strip, and everyone else a chance to observe them bearing only the hippest of Lollapalooza essentials. In preparation of a new academic year, here is a valuable list of the trendiest style ingredients from Lollapalooza:
łTribal Tattoo: Fashioned into a faux arm band or anklet earns the most approval.
łAny type of tattoo: Especially ones that incorporate your belly button as part of a design, i.e. a lotus flower, mushroom, etc.
łMulti-colored thread hair-wrap: Several wrappers are stationed outside and inside of the Lollapalooza gates for convenience.
łA nose ring
łA belly button ring
łA nipple ring
łAnother nose ring
łAny type of paraphernalia (T-shirts, hats, etc.) which ridicule and deride social institutions and recognized groups.
Appropriate organizations to attack include the Catholic Church, the Republican Party, the rich... If you have trouble focusing on just one, blaming the entire United States is also acceptable.
Stephanie Boyd is the Wildcat Arts Assistant Editor and dared to face Lollapalooza '94 without a belly button ring; applaud her.