Lollapalooza

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• the usual suspects
• mixed
• rain or shine
• boogying

• exploded
• called it quits
• morphed
• line-up

• as of now

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Lollapalooza has changed. In the 90’s, it was a one-day summer multi-stage concert event that toured the big cities of the US. Although it started out as a showcase for Grunge bands, it became an annual gathering place for the year’s biggest bands, as well as lesser known artists who have since exploded. Beck, The Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Sinead O’Connor, The Flaming Lips and even The Ramones all played the festival in the 90’s.

In 1997, the festival ran into financial trouble and called it quits. It returned in 2003, but that was the last national tour for the festival. Cancelled the following year due to low ticket sales, the festival has morphed into a single location event in Chicago. And it’s a whole weekend instead of just one day. This year’s Loolapalooza took place the first weekend in August and featured Manu Chao, Wilco, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers along with hundreds of other acts.

Listen to Logan and Toby talk about music festivals.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Logan

Toby

Logan:  I remember Lollapalooza back in the 90’s, but I haven’t really heard about their line-ups as of now, so…

Toby:  Yeah, I haven’t looked into it either. I think there, actually, I think, the usual suspects. Um, I think, Death Cab For Cutie again, and, um, I can’t even remember. But I, I don’t know, I’m kinda mixed on the whole festival scene. On the one hand, it’s really great because usually tickets aren’t that much for the amount of music that you get to see, but it’s totally exhausting, and at some point, you’re just oversaturated.

Logan:  Well, especially when there’s more than… I mean, I can handle two stages. But when there’s five, six stages and you almost have to plan it out before you go in there, what bands are playing at what time, go from that crowd to a whole different crowd, from stage to stage, I think—at the same time, I think it’s really fun, but again it’s the exhaustion part, which, yeah, it can be tiring, so…

Toby:  And it is, it is fun, you know, because you don’t know what the weather’s gonna be like. The festivals are always rain or shine. You could be boogying in the rain. But it doesn’t matter. Yeah. I don’t think I’m gonna do it this year though. I’m just not in the festival mood.

Logan:  Uh, I don’t think I… my festival days have been over for a few years, I think.

 

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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