Lollapalooza begins 3rd year in Chicago

Lollapalooza began its third year as a "destination festival" on Friday (August 3rd) in Chicago's Grant Park, with the three-day event featuring over 100 acts across nine stages, including Modest Mouse, Muse, Snow Patrol, the Silversun Pickups, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kings Of Leon, the Stooges, Silverchair, event co-founder Perry Farrell's Satellite Party and headliners Pearl Jam. While the show will also be "green" and offer information on environmental and social initiatives, Farrell said that its main purpose is to entertain: "I like to say there's an equation. It's 90 percent fun, entertainment, a lifetime experience, and then 10 percent has got to be your charity and your, you know, have a consciousness for the world, because we really are there to have a good time, first and foremost."

Lollapalooza drew over 60,000 people to Grant Park last year, but faces competition this weekend from the Virgin Festival in Baltimore. That event will feature the Police, the Beastie Boys, the Smashing Pumpkins, Velvet Revolver, Incubus and many others.

Some acts, such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse and Interpol, are playing both events.

Lollapalooza will be Pearl Jam's first American festival appearance in nearly a decade, according to Billboard.com.

Other confirmed Lollapalooza acts include Amy Winehouse, My Morning Jacket, the Roots, Patti Smith, the Black Keys, Iggy and the Stooges, Pete Yorn, the Hold Steady and Cold War Kids.