Zipper pockets, comfy shoes and baby wipes: Lollapalooza veterans offer tips on navigating fest

Metallica fan Adam Lubicz, right, and friend Mike Raia attended Lollapalooza last year. A 12-year veteran of the festival, Lubicz, 34, recommends wearing comfy shoes and carrying an insulated hydration pack. Courtesy of Adam Lubicz

Wearing close-toed shoes, carrying a hydration pack or water bottle and bringing baby wipes will keep Lollapalooza fans comfy, hydrated and clean, fest veterans say. Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun Times, 2021

Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

Lollapalooza veterans offer that advice to fans heading to the four-day music extravaganza beginning today in Chicago's Grant Park.

"Hydration is key at festivals like this," said Adam Lubicz, who recommends concertgoers carry an empty water bottle or insulated hydration pack that they can refill for free at the venue.

Lubicz, who has attended Lollapalooza for the last 12 years (except for 2020, when the pandemic forced its cancellation), has other suggestions for navigating the festival, which draws about 400,000 people annually.

"The best way to get there is public transportation and ride-share as in Uber or Lyft," he said. "Parking gets dicey.

"No open-toed shoes or sandals," added the Antioch resident, who recommends comfy footwear. "You're going to be doing a lot of walking."

Dress light and tie a hoodie around your waist for when the temperature dips at night, he said. The less you carry, the better. Identification and a cellphone should suffice (the festival rents portable chargers).

"Whatever you can get in your pocket," he said.

And make sure that pocket is zippered.

Last year, during Metallica's set, Lubicz felt someone's fingers in his pocket attempting to grab his cellphone, which he neglected to return to a zippered pocket. That's typical for large festivals.

"Unfortunately, if you're in a tight crowd, that could happen," he said.

It happened to a friend of Karen Brunk's son, whose cellphone was snatched two years ago at Lollapalooza.

"You're crushed up against people, raising your hands and not paying attention, and that's prime time for someone to take it," said the Mundelein resident.

Lollapalooza is cashless. Admission is by wristband, which attendees purchase in advance and link to a credit/debit account or a mobile payment service.

Paying for food or merchandise with a tap of the wrist makes cash and credit cards unnecessary, except perhaps for public transportation or a ride-share.

Daily Herald reporter and Lollapalooza fan Dave Oberhelman recommends having a designated meeting place inside and outside Grant Park, in case the group is separated or forced to evacuate during inclement weather.

"If you are together and there's an evacuation, hold hands," Oberhelman said. "The force of a daily crowd of 100,000 people -- 115,000 this year I've heard -- is not to be underestimated."

A Lollapalooza regular since 2005, Letty Macias, posting in the Everything Des Plaines Facebook group, recommended bringing baby wipes.

"Trust me, they come in handy at the porta potty," she wrote.

She suggested fest-goers check out Kidzapalooza, whether or not they have children with them.

"Perry Farrell always makes an appearance there," she said of the fest's creator.