Perry Farrell

Lollapalooza, taking place Aug. 1-3 in Chicago's Grant Park, has made a spectacular re-emergence over the last few years. By positing itself as a singular event and working in conjunction with the city of Chicago, it's engendered a sense of stability and community that's hard for other hodge-podge rivals to compete with.

Not that founder Perry Farrell views things in terms of competitiveness. For the ever-evolving ex-Jane's Addiction vocalist, solo artist, DJ, and enviromentalist, events like Lollapalooza should be about community, common ground and the fostering of new and unexpected artistic partnerships.

And with a 120-band roster ranging from first-generation headliners Nine Inch Nails to current hip-hop king Kanye West, all the way down the line to DJ du jour Girl Talk and boundary-busters Battles -- not to mention a few-thousand capacity dance club on the premises -- Farrell has righteous cause to feel optimistic about such cross-pollination.

Farrell was kind enough to take a few moments away from plotting festival culture's most revered post-Woodstock forefather to enlighten us about this year's event.

Check out page 2 to read the full interview.