Lollapalooza 1994: Playing basketball with monks, Billy Corgan dunks, and Kelly Deal doesn’t know what to do with her lips
I found the person who bought The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from me. I got it back today and put it on the turntable the minute I got the time to sit down and listen.
This one was my most expensive recovery (so far), but worth it, especially since my copy of Siamese Dream is currently lost in the world somewhere. (It has been sold twice since I sold it and the trail has gone cold.)
I’m even more excited because it gives me a reason to write about the incredible day that was July 24, 1994.
My best friend called me the day before and said: “This guy…. Nick Cave… came to the Motown Museum (where he worked) and took a tour. He offered me tickets to the Lollapalooza show and backstage passes, but I can’t go. Do you want the tickets?” I said “YES!” before he finished the sentence. I was excited to go to my second Lollapalooza in four years (’91) and even more excited to see The Breeders, L7, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Smashing Pumpkins, and oh yeah….Nick Cave!
I called my girlfriend at the time to see if she wanted to go with me and I immediately went through my albums and magazines to see what I could get autographed. I quickly realized that I would be stuck at an all-day festival carrying a bunch of albums and magazines around — not an ideal situation. I decided to narrow it down to two copies of Rolling Stone. One with the Smashing Pumpkins on the cover and one which had a terrific full-color photo of The Breeders. I’d buy a white Lollapalooza T-Shirt or poster and have the rest of the bands sign that. Because our backstage passes were from Nick Cave and he was third on the list of performers, we could only go backstage shortly after his set. If we left the backstage area, we wouldn’t be allowed back later since he would presumably have left the venue. As soon as he left the stage, my ex and I headed back.
The backstage area of Pink Knob Amphitheatre (now DTE Energy Amphitheater) is a strange setup. You walk down a long set of stairs to what is essentially a very long driveway. Once at the bottom of the stairs, there’s a short walk to a patio and a long walkway that runs the length of the backstage area. The first door on the right leads to a corridor of dressing areas. The next opening is the large load-in/load-out area directly behind the main stage. Past the stage is another door leading to catering and additional dressing areas. At the far end, semis and tour buses are parked on one side, with a long wall and barbed wire fence on the other side. Past the barbed wire fence is the ski slope (closed during the summer). Near the buses and the semis was a basketball hoop.
For some reason, the hoop area became the focal point of the backstage experience. George Clinton and a couple of members of his tour group were shooting when we arrived, so we leaned against the wall and watched. IT wasn't anything formal — just guys taking a few shots. Eventually, George was left alone so I started rebounding his missed shots and tossing them back. We ended up shooting for about 10 minutes, and as he left, I asked him to sign my Lollapalooza T-shirt. After he left, I noticed a Lollapalooza necklace someone had left on the wall. I thought it was one of the souvenir necklaces they sold, so I didn’t think anyone would miss it if I kept it. I pulled it out years later after one of my moves and looked at it closer and realized it was actually a credential. (Sorry, “P-Funk Marshall” Hope you were able to get a replacement)
A few minutes later, I saw Nick Cave and his group heading to their bus, so I walked over, introduced myself and thanked him for the tickets. I explained that my friend was very disappointed to not be able to attend. He signed my T-shirt as well. I was able to catch L7 when they headed to their bus little later.
We stayed backstage and listened to the main stage bands, and they sounded incredible. I wish I could’ve seen them play, but I still wanted to meet the Breeders, Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins, so I headed back to the basketball hoop to wait. A golf cart came by and dropped off a group of Tibetan monks who were chanting on Lollapalooza’s second stage. To my surprise, they immediately grabbed the basketball and started shooting. My girlfriend and I both joined in. It seemed like the thing to do. There was no banter, though. Just smiles as we passed the ball to each other after shots. We didn’t realize it at the time, but there was another young lady with a backstage pass from The Breeders who took some photos.
Amy was a huge Breeders fan and was kind enough to share her photos, but wanted to save enough film (remember film?) for The Breeders. For the Beasties Boys, only Ad Rock (Adam Horovitz) stopped by and shot for a while. It was getting later in the evening by the time the Smashing Pumpkins van showed up with the band. I was able to briefly chat and get signatures from Billy, James and Darcy, but no Jimmy Chamberlain. What surprised me most was that Billy Corgan could DUNK. He did it a couple of times then headed to his dressing room. I’m ashamed to say that I never suspected him of being that coordinated, especially in the Doc Martens boots he was wearing.
The Breeders finally came out as the Smashing Pumpkins played. I don’t remember much except Kelly Deal’s reaction when we asked to take a picture with her. She said “I never know what to do with my lips.” I laughed, but when we posed for the picture, my ex decided to stare at Kelly’s lips just to see what was going on. Anyway, the photo below is the result.
We left at that point, exhausted from a long day. As we were walking through the parking lot, we could hear Billy Corgan sing “Today is the greatest/Day I’ve ever known…”
Seemed appropriate.
