Lollapalooza to welcome a record sell-out crowd to Chicago

(Ashley Garmon)

This year, Chicago celebrates the 20th anniversary of Lollapalooza, a mega-festival drawing a record crowd of 270,000 music fans to a sold-out three-day event.

Some 130 performers will take the stage this year, alongside headliners Eminem, Muse, Coldplay, and Foo Fighters. Lollapalooza runs August 5-7 in Chicago's Grant Park.

For the first time this year the event expanded internationally, with a festival in Santiago, Chile, this past spring. Last year a reported 240,000 attended the Chicago event.

Other acts set to perform in 2011 include My Morning Jacket, Cee Lo Green, Deadmau5, Ween, The Kills, and White Lies, among many others.

For US fans, YouTube is streaming the event live via the Lollapalooza YouTube channel. While YouTube hasn't detailed which acts will be streamed, the streams will include live performances as well as backstage scenes and interviews.

Other major festivals in August include the UK's V Festival (August 20-21), celebrating its 15th year with Eminem and Rihanna as headliners. Also in the UK, the 33rd Reading Festival and 13th Leeds Festival run August 26-28 with headliners My Chemical Romance, Muse, The Strokes, and Beady Eye.

Lollapalooza was founded by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell as a tour for his band. Since then the event has helped launch the careers of such bands as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and Arcade Fire.

http://www.lollapalooza.com

Watch a clip on the history of the event: http://www.youtube.com/lollapalooza#p/u/9/mNevc10GZWU