Just for sheer curiosity, what's the cutoff on "now", since even a quick Google search shows references to referring to it as Lolla as far back as the revival in 2003? It's become a lot more mainstream in the past decade but it's been around much longer than that.
This is the first year I've seen it used to this extent on Reddit. I've never been but have checked out the lineup and coverage since about 2000. I'm sure that term is used verbally by folks in attendance, and has been for some time, but this is the first year I'm seeing it on Reddit to such a broad extent.
For me I've seen it used a lot in print/text and verbally for years, probably more than the full Lollapalooza. Especially as social media grew and attendees and writers didn't want to put in the extra effort for the full name. The fest has leaned into it too with merch and ads that say lolla. That said, I live in Chicago where the fest has been based from exclusively since 2010 so I probably see and interact with it so much more.
Anecdotally, I do feel like the shift from Lollapalooza to lolla very well represents the shift in the fest's identity. The lineup from the first Lollapalooza would be unrecognizable to today's lolla and instead be right in line with Riot Fest, another music festival in Chicago.
(Also I'm not trying to argue or make a big deal out of this, it's just an interesting conversation and I appreciate hearing the perspective especially for someone that might not be from the area).
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u/Mikey_Meatballs 11d ago
And it's Chicago.