Music fans across the country lost it last week when Lollapalooza released its 2015 lineup. Excuse me, Paul McCartney AND Florence + the Machine AND alt-J at the same festival? The star-studded lineup was too good to pass up, and the Chicago fest sold out within 24 hours of the lineup’s release — leaving many ticketless music fest fans brokenhearted.
Cue Canada’s Osheaga — the solution to many of these fans’ problems. The lesser-known festival has been held in Montreal, Quebec for the past 10 years and has recently hosted acts as big as Outkast and Mumford & Sons.
Why you should consider it:
- The lineups are similar… enough.
No, there’s no Paul McCartney at Osheaga. So if that was your Lolla selling point, you may be disappointed. BUT the Canadian fest does boast many of the same major acts as Lollapalooza — Florence + the Machine, alt-J, Of Monsters and Men — and a few you can’t find in Chicago — Kendrick Lamar, the Black Keys, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.
- It’s cheaper (like, way cheaper).
Though at first glance it may seem that general admission tickets for both fests cost the same amount ($275, to be precise) Osheaga’s prices are in Canadian dollars, meaning Osheaga tickets are actually about $60 cheaper. Not only that, but lodging options for Osheaga run
as low as $124 (150 CAD) — compared to the
$235 Festival Rate offered by Chicago hotels for Lollapalooza.
- It’s not sold out.
Let’s not beat around the bush here — Lolla isn’t much of an option at this point. Sure, you can scope out resell options, but why do that when Osheaga tickets are still available? Plus, Osheaga is taking place the same three days as Lolla (July 31-Aug. 2) so you won’t even have to redo your schedule.
