Fields of dream?

SWEAT LODGE Festgoers got down to Spank Rock at Biz 3’s tent in 2006.

Photo: Martha Williams

There must be a conspiracy behind it. How else to explain a city with strong dance-music history, which has every stripe of large music festival, that lacks an electronic-dance weekender? We’ve tried, of course. Move!, an old school–oriented house festival, was less than a hit in 2006. PureNation, a one-day festival in 2005, appears to have been a one-off. The city’s SummerDance electronic night has been quashed due to security issues. Chicago street fests have modest dance stages—DJ-oriented bar Lava has one at West Fest August 9–10. The monthly House in Park series in Jackson Park is more like a laid-back BBQ. The Pitchfork festival’s Biz 3 tent—as cramped, sticky and second-class as it felt—made for some fond memories of 2006. This summer, the best hope for outdoor raving lies with the big shebang in Grant Park.

Enter dance-music fan Perry Farrell, founder and face of Lollapalooza. Farrell has made electronica and dance music (Thievery Corporation and Daft Punk, for example) a major aspect of the recent fests and booked DJs for a rave session in the Mindfield. A late addition to the fest, Perry’s venue will be the closest Chicago will get to dancing under a big top this summer. “We didn’t have a dance tent. There was no place to see premier dance culture in the right environment,” Farrell says. “When word got out about an after-party I was doing, people said, Why don’t you bring that vibe to the grounds?” The bar will be upgraded to a band shell in a space—outfitted with venue-worthy lights and, he hopes, Funktion One sound— that can hold more than 2,000 dancing fools.

From local hip-hop and bass enthusiasts Zebo and Willy Joy to electro lover Dani Deahl, house stalwart James Curd and Le Passage residents Matt Roan and E-Six, there’s a local tilt to Perry’s lineup—though some dubstep, northern soul or techno would have painted a more diverse picture. “Hipster” generation DJs Franki Chan and Flosstradamus get Sunday to lay down the new beat. Los Angeles celeb-circuit favorites DJ AM and Momjeans play Saturday—not such a big deal since both hit River North regularly. We’re curious to see what Does It Offend You, Yeah? can do in a DJ set on Saturday at 5pm—a follow-up to the electro-rock group’s presumably stadium-rattling set at the ungodly hour of 12:30pm earlier the same day.

Looking to Lolla’s bigger stages, some dance light breaks through the rock clouds. Electro-house act Booka Shade and dirty-minded club rap act Spank Rock have back-to-back sets on Saturday at the Citi stage. No one takes ’80s-obsessed, vocoder-loving boogie boys Chromeo too seriously, including themselves, but their set on Sunday at 3:15pm on the MySpace stage will have us silly on the dance floor.

Farrell envisions a growing dance presence at Lolla, but it’ still a long way from rivaling giant U.K. dance fests like Creamfields and this weekend’s Big Chill—both dominated by DJs, some of whom, Ron Trent for instance, hail from these parts. Maybe next year?

See our Lollapalooza schedule for the complete Perry’s Stage lineup. For Clubs recommendations on other Lolla stages, check out “Circus Maximus.”