Lollapalooza 2015 kicks off in Grant Park
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Lollapalooza kicked off Friday in Grant Park for the eleventh straight year in Chicago.
As many as 300,000 people are expected to attend the three-day music event, which runs through Sunday.
MORE: How to get around Lollapalooza traffic
General admission tickets, multi-day passes and travel packages are sold out. The website says VIP tickets are still available, but they may be gone soon.
"I'm bustin the moves. I love it! It's a great time. I love to bust my moves out, what can I say," said Kevin MacGregor, a Naperville resident.
More than 140 acts will play on eight stages over the long weekend. People lined up early this morning, looking forward to Friday night's headliner - Paul McCartney.
"We thought getting here at 6:45 a.m., we might be the first ones here. But there were ten people ahead of us," Sara Furlow said.
Some of them even have McCartney's signature tattooed on their bodies.
"It was in Pittsburgh five years ago and I had a sign asking him to sign my little black bird tattoo and he called me up on stage and did it," said Alvita Akiboh, a Chicago resident.
VIDEO: Musician describes what it's like to perform at Lolla
Many concert-goers said they were prepared for a long day in the sun. Highs on Friday topped out around 90 degrees.
"We got it covered. We got water, we got sunscreen and now we got some music," said Brian Gebhardt, a St. Charles resident.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital said it saw two dozen patients from the festival grounds on the first day of Lollapalooza.
Backpacks and purses are allowed, but concert organizers are encouraging people to leave bags at home for the quickest entry. All bags brought into the park are subject to inspection at the gate. Express lanes are available for anyone entering without a bag.
A full list of allowed and prohibited items is available on the Lollapalooza website.
Gates open at 11 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. each day. Metallica headlines on Saturday and Florence and the Machine will headline Sunday.
METRA BEEFS UP SERVICE FOR LOLLAPALOOZA
Metra said it has added extra trains to accommodate people returning home from Lollapalooza on Friday evening. Those trains are posted on the Metra website as "extra service."
During the three-day festival, Metra said extra trains will run on an adjusted schedule on eight lines: BNSF, Rock Island, Metra Electric, MD-North, MD-West, UP-North, UP-Northwest and UP-West.
A special $10 pass for the three-day event can be purchased at Metra stations and on Metra trains starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
Metra officials remind riders that alcoholic drinks and glass containers will be prohibited on trains after 7 p.m. Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday.
