Preparations for Lollapalooza underway

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More street closings took effect Wednesday as Chicago gets ready to host the three-day Lollapalooza music festival that begins Friday in Grant Park.

The main stage is almost up and Grant Park is buzzing with activity in preparation of Lollapalooza. There are extensive street closures around Grant Park in place and an estimated 100,000 people are expected to attend.

"I think this year one of the most exciting things we have is an outstanding line up," says Brooke Leal of C3 Presents. "We've got legendary artists like Paul McCartney coming to play Lollapalooza for the first time."

With more and more concert goers streaming video on sites like Periscope and Meerkat, Verizon Wireless has installed 12 new permanent cell towers around the venue to handle the load.

"This is a permanent solution we put in Grant Park to help our customers not only for Lollapalooza, but the Chicago Marathon is coming and things like that will be here so we're gonna stay here permanently to help with that and all that data consumption," says Philip Olkowski of Verizon Wireless.

The city's Office of Emergency Management says it's prepared from a public safety standpoint.

In 2012 severe weather forced thousands to evacuate. Plans are in place for that just in case. There will also be a large police and fire presence.

"Like in years past, take public transportation, call 911 if you need something and be aware of your surroundings," advises Rich Guidice of OEMC.

Single- and three-day tickets for Lollapalooza are sold out, but organizers say there are some VIP tickets left. However those would cost you more than $1,800 a ticket for all three days of the concert.