Over the years, Lollapalooza has expanded beyond its long-time home in Chicago, launching several offshoot music festivals in South America. (The festival also previously announced a festival in Israel, but those plans were ultimately scrapped.) Now, it looks like organizers are setting their sights north with talks of a new festival in the city of Toronto.

In a recent interview with Consequence of Sound, Toronto Urban Roots Festival head organizer Jeff Cohen revealed plans of Lollapalooza’s impending Toronto invasion while discussing the future of his own festival:



“Lollapoloza is surely coming to Toronto next August 2015, and it’ll be very interesting to see how that changes the summer landscape in our great city,” Cohen explained. “Honestly, we’ve never played by the industry sets of rules with regard to how things work in our venues, etc … being able to book a festival and at the same time also book some into our clubs is just an organic progression. But yes, we are absolutely self-sufficient in terms of how we do business and fiercely independent of the big players like C3, AEG, and Live Nation.”

In a follow-up interview with CoS, Cohen further confirmed rumors of a Lollapalooza Toronto, adding that it could take place the second week of August.

Reached for comment, Lollapalooza organizers C3 Presents said “nothing is confirmed,” but failed to address whether the festival is in fact considering the possibility.

The move makes sense. In addition to Toronto Urban Roots, North by North East, and an offshoot of Riot Fest, Toronto has attracted a number of festivals to its area as of late. However, it’s lacked a major mainstream music festival since the dissolution of Virgin Mobile Festival in 2009.

If Lollapalooza were to stage a festival in Toronto the second week of August, it would face stiff competition from neighboring Osheaga Music Festival, which typically takes place the first week of August in Montreal. What’s more, it would be in direct conflict with San Francisco’s Outside Lands, which traditionally takes place the second weekend in August.

This is a developing story