Yeah Yeah Yeahs Join Lollapalooza Lineup As Festivals Race to Replace Beastie Boys

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The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been added to this year's Lollapalooza lineup as a replacement for the Beastie Boys, who have been forced to cancel all their tour dates as Adam Yauch (MCA) recovers from Parotid gland cancer. According to the fest's official Website, Karen O and the It's Blitz crew will perform in the vacated Saturday night headlining slot, giving fans an alternative to the other headliner on August 8th, Tool. Lollapalooza runs from August 6th to 8th at Chicago's Grant Park, and features previously announced headliners Depeche Mode, Jane's Addiction, the Killers and Kings of Leon.

The Beasties' cancellations will also affect New Jersey's All Points West, San Francisco's Outside Lands, Montreal's Osheaga and Texas' Austin City Limits festivals in the coming months. Lollapalooza was the first to fill their vacancy, with the other events most likely to follow suit. "We are exploring all options and we will advise fans as soon as possible," organizers wrote on the Osheaga Website, while All Points West tells ticket-buyers, "Please sit tight while we make new arrangements." Outside Lands also hints towards replacing the Beasties, while Austin City Limits have listed "TBD" where the Beasties were scheduled to perform.

As Rock Daily reported yesterday, the Beastie Boys were forced to nix all tour dates and push back the release of their new album Hot Sauce Committee, Part 1 after Yauch discovered a lump in his neck that was diagnosed as a tumor. Fortunately, the cancer has not spread, is situated in a place that won't affect Yauch's voice and is considered very treatable. Yauch will require surgery and subsequent treatments over the next few months.

Related Stories:
• Beastie Boys Cancel Concerts, Push Back "Hot Sauce" After Yauch Reveals He Has Cancer
• Lollapalooza Confirms Jane's Addiction, Depeche Mode, The Killers and Tool for '09 Fest

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Song Stories

“Karma Chameleon”

Culture Club | 1983

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."

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