Lollapalooza is going cashless in 2014 with ‘tap and pay’ wristbands

Following in the footsteps of events such as Counterpoint and Mysteryland USA, Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival is telling fans to forego their wallets – they’re going cashless.

Adweek reports that for this year’s fest – which goes down next month – organizers have introduced Lolla Cashless, which utilizes radio frequency identification (or RFID)-enabled wristbands for payments in lieu of physical money exchange.

Ticket purchasers will receive these wristbands in the mail and subsequently link them to their credit card information. Once at the festival, they can use the wristband to buy from the festival’s many vendors by simply tapping the band against a technology-enabled pad and entering a PIN code to complete the transaction.

A plus for the program, according to organizers, is its ability to work offline: if the Internet goes down, vendors will store the transactions until they can be processed. As Adweek puts it, it’s “a smart move,” considering the Internet connection at most festivals (especially those out in the middle of nowhere) tends to be “less than stellar.”

The same can’t be said about Lollapalooza’s line-up, however, which is gaining on dance talent. The roll-call of names you’ll find on the roster runs deep, from main stage pros like Zedd, Above & Beyond, Sebastian Ingrosso and Krewella to Flosstradamus, Gesaffelstein, Flume and GTA. Martin Garrix is also on the Lolla cast list, while the live brigade includes Cut Copy, Chromeo, Darkside, Chase & Status and The Glitch Mob.