Eminem to headline Latin American Lollapalooza fests

Rap superstar Eminem will headline three Latin American editions of the Lollapalooza festival in 2016 after spending a year away from the stage.

The top-selling rapper of all time will headline Lollapalooza on March 12-13 in Sao Paulo, March 18-19 in Buenos Aires and March 19-20 in Santiago, Chile.

Announcing line-ups on Tuesday, Lollapalooza said that the three Latin American festivals would also feature the English alternative rock acts Florence & the Machine and Mumford & Sons, California rap veteran Snoop Dogg, rising US blues rockers Alabama Shakes and Jack U, the duo of US DJs Skrillex and Diplo.

Eminem has not played live since November 2014 when the 42-year-old Detroit-bred rapper starred in a free show in Washington for veterans.

His projects this year have included the soundtrack to the boxing drama Southpaw and a collaboration with his mentor Dr. Dre on what the elder rapper has described as his final album.

Lollapalooza began in 1991 as a travelling US festival under the lead of Jane’s Addiction, part of a boom in non-mainstream music with the end of the 1980s.

Lollapalooza was reborn as an annual summer festival in Chicago in 2005 and has since focused on expansion overseas, with a first European edition taking place last month in Berlin.

Next year will also see the first Lollapalooza in Bogota, but it will take place in October with a different line-up than the three more established Latin American editions.

With their early dates in the year, the three Southern Hemisphere festivals could offer a preview of which artists will play major summer festivals in North America, Europe and Japan.

Other artists playing the Argentina, Brazil and Chile festivals include the Australian psychedelic rockers Tame Impala, South African art house rappers Die Antwoord and the latest project of Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame.