Lollapalooza To Welcome More Than 100,000 People Each Day Starting Thursday

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The festival music lovers wait for all year is here. Lollapalooza officially kicks off at 11 a.m. Thursday and runs through Sunday.

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More than 100,000 people are expected to attend each day, and some of those people came from far away for the event.

Manuel Hoermann came all the way from Germany.

"A great time," he said. "Great artists, nice live bands, a good vibe. Chill people, like having a good time."

Hoermann and his friend arrived Wednesday and say they are here for the festival and the fun.

More than 170 bands will perform across eight stages for four days.

The city closed off several streets around Grant Park on Monday night to help prepare for the huge crowds.

The main entrance to the festival is at Michigan Avenue and Ida B. Wells Drive. Another option is the north entrance at Columbus and Monroe.

There will be security checkpoints at each gate, and bags will be searched before entering.

Hoermann said he is looking forward to finally experiencing the Chicago festival.

"The original one is from Chicago, and we always wanted to go to the one in Chicago because we already went to the one in Berlin. It was crazy," he said. "We heard about the one in Chicago. Should be way better, so we decided to go here."

Headliners for the first day of the festival are the Chainsmokers and the Strokes.

Check the lineup here.