It’s almost summer, and in the concert world that means it’s time for club-dwelling hipster bands to move out of the way and let the big boys and girls commandeer amphitheaters across the country. Among giants, biggest of all are the festival tours — swirling vortexes of beer, overpriced T-shirts and dry ice that whip into town, suck the cash out of several thousand people, turn amps up to 11, rock out, pack up and board the bus to the next major metropolitan area.

Festivals hitting the Chicago area in the coming months offer an embarrassment of riches — or perhaps just an embarrassment. Here’s some advance warning:

LOLLAPALOOZA

Tweeter Center, July 12

The original, and again the best, Perry Farrell’s mad carnival returns after a five-year break — and Farrell’s band, alt-rock pioneers Jane’s Addiction, reunite to headline the whole thing. The rest of the lineup offers West Coast wackiness (every band on the mainstage is from California), promising up-and-coming rockers and, uh, Steve-O from “Jackass.”

ROCK THE MIC TOUR

Tweeter Center, July 16

I doubt the Tweeter Center serves Aliz