The only surprise is the lack of a surprise: Lollapalooza lineup announced

Lollapalooza, that touring alt-rock head trip turned stationary Chicago festival, recently announced its lineup for this summer's festival, and music fans may feel a nagging sense of déjà vu while scoping out the roster.

Tell me if any of these names sound familiar: Tool, Beastie Boys, Ben Harper and Relentless7, the Gaslight Anthem, the Decemberists, TV on the Radio, Silversun Pickups and Vampire Weekend. From the A-list headliners to the buzz-worthy support acts, the plain truth is that the lineup at Lollapalooza looks like, well, the lineup at just about every other festival this year.

Don't believe me? Here's a sampling of the case of festival double-dipping which is striking music fans this summer: Along with hitting Chicago's Grant Park from August 7 to 9, Tool will also be playing All Points West in Jersey City from July 31 to August 2, Harper will be at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. from June 11 to 14, New Brunswick-bred rockers Gaslight Anthem will be at All Points West and recently hit Coachella in Indio, Calif., the Decemberists will be at Bonnaroo, TV on the Radio were just at Coachella and will also be at Bonnaroo and Vampire Weekend and Silversun Pickups will be at All Points West.

(On the plus side for Lollapalooza, it looks like mastermind Perry Farrell hasn't booked his band Jane's Addiction to play any festival but his own, and they also get major points for booking the brilliant Lou Reed.)

The biggest offenders, however, are hip-hop stalwarts the Beastie Boys. Riding on the positive buzz generated by the recent rerelease of their landmark 1989 album "Paul's Boutique," Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock will be performing at Bonnaroo, All Points West and Lollapalooza, as well as on Aug. 2 at the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal and on Aug. 30 at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for the Outside Lands Festival.

Look, I get it. Every summer, certain bands decide to hit the road, and with the music industry in a steady decline the festival market has become a viable revenue-generator, so festival organizers across the country jump on the opportunity to book as many of the current popular touring bands as they can.

And I also understand how, from a concert-going perspective, concerts make financial sense. The first year I went to Bonnaroo, tickets were around $200. The Police, a band I desperately wanted to see live, were charging about that much per ticket to see them play a 90-minute set a Giants Stadium. For the same ticket price -- plus the cost of a drive to Tennessee -- I was able to see Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, along with the White Stripes, Tool, Regina Spektor, the Roots, the Flaming Lips and a few hundred other bands.

However, what I'm trying to get at here is that all of these festivals used to have their own separate identities. Bonnaroo was for the hippies, Lollapalooza was for the alt-rock kids, the Warped Tour -- which this year will feature rising country star Shooter Jennings, son of Waylon -- was for the punks, Coachella was for the west coast dance and weird rock crowds and All Points West, which is only in its second year, seems to be shooting to be king of the indie rock hill.

While they all may have started with separate goals and disparate identities, it seems that with every year all of the country's big summer festivals are getting closer to being pretty much interchangeable. Rapidly, the issue seems to be becoming not how far are you willing to trek to see the festival which caters to your tastes, but rather one of how long you have to wait before another homogenized mixed-bag populist weekend crops up in your own backyard.