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The Top 10 Acts We're Most Excited To See At This Year's Lollapalooza

Our favorite season of the year is just around the corner! No, not spring, silly -- we're talking FESTIVAL SEASON! After a great run at SXSW a few weeks ago, the jam-packed 2013 music festival season kicks off in earnest next week with the Coachella Festival (April 12-14 and again April 19-21). However, what we're really looking forward to is the 2013 incarnation of Lollapalooza, which will be held in Chicago's Grant Park for the ninth consecutive year. The lineup for this year's fest, which runs from August 2-4, was just released and its a DOOZY. Here are the Top 10 Acts That We're Most Excited To See At This Year's Lollapalooza.

AZEALIA BANKS

It's Put Up or Shut Up time for the Harlem rapper, who is in danger of becoming more well known for her propensity to engage in Twitter beef than for her skills as a lyricist. That said, we're rooting for her -- she blew audiences away when she scored a prime slot at Coachella last year, and we have our fingers crossed she'll do the same when Lolla rolls around in August.

JESSIE WARE / THE LUMINEERS

No, these two acts are not going to be performing together. However, as members of VH1's You Oughta Know family, we'll definitely be working our way through the masses to get as close to the stage as possible when both of these acts perform. Their styles are quite different — Jessie's an R&B seductress, while The Lumineers are all about the handclaps and "Hey!"s— but you can count on both of these acts elevating Grant Park to the next level when they take the stage.

KENDRICK LAMAR

We could not have been more impressed with Kendrick when we saw him perform down at SXSW last month, so we're putting this Compton rapper's set nearly the top of our Must See List for this year's fest. We saw what he did with audiences of a thousand or so people, so we cannot WAIT to see what songs like "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Money Trees" do to an audience that will number in the tens of thousands.

MUMFORD & SONS

Mumford & Sons, another VH1 You Oughta Know act, have grown to become one of the biggest draws in the entire world. They have headlined festivals overseas before, but this will be their first major Stateside headlining gig. Their most recent album, Babel, was a big winner at this year's Grammy Awards, and the band now has two albums worth of material to whip up the crowds.

NEW ORDER

How does it feel? New Order is a titan of an act, one that's been putting out hit singles for well over 30 years at this point. Sure, they're a little bit older than they were at their high water mark, but who among us out there isn't? Songs like "Blue Monday" and "Temptation" molded dancefloor beats and pop radio ready melodies decades before the likes of Calvin Harris and David Guetta, so if you're in Chicago this August, be sure and pay your respects to the masters.

NINE INCH NAILS

Yes, it's true, this band went on a nationwide retirement tour just a few short years ago. Rather than feel duped, though, we recommend that you instead get PUMPED for the return NIN's nihilistic sound. Don't forget your moshing boots!

PHOENIX

Hands down one of the best live bands out there these days, Phoenix is about to release their first album of original material since Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was released in 2009. Few acts have the ability to get massive crowds of people dancing the way that this French foursome does, and as perfect as songs like "Lisztomania" and "1901" are on wax, they really come alive when you hear them alongside your 60,000 closest friends.

THE POSTAL SERVICE

If you're anything like us and have nostalgia for the year 2003 (which seems like yesterday but now we're realizing was TEN YEARS AGO!?!?), then the reunion of The Postal Service is for you. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello will be playing ALL the hits off the one album that they got around to releasing, 2003's Give Up.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

There's rock music, and then there's RAWK MUSIC. The Queens Of The Stone Age perform the latter, with riffs so heavy they make Mama June look positively anorexic. The band just destroyed at Lollapalooza Brazil, which was their first live performance since 2011, and we're looking for them to do the same in Grant Park a few months from now.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND

The princes of peppy preppy music, Vampire Weekend, just debuted a slew of new material at a raved-about showcase at SXSW. More than just indie rockers, the group incorporates Graceland-esque world beat rhythms into their patented sound. If you think their material sounds a bit thin on record, just wait until you hear those drums live and in-person. They will positively envelop you!

[Photos: Getty Images]