For discerning music fans, this year’s Lollapalooza tour was a dream lineup: Morrissey, the Pixies, Wilco, Sonic Youth, the Flaming Lips, PJ Harvey. The list goes on. Organizers trumpeted it as “the most diverse bill in the festival’s history,” an ambitious lineup that flew in the face of established notions of what made a successful summer tour. But yesterday it came crashing down when, citing soft ticket sales, organizers announced the cancellation of the tour.

At first glance, one might think to assign blame to the aging headliners, a few of whom were beyond their popular peak when the festival was founded by Jane’s Addiction lead singer Perry Farrell and Marc Geiger in 1991. But Morrissey and the recently reformed Pixies have been selling out clubs coast to coast and are arguably two of the most reliable draws of the summer. And they are, for many who came of age in the 1980s, what Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones were to children of the 1960s.

“I am in utter disbelief that a concert of this stature, with the most exciting lineup I’ve seen in years, did not galvanize ticket sales,” said Mr. Geiger in a statement. “I’m surprised that given the great bands and the reduced ticket prices that we didn’t have enough sales to sustain the tour.”

Aging fans and artists may have less to do with the festival’s failure than a market for summer concerts that is worse than most promoters can remember. “You can imagine the dismay I share at this moment with the artists and musicians who were looking forward to the tour,” said Mr. Farrell. “Our plight is a true indication of the general health of the touring industry and it is across musical genres.”

First headlined by Mr. Farrell and his band in 1991, Lollapalooza quickly became an alternative-rock juggernaut. Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ice-T, Butthole Surfers (and, later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam) held down the main stage while up-and-comers or traveling oddities performed at side stages,

Along with Nirvana’s breakthrough album, “Nevermind,” the success of the tour signaled the birth of a new cultural moment and the emergence of a tantalizing new youth market. The tour ran successfully for seven summers, creeping ever closer to the alternative rock mainstream, before it went on hiatus in 1998; it returned in 2003.

Lollapalooza may be a victim of its own success. The summer schedule is crowded with its offspring: Package tours aimed at identifiable segments of the mainstream music market.

The Vans Warped Tour, now in its 10th year, has built a solid following with pop-punk and emo acts like Good Charlotte, Bad Religion, NOFX, and Thursday. The eighth annual Ozzfest, meanwhile, has found success pairing vintage metal acts like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and Slayer with their progeny, bands like Slipknot and Hatebreed. Both tours are more targeted versions of the Lollapalooza concept.

Still, there was good cause to be bullish about this year’s tour, which was to be a sort of European-style rock and pop festival on wheels. Morrissey and the Pixies have been selling out clubs coast to coast. And Bonnaroo and Coachella, two American festivals that shared many performers with this year’s Lollapalooza lineup (the Flaming Lips, the Pixies, Wilco, Bassment Jaxx, Le Tigre, BRMC, DJ Danger Mouse), both had banner years, attracting 90,000 and 50,000 fans respectively.

“Bonnaroo and Coachella owe a lot to Lollapalooza,” said Paul Tollett, whose company Golden Voice promotes 300 to 400 concerts a year, including this year’s Coachella. “Our company learned the whole festival production skills from Lollapalooza.” Indeed, Mr. Tollett had signed on to promote two of the planned Lollapalooza dates.

Mr. Tollett doesn’t blame the lineup, which he applauds as “the best in years,” but rather an across-the-board softening in the tour business, something he began noticing about a month ago. “Besides the small clubs, which seem to be fine, nothing big is selling right now,” he said. “Lollapalooza is the first one to have decided to say ‘we’re in at the wrong time.’ If they were smart, others would follow suit.”