Lollapalooza 2008 Review
This past weekend, I went to the massive Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park. Three long days and dozens of bands later, I am completely and utterly wiped out. No matter, it was a great time. What follows is a recap of my virtually sports-free experience.
Before I went to the show, I went over the schedule and visited the myspace page for practically every artist on the bill. Myspace is a great, legal way to sample full songs from pretty much any artist out there. (Has been for years, apparently. Welcome to 2003!) So I went over the bill, circled some "must sees" and crossed out the bands didn't immediately fall in line with my musical tastes. It might be a bit brutal to eliminate a band after 30 seconds, but there's only so many times you can trek across Grant Park in a day, right? On with the show.
On Friday, I decided to go to work and save my "day off" for Monday. (This no-longer-21-year-old needs at least a day to recoup.) So I didn't get to the festival until 3:30 or so, or just in time to see The Black Keys. The blues-rock two-piece band from Akron, Ohio, didn't disappoint. I enjoy their earlier albums, in particular "Rubber Factory" from 2004, but their new one really elevates them into new territory. Produced by Danger Mouse, "Attack and Release" is like the Black Keys on steroids. Since Gnarls Barkley was on the bill this weekend, I was hoping for a cameo. No luck in that, but honestly they didn't need him. Their sound was full enough.
From there, I caught some Cat Power on my way to and from the beer tent. This indie rock veteran was a pleasing enough diversion while I waited for the next act. Did I mention it was blistering hot on Friday? The sun was just brutal. A giant, dark cloud went over for a few minutes and it received a standing ovation.
Also, AT&T was having massive problems with their cell service Friday (which is sort of ironic considering they sponsored the main stage). I consistently averaged "one bar", sending text messages would take at least 3 or 4 tries, and often messages would go undelivered for hours. There was no internet service, either, which means I had to wait several hours before I found out the Cubs got shut out by the Pirates. The horror.
Anyways, next up were The Raconteurs. Jack White's side project is one of my favorite bands on the bill, and I loved every minute of their show. White is just a magnetic performer that completely owns the stage. You can't help but stare at him wide-eyed during every second of his blistering guitar solos. Every modern rock fan should make it a point to see The White Stripes or these guys at least once before they die.
Finally, Radiohead. I'm not the world's biggest Radiohead fan, but I do like them a pretty fair amount. I was pretty far from the stage for this one, as the place was absolutely mobbed. Nevertheless, they put on a good show and played a healthy amount of tunes from their new album, "In Rainbows". In my opinion, it's their best work in years.
On Saturday, I got downtown just in time to watch The Gutter Twins at 2:30. This is the new band featuring the former frontmen of Screaming Trees and the Afghan Whigs. I've always dug Mark Lanegan's voice, whether it was Screaming Trees, solo, or his work with Queens of the Stone Age. This band makes dark, melodic, raspy rock; and they were stellar live.
Next I saw parts of Devotchka and MGMT, both of whom were at the very least interesting. Since I have nothing else to say about these guys, I'd like to point out that the weather was fantastic on Saturday. 80 and sunny with a nice breeze and zero humidity. If only Friday and Sunday were like that.
Explosions in the Sky were next on my list. This instrumental band is at varying times beautiful, melodic, and extremely intense. Excellent mood music, and I definitely have to look a little deeper into their catalog.
We took a little break after this, and when we got back we immediately headed south to find a decent spot for Rage Against the Machine. While waiting, we heard the end of Lupe Fiasco's rap set and 90s grunge wannabes The Toadies do their little revival. Neither one was particularly inspiring. By the time Rage started, we were packed in there like sardines. They ripped into "Testify" and pandemonium ensued. Rage is one of my all-time favorite bands, but during the second of Zach de la Rocha's pleas for peace I moved back to where the adults were watching the show. They played a pretty good set, but they seemed a little too distracted by the crush up front to really get into it. Since I just saw them eleven months ago at Alpine Valley (where they were really into it) and they were essentially playing the exact same set, we decided to cut out a little early to check out Chicago's own Wilco. I'm not really a fan of Wilco at all, but I appreciate their musicianship and they were a little more my speed at the end of a long second day. What can I say? I'm old.
On Sunday, we got down bright and early in time to see The Whigs. I had wanted to see The Blakes, too, but Metra made sure that I wouldn't. Oh well. I did get to see a little of What Made Milwaukee Famous, as apparently it's not beer, cheese, and brats. They were solid. As for The Whigs, they're a new band out of Athens, Georgia and I dig them a lot. It's hard to classify them, as their songs are all over the map. Southern-tinged punk garage pop rock, I guess. Check out the tracks "Like a Vibration" and "Mission Control" to see the different ends of their spectrum.
Next there was an extended stretch of bands that I had little or no interest in. The John Butler Trio was the most memorable of that bunch if I had to pick one. At this point, we decided to check out Perry Farrell at the Kidzapalooza stage and I was glad we did.
Kidzapalooza is pretty cool. They have a bunch of tents set up with kids music-related activities, and a stage with people singing with and for kids. If I had a ton of money to burn and...well, no I'd still probably not take my kids to a place with so many drunk hooligans. I mean, I saw a lady pushing a stroller around during Nine Inch Nails. I just don't get that. But as an isolated event, Kidzapalooza was pretty cool and my kids would have enjoyed it.
So Perry Ferrell came out and sang a few songs with the kids in School of Rock All-Stars. (Remember that movie? It was based on these guys.) Perry brought out a special guest, too. Slash, from Guns N' Roses. And they proceeded to play four songs, including "Knocking on Heaven's Door", "The Mountain Song", and "Jane Says". I would have never thought in a million years that I'd see Perry Farrell doing Jane's Addiction songs this weekend. It was a nice, unexpected bonus.
Iron and Wine and Flogging Molly were next. I was pretty dead-ass tired at this point, and I just didn't have the patience for the former. I like Iron and Wine, but I have to be in a certain kind of mood to enjoy their brand of mellow indie folk music. Molly, on the other hand, was perfect. Highly energetic, Irish-punk drinking songs. What could be better?
The weekend catching up to me, I was hesitant to trek back to the South end (roughly a mile away) to watch Gnarls Barkley. But I figured when would I find myself in position to see them again and said what the hell. I'm glad I went; they were great. The aforementioned Danger Mouse is a musical genius and Cee-Lo has an awesome voice. They've got at least a dozen ipod-able tracks, and they played them all.
I next found myself in a mob of wall-to-wall flesh by the Gnarls exit. Everyone was there to see Girl Talk. It's just a DJ spinning tunes, but he takes literally dozens of recognizable samples per song and mashes them up into an infectious dance beat that's really popular with the ladies. So popular, in fact, that at least fifty were on stage partying their asses off. I wasn't complaining at the site of that.
Having been zapped of all energy hours ago, I parked my ass in the beer garden and drank Stellas while I waited for Nine Inch Nails to take the stage. I took this time to read about the Cubs fantastic win on my phone. Go, Reed Johnson! (There, sports thoughts!) Then, I caught Nails. I'd never seen NIN before, though I consistently have enjoyed their albums for going on 20 years now. By far, they had the best sound and most elaborate light show I had seen all weekend. Pitch perfect performance, too. So good that you almost think that they're pulling a milli-vanilli up there and faking it. (Doesn't appear so, but I had to throw that out there.) At one point they played behind this electric fence and the band members faded in and out of a sea of white noise. Being in Chicago, I couldn't help but think, "Chicken wire?" But it was very cool and totally unique. Aside from a 25-minute trance set that practically begged people to go check out Kanye West, Trent and company made me forget how much my feet were hurting. Just a stellar performance all around.
And so ends my Lollapalooza experience. I saw a lot of good music, drank a lot of water, got a lot of sun, and generally had a great time. I'm tired as hell, but it was an experience that I'll never forget.