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Concert Review: Lollapalooza Day 1

Sarah — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:39:08 +0000

For being a person who hates a) large crowds, b) large drunk crowds, c) heat, d) the outdoors, and e) being outdoors in the oppressive summer heat with large crowds of drunk people, a big festival like Lollapalooza has all of the makings of a nightmare. Which is why, for the first three summers I lived here (2006-2008), I resolutely ignored the festival despite some killer lineups. I changed my tune after going on one day last year and actually enjoying myself. So, despite my better judgment, I went in for a three day pass this year. And, while I admit that I had my moments of being a diva, I’m pretty sure that I’ll do it all over again next year.

After some waiting-in-line induced grumpiness (FYI, having your wristband scanners go down at precisely the time doors open is not a good way to start off a festival), we headed over to the Adidas MEGA stage to what was left of B.o.B‘s set. It was clear from the second you could get a glimpse of the field that no one had anticipated “Airplanes” becoming one of the summer’s biggest hits. The crowd was massive, and this was practically at the crack of dawn in Lollapalooza time. While B.o.B is definitely a rap/r&b artist, based on this performance, he’s could easily be placed in the category of rock star, based on the time he spent behind a guitar, singing. The crowd went wild for “Airplanes”, and then, just to throw a surprise in there, he closed his set with what he called one of his favorite songs: MGMT’s “Kids”. (And I’ll say now that I enjoyed his performance loads more than MGMT’s on Sunday.)

The next act we caught was across the park at the Playstation stage: Los Amigos Invisibles, a Venezuelan band whose style has been called “space-funk acid-jazz”. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but coming into the set with no expectations, I was surprised at how entertained I was. The music is simple and the beats often stay the same, but they kept the attention of a noontime crowd who appeared to be largely unfamiliar with their music. (Except for the people up front waving a Venezuelan flag. I see what you did there.) When their set was nearly finished, we ambled northwards to the Budweiser stage for Chicago native Mavis Staples’ set.

The 71-year old gospel legend seems a strange choice for a rock festival, particularly sandwiched between the funk of Los Amigos Invisibles and the southern rock of Drive-By Truckers. But Staples delivered an hour of powerful music in one of my favorite sets of of the festival. Her music is passionate and soulful, something readily apparent even if you aren’t into the religious message of the lyrics. Staples’ very presence is powerful, one that speaks of decades of fighting for equality and sharing her message and faith. Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco fame) produced Staples’ upcoming album (You Are Not Alone) and came out to join her on guitar for a few songs. Despite fans going crazy for Tweedy, the show wasn’t about him in the least, and he was perfectly content to stand in the background and play for her.

Next, it was back across the field for Drive-By Truckers’ set. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy their set as much as I’d anticipated. The performance was great, technically speaking. No botched notes or other cock-ups which take me out of the performance. I just found it to be a little dull. Maybe it was the oppressive heat or my impending sunburn or the fact that I was starting to get hungry again, but I just wasn’t sold.

I left near the end of their set to go snag a spot in the grass at the Budweiser stage for The New Pornographers, instead. I saw them last time they were in Chicago, but sans Neko Case (broken foot) and Dan Bejar (being Dan Bejar, I guess), and while the performance was good, it was a little dull without the oddball humor of Case (or the oddball antics of Bejar). (Although, that show did make me into an Okkervil River fan; go search on Youtube to see Will Sheff step in for the absent Bejar on “Myriad Harbour”, it’s a real winner.) With the full crew at Lollapalooza, however, the band ran through a whole list of favorites, both old and new, starting out with “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and including some of the more memorable tracks off of their latest album, Together. Their set wasn’t about being flashy or pulling out surprises; it was about great music from a tight band, and they absolutely delivered in their own humble way.

The rest of the afternoon was a time for rest and food and more rest. We wandered off to eat and wound up watching Matt & Kim’s performance on one of the jumbo screens set up in the food area. While I’m not very familiar with their music (lo-fi dance punk is not really on my musical radar), their performance absolutely won me over. The music is simple, but Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino have an infectious energy and playful chemistry which makes them a joy to watch. Kim looks like she’s having the time of her life up on stage, while simultaneously looking like she could definitely kick your ass if she had to.

Eventually, the time came to work our way into the crowd over at the Parkways stage. There wasn’t much else I was interested in seeing before Lady Gaga’s show, anyway. We caught the end of Hot Chip‘s set, which was actually really good live, although I’ve been pretty indifferent to their music in the past.

And then, of course, Lady Gaga. Love her or hate her, you have to admit that she makes people talk. In a time where so much mainstream pop music is forgettable (and when even Gaga’s music isn’t terribly innovative), she knows how to draw attention to herself and keep herself in the spotlight. Whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing is your call. The woman is definitely talented, in my opinion; it’s just that a lot of that gets lost in the spectacle that is Gaga.

I wasn’t as in love with her show as I’d hoped to be, however. It was a 60- or 90-minute set drawn out to fill two hours (the running time of her two albums combined is 90 minutes). I don’t know if there have been other Lollapalooza headliners in the past who have so slim a body of work. Everything was over the top, from the costumes to the theatrics to the scripted interludes, sometimes distractingly so. There was plenty of filler, whether due to costume changes, set changes, or long pauses by Gaga to remind everyone watching that they should be free to be themselves, and that three years ago, she was playing to a disinterested crowd on the BMI stage, and now, she had 80,000 people watching her headline Lollapalooza. (Side note: to the young man behind me who yelled out “Over 9,000!”, I salute you.) Her talent shone through during piano-driven ballads “Speechless” and new song “You and I”, and for just a few minutes when she brought Lady Starlight out on stage, friend and onetime collaborator, you caught a glimpse of something human underneath the carefully constructed persona the New York twentysomething has adopted.

Check out my photos from Friday on Flickr, and stay tuned for reviews of Saturday and Sunday.

Scheduling for Lollapalooza is so hard.

Sarah — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:50:48 +0000

I am having a love/hate relationship with this year’s Lollapalooza schedule. It’s not like last year, where I was able to fill every inch of my day with bands. But maybe that’s a good thing — more time for aimlessly wandering from stage to stage, more opportunities to discover something new.

Here’s where you’re most likely to find me this year:

Friday
B.o.B, 11:30-12:15, adidas MEGA stage. Not gonna lie, I really like that song “Airplanes”.
Los Amigos Invisibles, Playstation stage, or The Walkmen, adidas MEGA stage, 1:00-2:00. I’m torn on this one. I’m dragging my husband with me to Lolla this year, and he, like Los Amigos Invisibles, is Venezuelan, so we kind of want to see them. But boy, would I like to see the Walkmen.
Mavis Staples, 2:00-3:00, Budweiser stage. She’s a legend, and her new album is full of fellow Chicagoans like Jeff Tweedy, Kelly Hogan, and Nora O’Connor.
Drive-By Truckers, 3:00-4:00, Playstation stage. I missed them earlier this year because of my dislike of the Vic. Not going to miss out on them this time.
The New Pornographers, 4:00-5:00, Budweiser stage. Last time I saw them, Neko Case had just dropped out of the tour because she broke her foot. TNP with Neko >>>> TNP without Neko.
Lady Gaga, 8:00-10:00, Parkways stage. Shut up, I am totally excited to see Gaga. Don’t you judge me.

Saturday
Who’s got two thumbs and might be sleeping in on Saturday? This girl. I’m going to spend some time over the next couple of days getting to know the morning acts to see if there’s anything that really interests me. Otherwise, I may just be wandering aimlessly until the afternoon. And then, of course, from the afternoon on, my day turns into a mess of needing to clone myself to see everything I want to see.
Blues Traveler, 1:45-2:45, Parkways stage. I love me some harmonica.
Stars, 2:15-3:15, Budweiser stage.
Dan Black, 3:00-3;45, BMI stage.
Gogol Bordello, 3:45-4:45, Parkways stage. I didn’t make it to their show at the Congress earlier this year. I will not be thwarted this time.
Deer Tick, 5:00-6:00, Sony bloggie stage.
Metric, 5:15-6:15, Playstation stage.
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, 6:30-7:30, Sony bloggie stage.
Green Day, 7:45-10:00, Parkways stage.
Phoenix, 8:30-10:00, Budweiser stage. The good thing about the headliners not starting at the same time is that I’ll be able to see a little bit of Green Day’s set before wandering back to Phoenix.

Sunday
The Antlers, 12:15-1:00, Budweiser stage, or Nneka, Parkways stage. I’m so torn! I love both of them, I’ve seen them both live before, so I’ve got no idea where to go.
Blitzen Trapper, 2:00-3:00, Budweiser stage.
Mumford & Sons, 3:00-4:00, Playstation stage. After Lady Gaga, they may just be the band I’m most excited to see, even though I just saw them a few months ago. I love these guys. I’m just sad they’re not going to hang out at the autograph tent, although this may be for the best, because I may have a hard time containing my excitement otherwise. (I did manage to have the self control to not pounce Andrew Bird last year, but my restraint is not infinite.)
Erykah Badu, 5:00-6:00, adidas MEGA stage. Let’s see what kind of crazy shit she comes up with.
The National, 7:15-8:30, Playstation stage. To be honest, I’ve never really loved their live music, from the bootlegs I’ve heard. Maybe this will change my mind.
Arcade Fire, 8:30-10:00, Budweiser stage. I’m also not a huge Arcade Fire fan, but I’m really not interested in seeing Soundgarden, so indie-hipster-whatever central it is.

Lollapalooza 2010 Lineup

Sarah — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:14:40 +0000

In case you took an internet hiatus overnight, here’s some “news” for you: Lollapalooza’s lineup for the 2010 festival has been released in full, including all the letters and &s and *’s, because god forbid they write out Fuck Buttons on their website. The lineup had, of course, already been guessed to about 90% completion by the internet, thanks to leaks about the headliners and all those handy letters that Lolla put out for their Wheel of Fortune-esque teasers.

Aside from the fact that I’m always conflicted about Lollapalooza (I’ve lived here since 2006 and finally got around to dragging myself to the festival last year for the first time), the lineup seems a bit “…meh” to me. The headliners overall aren’t as huge as I’d come to expect from the festival, and the supporting tiers seem a bit thin. There aren’t a whole lot of acts who I’m dying to see, and a lot of the acts I’m excited about are actually ones who I’ve already seen (or will have seen by the time Lolla arrives). And I’m sure someone else can analyze this more in-depth, but there’s a huge lack of local music on the line-up. Lolla’s never made any pretense about being a local music festival — it’s a huge (inter)national festival which just happened to find its home in Chicago — but it would be nice to see some more nods towards its host city in its programming.

But, I’ll admit it, even though half of the internet is all OMG LOLLA SOLD OUT, I’m pretty excited that Lady Gaga is one of the headliners. Go ahead, take away any music street cred I had left, but I am absolutely going to be at her set. There, yeah, I said it. (Also, it will be interesting to see how she adapts her notoriously over-the-top stage show to fit the throw-and-go nature of Lollapalooza.)

So now, of course, we just have to wait (and wait, and wait) for the set schedules to come out. (Consequence of Sound has an unconfirmed day-by-day break-down.) Because, knowing my luck, all of the bands I want to see will be playing at the same time.

The lineup is under the jump for your perusal, in case you still haven’t seen it.

Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, the Strokes, Phoenix, Social Distortion, MGMT, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, the Black Keys, the National, Spoon, Devo, Cypress Hill, Cut Copy, the New Pornographers, Erykah Badu, Slightly Stoopid, Grizzly Bear, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, Wolfmother, Yeasayer, X Japan, MUTEMATH, Metric, Dirty Projectors, AFI, Mavis Staples, Matt & Kim, the xx, Drive-By Truckers, Blues Traveler.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, the Temper Trap, Jamie Lidell, Frightened Rabbit, F Buttons, Deer Tick, Blitzen Trapper, Stars, Raphael Saadiq, the Cribs, Minus the Bear, Switchfoot, the Walkmen, Mumford & Sons, Wild Beasts, Rogue Wave, Los Amigos Invisibles, the Big Pink, the Dodos, Hockey, Cymbals Eat Guitars, B.o.B, Dawes, Warpaint, the Antlers, the Soft Pack, Rebelution, Balkan Beat Box.

Wavves, American Bang, the Ike Reilly Assassination, Company of Thieves, Nneka, Harlem, the Constellations, Miniature Tigers, Mimicking Birds, the Kissaway Trail, HEALTH, Javelin, the Morning Benders, Foxy Shazam, Violent Soho, Royal Bangs, NEON TREES, Freelance Whales, Semi Precious Weapons, Dan Black, The Band of Heathens, Dragonette, My Dear Disco, Shawn Fisher, Neon Hitch, Skybox, The Ettes, Jukebox the Ghost, These United States, MyNameIsJohnMichael.

Wheel of Fortunepalooza?

Sarah — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:32:01 +0000

Hey, Pitchfork: you’re on notice.

With high profile summer festivals constantly trying to find new and interesting ways to reveal their lineups, Lollapalooza figured out a way to do it that will have the whole internet talking. (Well, maybe not the whole internet. Maybe just the portion of it that has been trying to figure out the lineup since the day the 2009 festival ended.)

The people behind the festival have released a fill in the blank style lineup, with all of the “O”s filled in. The headliners are all pretty obvious if you’ve been following the leaks and rumors: Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix all fit pretty nicely on that top line.

I’ve been working on slotting names in the blanks while on a (long, tedious) conference call, but I realized that, well, I don’t really know that many bands. Oops.

Check out the slightly cryptic lineup on Lollapalooza’s website and see if you can figure out some more acts. It’s kind of addicting, actually.

The festival is set for August 6th through the 8th, and tickets are currently on sale, with three-day passes starting at $190.

Looking forward to 2010?

Sarah — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:10:19 +0000

Are you the kind of person who likes to plan ahead? And I mean really, really ahead? Like, nearly 365 days ahead?

Then this post is for you. Lollapalooza tickets for the 2010 festival have officially gone on sale, at the early bird price of $175. (Special tickets went on sale on Friday for $60, but unless you were obsessive enough to sit there refreshing the page all day — for once, this wasn’t me — then you probably missed out.)

Of course, the speculation is running rampant already over who the headliners are. I don’t know that you can even make a prediction like that, given the nature of the music industry today. I’m sure several of the headliners will be epically overrated bands and one or two will be Old Bands That Never Go Away. Call it a hunch.

While I’m here, though, let me say how much it pleases me that Lollapalooza doesn’t use Ticketmaster (or LiveNation) for their sales. The fact that I don’t have to pay for any service fees, and that I can print my ticket for free instead of having to pay to have Ticketmaster make me a PDF or something… that makes my little heart glad. I’m okay with little fees, like the $2 that Schubas tacks on to tickets. But I paid $16 in fees on a $29 ticket the other day from Ticketmaster –that’s 55% of the ticket price. I would understand convenience fees more if there was an alternative to purchasing online, but with so many venues closing down box offices and moving almost exclusively to online sales, I can’t help but feel incredibly ripped off.

Anyhow, off topic rant aside, cave in to the pressure and pick up your tickets here, while they last.

Concert Review: Lollapalooza, Day 1

howsmyliving — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:31:27 +0000

Lollapalooza Friday review, in bite-sized updates.

The Line: I felt like I might as well have just walked out of my apartment and gone a few blocks east to the lake to find the end of the line, we were that far north. Alright, it wasn’t that long, but it seemed like forever. A+ to the friendly Bonnaroo-going hippies in line in front of me, F- to the clump of assholes who wanted to try to cut in line. Don’t think so, kids. Other amusing things about the line: the disclaimer stating that entering the premises allows C3 to use your image in perpetuity, across the universe, forever and ever. Also, awesome to get to see the back of the modern wing of the art museum – I never have reason to go back in that direction, so I haven’t had the opportunity to check out the new addition.

The Security Check: lulz. I think my expectations were too high. Security dude barely even peered into my bag. (Somehow, I had been expecting much more intense security. Whenever I went to Grant Park for Obama’s Election Day rally, there were metal detectors and x-ray machines and everything. Sure, Security of the President-Elect trumps Security of Drunken Fratboy Festival-goers, but, you know, whatever.

The Weather: Can it be both a fail and a win at the same time? One thing that’s kept me away from Lolla in the past has been my lack of desire to stand outside in upper-90s temperatures, so it was a nice surprise to not feel like I was going to instantly die of heatstroke. However, being soaked to the bone (despite the umbrella) and shivering on an August day got to be a little bit ridiculous after a while.

Behind the jump: Reviews of the actual music! April Smith, Hockey, Manchester Orchestra, Gringo Star, The Knux, The Gaslight Anthem, Bon Iver, Ben Folds, Fleet Foxes, The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, and Kings of Leon.

April Smith: Unsigned artist from Brooklyn. I wasn’t able to catch all of her set, mostly just bits and pieces as we wandered around the area of the BMI stage, but I was incredibly impressed with what I heard. She’s got a very strong voice and some catchy songs. For being the first artist to take the stage on the northern end of the festival, her music was very commanding of attention. I hope to hear more from her in the future. Her music is available on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby, for those of you who, like myself, still prefer to be able to hold a CD in hand.

Hockey

Hockey: New-wave quintet from Portland. Way, way better than I had expected from anything described as new-wave, as I usually shy away from that genre. They had a great energy, and managed to persevere through some initial technical difficulties. While I had never heard of their music, before, I enjoyed myself immensely… until the power went out a few songs into their set. The drummer filled the space with an extended drum solo… but still no power. The band members ended up tossing free beer from backstage out into the crowd while waiting. The power came back up for another song and a half or so, and then, fzzt, out again. Technology fail. I was definitely impressed by their music, though, and would probably consider going to see them again, hopefully at a show not marred by loss of power.

Manchester Orchestra: Too much screaming, not enough to keep my attention. Maybe they’re better on CD, I don’t know. I ended up wandering off in search of food and merchandising and things that didn’t involve listening to Manchester Orchestra.

Gringo Star: What I expected: Spanish-language covers of Beatles songs. What I got: Alt-country-poppy tunes. Pretty good, wish I had stuck around to see more. Will definitely be checking them out.

The Knux: The Knux are a pair of brothers originally from New Orleans, displaced after Hurricane Katrina. They’ve got a great energy, pulling fans up onto the stage to dance with them and everything. I’m not a huge rap fan, but these guys certainly kept me, and the whole crowd, entertained and engaged.

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem: A very pleasant surprise for me. I’ve heard of this New Jersey rock band, but I don’t think I ever bothered listening to their music before. They put on an incredibly enjoyable show – only slightly dampened (pun vaguely intended) by the rain that kept pouring down throughout their set. The energy and enthusiasm from the crowd was apparent even despite the rain and the fact that we were way in the back of the field. The dude next to us kept singing and playing air guitar along with the songs, it was that kind of exciting. This was their first big outdoor festival, and the singer/guitarist noted how fabulous they thought Chicago and the festival in general was. I wound up picking up their CD later on that day – trust me, that’s high praise coming from me.

Bon Iver: I still stand by my assessment that Bon Iver just doesn’t work at a huge outdoor festival like Lollapalooza. Maybe Pitchfork or Hideout’s block party or something, a festival that’s a little more niche-oriented. But not Lollapalooza. While I enjoyed the music, and while I think it would have been more enjoyable up front in the crowd instead of on the back fringes, between the Playstation and Budweiser stages, it’s hard to get into it when everyone else around you is talking/drinking/not paying attention. Regardless, Bon Iver’s music is just downright beautiful, and somehow made even more poignant by the falling rain. I would love to see him in an intimate little club or something, where his work is going to be more generally appreciated.

Ben Folds: A solid set, as usual. The rain and relative lack of enthusiasm of the crowd around me put a bit of a damper on the show. I would have loved to have been closer to the stage for this one, in the midst of the crowd. He opened with the leak version of Bitch Went Nutz — something tells me that the songs from the fake/leaked version of Way to Normal are more popular than the ones from the album itself. There was a good mix of new songs and old favorites, including “Army” and “Narcolepsy”. I always enjoy Ben’s shows and his enthusiasm and his crazy, crazy piano playing, and all things considered, this was no exception.

Fleet Foxes: I only stayed for the first few songs of their set, as I was cold and hungry and needed to use the bathroom, and I knew I would be seeing them the next night at Metro anyway. Their harmonies are absolutely divine, though, and the crowd was way excited to see them. (Their show on Friday at Metro, by the way, was fantastic. There were drawbacks, of course: everything started late and it was about a million degrees inside Metro, but definitely a quality show.)

The Decemberists

The Decemberists: Performed the whole of The Hazards of Love. A+++ so glad they did. It might be a bit blasphemous, but I think I prefer Hazards to a lot of their other material. Shara Worden pretty much rocks my world. One review I read mentioned that they didn’t think that she had much of a stage presence — I don’t know what show that reviewer was watching, because Worden was all over the stage, dancing and jumping and generally kicking ass at conveying the character of the Queen. All of the band members played their parts well, since Hazards really is a story more than anything else, with each member having a role to play. I left the area after “The Rake’s Song” so I could make my way through the crowd to get to Andrew Bird’s set, but I could still hear the rest of the Decemberists set from across the field, and it was as amazing as I would have expected it to be. I’m sad that I missed seeing “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing”, because it sounded amazing from where I was, but thankfully Youtube has allowed me to play along at home.

Andrew Bird: If I had it my way, I pretty much would have camped out in front of the Playstation stage all day in order to be right up front for this set. The desire to do so was lessened by the fact that I managed to be within arm’s length of Andrew Bird when I saw him at Schubas on Thursday. Besides, I don’t know how I would have dealt with going to the bathroom or eating, so maybe it’s for the best that I didn’t enact my plan.

Andrew Bird

Anyhow, Bird, as usual, is a complete maniac on stage. The way in which he wholeheartedly throws himself into his show is always amazing to watch. He ripped through a set of new and old songs, the first half comprised largely of songs off of Noble Beast, and the latter with old favorites. (Setlist, for the curious: Fiery Crash / Masterswarm / Opposite Day / Fitz and the Dizzyspells / Oh No / Effigy / Not a Robot, But a Ghost / Anonanimal / Imitosis / Scythian Empires / Tables and Chairs / Fake Palindromes.) The addition of “Not a Robot, But a Ghost” was met with much enthusiasm from the crowd; as I’ll mention in my Schubas review, he said that he rarely performs it live, but after the reaction he’s been getting, hopefully it will make more appearances in the future. The last four songs were absolutely epic in intensity and excitement. While I love the more sedate environment you get from other venues, there’s definitely something to be said for jumping up and down and shouting out Bird’s esoteric lyrics with thousands and thousands of other fans. (As an aside, there were sign language interpreters on stage for Bird’s set: I really, really want to know how in the world they interpreted things like radiolarians and troglobytes.) Bird promised that there would be snacks (a reference to a lyric in “Tables and Chairs”) and he provided them in great multitudes.

Kings of Leon: While I missed a good deal of their set, what I heard was very strong. I’d never paid a whole lot of attention to them in the past; for some reason their music never really resonated with me, but I’ve been enjoying their new album, and their live show definitely had the crowd pumped. After hearing their show, though, it’s got me motivated to check out more of their music.

There’s not much I can say about them, though, as I spent a majority of their set waiting in line at the FYE autograph tent to meet Andrew Bird. Yes, I did, in fact, buy a CD I already own just so I could get a spot in that line. Anyhow, it was a little difficult to focus on Kings of Leon when I was busy running over and over in my mind what, exactly, I wanted to say. Eventually, after waiting forever, I finally got to the front of the line and managed not to trip over my words and turn into a blubbering idiot. I told him simply that I feel like it’s a privilege to see him perform, every single time. It’s the honest truth, really, and I was rewarded with a sincere grin and a thank you, which was worth more to me than an autograph or anything else.

Overall verdict on Lollapalooza: much better than anticipated, with plenty of nice surprises for me. Will I go next year? Maybe. I’d need an incredibly strong lineup (like Friday’s) to get me to go out again, let alone go out for all three days. But despite the rain and the fact that my legs still sort of hurt from all of that standing, there were enough priceless moments during my Lollapalooza day that I don’t have any real complaints.

Lollapalooza-palooza.

Sarah — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:09:28 +0000

After three+ years of living in Chicago, and three+ years of avoiding the gigantic festival that takes over Grant Park for a weekend, I’m finally caving in and going this year. Only one day, though! Friday’s lineup pretty much bowled me over, but given that I’m not interested in any of the actual headliners, and that the other days didn’t have that same wow factor as Friday, I decided to skip them. I’ll introduce myself to Lolla and its gajillions of sweaty drunken people slowly.

I’ve realized that I’m essentially going to be living at the Budweiser and Playstation stages, which is okay with me — at least I know I won’t have to do the “sprint across Grant Park in order to get to the next set you want to see” thing that I was sort of afraid of. The morning of Lolla is kind of free space for me, though, so I’ll be cramming all of my eating/exploring/going to the bathroom time in there. And then I’ll just hope I don’t need to do any of the above from 3:oo on. (Okay, yes, I’m a smarter festival goer than that; I promise I won’t avoid eating/refreshing/etc. for the next 7 or so hours.)

And, of course, the aftershows. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fact that the Andrew Bird at Schuba’s show sold out in just about thirty seconds (thirty seconds!! okay, I’m still a little bitter, not going to lie), I’ve managed to content myself with the other shows I did manage to score tickets to: The Decemberists on Thursday night and Fleet Foxes on Saturday. There’s also a non-Lolla-related show from Brian Wright and Joe Firstman on Friday night at Martyr’s which I keep trying to tell myself that I’m going to check out, but I’m not too optimistic about being able to manage it. And some genius decided to schedule the Lincoln Park Arts & Music Festival for the same weekend, which means that while I’d love to rest my exhausted self on Sunday, I’ll instead be trekking out to see Over the Rhine play.

So, my Lolla!lineup, or something like it:

April Smith, BMI Stage, 11:15 — I’ve never heard of her, but I was listening to her music on her artist page on the Lolla site and was pretty impressed. I want to swing by her set to see what she sounds like live.
Bon Iver, Playstation Stage, 3:00 — Never seen him perform live, so I don’t know what to expect. I’m not sure how his relatively low-key, ambient music is going to translate to a huge, open-air festival setting.
Ben Folds, Budweiser Stage, 4:00 – Ben always puts on a fabulous show, I’m sure this will be no exception. I haven’t had the chance to see him since 2005, so I’m looking forward to seeing the new music.
Fleet Foxes, Playstation Stage, 5:00 — I will probably get to this one late and check out early, as I’ll be seeing them them on Saturday night.
The Decemberists, Budweiser Stage, 6:00 — While I’m seeing them on Thursday, the rumor is that the Thursday show is an all request show, which leads me to believe that their Lollapalooza set might just be the whole of The Hazards of Love. The album is just under an hour long, so it’s possible. Regardless, I might skip out towards the end to head over to the other stage for…
Andrew Bird, Playstation Stage, 7:00 – my pretend musician boyfriend. I’ll put it out there right now, it’s going to take something epically spectactular to eclipse this as the highlight of my day.

In fact, the only thing that might eclipse what is sure to be an amazing Andrew Bird set will be managing to get through the autograph line at the FYE tent to get my 30 seconds of security-approved face time with the man. (In those thirty seconds, I would ideally like to convince him that we should totally be BFFs who can together be socially awkward and uncomfortable with interacting with people.)

We’ll see. All I know is that by the end of the weekend, I’m going to need about a dozen good, long showers.

What about you? Are you Lollapalooza-ing? What acts are you most looking forward to?