The Dead Part of You

Saturday morning at Lollapalooza started off unexpectedly great - Bob was gone when I woke up, and we arranged to meet for The Ting Tings at 12:45. Rob had no interest in going until DeVotchKa at 3:30, so I set off to get coffee and wander around a bit. Due to time zones or my own built in confusion, I wound up at the gates about an hour earlier than I had planned - 11:15, and there was NO line (!?!!???) so I walked right in again.

There were rumors about Obama being there all weekend, and one look at the event security and anyone could tell he wasn't setting foot near that place.

With no plans, I wound up at Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, which I had no desire to sit through AT ALL, but OH MY GOD - HOW did I miss them? I heard a few tracks during the initial blog buzz wave and didn't care, but they were enthralling live. What if Belle and Sebastian were just a little less twee? Just a little?

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's

I wasn't sure what to expect out of The Ting Tings - My original plan was to check out Does It Offend You, Yeah, but it was 50/50 either was so I found Bob by the soundboard, barely. The Ting Tings turned out to be awesome. They played Great Scott in Allston, a tiny bar, a few months ago and I didn't go - now they were easily playing to 5000 people, each one jumping up and down all happy.


The Ting Tings

Can I tell you how awesome Saturday already was compared to Friday? The weather was awesome, the crowds manageable, I was 2 for 2 with awesome bands, and took my favorite picture of the day:


Katie White, The Ting Tings


Of the screen, I know, but I love it.

I took some shade for a bit during Dr. Dog (it was pretty horrid, from a distance at least) and was able to make my way pretty close up for The Gutter Twins.

I need to make a brief disclaimer here - Greg Dulli? He could totally be my alcoholic boyfriend. Ever since the opening strains of The Afghan Whigs' "Gentlemen", he's owned me. I'd let him hit me, no question, just like those ladies on the talk shows. Rob seemed a little upset by that, and I told him he should be.

30 seconds into The Station, I just started crying, and didn't stop for the next 30 minutes. Each new song brought a new wave of tears, mostly sad, but there was a little bit of teen idolatry going on too. Mark Lanegan stood like a wax statue never moving. Greg Dulli, bloated, ill fitting suit, possibly a bad hairpiece, wandered around stage a bit more.


Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, The Gutter Twins

My only complaint was that they only played for 45 minutes instead of their scheduled hour. Critics seemed divided, saying it didn't work in the daylight, or that they were able to bring 3AM to a sunny field. All I know is I don't think I could handle it emotionally when they return to Boston this fall for a show at the Paradise, and probably won't go. Because I might be inappropriate.

After The Go! Team, Rob went back to the condo and I made the trek back south for Gogol Bordello. Did I mention it was hot? The high temperature for the day was 87F, which doesn't seem that hot, but there was no breeze and it was really humid. And crowded. Freaking crowded. Last year peaked on Sunday with 60K people for Pearl Jam. Radiohead had sold out this first day, with 75K people, which was way too many for the venue. Already at 3:30, crossing the park was miserable.

I don't know much about Gogol Bordello - I remember seeing them on The Henry Rollins Show one week and they were pretty good. Definitely better than Duffy, who I had originally planned on seeing, but the more I listened to in the weeks leading up to Lollapalooza, the more I got real tired of her. Gypsy punks for the win! Sort of.



That's me hiding from the sun. I stood and watched Gogol Bordello, and it was good, but four days later, I can't remember a thing about their set. All I remember is that around 5PM the sun went behind a cloud for the first time all day, for about 15 seconds, and people cheered that.


Gogol Bordello

The plan from there was to meet up with Bob for Grizzly Bear, but there was some mis-communication and he wound up at Bloc Party. I had chicken on a stick (the food was excellent again this year - I know, excellent festival food?) and made it to Grizzly Bear and had the same experience as Gogol Bordello. I was there, I know I enjoyed it, but couldn't tell you why.


Grizzly Bear (nice shorts, Ed!)

Bloc Party bled through for most of the set, and that sounded good too. Unfortunately, there was a LOT of sound bleed between stages this year, more than I remember from last year.

Rob and I had arranged to meet for CSS, and while the sun had finally started to fall behind the skyline, I was still wiped out from the day. CSS are a party band and I couldn't move. After 4 or 5 songs we decided to just sit down in the shade. What I saw was pretty good, it's too bad the circumstances were so awful.


CSS

Off to the big event, Radiohead. My first regret of the weekend was that I missed Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. I caught the last 10 minutes and it sounded great.

Rob and I were able to get, well, not very close at all for Radiohead (Scott's review is pretty dead on - I love his account of the kids across the street from the festival). For the past 9 hours people had been pouring into the field, staking out their claim.

The show was pretty much exactly what you would expect. There were fancy, arts lights, they played In Rainbows and some other songs, and a good time was had by all. About the only thing that surprised me was as The Bends came to a close, fireworks began off to the left, over the Art Institute of Chicago. Through Everything In It's Right Place, and damn near choreographed through Fake Plastic Trees.


Radiohead (the bright green light off in the distance)

I had to pee, so we pretty much left to beat the crowds and go have real food during Dollars and Cents, missing the last four songs, including Optimistic, but that's OK. Before Radiohead went on I went to put contact lens re-wetting drops in my eyes, and it burned because I had actually packed ear medicine by mistake and dropped that in instead. 11 hours without running water and a contact lens in desperate need of a rinsing meant that missing some of an average Radiohead performance from a mile away wasn't that awful, actually.

SO how was Lollapalooza 2008? It more like something to endure instead of something to enjoy.

We arrived at the gates about 10:45 to find the line was already stretched for blocks. It was already hot and humid, and apparently sold out for Friday.

We scarily breezed through security (seriously, I totally could have brought my knives out) and headed over to Bang Camaro.


Bang Camaro

Bang Camaro are kind of like The Polyphonic Spree. Only heavy metal. And from Boston. Bang Camaro were something to do while waiting for Holy Fuck.


Holy Fuck

Holy Fuck were a last minute addition when Noah and the Whale canceled, and an A++ addition at that! I enjoyed their set very much. Sadly, it was so hot the umbrella I had brought for the possibility of thunderstorms turned into a parasol - it actually helped and worked really well. We looked stupid, but weren't alone in the idea either. I mostly felt like the goth girl at the Menses Fair in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

We took our time walking in the shade the 10 blocks across the park to The Go! Team. One of my favorite pictures in the world that I've taken is of Ninja from their 2006 Coachella performance. I feel like this year I actually fucking equalled that:


The Go! Team

It's a shot of the video screen, I know. I was not front and center because I was melting. Rob didn't make it through the set, he went off for shade after 30 minutes. As awesome as they were, I just couldn't muster the energy to move.

Last year I broke up these posts after every three bands to keep them from getting too massive. So far we've covered the heat, the complete lack of security, that I need to buy some Holy Fuck records and that I still love The Go! Team.

I was busy playing Peggle all afternoon again when I realized there's a few things I don't want to forget:

• The big Swervedriver show two weeks ago was mostly bland. Most of the set was B-sides and rarities, which made about 10 people really happy, and left the other 290 kind of scratching their heads for close to an hour. The last five songs were great, although afterwards, I realized they only ever had five great songs, when you really think about it.


• The big Mark Kozelek show two weeks ago was really good. He layed off the obscurities for the most part. Unfortunately everything has the tendency to sound the same when he plays these acoustic shows. The encore [Glenn Tipton/Rock n Roll Singer/Convenient Parking/Three Legged Cat all strung together in a five minute medley] was awesome. So was "River".


• The big Lollapalooza schedule was announced, and I've planned my days. I'm taking location of stages and likeliness of crankiness into account this year in planning. That explains the presence of things like Duffy, The Ting Tings and Kid Sister in there. That explains the absence of CSS, Lupe Fiasco and Saul Williams. And yes, Rob and I really can't come to a decision on the Nine Inch Nails versus Kanye West Sunday night finale.

Did you know I was on vacation last week? A lot has happened since then. I saw Swervedriver, Mark Kozelek and the Lollapalooza schedule was announced, which caused one of those moments that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later:

Sunday Night:
	Kanye West
	Nine Inch Nails
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Really.

You know what I forgot to do? Write up what I think of all the records I've been buying over the past few months. At least I keep up with the shows.

Stereogum Presents Enjoyed: A Tribute to Bjork's Post. As much as I love their OK Computer tribute [I skipped the Automatic for the People tribute], this does nothing for me. Most of it's entirely too no wave for my current frame of mind. The only stand out tracks are Liars' "Army of Me" for being so bland and expected, and Xiu Xiu's "Isobel", for being the best track even though it's still pretty mediocre.

I was passed this a few months ago, and it was in pretty heavy rotation then. Better than "Plans", more of a "Transatlanticism" vibe. They're playing in Boston tomorrow, but I'm not going.



Tom Waits on crack. Brilliant. I didn't think their energy would translate onto record, but it did.



Eh, certainly not bad, but not really compelling either. A nice document, I enjoyed it more after seeing his live show.



Not nearly as weak as initial reviews made it seem. Not really compelling either. Do you like music from the 1980's? The standout track is definitely "Graveyard Girl" but not in a good way - the spoken-word breakdown is absolutely cringe worthy.



I'm off to see El Perro del Mar tonight actually. The new record is just as good as her first record, so tonight's sad Swedish girl-group extravaganza should not disappoint.



I love the first two Elbow records, but haven't had the time to consciously sit and listen to their fourth in it's entirety yet. What I've heard is great - I never really bonded with their previous record "Leaders of the Free World", and I'm kind of afraid that's going to happen again. What they need to do is play a goddamned gig in Boston and beat the songs into my head live.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip is free, and kind of worth it? I love that he rationalizes "This one's on me", which is EXACTLY how I rationalized taking In Rainbows for free - like a frequent buyer punch card. But is it good? The hyper-aggro-industrial-"March of the Pigs" first half does nothing for me, the lush-dreamy-ambient-balladry-pop-trance-"A Warm Place" second half is absolute godhead. The halves are starting to fit together - would the second half be as amazing without the assault of the first half? I think not.

I've Hype Machined the bottom half of the Lollapalooza poster, and not much at all has jumped out at me. I keep liking the Tally Hall songs, I will definitely checkout Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves [holy crap - they're local? And on tomorrow's DCFC bill? Allston rock city represent!] as long as there's no major conflicts, and I just heard Foals today and might have to search them out. Mostly, there's going to be a lot of bottom tier acts to avoid.

Taking a break from a Sunday night World of Warcraft session, it looks like the Lollapalooza full lineup finally leaked.

I don't know if my ear is just closer to the ground this year or what, but I actually am familiar with most of the third tier bands this year. Here's who I've already seen, and would again:

• Radiohead
• Nine Inch Nails
• Wilco
• Love and Rockets
• Bloc Party
• Lupe Fiasco
• Explosions in the Sky
• Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
• CSS
• The Go! Team
• Grizzly Bear
• The Octopus Project

Of course, festivals are about trying new things. There's a whole bunch of bands I'd like to see for the first time:

• Kanye West
• Gnarls Barkley
• Cat Power
• The National
• Gogol Bordello
• Okkervil River
• Girl Talk
• Bang Camaro
• Spank Rock
• The Gutter Twins

And finally, well ugh:

• Rage Against the Machine

Ugh, fine. Here's the Muxtape.

Things I'm listening to:

I picked up this reissue a few weeks ago, based on the post-rock, opening-for-the cure noise. It's not bad - a little digital hardcore sounding in parts.



Holy shit, I get it I get it I get it now. The story of Grizzly Bear is I picked up Yellow House and was kind of meh, and saw them live and was blown away, and now I have their debut album from 2005 and it's easily one of the best things I've heard all year. The delicacy of Iron and Wine, only smashed to pieces. Plus, the remix disc is hot too. Today Grizzly Bear was leaked as a Lollapalooza artist and I certainly hope to catch them there.

Also A++ in the first lineup release? Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, Bloc Party, Stephen Malkmus, and The Go! Team. B++ artists then include Kanye West, Gnarls Barkley, Cat Power and Girl Talk. And then a bunch of stuff I have very little interest in.



Portishead are headlining Saturday at Coachella - someone was nice enough to pass along a leak of Third to me a month ago and it's fucking brilliant. THE END. No, really - it's just as good as the first one - slighty noisier, industrial sounding even, and that's some kind of progress. Was it worth waiting like 10 years for - actually yes.



Not so much this time. Too much singing, not enough noising. It has some moments, but on a few listens, I actually kind of dislike it [gasp!].

I'm in this weird "buyers remorse" over the car this week - did I buy too much car for me to handle? I'm trying to cut down on expenses, so I dumped premium cable channels, which didn't really make a difference since I then picked up a World of Warcraft account again. I'm trying not to buy records, but this week there were 3[!] iTunes exclusives I just had to own. Lollapalooza live sets were finally released, and in a way I got lucky - most of what I wanted wasn't released, and the two things I did were pretty cheap EPs - The Polyphonic Spree [4 tracks] and Sparklehorse [3 tracks]. Even if you didn't go there may be stuff there you want.

And this past Tuesday, New Order did an exclusive in the studio thing, re-recording old songs and interviews or whatever - I bought it [duh] but haven't listened to it yet. Ooh, bonus! The trailer for Control, in English finally.

If I was buying more records, I would have bought the new Akron/Family disc - I still might, since I'm going to their show tonight. Greg Davis is playing with them and doing an opening set, which sealed the deal for my attendance. I'm guessing I'll leave there with something.

Also today, Jimmy Eat World pre-sale tickets. I'm in row A of the mezzanine at the Orpheum. That means front row up top, bitches. It's the same week as The Decemberists and Bob Mould - actually they all take place in the space of 4 days. So all the complaining I do about being all kinds of busy with life ain't nothing yet.

ALSO, I won an eBay auction for a copy of Park and Shop. Isn't eBay's new ad campaign freaking brilliant? It IS better when you win it!

Are we there yet?

Lupe Fiasco opened with the new track he does with Kanye and Pharrell, US Placers, which was awesome [rapping over Thom Yorke's "The Eraser"]. Then some Gorillaz "Feel Good, Inc." before launching into his own material. Most of Food and Liquor, plus the new track Superstardom. It was all kinds of hot and sweaty. I was pretty close to the front, I couldn't get any closer due to Pearl Jam fans sitting down [whatever]. It was what I had been waiting all weekend for it and it was freaking awesome. Lupe Fiasco, you were THE BEST THING I saw on Sunday, and THE BEST THING I saw all weekend!

I felt like shit afterwards, and headed into that air conditioned AT&T room, which was packed. I started making my way to the other side of the park for Iggy and the Stooges and it was really crazy how many more people were there Sunday. It wasn't fun anymore, it was oppressive. I met up with Bob behind the soundboard for Paolo Nutini [ICK] and he was completely burned out too. We went to go sit in the shade someplace for The Stooges, but got separated almost immediately.

Instead of actively watching The Stooges, I went and got right up front at the stage across the field for Yo La Tengo. I could still hear them and it sounded just fine. I could see the video screen. So I saw the whole "No Fun" melee from afar, when Iggy let 200 people on stage, and they didn't get the hint when it was time to get off. It made me kind of glad I wasn't up too close, actually.

I sat on the ground in the shade of the stage while Yo La Tengo set up. I was fully rested, rehydrated and ready to go, they were just perfect. I mean it - when I think about it, I had been waiting almost 15 years to see them live [I don't know why I never made the effort before] and the set list was pure silver and gold. Opening with "Sugarcube" into "Autumn Sweater"? I COULD JUST DIE. "Tom Courtenay" into "Big Day Coming"? BE STILL MY INDIE POP HEART. And when they weren't playing my favorite 3 minute songs, they were going completely nutsy droney on numbers like "Pass The Hatchet I'm Goodkind". Yo La Tengo! You were THE SECOND BEST THING I saw on Sunday, and THE SECOND BEST THING I saw all weekend! I love how I caught the stagehand in a halo:

And then there was Sophie's Choice. Do I cross the field over to Modest Mouse to close out the weekend [convenient, and I love them] or walk to the other side for TV on the Radio [out of the way, but I've never seen them]? THE ANSWER IS TV ON THE RADIO!

I was even able to get up pretty close, but again, was a little worried about being fatigued in a rough crowd. Luckily, they played a pretty mellow set - other than "Wolf Like Me" and "Staring at the Sun", there wasn't too much crowd rowdiness. I was next to the weirdo that threw his Red Sox hat on stage ["We'll be selling this after the show"].

And that was that! There was some chanting ["One More Song" morphed into "Fuck Pearl Jam"] and a few minutes later Perry Farrell came on stage across the field so we could thank him all for everything, because it would not have been possible without him, and oh yeah, here's Pearl Jam.

I stayed for the first two songs but they just weren't doing anything for me. Plus, being like 1/4 mile from the stage, and what with light traveling faster than sound, everything seemed out-of-sync on the video screen nearest to me, which was really unsettling. I slowly made my way out and just as I was leaving the park, watched the unrelated to Lollapalooza fireworks.



So the weekend was pretty L@@K A++ SELLER. Would I go to Lollapalooza again? THE ANSWER IS YES!!!

You know, I don't think I've ever heard a song by Muse, who were technically the headliners of Lollapalooza on Saturday night.

Bob and I opted to watch Interpol, and I didn't really have high hopes, so in that sense they didn't disappoint. The setlist was good - lots from the first record, and the better tracks from the second and third. Obviously, not a lot to look at - just kind of some flashing lights off in the distance, basically. It was raining off and on but the crowd that remained were really into it. I loved that people were dancing with glow sticks. To Interpol. I know, right?

I'm pretty sure most of the people around me weren't huge Interpol fans - since that stage had hosted jam bands all day, theses people were the leftover crowd. Anyway, they liked it, and got me excited about it too. No expectations, no disappointment.

Sunday it was freaking hot, before we even entered the gates soupy humid hot. I went over for Juliette and the Licks, which is Juliette Lewis. I was really hoping for a total trainwreck, but Bob had seen them open for Chris Cornell and said they were actually pretty good for what they do. But not good enough for him to see them again, and we planned to meet up before Iggy and the Stooges.

Actually, they were pretty good. Not really my thing, the whole trashy bar band rock and roll, but Juliette was definitely doing it well.



I moved to the back partway through because I had forgotten to put sunscreen on and was beginning to sizzle and fry. And it was a good thing I did because she jumped into the crowd for some crowd surfing, and immediately my first thought was what kind of social disease you could pick up from Juliette Lewis. I totally would have dropped her.

I did stay for her whole set before crossing the field for The Cribs, who's song "Men's Needs" will stay in your head FOR DAYS. Plus, the video is totally rated R.

They turned out to be OK live - not really what I wanted on a hot Sunday early afternoon, I just couldn't get into it. It sounded like Blink 182 with a British attitude instead of a SoCal attitude. Not a bad thing.

Did I tell you it was hella hot Sunday? After The Cribs I started making my way over to the other side for Lupe Fiasco. I stopped to pick up more water, more merchandise, and did something I don't think I've done since I was 12, which was take my shirt off in public. Really, it was so hot I did something I haven't done since freaking puberty.

I've been getting tattoos now for almost a year, and the ones that are usually visible don't warrant strangers coming up to me. However the extensive torso and belly work, well, those are pieces people wanted to see. Not really sure how to react to that kind of attention because it's totally what I wanted all along. Nobody cared what it said, they were into the idea that it was there. Will I take my shirt off again in public? THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY NOT!!!

I'd pretty much planned on spending Saturday afternoon at Lollapalooza at the Citi stage, for Aqueduct, Cold War Kids and CSS. I got there in time to grab a plate of food, including but not limited to Chicken on a Stick, and sat down on the grass for most of Aqueduct's set.

They were OK - I'm a complete sucker for the catchy "Living a Lie", but other than that there wasn't much to even motivate me to get up off the grass. Except for the incoming crowds for Cold War Kids.

I missed the boat and was pretty far back for them. However, I did get a spot that allowed me to lean up against a lamp post. Before they came on we got the bad news - there was a "schedule change". Due to the fact the CSS missed a flight they wouldn't be performing [FUCK], however the "good" news was that Matt and Kim would do another set [AS IF].

Somehow I still managed to enjoy Cold War Kids's set - throughout most of it I kept thinking "Is this emo?" or "Are they just ripping off Death Cab For Cutie?" however by the end, I realized what had been going on. Cold War Kids ARE the second coming of whiteboy soul pioneers Afghan Whigs. They were that good. Even Beatle Bob was there.

Cold War Kids - you were the SECOND BEST THING I saw on Saturday! You were the FIFTH BEST THING I saw all weekend!

So with the absence of CSS, my schedule had opened up a bit. Instead of trying to cram something in I decided to just take it easy for a bit. I sat down on the grass off to the side for most of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and I realized they pretty much just give me a headache nowadays, and I'm not really sure what I ever saw in them other than being swept up in a wave of hype.

However, with the rest and lack of sun all day I decided I had the energy to check out the Yeah Yeah Yeahs up close. I spent the next hour moving forward through the crowds [The Hold Steady played across the field - I didn't hear anything worth turning around for].

At 6:30 Perry Farrell came out to embarrass himself some more by giving them this stupid introduction, like he personally was responsible for driving their bus here.

As unimpressive as they were last Saturday at the Tweeter Center, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs owned Lollapalooza Saturday. All the crazy cutting girls around me went nuts for Karen O. All the young dudes started crowd surfing for Karen O. If you had told me that this would be the roughest set of the weekend I would have laughed, but everyone around me went nuts for the next hour and I couldn't help but be swept along. The new stuff sounded great, they made the effort to play older tracks. Yeah, they kind of owe their career to Siouxsie and the Banshees, but who cares - they do it so well. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - you were the BEST THING I saw all day! You were the FOURTH BEST THING I saw all weekend!



Yo - I'm warning you know this chapter is going to end on a disturbing note. When YYYs were done I had an hour to make my way completely to the other side of Grant Park for Interpol. Luckily it only took about half an hour. However at 8 the skies opened up and it started raining - it wasn't awful, no one was throwing mud at me or anything, but still. I somehow missed out on all of the corporate rain poncho giveaways and was left with just an umbrella, and 30 minutes of Patti Smith's set. I was meeting Bob right after her before Interpol.

I hate Patti Smith. There, I said it. I even watched her set with an open mind, but now I think I actually hate her more. She's just so preachy and ridiculous. You know, if she would have just shut up between songs it might have been tolerable. But then her dramatic interpretation of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" goes and just ruins everything.

I understand her cultural influence on an intellectual level, I get it. Without her there would be no Siouxsie and the Banshees or Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She's a godmother, whatever lady, just stop screaming "nigger" at me, it's OLD.

I know I know, I'll drop the hate. Bob and everyone around me loved her set and we were off in the rain to see what Interpol were going to do.

[to be continued]

I want so badly to believe.

I do! I do wish that Daft Punk had been phenomenal! But really, it was just kind of meh. Bob literally took off five minutes into their set ["Is that all they do?"] to go catch Ben Harper, and even I was wondering if I had made the right choice.

Too tired to dance, I sat down on the grass off to the side, watching the pretty lights and the ravers and the glow sticks and the thumpa thumpa thumpa. It actually did get a little better - my mood had improved, and the pyramid pulled off some pretty awesome lighting effects. However I just can't get past the urban legend that it's not even really them up there - they just hire two actors to put on the robot costumes and rock out for ninety minutes. I mean, they claim to be mixing and playing the music, but it all just sounds pre-recorded, and coincidentally exactly timed to like a billion lighting and video effects. I moved a little closer for the encore and got into it a little bit, but all around it just kind of disappointed me.

Amazingly, Bob and I ran into each other on the way out, blocks before the pre-arranged meetup point.

Saturday morning was cloudy, we bought umbrellas before going in, and I headed over to catch Matt and Kim, mostly due to location. They were - well, kind of like Atom and his Package, which is not what I really wanted on a Saturday morning.

Across the field from them was I'm From Barcelona, yet another music collective, this one from Sweden, where I think the government pays them to do this.

Balloons, costumes, dancing, crowd surfing - the whole nine yards. I never did count how many of them there were, I think it was over 30. At the time, I really, really enjoyed it [ooh, a song about Chicken Pox? and it's DEEP!], I jumped around and sang, but in retrospect they weren't that memorable. Would I go see them again? THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY NOT!!

Up next is the big old indie rock stage and the biggest disappointment of the entire weekend. TO BE CONTINUED!

So when we last left off, I was on my way to check out Sparklehorse. It was hot and I would be standing on pavement [which was a little weird - Coachella certainly wins that matchup] but I learned from previous festival experience that I should never by a bottle of water. I should always buy two or three bottles of water, so I was all set.

I didn't even really have high hopes for Sparklehorse, and was mostly checking them out based on web-log buzz. As it turns out, not only were they really good, but I've already bought one of their records since coming home. Kind of a cross between Red House Painters and The Jesus and Mary Chain, if that makes any kind of sense. It was shoegazey, it was alt-country, it was A++ and I survived!

After they were done, I had an hour before Blonde Redhead, who were playing the other side of Grant Park. Crossing back by Buckingham Fountain, it gave me that 'festival' feeling, of 'holy fuck there are a ton of people here'. I waited in line forever for some ice cream [at a park vendor, not a festival vendor] and went over to stake out space for Blonde Redhead. And shade.

Blonde Redhead were just fine. I had seen them years ago when they were a noise-rock four piece and liked them then - but now as a dream-pop three piece I say A++ to the 4AD record label! Sadly, I missed the last 15 minutes of their set [and luckily they didn't play "Equus" or "Misery is a Butterfly"] to meet up again with Bob for dinner [we parted ways after The Polyphonic Spree so he could go see moe.]. Will I go see Blonde Redhead at The Roxy next month? THE ANSWER IS QUITE LIKELY!

Dinner was a pretty awesome vegetarian plate from the chinese food vendor - fried rice, lo mein and spring rolls for $7, and it actually tasted good. Oh, I went nuts and got a smoothie for dessert, which was another $7.

We ate while watching Satellite Party, Perry Farrell's latest deal, from about as far away as humanly possible. Was it nice to hear the old Jane's Addiction songs? Sure. Even the Porno For Pyros stuff, and new stuff sounded great. But goddamn is Perry ridiculous. I don't have a lot of complaints about the whole Lollapalooza thing, but one thing that got to me was the presence of his ego everywhere - like, you were not getting out of there without knowing that this was a Perry Farrell joint. And it was just all so preachy and obnoxious. SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!

Bob and I went to check out LCD Soundsystem. I had seen them earlier this spring and it ruled. At Lollapalooza? Not so much. It wasn't really their fault, it was a fine performance. It was so good Bob was converted the way I was last spring.

First, there's a big difference between a hot and sweaty nightclub, and a huge field of people outdoors. Bob and I were pretty far away from the stage by the time they went on, behind the soundboard actually, and while they had a TON of energy, it couldn't really reach that far.

Additionally, I was now completely out of energy. Hyper dance-punk was the last thing on my mind - I just wanted to sit down. Thank god I had abandoned my original plan of being RIGHT UP FRONT - I seriously think I would have been killed.

Their set list was almost exactly the same as last spring with a few cuts dropped for time. I was also a little disappointed they played "Daft Punk is Playing at my House" so early in the set - I was hoping they'd close with it and it could bleed into Daft Punk's opener across the field. James noted the irony of it all, shouting "You've got to set them up" at the people who actually were setting them up. James was pretty chatty and that worked.

They did well playing with the sunset and the Chicago skyline as their light show. He started getting cranky about the lights near the end - I couldn't really catch exactly what was going on from so far away. Had I conserved my energy during the day, had I been up closer - LCD Soundsystem could have ruled.

Now that it was dark, James told us to "turn around - go there - now" and those five tones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind floated across the field.

[to be continued]

I'm all caught up so I was playing me some Tip Top when I realized WAIT! I went to a music festival 2 weeks ago and have not written down the experience in my web log yet!

Lollapalooza Friday started out with a long line in direct sunlight. It was not too humid, however I did crack into my water before even entering the gates. Upon entering, I went right over to Elvis Perkins in Dearland. I'd heard a few songs I liked, and his live show was good too. A cross between American Music Club and The Decemberists maybe. He also gets props for standing up to the asshole stage manager who tried to throw them off at 12:15 instead of 12:30.

While You Were Sleeping is definitely my favorite track.

From there I went over to Colour Revolt, and also received my first introduction to Beatle Bob, who I seriously thought was Mike Myers as Austin Powers. He gave them a real goofy introduction.

Colour Revolt were - OK. I was pretty psyched to see them - I still adore the EP. Live, I wound up just sitting back in the shade - there really wasn't enough there for me to even stand up to watch them. It sounded fine I suppose, I think I just had my hopes set way too high, thinking they were the second coming of Slint or something.

I went back over to one of the big ["Bud Light"] stages to see The Polyphonic Spree. Remember how much I loved them when I saw them a few weeks ago? This time, I think I loved them even more.

In some ways it was "Polyphonic Lite", as they only had an hour to play. They came out in their Fragile Army uniforms and ran through about 30 minutes of hits. Since there weren't enough people on stage, Beatle Bob showed up for a song, and another had 12 members of the Chicago Tap Theater. At 3PM, Tim announced "This is our last song", and couldn't keep a straight face, following up with "Well, we need time to go get changed!" They got into their robes and actually did a run-through the crowd before taking the stage again. I hadn't been expecting a costume change in such a short set, and if they were going to run through, I figured they'd just stay behind the barriers.



POLYPHONIC SPREE! You were the BEST thing I saw all day Friday! You were the THIRD BEST thing I saw all weekend! Congratulations to you!

The sun hadn't faded at all yet on Friday, [I was rockin' the sunscreen]. Polyphonic Spree playing on a main stage with no shade, and with all the dancing, singing and arm waving amongst 5000 other people, I was starting to get that 'festival' feeling, which is actually just a fancy way of saying 'fatigue' or 'dehydration' but NO TIME TO REST because as soon as the Spree ended, Sparklehorse started up across the field...

[to be continued]

I did get to uploading the rest of the pictures yesterday, it's amazing what you can accomplish with a 3 hour plane delay. I even got some writing done, but first, please, please enjoy a Lollapalooza recap from The Onion:

6:36 p.m.: Was Perry Farrell always this annoying? Every time he opens his mouth, something annoying comes out.

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY. Unfortunately, that 3 hour plane delay got me in well, well after midnight Monday, so I'm still fuzzy, catching up on sleep and kisses.

I've got Friday's pictures culled. Hope to work on Saturday and Sunday on the plane.

Today's missing photoblog pics were from Lupe Fiasco and TV On The Radio.

Lupe Fiasco ruled. He KILLED. I declare him the long-shot, come from behind winner of Lollapalooza 2007.

Interesting - not pictured from yesterday were the 2 best sets - Cold War Kids and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The winner? Yeah Yeah Yeahs. However The Polyphonic Spree still kicked their ass and is leading the weekend.

Today? Lupe Fiasco, Yo La Tengo, TV On the Radio - and The Stooges.

The phone stopped mobile photo web logging [it usually does]. After Sparklehorse was Blonde Redhead, LCD Soundsystem and Daft Punk. It was a very tiring day.

I assure you, higher quality pictures and rants and raves to follow. Today's winner? The Polyphonic Spree!