This is going to be a long post, so bear with me. Let me backup a couple steps before plunging into my take on Lollapalooza this year. My wife and I got tickets last year, and although we had a good time, we just did not plan appropriately for the festival and tried to do too much. This year, I wanted to make sure we did not have a repeat, and we did it right…
Let me start by saying that I wish I had discovered music festivals earlier. Yes, I went to Lollapalooza in 1993 and 1994, but the “new” Lollapalooza is SO much better. It is so centered around bringing a gigantic mix of different music that you literally feel immersed in the experience for an entire 3-day period. We did not go to drink or socialize or generally act like idiots…we went to enjoy some great music. And, the lineup did not disappoint…it is a lineup they are going to have a hard time living up to next year. Let’s begin…
First, I read early on in the week to get by the “no chair” rule you could buy these…
I was a little skeptical, but decided to try it anyway. So, I went out Friday to buy 2 of these, and it was the best $40 I spent all weekend. It made it easy to sit down when we wanted to, and they were easy to carry around. On to the music…while my wife was at work, I decided to go to the DJ tent early and then check out The Go! Team. I’m glad they added the DJ tent this year. I only spent about an hour and a half there, but the DJ spinned some good tunes and I just sat there and drew. The times I did pass the tent…it always seemed to have a good crowd. I hope they keep it around next year. I even met Maestro Harrell (Randy Wagstaff from “The Wire”) at the DJ tent. I did not know a ton about The Go! Team before watching them, but I knew enough about their music that I figured they had a good chance to be fun to watch live. Ninja, the lead singer, got the crowd involved in the show and the whole crowd generally bounced and danced for the entire set…good way to start off. After getting my wife, we checked out The Cool Kids. I had seen them open up for M.I.A. last year, and new this was guaranteed to be good. They kicked out all of their songs, played snippets from some classic hip-hop, and ripped it for an hour. I think their studio songs can only truly appreciated when you see the amount of energy they put into their live shows. Then, we went to see Radiohead. We were nowhere near the stage, but that was not a goal of ours. Plus, we would have never even approached the stage. I’m not a fan of their music, but it was fun to just chill out and listen to their music. We left a little bit before the end of the set, and it was funny to see people across Columbus Drive listening to the show outside Grant Park. I guess it is a good way to save money.
Saturday…much to see. We started off by seeing MGMT which had a HUGE crowd. I did not know much about their music (once again, not a problem…one of the great things about Lollapalooza), but was told by two separate people to check them out. They definitely put on a good set. Then we walked over to see Spank Rock. This was the first disappointment of the weekend. I’m a big fan of their music even though it can be dirtier than a lot of other hip hop music. The music is just downright sick, but the show was sort of blah. They spent too much time getting their posse on the mic and not playing cuts from their album YoYoYoYoYo. That always annoys me. We left early…got some food…and got a spot for Lupe Fisaco. He put on a solid set and you could tell he was leaving it all on the stage. I’d like to see him in a more intimate venue…we were so far back because of the Rage contingent that had already been there for 7 hours. We went to the other side of the park to check out part of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I saw a student of mine there…did not expect that…and then went back to Hutchinson Field to see Rage Against the Machine. A lot has already been written about what happened, so I’m going to go by what I saw. First of all, I’m not surprised that people were getting crushed. There was an energy all day leading up to Rage playing that you could feel. Combine that with every muscle head at the event thinking they could push their way up to the front, and you got problems. I don’t know why folks can not just jump up and down and rock out in their own personal bubble. I saw plenty of folks doing that outside of the melee. Regardless, the music was awesome. I had forgotten how good their music sounds. And, they played it to perfection. Plus, it did not feel nostalgic. It felt as fresh as it did when it came out. Excellent…
Finally, Sunday…my wife wanted to chill in the afternoon, but I still wanted to see Chicago’s own Kid Sister during her 12:15 set. (How about Chicago representing hip-hop over the past few years…it’s not longer just Common). Her stuff is very fan friendly and she seemed genuinely excited to be performing on the main stage. I saw some disparging comments about her set on Time Out Chicago, but considering it was the first time they were performing this collection, I thought she knocked it out of the park. I’m looking forward to grabbing her debut album in October. Then, my second disappointment of the weekend. After going back home and then returning, we checked out Gnarls Barkley. They seemed to be plain lethargic. The music was good, but that was about it…nothing special. I think I preferred Cee-Lo more when he used to patrol the stage with Big Gip, T-Mo, and Khujo. Oh well. Then, I saw my favorite set of the weekend…Mark Ronson. I knew little about him other than he produced Amy Winehouse and is going to produce Wale. I actually read that Wale was supposed to be there, but it did not happen. Even though Ronson does not sing or rap, he makes an excellent hype man and really got the crowd into it. This group has been playing together for 16 months and this was going to be ther last show together for awhile. He brought out many guest vocalists including Rhymefest who attempted to rap while crowd surfing…awesome. I read that some thought they played “too tight” (I don’t get music critics some times), but I wore myself out dancing and jumping to tunes that I had never heard before. As people wandered away from the stage to get a good spot for Kanye, we continued to watch…worth it. And then…Kanye. What can you say? I will say this…with all the negative things that are said about him, I still have a hard time not supporting the man. He put on a tremendous live show and seems genuinely invested in putting on great live sets. Also, there seemed to be some spontaneity to his show that I did not expect. It was a great way to end the weekend.
See my pictures on Flickr here.
Lollapalooza is just another entry into why I think that living in a big city during the summer is the best. While the rest of the world wants to go to the beach and relax…give me the excitement and non-stop action of Chicago in the summer. Until next year…
Cool summary. I heard from others that Rage put on a good show, but I didn’t know that there were that many issues with the audience.