LOCATION: Grant Park - Chicago, IL
Day 1
A light steady rain did not keep the crowds away on day one of the festival. People were dressed in ponchos, rain jackets or could care less and got soaked. The rain lifted by the final acts and although the grounds were muddy, they actually were fairly well maintained.
Ben Folds played a hell of a show beating the keys of his piano into a bloody pulp. His big moment came when he brought out his cover of “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” The crowd roared and sung along. Folds also knew to play to a festival crowd. The point of a festival is to bring out your whole catalog so that you do not alienate your old fans and surprise your new fans. Folds sang something off of just about every album.
The best of the day award goes to The Decemberists. I take back my comment about singing your catalog at a festival. The Decemberists found a reason not to do that. They played their new album from start to finish as it is a rock opera, requiring the listener to hear the story from beginning to end. The most interesting thing about an album such as this is that it is so varied in its sounds using mandolins, steel guitars, accordions, lutes, and your standard drums (well, not that standard) and guitars. The Decemberists made their mark on the festival and everybody noticed.
Another award goes to Fleet Foxes for longest or most bearded. These guys were some sort of hippie folk trio where the drummer looked like Jesus. Speaking of beards, Kings of Leon closed the night with a respectable show. They noted how their first Lollapalooza they had 10 fans that walked away as soon as they came on stage. In fact, the lead singer seemed quire overwhelmed by such a large crowd. They never meant to be a commercial as they seem to have become, but that does not mean they have not given up on their distinctive sound and if you like the undertones of “Sex on Fire,” you will for sure like the rest of their work.
Day One was a success. The rain did not make any real problems and obviously the crowd did not care as the reefer was flowing, quite extensively. Day One was even enough to get your monies worth for the whole weekend.
Day 2
Surprisingly, the festival grounds were mostly bone dry from the day before, but now the humidity and heat had set in. Thankfully, Mother Nature sent a breeze for most of the day that made the weather bearable.
Los Campesinos made for an interesting start of the day. The Welsh lead singer has quite a thick accent. Their music is quite original and interesting; however, the vocals are as annoying as they are bad. Maybe, it’s a British thing, but if there was a different vocalist, this band might be worth a second listen.
Arctic Monkeys continued the British invasion. They were pretty good but ultimately forgettable. Generally, this became a theme of Day Two.
Rise Against broke that mediocrity and provided us with a high tempo, insanely energetic, bombast of pop punk metal that Chicago was waiting for. By far, this was the biggest audience yet for an act this weekend. The lead singer played to the audience using their Chicago roots to excite the audience (seems people never get tired of this). Kudos to Rise Against for a rocking show playing the majority of their hits.
The night ended with Tool. I am not necessarily a fan of Tool, but now that I have seen them in concert, I hate Tool. I found their videos odd, unusual, and disturbing and that was interesting. The choice to make their vocals subdued so that generally you only hear the lyrics was problematic to fans such as myself that know just a few songs. I learned that this was a very typical show and it’s the way they choose to perform. I think it sucks and their name speaks for themselves.
In the end, Day Two was a letdown. Rise Against gets the award for best of the day, but nothing really special happened besides that. More pot, more drunkenness, and definitely more crowds packed in to Grant Park to keep the festival moving forward.
Day 3
Day 3 started with rising temperatures, high humidity, and an even larger group of people on the festival grounds. First stop: Kaiser Chiefs. These guys were beyond expectations. They knew how to get the crowd involved without being cheesy, and played some damn good music. Besides The Decemberists; Kaiser Chiefs was the biggest surprise of the festival.
After taking some time to enjoy the variety of foods the festival had to offer and getting some free water, Vampire Weekend was next. Great band. They had nothing to offer from a performance standpoint, but really had some nice sounds requiring this audience member to purchase their album soon.
Best thing I saw in the crowd this weekend was at Vampire Weekend. A guy was standing near a common walkway spritzing passers-by with water from a spray bottle. Not only did people find it amusing, some even stopped to get an extra spray. Each time someone got hit with some water, a huge smile appeared on their face. Music really does bring us all together and this seemed like another example of that.
After being annoyed by Snoop Dogg, I sat at a side stage and listened to Deer Hunter, nice small band to rest with waiting for The Killers later on. Knowing if I wanted to be in the middle of craziness at The Killers, I had to settle for only two songs from Silverspun Pickups, nice but nothing special.
And so the festival ends with The Killers; I saw them at UIC earlier this year and they were good. Maybe it was being in the middle of the crowd jumping up and down, sweating profusely, pumping my fist, high fiving the people all around and helping the crowd surfers make it to the next destination, or maybe it was the fire explosion at the end of “When We Were Young” that made this performance so much better than UIC. They played from all albums, had some great light shows and videos, and ended with those great pyrotechnics. Words cannot describe how awesome it was to end the festival with them.
This Lollapalooza was great. Day 3 being the best and Day 2 the least, from rain to heat to humidity, from Ben Folds to The Killers with a smattering of other bands I had never seen as well as bands that I became a fan of, This festival was a success, and I highly recommend it while it stays in Chicago over the next several years.
Click below to see the Lollapalooza Picture Gallery:
Words & Photos by: Josh Wheeler - Contributing Writer
