Overall –

I did not have anything on my schedule before 230pm.  That, coupled with two days of festival going plus the oppressive heat and humidity put me (and Matt) exactly where you think we would be in the Noon-ish hour:  at the movieplex catching GI Joe! 

It was another crusher in terms of heat and humidity.  So much so that the awesome CFD had a massive mister tossing water out over the crowd toward the Playstation and Budweiser stages.  Nice!

Everything was leading up to Jane’s Addiction for me…

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The Bands –

Kaiser Chiefs — Playing the Bud stage at the height of the afternoon heat.  Total rock outfit with a bit of clang to the guitars.  I did not know the songs, but it didn’t matter — everyone around me (even as far back as we were) seemed to be singing along.  I had sworn off a lot of clangy guitar rock from across the pond.  Perhaps I should reconsider?

The Raveonettes — Musical epiphany, baybee!  It was the perfect (bastard?) combination of The Swirlies and Dickie Dale to me.  I was entranced by the male/female voices wafting through the fuzz of the layered guitar sound.  I bought the entire catalog when I arrived at home.

Neko Case — This was a tough time slot conundrum for me.  Vampire Weekend was on the Chicago 2016 stage, but I opted to catch a bit of alt-country.  They did not disappoint!  Super melodies with cloud like harmonies accompanied by some pedal steel, bass, guitar and drums.  Certainly mellow, but they connected with the growing crowd they had.

Cold War Kids — I admit that I was not listening intently, but they ended up to be background music to me.

Snoop Dogg — I did wave my hands in the air.  Like I did not care.  I think this one of the largest crowds I saw for a single artist at this year’s Lolla.  Crazy awesome live drummer.  Great supporting stage rappers.  Snoop was totally tight — as if you would expect anything less — driving me and the crowd from old jams to new stuff and back again.

Lou Reed — Totally unintentional.  I heard “I’m Waiting for the Man” and “Walk on the Wild Side”.   They sounded great.  Not as great as all the newspapers and blogs are saying.  And he went over his time slot by almost 20 minutes.  Which really pissed me off.  Not because I was waiting to see Band of Horses, but because he should know better.  It is the height of ego to steal time from an up and coming band at a festival — especially for someone that has been around so long.  If a band had tracked into his time slot in the 70’s, he would have stabbed them with a dirty needle.  Bordering on classless.

Band of Horses — After seeing them do the Kidz stage, I added them to my schedule.  Although they got a late start, they REALLY connected with their crowd as the sun was coming down.  Layered guitars and a singer with an amazing voice took us on a bit of a ride.  I cannot stop listening to “Is There A Ghost”.  Bad side?  The late start encouraged them to try to battle the start of the Jane’s Addiction show on the Bud stage.  That could be a seriously career limiting move…

Jane’s Addiction — What I was waiting for.  Woot!  I wish that the first two songs had not been complete noise as Band of Horses was competing for the ears of the folks in the field.  Both of them failing miserably.  Nifty low flying helicopter stunt shining a big spotlight on the masses.  Perry still has it.  Maybe he whispers a bit more, but it does not matter as he is the showman to rival all showman.  Navarro was just right on.  Avery was nothing short of brilliant as he stomped around like a hard core mosh pit.  Perkins provides the base for everything — and in an intricate way.  They tore through most of the songs I wanted to hear with the exception of “Had A Dad”…  Barely clad backup dancers.  Perry drinking out of wine bottle.  A wave stunt in the first few rows of the crowd for “Ocean Size” with Perry “swimming” through.  And finishing up with Joe Perry joining them on “Jane Says”.  Nice!  Two proposals at the very end…  One a marriage proposal on stage:  nice going Barry — whoever you are!  And the other as support for the Chicago 2016 movement.  Perfect.

Overall –

You would think that looking outside before leaving the house that we would be totally stoked that no rain was in the forecast.

Be careful what you wish for.

It was sweating-pints hot with crushing humidity.

We dropped into Lolla a bit later in the afternoon which gave us a bit of a leg up as far as how tired/hot we ended up being.

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The Bands –

Care Bears On Fire — We went straight to Kidzapalooza to catch this teenage punk trio.  Great name.  Great band.  Tight punk stylings.  Totally recommended.  Loved the Tears for Fears cover!

Band of Horses — We stuck around Kidz to catch Band of Horses play a three song set.  I really liked their “attitude” with all the kids around.  I did not have them on my Sunday schedule originally, but I added them quickly after getting the sampler on the Kidz stage.

Arctic Monkeys — I am in the minority on this one as I am not able to write about how “brilliant” or “awesome” they were.  It felt dime-a-dozen pseudo-indie rock to me and never caught my interest even with everyone around me fawning over them.

Glasvegas — Not on my original schedule — thanks to Paul Haley for the tip!  It was a bit of Social Distortion with a bit more fuzz and less great lyrics.  I really dug them at the beginning of the set, but they never progressed anywhere and they just turned into muddy water by the end of the set.  I’ll check out a record and see if they do more for me there…

Rise Against – Hometown Chicago boys.  Dug the songs I stuck around for:  blister rock for the most part.  I would love to see them in a smaller venue.

Lykke Li — This was an artist on Alison’s list that I went over to.  TONS of energy coming from such a small person!    Playing with a keyboardist, a guitarist/bassist, a drummer and some backing tracks she really had the crowd into it — myself included.  Not as synthy as I thought it was going to be.  Edgy lyrics.  Nifty voice.  Larger than life stage presence.  Dig it.

Ben Harper and Relentless7 — When I saw that they were playing at the perm band shell stage, I knew I had to get over there!  Perfect venue for them.  Sounded tight and just plain awesome.  Totally rocked out a Led Zep cover to the pure delight of the mass of people trying to squeeze in to catch a listen.

Tool – I should start by saying I am not a Tool fan.  Not by design, really.  They just fall into a genre of music that I felt like I followed in a different direction.  They were the DEFINITION of TIGHT.  Every note seemed just perfect.  I was pretty far back, so I never saw them up close (and the vid screens were showing band provided videos and not the stage cameras to my chagrin).  I did dig it, but maybe not enough to go out and buy the entire band catalog.  Still thinking about this one.

Overall –

When we looked out the window before we left, we knew it was gonna be messy.  We just did not realize how much.

We arrived to some sprinkles and a long, but fast moving, line to get in.  I like the organization of flowing people toward one central gate that is well equipped to handle the crowds.  I hate the walking as you have to go several blocks in each direction of the gate — on the other side of the street — in order to get to the sidewalk that leads to the gate.

Thanks to Matt for giving me the personal introduction to Graham Elliott Bowles!  That was just awesome!

It was miserable for the better part of the day.  I was wet, cold and clammy and there was no respite no matter where you went or how hard you tried.  The rain was not a driving rain, but it was consistent with large drops penetrating any tree cover we could find.

And then the mud…  Eventually, we found a spot in some trees between the Playstation and Budweiser stages near the army of port-a-potties.  This worked okay — for quite a while — as we were able to hear bands on both stages pretty clearly without being in the mud pit of humanity out in front of the stages.  After a while, though, our secret place was found by more and more folk.  Drunker folk.  We watched, somewhat in guffaw and somewhat in amusement as dozens of guys eschewed the line of bathrooms and just started whipping it out behind the bar area.  We felt sorta sorry and grossed out by the woman that spewed huge chunks at the base of a tree.  And I was *really* looking for a head’s up before a trio of girls walked up the tree I was leaning on and then one of them dropped trou and started peeing.

I was stoked when the rain stopped somewhere near The Decemberists set.  It gave me a fourth wind. 

Matt won best dressed with his jolly green jumpsuit purchased during the day.

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The Bands –

Hockey — We were only able to catch a few tunes as we arrived late and their sound kept cutting out.  They were really good at tossing cans of beer into the crowd.    I liked what I heard:  a bit of the rock meshed with the musically stylistic elements of the Pacific Northwest.

Manchester Orchestra — Love.  Absolutely love.  They played Lolla last year, but I missed them.  This year, they graduated to the Budweiser stage in the afternoon and they certainly had a nice sized crowd.  They have a similar vibe to Built to Spill in many ways:  emotion in every note, fantastic guitar work, thinking lyrical ability.  I was transfixed every time I could see the lead playing/singing.  I bought everything they have put out the second I got home.

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears — Classic bluesy rock.  The boys can play.  And from reading the notes on the bad, it would appear that Joe Lewis is pretty young to be able to command the music and the stage in the way that he did.

The Gaslight Anthem — They came highly recommended to me going in and I was really happy I got to see them.  Straightforward rock with a bit of hardcore sensibility coupled with some great lyrics.  The lead had some great banter for the crowd including telling us his first concert was Depeche Mode!  Ha!

Bon Iver – It coulda been the weather affecting my judgment, but…  Really not my cup of tea.

Ben Folds — Playing on the Budweiser stage in the late afternoon to a pretty big crowd considering the weather.   I have seen him play a few times before and I really liked that his energy level is the same (really high!) no matter what size venue he is playing.  He played a bunch of older stuff to my delight (and my wife’s and the crowd’s) and more than a few newer tunes as well.  His voice, possibly affected by the weather, was not the Ben Folds I had come to like from a live perspective.  He finished with “Army” and really could not hit any of the notes — not for lack of trying! — which was just sort of a bummer as I like the way the notes drift into each other…  I dug his players — especially the drummer.

Fleet Foxes — The timing was either all right or all wrong.  I remember hoping they would finish as soon as possible, but as I think about he complex harmonies now (in bone dry retrospect) — I did dig it.  Even from almost behind the stage, the voices were clear and tight.

The Decemberists — Wow.  Certainly one of the most unique acts I saw this year!  Talented musicians.  Great singing with some brilliant harmony work.  Something I read in the notes stuck in my head as SO true.  Paraphrasing:  ‘If you were looking for a band that would be fans of roll playing board games…’   Dig it.  They really held my interest — and I think surprised the increasing crowd over their late afternoon set.  I found out, later, that they played the entirety of a rock opera they just released.  Brilliant.  Absolutely brilliant.

Andrew Bird — I tried to get into it.  Experimental?  He is clearly super talented at almost the savant level, but it just was not happening for me…  I did like the spinny thingee in the middle of the stage. 

Kings of Leon — That’s right.  I stayed for KoL and did not run across Grant Park to get to Depeche Mode.  And I did this on purpose.  I have seen DM before and I have been truly digging a lot of KoL’s stuff for the past few months.  Earnest rock.  Great lyrical ability.  Connected with the crowd.  The lead could not stop saying “thank you” to the assembled, wet, tired, dirty masses.  And the crowd thanked them back screaming their songs back to them at the top of their lungs.  I am really glad we stayed.  Total highlight.

14 December 2008

Chicago 3 – Columbus 1

Josh & Stefania joined us for this one!

On to the game…

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First Period:

Modin with an early wrister from the top right circle
Blue Jackets start with a ton of jump for a team that played the night before
Michael Peca was in the CBJ lineup — nice to see him out there
Lots of “flow” to the first period — the first TV timeout was not until 8:46!
Huet makes a sick stop on a late Rick Nash breakaway

Second Period:

Really weak PP in the second from the ‘Hawks
Coupled with…  a bunch of boneheaded plays and giveaways
The UC crowd had no problem voicing their dissatisfaction
0.4 seconds left on the PP – Sharp catches a rebound bank on the left post to tie it up
24-17 shot discrepency (CBJ-CHI) that was only brought that close by a late flurry

Third Period:

WAY more physical on both ends
Shot discrepency cleared up – ‘Hawks with double digits in the third
Havlat scores a nice one after playing catch with Keith halfway through
Seabrook with an empty netter from DOWNtown

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Overall…  Lotsa sloppy for most of the game.  Bearing down late in the second and the third — especially with the physical play — helped to wear down a tired opponent.  It was TOTALLY great to have Josh & Stefania at the game with us!!

yesterday was opening day (or premiere weekend, if you like…) for the NHL.  i was really glad to get the CBC feed for both games!  some random thoughts…

• you never know how much you missed ron maclean until you see the first hockey night in canada every season
• wade redden did not look as comfortable/good as i expected on the rangers D
• barry melrose is not capable of making the facial contortions of john tortorella
• i think you are going to hear a lot of “gomez to naslund” all season long
• marty st. louis smoking dmitri khalinin on his way in to score.  as a buffalo sabres fan, i am glad that it is happening to another team this season… 
• even though i miss him in buffalo, it was cool to see chris drury with a “C” on his jersey
• a LOT of ranger shots.  or should i say tampa bay saves.  smith looked pretty good…
• tyler kennedy looked really small out there.  clearly small enough to not be handled well enough and score twice.
• martin gerber needs to have serious sit-down with his preparedness.  either that or rust.  it didn’t look like nerves…
• the penguins coulda/shoulda/woulda powerplay…
• heatley and spezza score.  but not alfie?  in stockholm?  when i have him on my fantasy teams?  c’mon!!! 
• the woman that sang the canadian and swedish national anthems was awesome.
• it was absolutely cool to see a friend of mine, on camera, jawing with a linesman during a commercial break.  whip those ice shovelers into shape! 

do it.  do it now.

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Here is what I had a chance to see at Lollapalooza 2008 on Day 3:

Iron & Wine (partial)

- Ugh.  Hippies.

Flogging Molly

- The radio personality that introduced Flogging Molly said that they were the “greatest live band ever”.  I am not willing to go that far…  But I really dug the set!  I never really “saw” the stage as we were camped out in our super secret area to the side of the stage, but I could hear them perfectly.  It was tough, it was melodic, it was “Irish”…  It made me want to see them again.  Soon.

Blues Traveler (partial)

- I caught the last 3 songs of their set as I was walking down to the AT&T Stage.  They did a ripping cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me”.  And they held out on doing “Hook” until the end.  The band was as tight as ever and there is no one that can call John Popper’s harmonica skillz into question.  It made me want to see more — without the apparent social stigma there is attached to seeing them.

Gnarls Barkley

- I was pleasantly surprised.  I only knew one song coming in.  The same one that everyone else on the planet knows.  And I was concerned that a lot of their other stuff is too, um, soft?  Ballady?  I was wrong.  The soft stuff maintained an edge from the singing and the great bass grooves and the up temp stuff was as good as could be expected.  They played “Gone Daddy Gone” — the Violent Femmes song — early in the set and I think that helped them set the right tone with a crowd that could have been easily lost.

Mark Ronson

- I have listened to a bit of his stuff — mostly the “popular” and re-imagined covers.  He is more a producer slash band leader.  It was all guest vocalists — bridging many different styles.  As he pointed out many, many times — this was the last date on their 16 month tour.  And he was very fond of the “f word”.  It was high energy and I am sure I would have been pogo’ing my ass off if I had been down front.

Kanye West

- Everyone I knew at Lollapalooza went to go see Nine Inch Nails.  Except for me.  I had seen NIN before — even if it was 17 years ago.  *shudder*  Kanye was AWESOME.  *insert more positive adjectives here*  From the second the lights went down to the moment he said good night, it was a spectacular set.  He saved his biggest singles for the end, but it did not matter — the crowd, myself included, was enthralled, moving to the beats and bobbing our heads.  He went off on what seemed to be an impromptu freestyle slash screaming to the heavens soliloquy dedicated to his late mother that left few dry eyes as far as I could see.  And if my decision to go see Kanye was not cemented by any of that, it was definitely cemented when he did a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”.  Kanye was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Here is what I had a chance to see at Lollapalooza 2008 on Day 2:

Tiny Masters of Today

- Yeah, I saw them TWICE!  They were that awesome.  Kick ass punk rock from a three piece all 18 and under?  How could I not?  Apparently, they hit the list of “not to miss bands” on Day 2 and the crowd was pretty huge.  The front lawn area was full, the bleachers were full and it must have gone 15-20 rows standing behind that.  The kids were a lot more comfortable with this set, I thought.  Go buy their stuff now.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? (partial)

- I caught the last 3 songs in their set on the Bud Light stage.  How much did I dig it?  I bought their record the next day.  They sort of defy categorization — electronica rock?  Plus, anyone that brings the noise with a Flying V is okie dokie in my book!

Mason Jennings

- This was another artist that I would have liked to have seen in a smaller venue.  Perhaps the Playstation stage was cursed?    He was mostly acoustic — hooking up with a band a few songs in.  He certainly drew a crowd!

Dierks Bentley

- Bringin’ the country!  Or, better said, bringin’ the roadhouse!  I had never heard him before, but he certainly made a fan outta me…  They really carried the big stage.

DeVotchKa

- Strange.  Matt and Carrie really dug them.  And one of the chicks was playing a tuba.  You have to give them points for the tuba.

Brand New

- In a word?  Disappointing.  I had only heard a few songs — none of which they played — but they seemed like lackluster heavy pop without any soul.

Lupe Fiasco

- Loved it!  Everything was tight about the set and it just sounded fantastic.  I am a sucker for hip hop with real instruments.  And he worked the crowd fantastically…  And he was voted best dressed. 

Toadies

- Although I listened to them from far away, it was the Toadies that brought the heavy pop with soul that I truly dig.  I saw quite a few folks heading in for Rage that just stopped to watch them for a bit.  And who does not love “Possum King”?

Rage Against the Machine

- I am not sure if this makes me “old”, but I was stoked that Rage has not put out much of anything new since I last saw them over a decade ago.  This, of course, meant that I was almost assured of getting a greatest hits setlist.   They did not disappoint.  At all.  They totally brought down the house — almost literally.  After blistering through a few songs, the pits (plural) got very crazy up front — so much so that they stopped 3 or 4 times during the set trying to get peeps to move back and chill out a bit.  Zack went off on a rant that almost made me feel like he was going to vote in the upcoming election for a candidate that would get more than 10,000 votes nationwide.  My only complaint?  It needed to be louder — MUCH louder.

Here is what I had a chance to see at Lollapalooza 2008 on Day 1:

Jeff Tweedy (partial) – Kidzapalooza

- TONS of people.  It took me a few minutes to realize that Jeff Tweedy is in Wilco as I am not a big fan of Wilco.  Because of that, I think that some of the tunez were lost on me…  I liked what I heard…

Rogue Wave – Kidzapalooza

- Still a lot of stragglers from Jeff Tweedy.  Some of the band did not seem “in to it” and the other members were perhaps overly so.  After seeing them play acoustic on the kids stage, I wish I would have seen them plugged in when they played on the MySpace stage…

Tiny Masters of Today

- This is the band that we came to see at Kidzapalooza.  Two of the band members (Ivan and Ada) are the nephew/niece of Carrie — who I played hockey with in NYC.  I had not listened to much of their stuff before the show; I knew only that they were certainly going to blow the volume out of the place after two acoustic sets before them.  The crowd was sparse to start, but grew a LOT over the course of the set.  There were folks singing along behind us…   I really did dig them.  Ivan can really play — as can Jackson, the drummer — and I was really impressed with their stage presence.  They finished up with a cover of House of Pain’s “Jump” — which has gotta be on its way to being a YouTube sensation…

Cat Power

- This was the first half of my Austin City Limits redux (I saw Cat Power and The Raconteurs on the same show…) and it was a little disappointing.  I really dig the band — and they were certainly tight — but their music, like a few other bands I saw, just did not lend itself fully to playing in the middle of hot/sunny afternoon while outdoors.  I would definitely see them again — just in a much smaller venue.

The Raconteurs

- In the second half of my Austin City Limits party — and only one stage away — the Raconteurs ROCKED out on a big stage.  It was almost the polar opposite of Cat Power.  It was like watching and listening to a 70’s guitar rock band — in 1975.  They owned the stage.  They owned the music.  Sadly, and again like a few other bands, after they played “Steady As She Goes” there was a mass exodus.  They were fantastic and I really look forward to seeing them again.

Radiohead

- Let me start here:  I am not a big Radiohead fan.  Even that is a stretch.  We set ourselves up by the big Lolla balloon stantion.  And I honestly could have gone to sleep.  I watched the concert goers that climbed the stantion intently…  I tried to watch the video screens but they were split into six mini screens on each side and heavily coloured so that you could barely make anything out from where we were.  There was a neat stage effect that made it seem like it was raining.  I guess that counts as a highlight.  There were (unrelated) firewords for a bit of their set.  That was exciting.  I dunno.  I like a LOT of “off kilter”, “derivative” or just plain “strange” music and seeing Radiohead in concert confirmed what I already knew:  they do nothing for me.

it has/had been 17 years since i first went to see lollapalooza.

eeeek.

alison and i attempted to pace ourselves over the course of the three days.  this was mostly successful, although i was gosh darn TIRED on the monday after the festival.

grant park is absolutely huge.  end to end it was just about a mile between the two super main stages with the entrance on the western end of buckingham fountain.

the weather was, if not mad phat, at least very dry!  i despise hot weather — evidenced by the meat locker-esque temperature of our home — but i would have much rather sweated bullets all day than to be poured upon by the sky.

i “discovered” a bunch of bands that i had not listened to previously — or that i had never seen live.  by far, that is my favourite part of any music festival and i spent the next few days buying and listening to a LOT of music!

the crowds were mostly pretty chill.  i never saw anything resembling real violence — or serious drama of any kind.  i did see a fair amount of drunk and high folks — varying from “THIS IS AWESOME!” type drunks to total dehydration.  for my part, i had some pinot grigio (because that’s how i roll) on day 2, but i was well hydrated (thank you propel powder thingees!) and was able to catch about 45 minutes worth of zzzzzz’s before lupe fiasco.

i am going to try and write up what i remember about the bands — by day.

all the photos i took are UP!

check ‘em out:

Lollapalooza 2008