Lollapalooza

I can't believe no one posted about this already...

I don't know how to say this tastefully...oh fuck it, Lollapalooza 2008 was fucking amazing! I'm sorry Kiznox, you might not want to read this post. I was able to see some of my favorite bands and none of them disappointed. Well, Rage teetered on the edge. There's just so much fun to be had at the park and in the city.

Lolla is held every year in Chicago, which is good for me, because before last weekend I've never been there. It used to be a traveling concert event, but lagging ticket sales moved it to a permanent spot in Grant Park in Chicago a couple of years ago. I'm glad I got to experience the city, because I realize that I probably wouldn't like living in a city like that. I like driving, and driving is a pain in the ass there. But there are also just so many cultures in that city that it feels like a whole new world, which is a definite change of pace.

Anyways, lets get back to the meat and potatoes.

Friday we get dropped off at the venue early and catch the end of the Bang Camaro set, which was nice, because they played Push Push (Lady Lightning), which rocked. Then we walked over to the AT&T stage to watch Noah and the Whale, but to our surprise, a band called Holy F*ck was actually playing. Luckily, Holy F*ck was pretty good, kinda techno rock. Then we met up with Ideene, which was a treat because I haven't seen here in over a year. We watched part of The Go! Team set with her. They were alright. Then we did things that I don't remember. Luckily, while we were just sitting, some guy came up to us and offered us some acid. So I took that and went to see one of my favorite bands...The Raconteurs! They were fucking amazing, as I expected. Since they only have 2 albums they played all of their best stuff and I was mind fucked with delicious music and amazing awesomeness. After the encore, which only Goerg and I stayed, we booked it toward the south end (AT&T stage) to see Radiohead. I gotta say, I'm not the biggest fan of them and I barely knew anything they played. But fuck, they put on a spectacular show, if only it could have been louder. The lighting rig they used was incredible. Everything seemed to fit too. Fireworks went off at the perfect time during one song...and it wasn't even planned! It was apparently for something at the pier behind the stage. Sweet, it worked perfectly!

Later that night we went to Jack's place where I got to see people that I haven't seen in years. The only problem was that I was having a second trip, along with a headache, so I was basically out of commission. Also, I slept on a tile floor. That was fun.

Saturday was pretty chill. We didn't get to the park until after 3, which was a nice breather. Everyone went to watch Brand New, who I could care less for. So I walked around and saw part of Explosions in the Sky, who were meh. We met up again and farted around for a while, eventually ending up at the Toadies set. They were meh, but they played Possum Kingdom and afterwards half the crowd left. Some people left to watch Wilco...why, I can't tell you. Maybe they were beaten as children or kicked in the head by a zebra when they were younger, but they just aren't smart. So we stayed near the south end and watched Rage Against the Machine. This was an interesting show. The band finally reunited after a couple of years apart and guess what happens. Everyone goes nuts. During the first song people were getting trampled, pushed, knocked around and passing out. So they had to crowd surf people out that were hurt. After a couple of songs, Zach de La Rocha had to stop and told the crowd to "look after each other" and take a few steps back. Of course no one listens, because as a group people are fucking idiots. He actually had to stop the concert 2 more times to tell people they are being idiots. Kinda detracted from the experience. But, when they were actually playing music, it was energetic. Tom Morello can sure play the guitar like a wizard. Phenominal. This night, we just went back and slept...comfortablly. Thankfully. It was needed.

Sunday, we don't make it to the park until about 3 again. First we see a band called Chromeo who played techno hip-hop with a fat, hairy, shirtless guy on the synth. While that was gross, it was a decent show. The surprise hit of the show was definitely Blues Traveler. They played their older hits as well as some stuff off of their new CD. All of it was pretty entertaining, especially their cover of The Devil Went Down to Georgia, which showcased how amazing the lead singer is on the harmonica. It was incredible. After that, everyone left to go to the bathroom and watch Girl Talk. I stayed and watched the beginning of Gnarls Barkley to see what they would be wearing when they came out. They were dressed in brown suits. I was disappointed. They started out with a bad song too. So I immediately left and joined the others at Girl Talk, and it was worth it. Not only was the show fun to listen to, I found some more doses. This brought us to the main event of the night: Nine Inch Nails! BTW, FUCK Kanye! NIN was definitely one of the greatest shows I've ever seen live. They added new flavors to classics such as Closer, which was unbelievable. The visuals and lights used during their show just added to the amazing factor. I was in a utopia of dancing and face meltingly loud music. Oh yeah, we were right next to a speaker. At one point Trent Reznor addressed the crowd and told us how much he's ready to go despite losing his voice. If he didn't say anything, I wouldn't have even noticed it was going. Simply fucking amazing.

The only bad thing about that night was not being able to go to sleep because I was tripping my balls off, into the next day until I went to sleep.

The sushi at some dump in Chicago was fantastic, along with some great company.

Best concert (musically): (tie) Raconteurs and Nine Inch Nails
Best concert (visually): Radiohead
Best memory lane moment: Ideene losing her belongings
Best story: Jack's "everyone needs to sit down" story
Best Eric: the one who let us use his place for the weekend

I hope the headliners are worth it next year, because I want to go back!

I just realized that the only people who would care about this post were there, and I just recreated the weekend for them. Oh well, I'm not deleting this. It took too long to write.