I will do a very very quick and brief review of Lolla.
This is the first year, I went to Lollapalooza all on my own. I actually met up with some great people and made some new friends from it!
I saw a bunch of great bands and was totally stoked to see SOCIAL DISTORTION for the first time in Chicago in about 3 years, but I will get back to their set in a bit.
Friday, I went to see the Drive By Truckers, which are ALWAYS a good time. Devo, which also was good, however I was a bit sad to see that the only song that most of the people watching their set knew was Whip It. Even more surprising was the number of songs from them that I actually knew.
After that was some Black Keys action, which I have seen a few times now. They are really a good set, however I really wish they would get back to their roots. One of the great original things about them was the amazing sound that would just come from the drums and guitar. Now that they have added so many to it, its just not the same, and honestly, not as special.
Friday was the night for GAGA, and let me say, I really loved her show. There were times she rambled on a bit talking, and after a long hot day in the sun, I kinda wanted her to just shut up a bit and sing. She had numerous set and costume changes, and seriously was totally worth going to see. I had seen The Strokes before and had no problem making the decision to see GAGA.
Saturday, MY ASS WAS DRAGGING... so I showed up to the fest later than I anticipated. I started my day with Gogol Bordello, who I actually heard for the first time at Lolla 08. They are SO MUCH FUN LIVE. The music is described as Gypsy Punk, and I think it fits. They are totally high energy, and what I look for in a live performance is just that. You can not help but feel the music, get involved, and have LOTS of fun dancing and singing along!
After being caught in the middle of the GOGOL PIT, I was a bit parched and hot, so I bee-lined over to the beer tent that was closest to the parkways stage, set to buy a beer and a couple bottles of water. I got up there, made my order, and then all of a sudden, a guy, who looks very much like MTVs Dan Cortese, tells the girl that was about to take my money that "he's got it" and that he knows me. He continues to wink, and says "I know you" and smiles. Me smiling back looks a bit confused, because I KNOW I would remember this guy if I knew him. I say, "You must be mistaken" to which he replies, "OH no, I know you, you tweet". I was dumbstruck, didn't know how to respond and now wish to find out who this guy was. If anyone has a clue, email me or comment on this post.
After Gogol was AFI, they were fine, commercial, safe, and nothing unexpected. To be honest, my sites were set for the following performance, the return of SOCIAL DISTORTION!!!
My love of this band is unchanged, but please allow me to say, that music festivals do not always allow for the energy that you normally would get from a certain band or song. I am very used to seeing SxDx in smallish venues. They were great at lolla, but due to the crowd, heat and fear of passing out, I actually kept my distance from the stage for this set. They sounded great, however I prefer the energy I get from them when I see them at a place like the congress, or HOB. THANKFULLY on Oct. 20th I will be seeing them at the Riviera, and I CANNOT WAIT!!!
After SxDx's set, I hung around for Slightly Stoopid who is currently touring with Cypress Hill. Great Set, fun music, and if you aren't familiar with them, seriously... check them out.
Next up was GREEN DAY. This is a band I would honestly not spend money on the tickets for a concert on their own, but I do dig some of their tunes. Billie Joe was definitely a showman, and played to the crowd. However, there was a bit too much crowd interaction. They sounded great on the whole, and I really enjoyed their show, but seriously, I dont want to see you pull someone up on stage to sing longview, and not well. I would rather see GREEN DAY perform it. But on the whole it was a good show. The craziest thing about this show, was one of the people I met was actually brought up on stage and stage dived off after meeting Billie Joe and the band, and the pic of him doing so has been plastered all over lolla's site and other news websites.
Day three... I must be getting old, because I was seriously exhausted and didnt make it downtown until about 4:30. I checked out a few songs from a reunited Porno for Pyros (heh, was ok) then Verve Pipe, and ran to catch Erykah Badu. This set I dont know what to say about. First, she was late, about 20 minutes. THEN when she finally did perform, she only did parts of her songs, not full songs. I did enjoy her, but feel that I would have gotten more out of it had she done a few full songs than just a sampler.
Next up was Wolfmother.... ROCK!!! great set, they are truly a decent festival band. Sound was great, energy was there. If you have a chance to see this band, do it.
One of the bands I was really looking forward to seeing was up next, CYPRESS HILL. This is a throwback to my High School days, and honestly, I HAD A BLAST SEEING THEM. Everybody was having a good time, singing/rapping along, dancing, it was SO MUCH FUN!!! B-Real and the boys have not lost it at all after all these years!!
Next up was the one, the only, reunited SOUNDGARDEN!!! I was sooo looking forward to this show. Ive seen Chris Cornell a number of times, and he always did some Soundgarden songs, and they ALWAYS sounded great. HOWEVER... there were many times through Soundgardens performance that I thought it sounded way off. It could be because of where I was watching them from, I have heard that the soundboard was F'd up from Wolfmothers set, among other things. I have also read reviews that the show was phenomenal (I had to wonder if the people saying this were watching the same show I did). There were some songs that sounded good, but I was really kinda let down by this one on the whole. To the point that I left at 9:15 (45 minutes before the end of their set).
For a concert/fest that I originally was not going to go to, I am really glad I went.
NOW for the fun news... besides going to see Social D again in October, it seems that I may be hitting the airwaves soon in the fall. Stay tuned to the blog and my twitter posts to find out more. I wont be doing a podcast now because of this development.
Well keep it swingin' cats n kittens!!
Talk Hard
G6
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