I woke on Day 3 of Lolla still thinking of that impressive Green Day show. I knew it wouldn’t be topped today, but their were still some great acts in store. For the first time in this installment of Lolla we got some rain in the morning. Not too hard, but enough to decide to miss a couple early acts and have a couple drinks at the hotel instead. By about 2:00 it had cleared up and we headed in.
We took more time today to check out the pretty large section of vendors (a part of Lolla since the start). The guys picked up a couple tee-shirts and I found a cool guitar strap repurposed out of a seatbelt from a FedEx truck. We also hit the Adidas shoebox diner and got a couple silly photos taken.
For the day’s first act we returned to the DJ area, Perry’s, to catch some NERVO. The sisters from Australia were laying down some nice beats while the gray skies were clearing up. It wasn’t the frenzy of Steve Porter, but it was a good warmup for the day.
The next band we caught was Hockey , a new act from Portland with a couple catchy singles. They played on a small side stage and it was nice to walk up and be close, but not in a crush of people like so many of the other acts.
After just a few songs we made our way back to the other end of the park. As we passed Perry’s again, Perry himself was in the middle of a DJ set. After listening for a few a moving on, we made it just in time to catch the last couple songs from X Japan at a distance. I wish we’d caught a little more of their set, because they really threw down in their long awaited first performance in the States.
Next up, along with some lounging, was a chill set by Erykah Badu. After that I was tempted to fight the crowd to see some of MGMT’s set, but opted to grab dinner instead. I’d need the energy for the next act.
Just as evening approached, Cypress Hill took the stage. Their set reminded me a lot of Snoop’s show the year before: energetic, nostalgic, and well, smokey. A string of 90’s hits like “(Rock) Superstar”, “Dr. Greenthumb” and, of course, “Insane in the Brian” had the diverse crowd pulsing hard while band members took turns hitting their 7 foot bong.
Our closer for the festival was Arcade Fire. Even though I think opposing headliner, Soundgarden, drew a big crowd, there was an absolute sea of people already crushing in for them. We decided to sit this set out from a distance and enjoy a nice patch of grass. At times I wished I was up in the frenzy, but taking in the whole scene from a distance was an appropriate way to close out the awesome weekend. Arcade powered through hit after hit, and with the crowd singing throughout, I realized just how popular they had become in the past couple of years since their first Lolla appearance.
As their set finished and we walked under the inflatable, and real, stars overhead the crowd continued singing the chorus to “Wake Up”. A continued into the downtown streets.
