white noise

Back at it for the third and final day!


We took our time this afternoon getting into the park, and once we were, to stroll around. And of course we had to get one more “thrilling” photo from the Adidas shoebox lounge.

By late afternoon we made our way over to see The Cars, a real throwback moment. Though I’m not a huge fan, it was cool to see them play their hits (and be reminded of how many they had). “She Moves in Stereo” was particularly nostalgic as it brought back fond memories of Fast Times. They may have looked awfully aged on stage, but Ric and his band really sounded great.


After their set we made our way to the other end of the park to get a good spot for Cage the Elephant. The first time we saw Cage a couple years early remains one of the best Lolla surprises we’ve had, and we’ve been fans ever since. In the minutes before their set, the wind picked up a bit and the temperature cooled bringing some much welcome relief. And then we noticed the sky.

As the dark clouds quickly approached, Cage took the stage and roared off with their raw energy. It was only a couple songs in when the rain began. The drizzle continued for a couple more songs. The crowd was wet and annoyed with thoughts of soggy shoes for the rest of the day, but they were determined that rocking out was more important than seeking shelter.

And then the sky ripped open and sheets of rain began to pelt us. I don’t know if I’ve ever stood in a rain that hard, and if so, certainly I wasn’t in it long. Now soaked to the bone, everyone’s annoyance with the rain actually melted away. Something crappy had actually turned magical. Cage launched into “Shake Me Down”. Rain slashed onto the stage. Rain exploded off the drum heads and cymbals. Crews scrambled to get tarps over the stage monitors. And then came the bridge. Faces turned up to the downpour. Every hand pointed to the sky and we sang: “Even on a cloudy day, …, I’ll keep my eyes fixed on the sun”.

After Cage closed their set, the rain had moved on, and we waded away from stage. Ruined shoes, cameras, and cell phones were strewn about in the ankle deep water. All across the park there were muddy shenanigans – from dancing, to slides and making mud angels.

The closer on the main stage was the Foo Fighters, but by the time we got over there, the crowd was already filling in. Instead of standing packed in with the masses in the muddy midfield, we grabbed a roomier and less messy spot on a grassy hill a little further back. As dark fell, and the set began, the crowd was gigantic. I’m usually close to the stage for these acts, so this new perspective was remarkable.

Dave Grohl is an amazing talent, and their hits were good, but there were times the Foos sank into a jammy 70s vibe with extended instrumental sections that I found a little boring. But there were also great moments. The rain returned every bit as fierce as earlier in the day, but colder, while they ripped through “Hero”. And it poured. An eye blurring, umbrella bending (for the few that had one) deluge. The crowd shouted the chorus as if to drive back the rain. Like during the Cage set, there was a crazy feeling of community as every drenched person made this downpour something we wouldn’t forget.

Although the rain let up, a couple songs later Justin and I were shivering and questioning whether to stay or move to another spot. Then without warning, Mike said “I’m going in” and ran down our hill (how he didn’t wipe out on the mud I have no idea) and disappeared into the muddy humanity. We just laughed and gradually worked our way up while looking for D who we hadn’t seen since heading back to the hotel to change after Cage. Eventually we got separated, too. It was every man for themselves tonight.

After rocking out to Monkey Wrench, and now being separated from everyone in our party, I decided to sprint down to the other end of the park to see the last of Deadmau5’s set. I should have been exhausted, but I weaved through the muddy grounds with ease. The sounds of the Foos faded and the EDM thumping grew louder. As I crossed the middle of the park, the combination sounded like a crazy house remix of “Best of You”. I made it down to the other main stage in time to catch the massive rave during a mashup of “Professional Griefers” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”. Then Deadmau5 switched from wearing his trademark mouse helmet to a thin sheet and launched into a crazy finale of “Ghosts N Stuff”. Words can’t describe the soul shaking wall of sound as those synth chords blasted across the field.

Walking away after the set, I somehow ran into D in that sea of thousands of people. Justin met up with us back at the hotel along, with a very, very muddy Mike grinning ear to ear. It was the perfect end to the festival.

Recapping Day 2 in slightly more digest form. Woke, ate a little breakfast, and enjoyed the mega-Osco/Jewel. There was just a bit of morning rain so, we waited to head in until about 2. We again had a couple early beverages to warm up for the day, and a couple might’ve become a couple too many for Justin – he was completely lit 🙂

Good thing our first act was one where he could some blanket time. We watched Skylar Grey, who is best known for singing the hook on hits by Eminen, Lupe Fiasco, and Ditty Dirty Money.

I’m not sure if her own songs are quite as strong as her six pack abs, but her cover of “Zombie” by The Cranberries was fun. All in all, a nice set on a small stage to start the day.

As a crew we weren’t moving quickly, so I decided to skip running over to catch indie act Dom, and we worked our way over to claim a good spot at one of the main stages where we’d hang the rest of the day. First for us on that stage was the reunited Big Audio Dynamite. I watched their Coachella set online so I had a good idea of what to expect. And they delivered. With Mick Jones and company on stage, the mid-80s sure didn’t seem 25 years past, as they rolled through hits like “The Bottom Line” and “E=MC2“. A lot of the crowd looked too young to appreciate the set, but there were older folks (like us) who were really loving watching one of alternative rock’s elder statesman.

After B.A.D. we waited at the same stage for an unusually long amount of time until Ceelo Green finally came out. The crowd had grown bigger (and denser) during the wait, so people were getting pretty anxious for his set to start.
In his intro his all-female band dressed in S&M outfits took the stage; they were kinda cool, but also kinda awkward. Then Ceelo came out and they launched into a rocking, but sloppy cover of Danzig’s “Mother”. Ceelo himself was dressed like one of the Road Warrior professional wrestlers (or an extra from the movie of the same name).

He made it through megahits, “Crazy” (by Gnarles) and “Fuck You”, and a few other covers, but his set was apparently plagued with sound issues. It clearly upset him and even led up to one song restart. After about twenty minutes he cut things short, which didn’t sit well with the crowd which had waited so long.

Last up for the evening was Eminem. Kinda like Gaga the year before, I was looking forward to seeing such a massive act that I wouldn’t normally go to. His set filled the just the prescribed 90 minutes, but it packed in a lot of music, a lot of power, and damn, a freakin lot of words! I figured I knew a couple Slim Shady songs, but I was really blown away by the fanatics surrounding me in the crowd, who could spit the lyrics word for word the entire time. He had a live band which really gave the show a great presence, and he was joined by several guest on stage during the night. First was Royce, then Bruno Mars, and later Skylar Grey for “I Need a Doctor”. The crowd was massive and thoroughly hyped. He closed with “Lose Yourself” and it was crazy.

Another edition of the massive music festival has come and gone, but this one bearing the significance of being the 20th Anniversary of Lollapalooza. D and I saw the very first edition back in 1991 and it still stands as one of the best days of live music we’ve seen. Back then, Lolla was a single day, single stage, touring festival and the lineup consisted of (the brand new) Nine Inch Nails, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, Butthole Surfers, Ice-T, Living Color (in their hey’), Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Jane’s Addiction. For the past seven years, Lolla has been grounded in Chicago, initially as two days, then as three. We’ve been to 4 of those 7 now, and it just keeps getting bigger. Just how big? Lolla sold out this year, with 90,000 attendees per day.

We returned to this event with D’s brother, Mike, and nephew, Justin. After their first Lolla last year, they couldn’t wait to get back. We met up downtown before noon, got checked in, and had a pre-concert beverage (or two) before heading out.

The first day started with rushing in to catch the set by Young The Giant. It was a warm sunny afternoon and jumping around to “My Body” was a great start for the festival.

From there it was a brisk hustle down to the other end of the park to catch The Naked and Famous. With their shimmering, poppy synths they sound quite a lot like Passion Pit, only the lead singer is a woman, which gives them just a hint of Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs vibe. Their set at Lolla sounded great, even if it was a little low on stage energy.

Following Naked and Famous was one of our most anticipated acts of the day (or the whole weekend), Foster the People. We’ve been fans of Foster since last Fall, when D first heard “Pumped Up Kicks” and knew it’d make a great Halloween party song. Since then they’ve really blown up, hitting lots of festivals this year, even if they’re not necessary a mainstream name yet. Since we were already at this stage for Naked and Famous, we moved up even closer after their set ended and wound up just a few people back from the front. Lead singer, Mark Foster, came out in a long sleeve dress shirt and black trousers – way overdressed for the hot summer day. A couple songs in his entire shirt was drenched.

The band sounded great, they had great energy, and the crowd was phenomenal. There was more crowd surfing during this set than probably any other act we saw over the weekend, and definitely more than at any of the headliners. It reminded of Matt and Kim’s set from last year and Dan Deacon the year before. With Foster, Lolla 2011 had officially hit cruising altitude.

After Foster, we grabbed a bite to eat, more drinks, and chilled out (literally) in the Dell Lounge tent. A worker there snapped our pic on a tablet and emailed it to us.

After resting up a bit, it was time to hit the DJ stage. This year Perry’s was set up under a huge tent. It was a interesting setup – something I’ve seen from other festivals – as it allows for hanging light over the crowd and projecting things on the tent above them. I guess it was a little more immersive than the open outdoor stage they’ve used in the past, but mostly you were just more immersed in people. And heat.

We caught the last few minutes of The Bloody Beetroots’ set. The tent was completely packed. Too packed to dance, but it didn’t keep the mass of bodies from trying.

Next up, was who I most wanted to catch at Perry’s, Skrillex. Somehow, even more people pushed into the text. D had enough before the set even started and bailed to listen from outside the tent. Justin has left for other stages earlier, so it was just Mike and I. As the awesome waves of dub got under way, it seemed like an endurance challenge just to stay in there. The day was already warm enough, and with all these people stacked in the tent, the temps inside soared. Lights swirled, lasers wooshed. Exhausted fans would appear from somewhere deeper in the scrum and squirm their way out. Around 20 minutes into the set, a girl behind me vomited – missing me but got the guy next to me. Mike and I decided listening outside the tent would be fine indeed.

Before leaving Skrillex rocked us with a mix of the Ludacris hit “Move Bitch”. Oh yeah!

We decided we weren’t ready for another dance crowd, so instead of watching Crystal Castles (who were darn good in the rain a couple year’s ago), we grabbed a shady spot under a tree to watch OK Go. They did a decent set, but without their clever videos, they didn’t overwhelm me. One unique highlight was when they performed “Return” with only hand bells.

And of course, their biggest hit was fun to see live.

Digging on the mellower vibe for the rest of the night, we decided to skip the huge headliners, Muse and Coldplay, and instead finish the night with a much more intimate set by Ratatat. They are an electronic duo; one mostly plays synths part with a guitar, while the other switches from guitar to various synths and drum controllers. Their music is instrumental and downtempo, and I very much like gaming and coding to it. Their stage show features all kinds of visuals and very strange videos, and there are never spot lights on them. Incidentally, this makes recording their show quite difficult as they grove along in relative darkness.

It was a great end to our first day. We were tired, but not exhausted, and would be ready to hit Day 2.