Thursday, August 2, 5am
We (the girlfriend and I) awake early and take separate flights from Winnipeg to Chicago, both going through Toronto. This is a tedious day of bad flights, Metra train action and setting up in our expensive (yet conveniently located) hotel, one block from Chicago’s Grant Park where Lollapalooza 2007 will begin tomorrow at 11am.
7pm – Urban Outfitters
We do some shopping and purchase things that we will not claim at customs.
Friday, August 3, 11am
We venture down the street to stand in an excruciatingly long line. The weather is hot. The mood is high. The camera has been easily snuck in. Tomorrow I will attempt to bring the “big lens”.
1145am – MySpace Stage
The Fratellis seem about as awake as I am, and that’s okay. The Glasgow trio are quite possibly the most hooky band to come around in this past year, and their set was a thoroughly enjoyable way to start our first of three days.
1230pm
The merch tent is run like a short order diner. I purchase too many shirts, thusly blowing my entire trip budget. I also acquire a nifty Pearl Jam hat. Continuously, I am now asked if I enjoyed PJ’s secret fan show at the Vic (a show we did not know about). I shrug and tell them I’m from Winnipeg.
130pm – Adidas Stage
Jay Farrar takes the stage with a newly reformed Son Volt. All in all, enjoyable and worth the walk. I am already sweating buckets.
230pm – Bud Light Stage
Tim DeLaughter leads his 30-member, cult-like troupe The Polyphonic Spree on stage. Ditching their white (cult-like) robes for black medical jumpsuits, they rock through a set consisting of material from their newest record. The band sounds great and they move as a unit. Strangely, they leave one by one only 40 minutes into their set … only to return wearing the not-forgotten white robes. If there are two bands I have always considered blasphemous to cover, it would be the Beatles and Nirvana. But when the Spree gave us their upbeat take on “Lithium”, I couldn’t help but sing along. I suppose it’s alright, as DeLaughter was somewhat a contemporary of Cobain (fronting Tripping Daisy in the 90s). But that still doesn’t give him the right to make a career out of copying Wayne Coyne.
330pm – Adidas Stage
Changing our itinerary from Against Me! to Sparklehorse, we decide that they don’t seem to be too interested in playing, so we saunter over to the BMI stage.
415pm – BMI Stage
A moment of hometown pride. A trio of brothers that I went to high school with are playing Lollapalooza. Inward Eye’s brand of mod-inspired rock draws a large audience by the end of their set. The band has worked hard and will finally be releasing a record soon (they were signed to Sony last year). Frontman Dave Erickson demands the attention of the audience, but it’s the bopping rock and pulsating drums of brother Anders that keep the kids and kiddos wanting more.
5pm – Citi Stage
The Silversun Pickups have one of the biggest audiences of the day, but the sound is shit. We eventually locate Foodapalooza. I will go on to eat Chicken Tenders every day of the festival. We decide that the evening is about to get a whole lot funkier.
630pm
We plant ourselves at the MySpace stage as we want to get nice and close for The James Murphy Dance Party. In the distance, we hear Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party doing Jane’s Addiction songs. People walk into us. We groan with anticipation.
730pm - MySpace Stage
LCD Soundsystem proves to be the high point of the day. Rocking through new and old material, the studio project is brilliantly brought to life through a five person garage rock outfit. The gear is old and shitty but the beats are hot. Murphy’s vocals are warbly and his gut protruding. It makes you realize that dance music is for everyone. So we dance in the sand while sweaty drunks fall around us. Before playing the hit “Daft Punk is Playing at My House”, Murphy nonchalantly informs us that it’s weird that Daft Punk is playing next.
830pm – AT&T Stage
It’s always a tough call choosing a headliner. The day is hard in and of itself, as you have eight stages to choose from. You may miss bands you want to see. Deciding that the robotic DJ duo of Daft Punk would be more exciting than Ben Harper was a safe assumption, but after a few songs we still ended up calling it an early night. Call me lame, but I had already had my mind blown by LCD. That – and we couldn’t get close enough to fully enjoy the majesty of those zany robots.
4am – Hotel Room
I am awoken by the sound of what I first think is arguing in the room next door, but is in fact: loud, angry sex. This goes on for a half an hour. I hear the girl fall off the bed a total of three times. I also hear the phrase “I’ve only got 14 or 15 bucks”.
Saturday, August 4, 1230pm
We arrive to less of a line and I have my bag searched more thoroughly. I am told that I cannot bring in my lens, as it is considered “professional”. I opt to go back to the hotel and grab my crappy, older camera. I wind up getting no decent photos.
1245pm – AT&T Stage
Tokyo Police Club sound like almost every other Canadian indie band right now. Their winning strategy – they have a cool name. I think that the band and I can both agree it was weird seeing them play to that many people. Great starter set. Sadly – the day looks cloudy.
130pm – MySpace Stage
Tapes ‘n Tapes rock pretty hard. They are laid back and kind of sloppy, but that’s all part of the charm from these Minnesotans. I especially dug the tune “Manitoba” and the way their frontman kept informing us that they were “gonna play a few more songs, if that’s cool”.
230 – AT&T Stage
Silverchair sounded a bit generic and dated, so I’ll just leave you with these brilliant quotes from Daniel Johns.
“This one’s for Oprah … and Stedmond!”
“Make me feel famous!”
“This song’s about me!”
“We’re not gay.”
“I had a dream I was vomiting dolphins. This song is about that.”
430pm – Bud Light Stage
I’m getting tired of walking. ?uestlove and 3D come out and ere eventually joined by the rest of the legendary Roots. They play a drawn out set that included their hit “You Got Me” and a medley of great hip hop that included some Biz Markie, ODB, Sugarhill Gang and more. Honestly, a nice way to cleanse the pallet.
530pm – Adidas Stage
Why is this called the Adidas Stage when everyone at this festival is wearing Pumas? Anyway… Regina Spektor, you have succeeded in stealing my heart. It was her and a microphone, then her and a piano, then her and a guitar. She sang “On The Radio” and “Better” and that delightful song about how someone in the next room was fucking to one of her songs. She was sweet and clapped along at the end like a kindergarten teacher. Her cutest moment was when she saw someone was sick, stopped mid-song and allowed a path to be cleared so that the person could get help. Sadly – I left my heart there, as we had to leave her set early to trek across the entire park to get to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
630pm – AT&T Stage
Karen O is manic and commanding and batshit crazy. Her costumes and face makeup were like something out of Alice Cooper’s daughter’s closet. Nick Zinner rocks his six string like no one is watching. This band is great on record but incredible live. The songs sound meatier and more raw, while the band move like a rock band should. If every band had half the charisma they do, the world would be a better place. Highlights were actually the stuff from the new EP and of course “Phenomenon”, “Cheated Hearts” and “Maps” (which Karen insisted we all fall in love to).
730pm – MySpace Stage
It is starting to rain. We walk towards the stage to see Britt Daniel on the giant screen. We sit down on the hill to watch the band and eventually, we get up and dance. In the rain. To Spoon. The band sounds tight and cool. The set ends abruptly and so does our day. Interpol? Muse? Not worth standing in the rain for. We are soaked and cold.
9pm – Dunkin Donuts
A donut and some hot chocolate/coffee will cheer us up!
3am – Hotel Room
“We’re cousins man, we’re blood! Why can’t we work this out?” is heard from the other room.
Sunday, August 5, 12pm – Hotel Room
While I should be packing, I watch a film on TV in which a young Jude Law robs and vandalizes shopping malls. This is silly.
215pm – Bud Light Stage
We have been standing and waiting for Amy Winehouse to get her inebriated ass onstage for a while now. She is late and compulsively rubs her nose. Her brand of Motown inspired pop is a nice change from the guitar rock we have been seeing, but Amy appears dazed and only slightly swaggers along to her band. Also – now that she has lost all the weight she looks like Janice from Friends. She closes her set with “Rehab” and a cover of the Zutons’ “Valerie” (which I like to think is about Valerie Bertinelli). We head to Foodapalooza for more Chicken Tenders and Lemonade.
330pm – Foodapalooza
As we wander around, we hear Andrew Whiteman’s vocals coming from the Playstation Stage. Apostle of Hustle has drawn a huge crowd and in my opinion, they sounded better when I saw them in a small club. We head back to Bud Light and hear Paolo Nutini instructing my girlfriend not to be hasty.
415pm – Bud Light Stage
Iggy and the Stooges take the stage to some of the loudest applause all weekend. They launch into classics like “TV Eye” and Iggy moves like a man half his age (and still has those abs). Eventually, he invites about 200 concert goers on stage to join in a dance party. But then he can’t seem to get rid of them. Finally the stage clears and they finished their set (without playing “Search & Destroy”).
615pm – Bud Light Stage
We stayed relatively put (missing a certain Swedish trio), but we had to have a decent spot for Johnny Marr & Isaac Brock (which we did). Modest Mouse went through a set consisting of material from their two most recent records, knocking out the hit singles early on. I dug it, but I wasn’t blown away. Either way, still a very cool hour.
8pm – AT&T Stage
The last show of the night. The only band playing. Everyone in the park migrates to this stage. We can’t even get close. Our feet are killing us, the humidity is high. But when Eddie Vedder starts to tell us stories about how he would ride the L train, listening to tapes of Patty Smith and The Stooges on his walkman, and what a trip it is to play the same festival, you can’t help but believe him. This was one of the more punk rock sets Pearl Jam has ever played. They touched on only “Elderly Woman” and “Better Man” for softer material, while blazing through “Do The Evolution”, “Not For You” and “State of Love & Trust”, to name a few. Stone, Mike and Jeff jump around the stage with Eddie, while Matt smiles along keeping time.
The two hour set concluded with Ben Harper joining Ed on stage, along with an Iraq War Vet to do an acoustic number about the war. Then, stealing from Iggy, Vedder invites everyone from the side of the stage to dance along to their version of Uncle Neil’s “Rockin’ In The Free World”. Seeing Dennis Rodman hoist the frontman on his shoulders for the final notes was something you had to see to believe.
There were a lot of highlights, but part of me is still choked at missing last year’s fest, for there was a line-up that I was completely in love with. But I will stop my bitching, as it was an amazing trip. Saw some brilliant artists, had some laughs, bought some shirts and ate more than my share of Chicken Tenders. Mmm… chicken!
