Lollapalooza 2008 Review.

Lollapalooza is a great festival. Idiots complain about its corporate backup and stuff, I guess there's some people that just can't see anything good in life. If you have over 100 bands in three days of music, located exactly in downtown Chicago, why again is it that you are whining about?
The great thing about Lolla is not only the fact that it has a great environment and very well organized but its very well located. You are close to anything you need in the city like hotels, restaurants, nightlife, public transportation. That's what makes Lolla the most convenient of the large music festivals.

As for the bands, this is what I saw.

Day 1. Friday, August 1st.

I first entered the gates of Lollapalooza 2008 on Friday around 3:15 PM having missed both Rogue Wave and The Go! Team (I still regret not going to the latter) because I couldn't leave work as early as that.

The 1st band on my list was The Black Keys. Pure rock n' roll, one guitar, one voice, and a drum set. That's it. After overcoming a bit of trouble with the voice in the 1st song (which was curiously Girl On My Mind, one of their biggest hits), which we couldn't really hear, the set was pretty good. The sun was up, it was very hot, but the Black Keys managed to pull it off. They played the Bud Light Stage on the north side of the festival, that I have to say, was the stage with the best sound.

The Black Keys.

From there I was ready to fulfill my dream of finally seeing the great Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power) play live. And I was disappointed. She had it all, the Playstation 3 stage, one of the nicest in the festival, a large group of people (which sadly shrank as the set went by), good sound and a good band. I don't think her set was well chosen. Even though she opened up with Naked If I Want To, included in her latest Jukebox, but also part of 200's The Covers Record. From there she went downhill, playing only a few old songs which included Lived In Bars. She sang two lines of The Greatest before the band went jamming wild to finish off the set. She has a great voice, she has the songs, but that day she didn't have the audience. I'd rather see her perform a solo set.

Chan Marshall AKA Cat Power (in red) playing at the Playstation 3 stage.

After that it was back at the Bud Light stage for more guitar-powered rock and roll with The Raconteurs. Does everything that Jack White does has to be so good? Pure energy, while the sun was starting to hide behind the buildings of downtown Chi-Town, The Raconteurs rocked with perfect live versions off their two albums. Steady As She Goes and a kick-ass version of You Don't Understand Me with Mr. White on the piano while Brendan Benson took care of the guitar, stood out from the rest of the set which was energetic and overall good.

The Raconteurs. Brendan Benson (left in green) and Jack White (right, wearing black).

Quickly drag your ass from the Bud Light stage all the way to the other side (about a 10 to 15 minute walk) to grab a good spot (if possible) to see Radiohead. Even though I wanted to be there as quickly as possible I couldn't help stopping in the Citi stage to see CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy) who were leading a massive party. I was lucky 'cause I got to see them play Music Is My Hot Hot Sex. Enough to dance for a while and continue my pilgrimage to the AT&T stage.

Radiohead is the best band in the world. Having said that, everything in this festival cannot be compared directly with Radiohead because they compete in a different league. It wasn't the best show or set I saw during the weekend, but it was the best band I saw during the weekend, if it makes any sense. About 80,000 people witnessed what was the biggest headline of the festival. Even though I got there about 20 minutes before the show and considering that there were people sitting down to grab a spot since like 2PM, I wasn't bad located. In a very British way at 8PM sharp Radiohead opened up while the crowd went mad. The set was great overall, they played 2 hours, and not a lot of shows these days surpass the 90 minute line. Sometimes it was a bit slow, but hey, that's just the way In Rainbows works. Speaking of which, they played the album almost entirely. I enjoyed the show very much but, I would have loved much more power in the sound. I could hear the guy behind me talk, and he wasn't even yelling. Maybe that didn't help the crowd to really connect with the band. Highlights included The Bends, Fake Plastic Trees and Everything In It's Right Place played while a firework show went on, There There, Optimistic, Idiotheque, Paranoid Android, No Surprises and Lucky. Weird Fishes, Bodysnatchers and Reckoner were probably the best songs out of the new album. Even with the low sound, it was a great show.

The crowd before Radiohead started playing with Chicago's skyline at the back.

Radiohead.

Radiohead.

Very tired after the 1st day of Lolla, I go t a good night sleep and rested enough to hit the second day of beer and music.

Day 2. Saturday, August 2nd.

I kicked the day off with en vogue MGMT. It was surprisingly crowded, I know they are the cool band of the moment, but I never expected this many people. The good thing is, they delivered. Unfortunately the sound didn't. Again with the sound. Nevertheless, MGMT is powerful and goo on-stage, and as my festival-buddy said about Andrew VanWyngarden, "he has a lot of Wayne Coyne in him." Which is funny, since David Friddman (Flaming Lips' producer) was behind Oracular Spectacular.

MGMT

A funny thing that tends to happen in almost every festival is how surprised you can be about a band that you are only going to see because "it's what's playing at the time." And that was the case with me and Explosions in the Sky. We grabbed a couple of beers and laid back at the Bud Light stage, where there was a lot of people laying on the grass listening to 3the perfectly executed post-rock instrumental music of Explosions... It's one of the moments I enjoyed the most, and I never expected it. They are awesome live, if you ever have a chance to see them don't miss it.

The crowd listening to Explosions in the Sky

Urge Overkkil is a great band that plays good, simple music. No pretensions, just plain simple. And I did enjoy their show, especially when they played Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe and
The Latest Thought. And although my companion didn't agree, I saw some of Jarvis Cocker in Will Sheff.

Okkervil River

Back in the Bud Light Stage it was the moment to experience one of the finest musical moments in the weekend. In fact, it wasn't going to get any better than this. Broken Social Scene is amazing when they play live (and on record). I personally consider Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning (along with producer Dave Newfeld) to be some of the biggest musical geniuses of our time. They brought along the large crew, about eleven musicians on-stage, Amy Millan (from Stars) included. They opened up with the instrumental Pacific Theme followed by a sick version of Cause=Time. The set was heavy on Brendan Canning's album, part of the Broken Social Scene Presents series, and there was some of the previous album from the same series, the Kevin Drew one. It didn't really matter what they played, when the music is so good you enjoy whatever they throw at you. I would have loved to see a longer set, since they only gave the band an hour. A longer show would have given us the chance to listen to Superconnected, Almost Crimes, Lover's Spit, Stars and Sons, Ibi Dreams of Pavement and other greats from You Forgot it in People and their eponymous third album. But in the end, they were definitely one of the best three acts I saw in the whole festival.

The whole gang. Broken Social Scene at the Bud Light stage.

We killed an hour drinking beers after immersing ourselves again through the crowd gathered in the Bud Light stage to see Wilco. While the south part of the festival was in the middle of mosh pit crisis with Rage, the north side was enjoying a nice, smooth and friendly Wilco show. A good show I might add. People were enjoying it and having a great time, and really, it's Wilco. They remind you how simple (at least on the surface) music can be enjoyable and made to sing-along to. I am trying to Break Your Heart made an unexpected early set appearance and was very well received, although the high point was Shot In the Arm. By the time Wilco was finished I realized I was a bit drunk and had to go rest it to avoid having a hangover on Sunday.

Wilco suited in Nudie (even though it's hard to tell in this picture)

Day 3. Sunday, August 3rd.

The final day of a festival has this vibe of people not wanting to let go of it, but at the same time too tired to keep going. And I guess that in paper the last day was the least attractive, at least for me. But the festival closer Kanye was something I was expecting since the beginning. And no, I didn't care missing Nine Inch Nails for Kanye. More on that later.
Tired and aching I started the day splitting between the Black Kids and Perry Farrell. Now, why Perry Farrell you might ask? Because while I was still in the Citi stage watching the Black Kids my friend calls me and tells me Perry is playing Jane Say's with... Slash. And I couldn't really miss that. Plus, the stages were next to each other.

Perry & Slash play Jane Says.

The man himself

Back to the Black Kids, they are good, I really hope the keep it going and deliver a good second album (I know they just released the 1st, but the 1st is always easier), and they do it really good on stage. Of course, I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You turned the place into a big party. Really cool.

The Black Kids

We then headed to the Bud Light stage for a nice and kind of flat Iron & Wine show. Not too many highlights but not too many low points as well. Enjoyable and not too much to talk about this one.

Walked all the way back to the south stage, AT&T for Gnarls Barkley. The options were that or Love & Rockets who probably not a lot of people knew and I only know three songs of. So we made the decision to see what Gnarls had. And they don't have a lot. OK, they are good on record, good for partying. But that's it, there's nothing more they bring to the party when playing live. Nothing ever happens. Still, I had a good time while dancing to Crazy and Gone Daddy Gone.

Gnarls Barkley

We headed back north to see the National and we did see the last two Love & Rockets songs which were rather good.

The National have a great album. But they still need to learn the stage. Especially Matt Berninger, who sometimes thinks he's Ian Curtis. But he's not. And he's not Paul Banks (Interpol) either, so he has to build a charisma of his own. They need a strong frontman. Nevertheless the music was good. The sound took a while to get there, but it did. If they keep it up we might be looking at one hell of a band in the next few years.

The National

Again, walked all the way south.

On the journey to see how Kanye was going to take over the world we passed by the MySpace stage where Mark Ronson was playing. Now, you can say all you want about Mark Ronson. But live, he's nothing but about having fun. And that's good. He had a very big band playing, plus inviting different vocalists to sing. Kanye, by the way, was backstage. I got there right when they were performing their version of Just (from Radioheads' The Bends), and the vocals were by Alex Greenwald from Phantom Planet. Yes, the ones from that song California. Yes, the one from the O.C. Yes, Mark Ronson invited the whole band on-stage. Yes, they played the O.C. theme song. And it was so funny and weird, that it was amazing. People went crazy, partly because they thought it was ridiculous and partly because (and you should accept it too) they really like the song. After that Mark Ronson and his band returned to perform Valerie (by the Zutons) while people danced and had fun. A lot of people were walking by at this point, it was only like 15 minutes before Kanye began. The sound of Mark Ronson's band was amazing, and even though I was having a good time I had to leave to grab a good spot for Kanye, so I left shortly after their rendition of The Smiths' Stop Me.

Mark Ronson and (part of) his gigantic band.

And then the magic began.

I have never been big on hip hop. It's not that I don't like it, it's that I don't know a lot about it. I know the basics, but nothing too deep. But I know Kanye, and for that you don't have to be an expert.
This was probably one of the best shows I've seen in my life. The man is amazing in front of a crowd, he really knows how to manage the stage and the people and his intensity and energy are unbeatable. With a 90-minute hit-packed set Kanye ruled Lollapalooza. And the idea of regretting being there and not north with Nine Inch Nails never crossed my mind.
Kanye does hip-hop like a rock band. There is a DJ, but there's also a band, and a large one. Needless to say is that the best moment of the gig was when they sampled/played a version of Don't Stop Believing by Journey (which by the way must have been the most covered band in the weekend, Gnarls Barkley gave their rendition of the same song andGirl Talk sampled Faithfully for a wrapper.)
When Kanye was done we were all left wanting more. You can't get enough of this guy.

Kanye closes Lolla at the AT&T stage.

All in all this was a great festival. Great bands, great moments. I hope next year's line-up keeps building, but after lining Radiohead, Kanye, NIN and Rage, there are big shoes to fill.