lolla recap
Well, I made it to, and managed to survive Lollapalooza ‘07. When I first saw the ‘07 lineup, I thought that last year’s lineup was much better than this year’s. And after the 3-day show, I still feel this way, save for one exception….more on this later.
The theme of this year’s schedule seemed to be the “conflicts” – two good bands playing opposite each other, and often at opposite ends of Grant Park. Some of the notable ones: The Rapture/Silversun Pickups, Satellite Party/Black Keys, Daft Punk/Ben Harper, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Roots, Lupe Fiasco/Amy Winehouse, and My Morning Jacket/Modest Mouse (most complaints about this last one).
I got to Lolla on Friday and managed to catch most of Jack’s Mannequin’s set, which also happened to be one of the highlights of my weekend. Their lead singer is also the singer from Something Corporate. Jack’s only has one album, but they have a lot of good tunes, so try to check out their songs on iTunes. After Jack’s was Electric Six (these guys were on some sort of illegal drug), then moe (pretty good jam band), G. Love & Special Sauce (didn’t catch a lot of their set, but good chill music), Matt ROAN (a $$ up-and-coming Chicago DJ, and also a fellow ‘00 York graduate), Satellite Party (Perry Farrell’s band…also played some old school Jane’s Addiction tunes), and LCD Soundsystem (one of the highlights from Friday). We ended Friday night by catching the first half of Daft Punk. This show was pretty ridiculous: the lights were awesome and the acoustics were great. But I also can’t help but be skeptical about how much these guys were actually doing on stage, and how much of it was just pressing “play”. I tend to be a traditionalist when it comes to music… nothing against DJ’s, but a good guitar solo impresses me a lot more than a “mix” from song-to-song. At any rate, we caught the tail end of Ben Harper’s set, which was surprisingly upbeat.
Saturday was my limited action day. Note to self: don’t chug 40 oz. of water in 5 minutes otherwise you’ll end up getting sick. Needless to say, I only saw three bands on Saturday: The Roots (dubbed the best live hip-hop act…and I believe it), Regina Spektor (chill piano music) and Snow Patrol (one of those bands that prompts the response “oh yea, they sing this song?”). I left shortly after Snow Patrol, but I heard good things about the Muse set that night.
Sunday I wanted to get there relatively early, and I managed to do just that. Also, I wanted to be the most hot I’ve ever been at a concert, and thanks to the scorching humidity, I was just that. We saw Chicagoan Lupe Fiasco early (over my probably-preferred Amy Winehouse). Lupe was good, but going back to my prior point…he was *just* singing/rapping on stage. Regardless, he knows how to work a crowd, and Twista came out for a cameo, which was impressive. After Lupe, we saw Iggy Pop’s band. I’ve read nothing but good reviews about Iggy’s set, but I thought it was TERRIBLE…probably the worst of the weekend. The band itself was okay, but Iggy never seemed to be on time with the music and his voice is, uh, not good. So we got outta there in a hurry and went over to see the Wailers (sans Bob Marley). After that, My Morning Jacket put on a great set. I wasn’t too familiar with this band but I’m definitely going to check out their albums.
And finally…
Pearl Jam. We were pretty close to the stage for My Morning Jacket (they played on the same stage as Pearl Jam), and we were able to move a bit closer after MMJ’s set. With all of Lolla’s crowd backing up all the way to Buckingham Fountain (about 1/2 mile), we were lucky to be about 40 feet away from the stage. The band was 15 minutes late to the stage, but they quickly started with an energized “Why Go?” from their first album, “Ten”. Most of the songs that I *really* wanted to see them play, they did (Corduroy, Alive, Better Man, Evenflow, Rearviewmirror, and a show-stopping Rockin’ in the Free World as the closer). I ended up getting kicked in a head more than a couple of times by rowdy crowd surfers, I almost lost a flip-flop in the squalor, and I also almost lost my friends a few times. Eddie Vedder was energized and the band was unreal (especially McCready on guitar and Matt Cameron, one of my favorite drummers).
PJ ended the show with Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World”, one of their concert staples. For the last few minutes of the song, they had about 20-25 people on stage (including Ben Harper and, yes, Dennis Rodman). The last note of the song featured Eddie Vedder on Dennis Rodman’s shoulders. It was quite the sight, and I managed to snap a picture. I wanted to wait a few days to proclaim this, but this show now heads my list of best concerts, edging out U2 a couple years back and the Black Crowes at the Riv on Halloween ‘05.
See ya in ‘08, Grant Park.
Some pics:
Jack’s Mannequin:
Matt ROAN:
Daft Punk:
Ben Harper:
Snow Patrol:
My Morning Jacket:
Pearl Jam:
Eddie/Ben Harper:
Eddie/Dennis Rodman:
As a concert enthusiast, I regret, yet again not attending THIS years festival of random, not so random, and popular music groups. I too would find it hard to pick between My Morning Jacket and Modest Mouse, as I have heard all but about 3 songs between the two of them (I’m kidding; I know they are both great bands). The pics were great, especially the Ben Harper one with our beloved skyline as a backdrop (For those Chicago natives who don’t think this is the greatest city in the world, you should think again about where you spend your summers).
I will make a space to leave my thoughts about your Pearl Jam comments…
First thing: Eddie Vedder on Dennis Rodman’s shoulder is a great wey to end the show (Pic is great). I can only imagine the crowd surrounding the stage, and I’m not suprised it was the highlight of the show.
But here is one for you: I also was at the Black Crowe’s show on Halloween, and, my personal favorite concert af all time, U2 at United Center on Sept. 25th, 2005. I put this show above: in no particular order: 10 Pearl Jam shows, 5 Black Crowe’s shows, 3 Rolling Stones shows (Including 1 at the old Comiskey Park and 1 at Soldier Field), Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits under a firework Show at Summerfest last year, and yes, even Bon Jovi. Pearl Jam is my all time favorite band, right up there with U2 and The Stones, and have amazed me every time I have seen them. I can only say that if this show was as great as you say it was, I will commit myself to envy and jealousy of your being there without me, even thought it’s my fault I didn’t go (No thanks to a rather large purchase I have just made).
I’ll finish by saying that “Sweep the Leg” is one of the most creative names for this blog that you could have come up with, despite claiming you are not creative. I look forward to future blogs about random acts of comedy and anything else that comes about.
“Put em in a body bag, yeeeaaa…”
PC
I guess Lance Armstrong was up on stage with Vedder and Rodman. That’s a pretty random ensemble at first glance, but not if you look at Rodman’s own page on the Pearl Jam web site.
http://www.pearl-jam.com/rodman/home.html