Not much to report on Day #4 which was a rest day since I would be taking the 6 hour Amtrak from St. Louis to Chicago. I took 4 NyQuil LiquidGels so I could pass out but ugh, I couldn't! The train was full but thankfully they put us in business class seats. Due to waiting for a freight train going 0.000000000001 mph to pass, I didn't get into Chicago until 1.5 hours later than scheduled. BLAH. Met up with billy_ and Alex. We ate at some nearby 24 hour diner that serves a banana with every meal. For some reason I was the only one who got the banana. Also got stuff from Walgreens.

( Why Lollapalooza Kicks Coachella's Ass )

( Why It Doesn't )


2007 Lollapalooza Day 1

The Fratellis. We took the bus to downtown Chicago which turned out to be a baaad idea. Due to the frequent stops to load up too many passengers and heavy traffic, we got to Grant Park way later than scheduled. Wish we took the Red Line train instead!! It took us forever to pick up our passes because they were at the Media Check-In Tent which was ALL THE WAY on the southend of Grant Park. On our way, we did hear The Fratellis do what I suspect was their last song Chelsea's Dagger. Not too heartbroken I missed them. Already seen them three times this year and I'm pretty maxed out. Next album?

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. The Polyphonic Spree. We walked around picking up free crap along the way. Decided what the heck, we'll check out Ted Leo. Poor dude fell on his ass on the first or second song! After he finished, he said "Thanks guys!" We were getting hungry so we decided to utilize the in-and-out privileges to eat at a nearby Thai place knowing we'd miss The Polyphonic Spree. Stopped by the nearby hostel to buy a visitors CTA pass, which they were out of. Walked to the Chicago Cultural Center, enjoyed the A/C and exhibits (sadly no photos allowed) and bought a visitor's pass. Stopped by Walgreens to pick up more stuff.

Against Me! Don't even dare talk shit about this band. Or else! I was listening to New Wave on my iPod and gosh darnit I really liked it. The crowd wasn't as spirited as Coachella. Surprisingly hardly any moshing or crowd surfing. Alex conjectured being on concrete maybe had something to do with it--which is strange since this is Grant Park. Looking forward to seeing them again at LA Invasion at Home Depot Center where I saw them two years ago!

The Rapture. While waiting for the The Rapture underneath some trees on some elevated spot (woot!), we could hear M.I.A. on the Bud Stage. It didn't sound too good where we were. Unfortunately don't recall too much about The Rapture's set. It didn't seem as fun as their Coachella set to me but maybe daylight had something to do with it. There was a green crane behind us. Some stupid kids thought it'd be cool to get on it and jump up and down shaking the whole thing.

Blonde Redhead. The Black Keys. We decided to utilize our in-and-out privileges for dinner. Unfortunately so did a lot of the people at the place we ended up. The chicken ceasar salad wasn't very good and service was slow. Line at the bathroom was way long. There were two girls there who changed into their robot-inspired get-ups for Daft Punk.

LCD Soundsystem. Came back and caught, I guess, two songs. At the end, James Murphy says "go over there" pointing to the Daft Punk stage. So we did.

Daft Punk. Decided to break from routine and tried to get closer to the stage. Bad mistake, bad mistake! It got super crowded not too far from the soundboard so we backtracked and ended way in the back somewhere. Seems like everyone has raved about Daft Punk at Coachella and the LA Sports Arena; but me...meh, wasn't feeling it. Neither was Alex. I really wanted to see a real band that singed and played instruments. So we decided to catch the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!/Cold War Kids/Elvis Perkins in Dearland after-fest show at the Metro. Off to the Red Line station...

I'd start writing about Day 1, but I'd get bored. So here's Day 2.

The Cribs. After scrounging through trash cans for our daily supply of bottled water, we walked to the Mojave tent where we caught a few songs from The Cribs. They were OK, but their songs weren't anything special nor memorable.

The Fratellis. As all the Cribs fan were leaving, we moved closer to the stage. Then there was a sudden big push in front of me. I went with the flow and ended up with a rail spot on the left side facing the stage. UNFORTUNATELY, the camerawoman who was filming on the front left side of the stage became a cameraman and completely obstructed my view of The Fratellis lead singer. Man, I was pissed. Well, at least it sounded good. My friend noticed a crumpled piece of paper on the stage and asked a security person to grab it for him. Turned out to be The Fratellis setlist which he later gave me since I was the bigger fan.

Hot Chip. Thankfully the cameraman left!!! Unobstructed view of the stage = luxury at Coachella!!! Wasn't sure what to expect for Hot Chip. Electronic dance music doesn't make the best live performances. But wow, they got the tent moving! It got so hot and sweaty with all the bodies moving so close to each other. Here's a crappy photo I took.

Peter Bjorn and John. Very cute with their Swedish accents and feeling quite uncomfortable in the heat. I think almost half their set was from their first two albums to which I hadn't gotten around to listening.

It sucked to leave our prime spots but sucked even more that we were hearing The Decemberists as we were walking to the restroom trailers. What was cool about staying in the tent for 4 bands in a row was that was 4 hours we weren't standing in the hot sun!

Arcade Fire. We caught a couple of songs from Kings of Leon who sounded really good. Hadn't seen them since 2003 Inland Invasion and never got around to seeing them again. I've been pretty lucky when it comes to seeing Arcade Fire live. I saw them at The Troubadour back in January 2005 and was in the pit to see them at Inland Invasion. Even caught a drumstick from Win! So it sucked to be far away from the stage and rely on the big screens. My friend Alex and I ended up lying down on the grass and chilling while Keith tried to inch closer to the middle. Arcade Fire still sounded great. Looking forward to seeing them from much closer at the Greek Theatre.

LCD Soundsystem. Ended up lying down outside the tent during LCD. We could hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers even though we were probably at the farthest end from the main stage. Damn, were RHCP loud. LCD sounded good from what I could remember when I was conscious. And I think I remember hearing "Daft Punk..." and "North American Scum."

The Rapture. We actually entered the tent for this one. Didn't matter where we were since it became one big super fun dance party which made me forget we were skipping out on The Good The Bad The Queen. The lead singer staged dive THREE times!

( Here are some crappy photos of Peter Bjorn and John behind the cut. )