Thursday August 1st
MNDR
Coming out dressed in a giant over sized white t-shirt and little else should have been my first clue that she was a Lady Gaga clone, but their were more in case you weren't sure. All she is, is the newest pop princess. She has an OK voice and she can sure belt it out, but a lot of the time she stood behind a DJ stand and pushed buttons to put out pre-recorded sounds and vocals. I can't stand that kind of music, I am just not a fan of EDM. If you are fine but I just can't dig it I really didn't like her.
Smith Westerns
After a long delay, some random Dj's, and a lot of tension from an audience beginning to realize that there is no movie screening or autograph signing, Smith Westerns took the stage around 11:30. Maybe it was just the disappointment of not getting to meet Simon Pegg or maybe it was the pure fact that I was exhausted by this point, but their set of mostly new songs didn't really do much for me. I wasn't a huge fan of their newest album The Soft Will so it shouldn't surprise that I didn't like the live versions much. The last songs were the older hits from the previous albums they played worked much better live. After this I went home slightly let down but ready to get back up and go for the start of my favorite weekend of the year.
Friday August 2nd
Deap Valley 1:30
The start of Friday immediately divided the park into three sections. On the north side of the park you will find the rockers with the bud-light stage, the south side or the red bull stage held all of the hipsters and casual fans, and anyone wanting to jut party, dance, and do drugs headed to Perry's stage. I headed to the north side to rock out, where I would be spending most of the day. Here we find Deap Valley sort of a female Black Keys, they are a two piece blues rock band, made up of two sisters. They hammered out a very lively set, but made the unfortunate decision to comment on a giant inflatable Stanly Cup and call it a football trophy. They were showered in boo's, chicogians sure love their Black Hawks. They are a good band destined for a better time slot next time, but writing a few hits couldn't help. Also there was photo bomb guy, he ruined the first five photos of the day, so here is my tribute to him.
Ghost B.C. 2:15
Right at 2:15 on the nose, a fog machine starting as Gregorian chanting played too the audience, and out came the the band all dressed in their back ward priest outfits. The band write music that is very satanic, so it isn't surprising to see the fans all put on the act of being satanic for one hour. The clouds that had been threatening rain all day suddenly vanished as if pulled straight down by Satan himself so that the people of Lollapallooza could witness his minions in action. After a minute or two of the band playing, lead singer Papa Emeritius II emerged in his pope of the underworld outfit to lead the crowd in an hour of metal. They played tracks off both of their albums and had everyone in the audience rocking out or watching just to see what they would do next. They sure play a great show for metal heads, but for most it was worth it enough to say you saw the pope of the underworld earlier.
Father John Misty 3:15
After making our way across the park following Ghost B.C. we arrived at Father John Misty. He started out with Fleet Foxes as their drummer and stayed with them until after the Helplessness Blues tour. Already two great folk albums down he went solo and fired out the much more raunchy but equally awesome Fear Fun. I was expecting a calm afternoon set, which I did get but also a lot more. If it weren't for Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Papa Emeritus II, he would have been the best front man of the day. As the set started the charisma came in for a close up and he preceded to flip it the bird. His charisma was palpable and he danced around the stage while singing, by dancing seductively and humping the audience. He had the banter of a stand up comedian and the voice of a folk star, the audience ate it up. During the second half of the show he found a unicorn in the audience and preceded to serenade it, but my favorite part of the show was when he told the audience, "this is the part of the show where I don't care whether you like that I am doing or not."
Imagine Dragons 5:15
If your wondering why there isn't a picture of the band for this page let me explain. This is a classic case of bad planning on lolla's part. Imagine Dragons are probably the second most popular band of the entire festival next to Mumford and Sons, thanks to those two unbelievably popular songs or theirs, "It's Time", and "Radioactive". Everyone and their grandma knows these songs and apparently like me wanted to see them live. This band was booked on the tiny small Lake Shore side stage. First problem; they were not booked against anything equally popular band, so that everyone was trying to get to Imagine Dragons and nothing else. Second problem; the Lake Shore stage is the worst stage ever for sound volume, and when you cram 100,000 drunk and annoyed people into a tiny side stage area and not a huge main stage area. Third problem: When their are so many loud drunks and crappy enough sound, you can't hear the band over the idiots, not to mention be so crammed in like sardines that you can't move, they festival pulls the plug ten minutes in to correct this problem. After they pulled the plug we bailed to go sit in the grass and chill after this travesty. Eventually the band came back on and we sat and listened to them from the grass before making our way to see a much better band.
Queens of the Stone Age 6:15
Nine Inch Nails 8: 15
The Crowd separated following Queens show for people trying to go to The Killers or to get a better spot for Nine Inch Nails. The last time I saw Nine Inch Nails was on their farewell tour and they were opening for Janes Addition. I was really excited to see what their headlining show would be like, oh and the light show, the fabulous light show. Every tour Nine Inch Nails put together a new light show, and tonight show was no exception. After waiting for forty five minutes moving in closer and closer the show finally started.
At first all you could see was a giant white wall and a key board center stage, and then all of a sudden Trent was there singing and playing by himself. One by one band member appeared on stage with electronic instruments and all white backdrop of moveable white video screens, that doubled as awesome lights. The first three songs used electronic instruments; "Copy of A", "Sanctified", and "Came Back Haunted". Until the screens broke apart for, "1,000,000" and a live drum kit emerged and all shit broke loose. All the energy that had been stored through the first three songs came blasting out in one of the best mosh pits I ever been a part of. One of the best moments of the entire weekend happened when a man in a wheel chair charged the mosh pit. Everyone got out of his way and it was one glorious moment where he was king of a lolla and my hero.
Trent Rezor really understands his audience, and that helps him to craft what might have been the perfect Nine Inch Nails set list. He gives some heavy song for the kids to throw down to, and then slows it back down for the weaker kids to catch their breath. This was hands down the best show of the weekend and one of the best shows I have ever seen. That moment where, "The Hand That Feeds", is quickly followed by "Head Like a Hole" is truly a glorious moment. Also the moment where girls walk into an empty hole right before a heavy song just to scream as the pit starts and guys charge in all directions and they freak out flailing their limbs in all directions. Then there was another moment that made me want to cheat on the previous moment with this new moment. When the girl form the mosh pits comes back screaming out how she had just been run over by a wheel chair. That was the best moment of the night. Here is the super epic show if you are interested, and let me clarify. If you are not interested you should be.
Saturday August 3rd
Planet Hemp 1:00
Reignwolf 2:00
I would like to think that Reignwolf got the Jimmy Hendrix time slot. When Hendrix played Woodstock he came on early woke people up with his legendary guitar playing. I'm not saying that Reignwolf is as talented as Jimmy Hendrix, but he definitely had got some serious skills. He came out and asked the crowd if they were ready, they replied but I doubt had any idea what they were getting themselves in for. When he started in with the first song, "Electric Love" he was singing into the mic with one hand while flailing on the other guitar with the other hand. All While playing the drums with this feet. After a while he brought out his brother and a friend to play bass and drums with him. Still the best parts of the show was when the blues guitarist was slaying it solo. He played a killer version of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" that would make Lyndsay Buckingham smile. This was one of the best performances of the day.
Charles Bradley 2:45
Right at 2:45 all we had to do is turn our heads to the sound of horns bellowing over the horizon. The band played a few songs before making a grand introduction for the one and only Charles Bradley. Charles Bradley is a famous soul singer and a great James Brown impersonator. He proceeded to lead all of lolla in sermon of soul church. He played hit after hit and even at the age of 65 he displayed some of the best dance moves I have ever seen in my life, seriously!
Local Natives 4:00
The National 6:00
The National may not have been headlining Saturday night but they probably should have been. In their one hour and fifteen minute set they were able to play an impressive 17 songs. The true showman of the day was Matt Berninger the singer of The National. On CD they may be calm and relaxing with Matt's signature baritone voice, but live they make you want to get on your feet and dance. The National put on one hell of a performance with Matt being such a showman, that he fell to his knees and screamed out the lyrics on a couple of the songs. I still say that the one two punch of "Mr. November" into "Terrible Love" was the best part of the whole day.
The Lumineers 7:15
The Lumineers otherwise known as that band that made the song "Ho Hey" or the band that came before Muford and Sons. All of which is a real shame because I really like The Lumineers and wanted to hear more that just "Ho Hey", but they were plagued by a bunch of things. They were assigned the terrible Lake Shore stage, so that they couldn't be heard over the drones and drones of casual Mumford and Sons fans getting a spot. I got up close to get a photo and stayed to sing along to "Ho Hey", but after that the crowd got so loud that their was no point so I went back to the hill to listen and wait till Mumford.
Mumford and Sons 8:15
Mumford and Sons are currently one of the biggest bands on the entire planet, you can deny it or try to argue with it all you want but the fact prove it. They sell out shows and sell more albums then almost anyone on the planet. Everyone on earth has heard at least a few songs by them, and everyone and their grandma came out to see them as you can tell by the new segment I'm starting called people of Mumford and Sons. See the picture bellow. They had one of the best debut folk albums of all time no one can argue that fact and they used the success of that album to cash in and phone in a lesser second album. I like to use the hangover comparison. We all saw the first hangover and we all loved it, but the second hangover was the exact same thing except worse. Don't get me wrong I was very excited to hear material off of the first album, but their popularity wold serve a problem.
Sunday August 4th
Palma Violets 1:00
By the time Sunday came around most of the three day park attendees were pretty much walking hungover zombies with one more day of partying ahead of them. So The Palma Violets early afternoon punk rock couldn't have come at a better time. They were loud, filled with angst, and not messing around. During the bands 45 minute set they fired out songs with enough energy to suck the hangover out of you or make you pass out trying to. During the end of the set the lead singer jumped into the pit and crowd surfed for an entire song. This is a band that has a ton of potential.
Jake Bugg 1:45
This was another case where all you had to do was turn your head and listen. After a nice act to get up and move around to, I have to admit it was nice to have a band to sit back and listen to. As I sat back an listened I realized that I really liked Jake Bugg. His music was very diverse, and he really is a very talented musician. I now own his debut album. I am curious to see where he goes from here.
Alex Clare 2:30
If you had told me previous to this year's lolla that I would end up putting Alex Clare on my top ten list I would have thought you were crazy, but this "Too Close" hit maker really delivered. The benefit he had is that he knew that most people only knew his one song and he used that to his advantage. He started and hour long dace party, where no ones eyes left him until his time was over. He had energy, he had style, and he puts on one hell of a performance. After he let everyone jam out to his album, he reminded them why they were here in the first place by blasting out "Too Close" to a huge crowd of brand new fans.
Baroness 3:30
When you set out to go to a festival, a lot of people make a list of the most important bands to see at that festival. This band was defensively at the top of my list. In fact I was happy to even be hearing from them again, after that horrific tour bus accident, but they brought it and then some. This was the most metal performance of the entire weekend by far. The crowd was small by mighty and loving every second of this show. The band made a point to say how happy they were to be here after witnessing the very first lolla, and they meant it. They had some of the most energy of any thing the entire weekend and were probably the best act of the day. Although The Cure would come first. Also the guitarist is hilarious, he looked like a mix of Dave Mustaine from Megadeth and Dramatic Chipmunk.
Alt-J 5:00
After being on the north side for the entire first half of the day we made our way too the south side. Alt-J were playing on the infamous Lake Shore stage so I was sure we would end up being able to hear them. We went back to the hill and took sat down, but sure enough I could hear them just fine, and they sounded good. They had found a way to overcome the Lake Shore stage so mad props to them for that. After being entirely OK with sitting down for their set, I couldn't help but get up and dance when they played "Breezeblocks".
Grizzly Bear 6:00
Grizzly bear are like the weirder cousins of Radiohead. I was very excited to see them live, we moved up as close as possible. The crowd may have been made up of almost entirely stoned hipsters, but that didn't stop me from loving their show. Their songs really explode in a live setting, and they played material from all of their albums. They are such good musicians its incredible, they all play like four different instruments, and most all of them sing. An hour isn't enough time for a band like this, everyone was digging it and no one wanted them to leave. When they said don't worry Beach House will give you another good show, I knew he was lying so we moved in for The Cure.
The Cure 8:00
The Cure have become somewhat of a legend in the live show area. They have been playing music since the the late 70's and haven't lost their knack for it. The great thing about a Cure show aside from Robert Smith's awesomeness is their discography. The band has spanned more than three decades and their music has changed a ton over the that time. In the 80's they were a pop band putting hit after hit through he decade. In the 90's they were huge on the forefront of the goth era. The songs got darker, the rock got harder, and the crowd changed. In the 2000's they cemented themselves as a legacy band that wasn't going anywhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment