Lollapalooza 2006

For my birthday this year, the illustrious Kelly got me a ticket (and a plane ride!) to this year's Lollapalooza in lovely Chicago.

The last time I was in that town was about 8 years ago, and in January, so I was excited to visit in the warm summertime.

The last time I was at Lollapalooza was way back for the fourth one in 1994 with the Smashing Pumpkins, etc. I also went to the second one in 1992 when the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the headliners.

Guess who headlined this time, 14 years later (JESUS! FOURTEEN???!)? Yep, the same band.

Anyways, I seriously never thought I'd ever find myself at another one of these things, but, after battling a 5 1/2 hour plane delay at stupid LaGuardia Airport the night before, there I was.


DAY ONE:

For some reason, we didn't get to the show until about 3:30 on Friday afternoon. We missed a few bands that I wanted to see (Stars, mostly), but since there were so many lined up, it didn't really bother me too badly. Plus, I ran into them doing a photoshoot:

Um, band photoshoots are hilariously silly.


The concert(s) took place in Chicago's Grant Park, which is a REALLY big place. I read somewhere that it was 3/4 of a mile from one of the main stages to the other.

Sometimes it felt like 34 miles.


If I remember correctly, the first show that I saw was Ryan Adams. I thought it was kind of boring, so Kelly and I went to find one of the many (and reasonably priced, I might add...) beer tents.

Then we went to watch Lady Sovereign. All I could think of when watching her was how awful it would be to hear that voice first thing in the morning if for some reason you were married to her.

A bit later, we went to watch the Raconteurs. They were pretty good, but I was more interested in watching My Morning Jacket play and for some reason they were scheduled at the same time (on the opposing main stages).


By the time I made that long-ass trek, I only got to hear about four songs. They really were great though and their songs really work in big outdoor venues like this.

Next up, I had to decide between seeing Sleater-Kinney or the Violent Femmes.

I know that since Sleater-Kinney is breaking up after this tour, I should have watched them.

Oh well...



The show that I wanted to see most on day one was next:

WEEN!!!

Goddammit they were awesome.

Here's some YouTube evidence:



After the show, we met up with Kelly's friend Kamil who we were staying with. He wanted to go find his friend who does the lights for Death Cab For Cutie (they were playing opposite of Ween). Turns out his friend is a super nice guy and lives in my neighborhood, Greenpoint. We ended up hanging out on their tour bus for a while. At one point, Ben Gibbard came in and talked about his Teenage Fanclub t-shirt that he bought off the internet (nerd!). Then he stole a bottle of Jack Daniel's and headed out into the night.


On the way back to where we were staying (Evanston), I spied something with my eye:

Dairy Queen!!! Thank you Chicago!


DAY TWO:
We arrived at the park at a more respectable 1:00, just in time for Kelly to go see the Cold War Kids, while I ran off to see the lovely Feist.

She's pretty great, but I'm not sure how well her songs fare in huge outdoor environments like this. Plus, she had to battle the sounds coming from the other nearby stages.

One of them being Peeping Tom:

I hadn't ever heard of this band, but someone told me that Mike Patton was in it so I ran over to check them out.

Well, I still love Mike Patton, but this music kinda sucked.

After two songs, I had enough and ran back over to watch the rest of Built To Spill's set.

While there, I saw the craziest sunburn ever:

Look at that poor sucker's neck! I don't even remember anything about Built To Spill because I just kept staring at it. Ouch. Worst farmer's tan ever, right?


Next up, a long walk over to see Wolfmother.

Perry Farrell came out to introduce them and man, is that guy skinny.

The crowd was really excited for these guys and they rocked it as usual.

Here's someone's borrowed YouTube video of "Apple Tree". You can see Perry in the background.



Next was a decision between seeing Gnarls Barkley or Sonic Youth.

Not being able to decide, I went to both.


This was my third or fourth walk across the expanse of Grant Park.

Luckily, there were many beer tents along the way.

After Sonic Youth, Kelly met up with me and we waiting for the Flaming Lips to come on. We were treated to some songs by the Dresden Dolls, who were playing the next stage over.

Jesus. What a horrible band. They did a cringe-inducing cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" as well as a cornocopia of their other god-awful songs.


Thankfully, the Flaming Lips eventually came on.

They did their usual schtick: balloons, santa clauses, aliens, confetti, etc.

Yes, I agree that it is getting really old at this point, but it went well with the festive atmosphere.

Also, I had had about six beers by that point.


After five or six songs, we headed back across the way to catch the end of Common's set.


We found a nice hillside to sit on and relax.

Then the New Pornographers played.

Then it was time for Kanye West.

Dammit. He rocked that place. It was easily the most attended show up to that point and people were going bananas.

Awesome.


Oh yeah, did I mention that Grant Park is home to that fountain from the intro to "Married With Children"?

Well, yep, it is.


DAY THREE:
The last day.

We got up even earlier so we could go watch Sparta, who's drummer Tony is a pal of Kelly's. They started at 12:30.

On the way to Grant Park though, we walked right by Millenium Park, which I had been wanting to check this out all weekend.

In case you don't know, Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" is there.

Everyone calls it "The Bean", though.

It is amazing and great.

Click here to learn more about it.

Right next to the Bean is somegthing that might even be better:

"The Crown Fountain". Read about it here.


Then it was on to the music...

One thing that was funny about this weekend was how many Segways I saw.


Crazy.

Anyways, we watched Sparta play and then found some grass to lay on.

We got up to watch Hot Chip play.

They were pretty fun, but I couldn't stop watching this guy dance to them:



Later, we watched Andrew Bird and a couple of songs from the Shins, who are incredibly boring live.



After Queens Of The Stone Age, I ran over to watch the awesome Broken Social Scene play.

I thought that they sounded really, really great. Plus, the entire band was there.

The only crappy part was that they only got 45 minutes to play. Whoever set that up is a total idiot.

Here's some YouTube of them playing "Shoreline":

Feisty!


After they finished, we went back to our spot on the hill to watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers play.

I was way too exhausted to try and fight my way up any closer, especially after seeing them at the tiny Irving Plaza a few months back.

They were good though.

And that was the end of the big show. I seriously never thought that I'd be able to make it through three days of being outside in the sun, watching 130 bands. It ended up being a lot of fun though.

I'm even already wondering if I'll go back next year...


On the way back to the car, we walked by these again:


Even at this hour, there were still tons of kids (and adults) letting themselves get spit on by the giant faces.


Once back in Evanston, we had one last DQ stop.



We ended the night, and the trip, by visiting Lake Michigan.

Spooky.

So that's it folks, the big Lollapalooza wrap-up.

Next up: Camping in the Adirondacks! If I make it out alive, that is...