Lollapalooza Roll Call

[rich_WDC]

definitely more-than-decent fest; perhaps not stellar.
 
 Highlights:
 -post fest shows: THIEVERY on Fri (w/ Seth Hurwitz on drums for a song?); PARTICLE (and most of BLUES TRVLR) Sat; Zeppelin jam at Abbey Pub Sun. (lots of Zeppelin shirts, more than typical, at fest)
 -seeing Perry introduce four bands (and sing w/ THIEVERY)
 -two of the three comedy troupes
 -weather
 -nice to have that urban feel (Lake Shore Drive behind a stage; the skyline all around)
 
 Fave bands of the fest:
 -Ben Kweller
 -Manu Chao
 -The Redwalls
 -Rev HH
 
 Not bad:
 -Be Your Own Pet
 -Woflmother
 -deadboy & Elephantmen
 -Cameron McGill
 -Gnarls
 -Living End
 
 A little disappointing:
 -The Raconteurs
 -30 secs to Mars
 
 Wilco had bad time slot (should've been Sat)and RHCP didn't play all the way til 10 (but I was set up for dissapointment anyway, knowing they wouldn't play 20 off the new LP!)

[sonickteam2]

i will post my band reviews here now:
 
 (get ready)
 
 friday:
 
  deadboy/elephantmen  - B+ very very cool. i love his voice and it was the perfect beginning to the weekend
 
  midlake- B- i liked them too, but perhaps better for a club atmosphere. that song Roscoe is toooo good!
 
  Eels - A wow.  they were much much more energetic than i expected. that security guard they have cracks me up. but i wish they would've played a couple more "hits" than they did.
 
  Stars -  D ummm, sorry, but i didnt find them to be "exciting"
 
  Ryan Adams - A+ continues to amaze me, and play grateful dead songs.  best set of the day
 
  secret machines - A sounded perfect, they will be soo huge one day!
 
  raconteurs - A- way better than i thought, though i dont know why i thought they would only be sub-par.  jack white is the man. cant wait to see them again @ Virgin.
 
  Sleater-Kinney and Death Cab for Cutie - C and B- all the assholes of the weekend were over here, for these two bands...and it made them annoying, we left early and got ready for the nighttime.
 
 
 Saturday:
 
  Nada Surf - A they rule. should've played way later.
 
  Built To Spill - B+ good set, they almost seemed TOO good musically for that crowd!!!
 
  Wolfmother - A- easily had 25,000 people in front of that stage...and could've ripped it in front of 250,000!!!! people who rail on this band are just bitter.
 
  Gnarls Barkley - C- wake me up when its over. i am writing my apology letter to Sonic Youth for picking Gnarls over them!!!!
 
  Dreseden Dolls - B+ "war pigs" cover, and i just love this band.....they were great and perhaps the happiest to be playing there
 
  New Pornographers - A+++ set of the weekend. a congo/train line running through 15,000 people?? only canadian bands....they were fucking awesome!!! and AC's neice does just fine in place of Neko.
 
  Kanye West - A- i dont care, he's just soo fun and bringing Lupe Fiasco for "kick, push" was the best part!     we stood way far back and danced around on the softball fields!
 
 Sunday:
 
  Burden Brothers - B toadies songs...nuff said.
 
  Ben Kweller - C+ ehh, i dont know, he's okay but nothing special
 
  30 Seconds to Mars - B- i wish they played better songs cause they are a great show!
 
  Shins - B they were the shins, and it was too crowded to get too crazy, but i liked em
 
 
 those were the sets i saw enough of to really review.  even though one sentence isnt really much of one!
 
  lowlights included Lyrics Born, who thinks he's a funk musician, Poi Dog Pondering and the Frames.
 
  we left those sets very very quickly.

[you be betty]

WHY DIDN'T YOU GO SEE THE REDWALLS

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by you be betty:
  WHY DIDN'T YOU GO SEE THE REDWALLS

i heard some of the redwalls from a far, while waiting for the Burden Brothers.
 
   they were ok, but man, i couldnt see everyone!!!  

[Sage 703]

Originally posted by you be betty:
  WHY DIDN'T YOU GO SEE THE REDWALLS

Because they're shameless Beatles ripoffs?  And were playing opposite Sparta!  
 
 Highlights for me:
 
 Editors
 My Morning Jacket
 Secret Machines
 Thievery Corporation
 Gnarls Barkley
 
 Good sets:
 
 Sparta
 Ryan Adams
 Nickel Creek
 Disco Biscuits
 The Shins
 Coheed & Cambria
 The Flaming Lips
 
 Not my thing so much:
 
 Ween
 Violent Femmes
 
 
 The Thievery late night show at the Metro was sick.  Just sick.

[anarchist]

it was a good way to loose weight and exercise.  it was 1 mile between the main stages.  if you wanted to see bands back to back between those stages you were going to miss 15 minutes somewhere.  most people got tired of the walk and stayed on one side.  it was funny to see kids running to stages at 11am to wait for an act to come on at 8:30pm. fwiw pitchfork was better.

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by anarchist:
  it was a good way to loose weight and exercise.  it was 1 mile between the main stages.  if you wanted to see bands back to back between those stages you were going to miss 15 minutes somewhere.  most people got tired of the walk and stayed on one side.  it was funny to see kids running to stages at 11am to wait for an act to come on at 8:30pm. fwiw pitchfork was better.

we used the 15-20 minute walk to check out the side stages, vendors, food, beer and restrooms. so that was cool.  and really, it wasnt a mile. because one you were in either field of the main stages, you could hear everything.  and you could always hear one of the 9 stages, no matter where you were.

[bnyced0]

What about the appearance of a nearly complete BSS?  They commanded the only real "encore" even though they were prohibited from actually giving it.  Dresden Dolls were great.  As was Nada, they got bumped (time switch) with the kiddie Aussies, whom were good, but not Nada Surf good.  Thievery at Metro was good but a clusterphuck, much too small a venue, but Marc Farina downstairs was a welcome respite.  Sonic Youth at Double Door was insane, Feist a bit of a yawner at least as an opener. Manu Chao who seldom makes a public appearance in the good ole US of A was probably the most deserving of actually having RHCP role.  Overall not as hot as last year, but not that much better either.  Better than Bonnaroo, not quite on par with Coachella, and since they conflicted this year couldn't compare with Street Scene, but from sounds of it the kiddies were a little out of control in SD during Tool.

[Reggie O.]

Some of my favorite sets of the weekend were:
 
 The Hold Steady-I'm only a casual fan of their recorded stuff, but they really brought it live , very energetic/funny front man also contributed to  the atmosphere.
 
 Built to Spill-A little rough at the beginning, but the crowd really responded to some of their extended jams, really energetic without a lot of jumping around.
 
 Broken Social Scene-The shorter set could have possibly helped their set because every song got a huge reaction. Everyone going nuts, singing every word-possibly the best set of the weekend.
 
 The New Pornographers-Sound exactly like on record, some people are turned off by that but its refreshing to hear a band with good chops. Odd stage prescene by the lead singer but still funny at times.
 
 Cursive-I think that Tim Kasher was drunk(at 2PM!) but you wouldn't have known if he hadn't struggled to remember the single they had released a few weeks ago and general word slurring. Still lots of passion and lots of fan favorites were played-good extended version of Art is Hard tore the place down at the end.
 
 Stars-I've heard mixed reviews of this set but I really like them recorded and I heard a lot of the songs I wanted with a good amount of passion.
 
 Death Cab for Cutie-At first I didn't like some the longer songs they were playing but after a while the songs got and held my attention for the 10+ mins they were played for. Plus, songs like President of What? were dug up which was pretty cool.
 
 Smoking Popes-I've heard a lot of stories about their live show being boring but it seemed pretty passionate to me, possibly due to a hometown audience.
 
 Kanye West-Yea there were some problems at the beginning, but to be honest I wasn't paying attention, as the set rolled on I could feel the energy from the other side of the field.
 
 QOTSA-The choice between these guys and Wilco was the biggest of the weekend for me, I've heard Wilco was pretty good but I'm still satisfied with my choice. These guy's stoner-metal-blues really translated well live lots of crowd surfing, movement even a few people being carried away.

[lily1]

sonick, what didn't you like about the frames? their music, or their performance? i will say that their song isn't everyone's thing, but i would think that you would agree that their muscianship is top notch.  
 
 definitely a 4 out of 5 saturday night at the metro though. so thrilled to hear "dance the devil". sound was excellent, and rob's (the guitarist) extended family were all there as he's from chicago.
 
 thievery at the metro, was good, not great, but very good. 3.5 out of 5. i did see seth there standing off the side. disappointed that sista pat wasn't there singing with them and was not overly impressed with the curly haired singer, though loulous and corinna were fantastic as usual. the sound there was gnarled too often for my liking and the crowd was a bunch of stiffs for half the show. definitely not like the dc crowds that shake shake shake from the start to the finish. great that perry came out to sing with them saturday though, as he does sing on a song from the "cosmic game" album.
 
 i didn't go to lollapalooza. in fact, my original reason for going was for the mls allstars vs chelsea. that said, that city got a shitload of music fans from out of town and i think its great that the city let them hold it in a park downtown. park police would NEVER let something like that happen on the mall here.

[kookiemnstr8]

Originally posted by bnyced0:
  What about the appearance of a nearly complete BSS?  

I would have shit my pants.  I heard they were touring again this fall?  And then going on hiatus?  I need to see them again.

[Reod Dai]

Originally posted by lily1
 sonick, what didn't you like about the frames? their music, or their performance? i will say that their song isn't everyone's thing, but i would think that you would agree that their muscianship is top notch.

I was wondering about that myself.  The Frames were absolutely spectacular when I saw them, and are one of the bands I would have wanted to see most had I gone to Lollapalooza.

[bnyced0]

Originally posted by Graace:
   

Originally posted by bnyced0:
  What about the appearance of a nearly complete BSS?  

I would have shit my pants.  I heard they were touring again this fall?  And then going on hiatus?  I need to see them again. [/b]

Unfortunately, I think the fall tour will be much like most of the other dates they've played recently.  Emily has some Metric dates, then a solo album to support, same with Feist, and with Amy Millan, those absences alone will make those BSS dates rather toothless, which is why the Lolla set was so spectacular and even more sadly unlikely to ever happen again

[amnesiac]

That was a great weekend, but so exhausting. Day one was especially brutal, as I had to walk from one end of the park to the other to see all the bands I wanted to. I wish there was more time between bands - I had to leave a few sets early in order to catch another band.
 
 And yeah, Broken Social Scene was amazing. "Ibi Dreams of Pavement" was just mindblowing. Too bad they got shafted with a short set because of the goddamn Chili Peppers...
 
 Great festival, and very well run it seemed. I don't think I had to wait in a line for anything for more than 5 minutes, if that.

[sonickteam2]

lily,
 
   i would like to retract my statement about the Frames. i was quite drunk at the show on Sunday and apparently confused them for the Redwalls.
 
  the frames played a bit later and i believe they were the band that, i think, covered Sparklehorse's "the Most Beautiful Widow"
 
  Sunday afternoon was a crazy one for me, it started with Todd Lewis screaming at me (well, not me, but the crowd) as loud as he could for 45 minutes. then too much wine, Jared Leto, some crappy band, a Sparklehorse cover, and then a goth band playing Rush songs.
 
 it wasnt til just today, looking at my pictures from the show, that i think the Frames were good...haha.