Lolla was awesome as always. I just love Chicago. Smart move with Lolla giving out free water during the day to keep everyone hydrated on Sunday. The same goes for all the ponchos on Friday. APW has a lot to learn. Rain nor extreme heat made for late starts. They were really on the ball with making sure everyone was ok. Security was extremely helpful in the very front with making sure people had water and were ok.
Sunday was awesome. Was on the rail during Friendly Fires set. Around the time Ed mentioned he was about to pass out, I was near to that point. Security was close to pulling me out. It was so insanely hot and dancing up a storm made for a complete meltdown. I somehow finished off their set in front and headed straight for water.
Yuto Miyazawa (on the kidz stage) was quite awesome. The kids had some amazing talent on the stages.
Mike's Pawn Shop was pretty cool from the few songs I did catch. And Ill take the shadiness of BMI Stage anytime.
Wasnt too impressed with Cage The Elephant so took off to get a good spot for Kaiser Chiefs. They never disappoint live and pulled off a really great set. Ricky is a great frontman and worked the crowd.
Didnt last too long for Raveonettes - just way too hot, but they did sound great from where I was (next to the soundbooth). Caught someone spinning in the dance tent and they were just awesome.
Passion Pit was hot and sweaty and overly crowded. Was a really great set and it seemed that stage was a mob scene. Everyone was super into it and dancing up a storm. They were lots of fun.
Really liked the rest of the night. Lou Reed was great even tho lots of sound problems. Heard Band of Horses from the main stage as I ended up really close on the left side during Jane's set. I did catch BoH the previous day on the Kidz stage. Jane's Addiction was easily one of the highlights. Had never seen them before and Perry is an awesome front man. It seems everyone I know dislikes Dave Navarro but he was pretty awesome up there. Stop! was really great live, a total frenzy in the pit and lots of crowd surfers. Closing out the set with Joe Perry on 'Jane Says' was simply awesome. Nice to see the faces of C3 who put together this awesome festival.
Sunday was easily my favorite day, but dealing with the intense heat wasnt so much fun. Ill take the rain any day over the sun. It was great to finally NOT come home with a sunburn.
Friday:
Despite the rain - there were lots of great bands to see.
Loved the Henry Clay People. Have been listening to them for awhile now and they were fun to see live.
Then saw the electro-dance set Hey Champ. Had been wanting to see them for way too long and they were very excited to be playing in their home town. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. "Cold Dust Girl" was really awesome live and around this time I didnt even notice the rain anymore.
Made it up to the front for White Lies set. Their sound was really great and the addition of a new song is really great. Harry sounded amazing and thankfully didnt have vocal problems
It was kind of fitting with their dark, gloomy music to be catching it in the rain. Reminded me of seeing Interpol in the rain a few years back there.
Caught Bon Iver and was pleasantly surprised. They were really great. Then caught Crystal Castles set. Cant say musically Im that impressed with them, but as far as having a great time dancing in the rain with a bunch of people from Mexico - AWESOME! Im not even sure if Alice was singing most the time or just dancing. They didnt pull off the full hour so I headed back to see The Decemberists. What a waste for me. I was so bored and where I was everyone was talking and no one was into it. Im not sure Hazards of Love works at a festival, would have loved to have seen them play their hits. So instead walked back to see Of Montreal. They were easily the highlight of my Friday. Kevin looked great as always. He even had Janelle Monae at the festival with them, and they played "Moonage Daydream" (Bowie cover). Sounded really great again. Everyone at the stage seemed to be huge fans and were dancing and singing along. Some of the theatrics were gone which were nice as its become a bit overkill. The setlist was just awesome, I mean sure we can always wish for earlier and earlier stuff but I was beyond happy with what I got.
1. Nonpareil of Favor
2. Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider
3. Id Engager
4. For Our Elegant Caste
5. Moonage Daydream (David Bowie cover)
6. The Party's Crashing Us
7. Rapture Rapes the Muses
8. A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
9. Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
10. Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
11. Touched Something's Hollow
12. An Eluardian Instance
13. Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
14. She's A Rejecter
And they ended the set with some of the people from their show crowd surfing in a raft (reminded me of Girl Talk). It was the perfect lead up to Depeche Mode.
DM put on a great show. It felt a bit lackluster at times and seemed short (they were off at 9:30 - and came back for one encore) but I love their music and hadnt seen them in ages. So it was great to see them again. They had great videos to watch. "A Question of Time" and "Never Let Me Down AGain" were prob 2 of my favorite songs from their set. I am not so into their new stuff and really wanted to hear "Master and Servant" which friends said they were playing on this tour. Overall great Friday.
Saturday: felt like one of the more boring days. Not a lot I wanted to see so ended up catching a bunch of bits and pieces of sets.
The newno2 were pretty entertaining. Wouldnt be able to recognize a song if I ever heard it again, but it was good at the time. Really liked Living Things - reminded me of the hair bands of the 80's and there was a lot of 'support our troops' talk, but it worked. Couldnt really get into Miike Snow and ended up taking off to see Quinn Sullivan on the Kidz Stage. I really wanted to see Buddy Guy perform and that was really awesome. The kid (who I think is 10) was amazing - then pairing it up with Buddy Guy - mindblowing. Then caught some of Los Campesinos!, Robert Earl Keen and Band of Horses on the Kidz stage. BoH were great with the kids. Played a song from Gabba Gabba Gabba (prob the wrong kids show) but the kids were quite excited. Started the set with "Is There a Ghost". Was lots of fun. Saw some of Gomez at some point. Then went to see Arctic Monkeys as friends were huge fans. It had to be one of the most boring sets ever. Alex just seemed so stiff and bored. Friends were disappointed as thats who they came to the festival for (saturday ticket holders only). Then caught some of Santigold and by that time the dance tent was going strong. We hung out there for quiet awhile LA Riots were ok, but really wanted to catch Diplo. And that was awesome. He looked so professional in his suit/tie and he got the dance floor moving. Then caught some of TV on the Radio. Something was definitely lacking and took off to head over to meet friends for Tool.
My memories of Tool are mostly from high school as everyone I knew listened to them. So friends told me I had to see them in Chicago, as they knew Id never go out to just see them. Never found my friends, but met tons of cool people. The videos were something else to watch, Im sure those images will stay in my head forever. Maynard is amazing live. Their set sounded really great. I knew more songs than I thought I would. Their light show was really great and their sound was perfect.
ok that was really long - basically Ill take Lollapalooza any time over APW based on my own experiences.
