Lollapalooza
Words: James Ferreira
Photos: James Ferreira and Joe Perez

Appeared:
August 3-5, 2007
Grant Park, Chicago

Day One: Battle Tested

The first day of this year’s festival offered one of the most amazing line-ups of bands in a variety of modern popular music genres. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists got things started around 1:30pm. Admittedly, there are immediate problems. Our hero, Mr. Leo, suffered a nasty tumble right off the bat, and shortly there after he broke a string. These problems seemed commonplace for the group as no one panicked despite the rather large crowd gathered around the MySpace Stage in the south end of the park. The band quickly composed itself, led by their fearless leader to create a stirring rendition of Me and Mia.  A trek to the north end would allow us to catch psychedelic pop revivalists The Polyphonic Spree. Definitely one of the most eclectic bands at the entire festival, their performance caused me to utter, “These guys are fucking weird,” on several occasions. Nevertheless, the performance by a pair of dance troupes, their own (Polyphonettes) and a local tap outfit made the performance more than worthwhile.

Inspired sets from Against Me!, Silversun Pickups, The Black Keys and LCD Soundsystem led to our pilgrimage towards the main stage on the south side for Daft Punk who generated a magnificent ending to a nearly perfect day. Despite the 10,000 idiots dancing about adorned with glow sticks and having ingested way too many narcotics, or the fact that I don’t really even like their music, I greatly enjoyed their set. Robots are just fucking cool, I’m sorry.

Day Two: A Tough Act to Follow

After the sun’s free reign across the sky on Friday, we were delighted by the dull grey of Saturday. A slightly later start would yield a little more energy later on in the day, and we would definitely need it. Aqueduct started things off on the Citi stage with a fun set complete with R. Kelly cover in honor of Chicago. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I wasn’t disappointed with their live show, because I was.

Next up would be the Karen Karen Karens, err I mean Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the gigantic AT&T stage. Their unbridled critical acclaim remains a mystery to me; however Karen O remained the apple of the humungous crowd’s eye. I hated the way the rest the band was completely downplayed as she made her entrance well after they had been on stage. Afterwards we rushed back to catch Spoon on the MySpace stage. I braced myself for a boring performance as many people had warned me with explanations of their uninspired performances in the past, but I actually thought they were really good. Unfortunately, I was unable to devote all my attention to their set in its entirety, as we had to scurry back to the main stage to catch Muse. The only “problem” I had with Lollapalooza came to light once I realized that there were too many bands that I cared about.

Muse, whom entered to a speech made by JFK, were right at home playing on a huge stage for thousands of people opposite Interpol (who were on the other main stage at the north end of the park). I quickly pointed out the large English Flag to my British friend as we stared in awe at the multitude of lasers, smoke machines, light bars, and television screens. A meticulous musical performance was matched only by their stage presence. They were Post-arena rock at its absolute finest. My concerns about missing Interpol were quickly alleviated when I heard one concert goer announce that the Interpol side was incessantly boring.

Day Three: The Price of Perfection

After being dragged to see Amy Winehouse moan about things I didn’t care about, I found solace at the Kidzapalooza stage where Perry Farrell sang along to a version of “Summertime Rolls” with the School of Rock All-Stars. I realized that this was as close as I was ever going to get to seeing Jane’s Addiction live. It was actually very good. I ran back over to the Citi stage to catch the Annuals before Kings of Leon went on the main stage at the south end. I quickly became disappointed once I realized I wouldn’t have time to stay for more than three songs, because they were rad.

The Kings of Leon were one of the main reasons I went to Lollapalooza, and they didn’t disappoint. Flawless renditions of “The Bucket” and “King of the Rodeo” were worth the price of admission on their own. Through in the near religious experience I had when they reached the chorus of “On Call” as the strongest breeze of the brutal afternoon caressed my face, and I was more than happy. Their infectious blend of the blues, garage rock, and post punk has garnered regular rotation on my mp3 player. Having finally caught them live, I have no qualms saying that they are one of the best bands out right now and they are on top of their game. So much so in fact, that another of my favorite bands and reason for going to the show who played immediately following their set on the same stage, My Morning Jacket, didn’t excite me at all, and they were fucking awesome. I just think by that point of the festival I was spent. Even their near perfect rendition of Gideon had little to no affect on me. They may have even put on the best performance of the whole weekend. I was too spent to appreciate it. If that isn’t the price of perfection then I don’t know what is.