Day 2: The Empire Strikes Back

Saturday was the day I was waiting for. The line-up was fucking incredible, and I knew the weather would be the nicest that we would have, thanks to Google Weather. Unfortunately, for me though, the two bands I wanted to see the most were playing at exactly the same time across the entire park from each other. MGMT and DeVotchKa were both playing from 3:30-4:30 on the Myspace and Playstation 3 stages respectively. This was a problem. I figured since I’d be entering from the media tent on the south side of the park, that I should probably watch MGMT and then try and catch the last half of DeVotchKa. MGMT was great, the weather was gorgeous, and the crowd was very large and lively. The air was clear; breezes off the lake caressed us gently for the entirety of “Time to Pretend," after which, I decided to make a beeline over to the Playstation 3 stage, desperately trying to catch DeVotchKa before they finished. I made it for the last song, and immediately regretted my decision to skip them. Their crowd was a lot smaller, but a lot more into it. Frontman Nick Urata had complete control of the stage and the audience, with a cool confidence not often seen from a man wearing a velour jacket. MGMT was good; I just wish I had seen all of DeVotchKa. This unfortunate setback aside, the rest of the day went on to be as close to perfect as one can get.

With the temperature now dipping below the 80-degree barrier and clear skies above, my posse and I staked our claim to a beautiful patch of grass at the north side of Grant Park, and were mesmerized as Explosions in the Sky filled the air with their strikingly precise and epic post-rock instrumental sounds. Having seen them play in smaller places and been a fan of what they have done, I can say I was literally in shock. Maybe it was just the magnitude of the whole situation and emotion about that grabbing hold, but it was at that moment that all negativity and anxiety about which bands I needed to see just left my body. I glanced at the schedule and realized I wouldn’t even have to move very far from that patch of grass to see some amazing fucking music for the rest of the night.

After Explosions finished their epic set on the big stage, I walked about 20 feet behind me to catch Okkervil River. They kicked things off with a passionate version of “The President’s Dead." I was into it immediately, and the weed over there smelled infinitely better. I thought to myself about halfway through their set that I couldn’t believe this band played at New World Brewery not all that long ago. The Austin based indie-folk group began to remind me of everyone from Spoon to The Cure. I was very impressed with their versatility, and the sincerity in singer Will Sheff’s voice. I knew I’d have a lot of downloading to do when I got home. A stunning rendition of their dark and telling song “For Real” left me nearly floored.

After putting myself back together following that ground-breaking performance, I made my way back to the northern main stage, not far from the grass patch where my earlier epiphany occurred. Broken Social Scene has always been very impressive to me. I’ve never fancied myself as a huge fan of theirs. They provided Lollapalooza with one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. The highlight of the entire festival for me occurred as the sun set behind Chicago’s breathtaking skyline in the distance to the west, and BSS went into “Cause=Time." With temperatures firmly in the low 70s and no trace of humidity, the experimental indie supergroup blew away thousands of music lovers with their shoegazing art-rock. Kevin Drew led with conviction, not only reminding us to vote for Obama, but more importantly to make sure we enjoy ourselves.

We took about an hour to regroup before splitting up. Most of the group went to the south side to watch Rage Against the Machine. I stayed with fellow REAXer Chris Kelly to watch Wilco. By this point in the evening I was emotionally spent, thanks in large part to Broken Social Scene, Okkervil River and Explosions in the Sky, and DeVotchKa. The Chicago natives drew a pretty good crowd, but my cohort and I were able to get pretty close. Wilco was on point, and dressed in some ridiculous getup involving sequins. They felt the need to constantly remind us of their attire, which garnered a chuckle out of me about a quarter of the time. Some have referred to them as the most important rock band of the last 15 years. While I don’t feel nearly that strong, I did enjoy their set, a lot more than I would have Rage Against the Machine.