Saturday’s adventures could not begin without doing one vital piece of preparation: I checked weather.com. Sun and humidity was what I had to look forward to for the day. After Friday, that seemed like a good thing. After actually enduring it for a whole day, I almost wished for the rain back…almost.
Being press has a few perks, so I started off at a Playboy party of all things. I dressed up in a cute dress and hoped that I wouldn’t look too out of place with my rather average breast size. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only non-Playboy girl at the party and the Playmates were all super nice. The party was a fantastic way to start the day. I received colored hair extensions from the in-house stylist, Aura Friedman, enjoyed a nice mimosa to start my day and had a delicious breakfast of a fancy brie cheese cracker creation while listening to the DJ stylings of DJ Mom Jeans–aka Danny Masterson, or as many know him: Hyde from “That 70s Show”. The place was all decked out with Twister and make out rooms, but the best feature of all was the great view of Grant Park from the top of the Hilton Hotel. Absolutely breathtaking.
I made it into the park to catch a bit of Miike Snow and as the main singer pointed out, yes Miike Snow is a band and yes it is spelled with two “i”s and that isn’t changing. Miike Snow was a lot better than the last time I saw them, but I did lose interest when a slow number was played that just never seemed to end. They need to keep people dancing and fortunately they figured that out and bumped it up a notch for the final song.
I passed by Ida Maria warming up her husky and bold voice at the Citi Stage. Her powerful vocals followed me as I walked to the other side of the park to see what would be my favorite act of the day at the Budweiser Stage: Los Campesinos.
Los Campesinos just tore it up. The last time I saw them–and this was just a few months ago, mind you–they played to a small crowd of like 20 people in a tiny bar in Omaha. For an early set, they had a huge crowd that could have rivaled many of the later day acts and not only were these people there to watch them, but they actually knew them. I couldn’t believe how a crowd of half drunks managed to keep up with complicated clapping patterns that some of the songs called for. Lollapalooza had been the band’s first show on U.S. soil, so it was a bit of a nostalgic set and this was a bit of a step up from the last time they played. I was glad to hear a new song thrown in the set.
Gareth Campesinos, lead singer, seemed especially surprised with the crowd they drew and the fact that the festival organizers gave them a whole hour for their set and even commented on how the band might have been speeding through their songs faster than they intended. The crowd didn’t mind and just continued dancing.
If I hadn’t already concluded that Gareth’s bright red face as he jumped around the stage, the tribute to Elliott Smith in honor of what would have been his birthday this weekend, and the many talents of Aleksandra Campesinos as she sang and played keys were enough of a reason to conclude this was the best set of the day, “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks” as their finale cemented that view. As the crowd was participating by raising their hands to show “One blink for yes, two blinks for no,” Gareth decided to come out and join them and sing from the crowd. Now, the drop from the Budweiser Stage to get to the crowd is not a short distance and security looked a bit alarm about what to do, but some how the singer made it to the audience and even later back on stage during the big instrumental build-up. As if that wasn’t insane enough, once he was back on stage, the other guys set down their bass and guitar and they then took their turn dropping down like 15ft off the stage, over the barricade and crowd-surfing for the duration of the song. Completely insane, it has been great to see this band come into their prime. I just hope that Aleksandra’s departure after this tour doesn’t hurt their quality too much.
After Slash came out as a special guest last year at Perry’s Stage, I thought perhaps something amazing like that would happen again. But after standing over at Perry’s Stage forever and watching him perform with Stripper McSlutterson only to bring out the “special guests,” I was kicking myself for giving up a spot where I could actually see Arctic Monkeys just to see him perform with DJs from earlier in the day on the last number. Lame.
Arctic Monkeys brought out all their hits, but with the size of their crowd and not being able to even really see them, I figured I stood a better chance just watching their new live DVD.
I tried to catch buzz act No Age on Citi Stage, but thought it too messy. I know the one guy is recently injured, but even being lenient for that, these blog darlings are no longer darlings of mine. I did not get their hype.
Coheed and Cambria is a band that everyone should see whether that is their type of music or not. Anybody who can keep up that falsetto when bogged down by that much hair is simply a site to witness. I came across their set as they were digging into their Rockband-popular hit, “Wake Up”.
Exhausted from my trek around so many stages, I chilled in the grass for a few Glasvegas songs. They sounded fine, but their performance was ho hum. I find a wee bit more energy to check out Santigold‘s circus-like set. Shiny stage outfits dazzled in the sun and despite the heat and exhaustion that was settling in by this point in the day, it was hard not to dance to this set.
I watched a little TV on the Radio, but they didn’t have anything new to add from the bajillion times I’ve already seen them this year. So I again trotted down to the other end of the venue to watch punk rockers Rise Against. I got distracted by Lykke Li on my way and actually found her entertaining despite the hideous black bag of an outfit she was flailing around in. Her gentle voice and sturdy beats made her a good pairing to hang with the likes of Santigold and other dance acts that had impressed throughout the festival. Rise Against surprised me with how many of their songs that I knew. I really thought I only knew “Swing Life Away”, which isn’t even a fair example of what they actually sound like. They weren’t my thing, but they weren’t bad.
Animal Collective got the crowd jumping with their ethereal and trippy beats paired with colorful video imagery and lots of lights. I loved them, but I think the Tool fans hated them as their set started to go over their allotted time and into Tool’s. Tool finally said fuck it and took to the stage anyway. Industrial metal kept me surprisingly entertained for a few songs, especially with the bass lines. However, I soon decided to move on to see how the late addition headliners, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, were holding up.
Considering that a majority of the people at the festival already had their tickets before they knew the YYYs would be there, Karen O and company drew one of the largest crowds yet. The tiny front woman with a big voice and even bigger stage presence did a good job feeling the shoes of the Beastie Boys. Even her lyrical flub during an acoustic version of “Maps” was forgivable and it kind of made the band all that more loveable. I think many would have said Saturday was a weaker day for the sets, but sticking around for YYYs was worth it.
We tried to get into an after party with Santigold and Passion Pit, but apparently being told you’d be fine with an RSVP/VIP pass meant nothing when they still had a guest list. I suppose one night of sleep wasn’t too bad and at least waiting in line for the party I got to watch a cellphone video of Bassnectar, whom I had never really heard of, but people just could not stop talking about after Saturday’s line up. Based off the poor quality video that still made Bassnectar look bad ass, I’m kind of kicking myself for not being on this bandwagon already. Alas.
Lollapalooza: Saturday in summary:
Best set of the day: Los Campesinos / Yeah Yeah Yeahs tie (and I hear Bassnectar killed it, but can’t personally attest that)
Best surprises of the day: Los Campesinos crowd-surfing, despite the long drop from the Budweiser Stage to get to the crowd; Yeah Yeahs Yeahs performing “Maps” acoustic (great even with a lyric flub)
Breakthrough of the day: Delta Spirit; Los Campesinos
Biggest let downs of the day: No Age; Perry’s special guest–I guess you can’t top Slash
Crazy crowd moment: Drunk guy came up to me, took a picture with me and then ran off. So odd.
SUNDAY, JULY 13th
