Lollapalooza - DAY ONE

Lollapalooza at Grant Park. We were surrounded on three sides by skyline, and one side by lake shore.

Some of the Friday line-up

A paint station!

BODY PAINT!!

Devo

Relaxing on the grass and stopping in to check out Devo.

Devo - Whip It



The Black Keys

The Black Keys - Tighten Up

Look!  A Parrot!

Gorgeous views at Perry's for Caspa.

Caspa's Mix for Radio One. It starts at 2:20... Enjoy....

There was a break in our day, so we decided to venture out for some food.

Under the Chicago "Loop". The transit system is above ground in some places.

The streets of Chicago

We ate a delicious HOT DOG!!!  And then walked back to the festival.

Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff sang Wild World and everyone was singing along, waving their arms to the music, and enjoying the wonderful energy as the sun set over Grant Park.
You'll recognize this song for sure, one of his most famous: "I Can See Clearly Now"

Jimmy Cliff - I Can See Clearly Now

And then we ran off to see Lady Gaga. 

Everyone asks me the same thing: How was it?

Talent-wise, the girl can sing and she can play a mean piano. 

Her stage show was elaborate and dramatic, incorporating incredible costumes and choreography. Her songs were theatrical and bold, spectacular and brazen.

It even seemed like the fireworks show in the distance was a part of the act.

But.

Between her singing there was an awful lot of talking.  A lot of it was in-your-face sex + religion stuff, provocative and sometimes gory images, and preachy dialogue that seemed to verge on anger and bitterness.

Her show seemed less about the music after having to hear all of her script.

There were lame protestors outside of Lolla.  Apparently they protest a lot of concerts, they've protested Lollapalooza in the past, and protest at a lot of her shows:

Could her motivation have bubbled up as a backlash against them? 

Like a big middle finger to the close-minded extremists?

Or was it just directed at anyone who doubted her, ever? She recalled her other Lolla performance, a "train wreck of a set", 3 years ago.

Either way, the protesters were there the next day too. 

They were holding signs and talking through mega-phones while all of the 

happy music-filled Lolla goers walked by. 

Their signs targeted everyone it seemed: homosexuals, jews, Roman Catholics, 

Star Wars "occultists", women who don't do dishes at home...

Comical, really. And so beyond reason that taking it seriously should not be taken seriously...

I like what Lady Gaga said in her Tweet: 

"... feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are".

amen.

ANYHOO.

An excellent performance of Bad Romace finished off her set, and we bee-lined our way to the car. 

Mario started to glaze over in rapture with talk of White Castle sliders, and I was sold. 

To White Castle it was for late-night fatty snacks!