Lollapalooza - DAY THREE

DID YOU KNOW

Apparently, in the USA it is unusual to have milk with your coffee? 

I confused the girls at Dunkin' Donuts the first day. 

The next day we tried to get coffee at McDonald's and the girl at the drive-thru was SO confused. I had to buy a seperate milk and add it myself!  

The NEXT day we went to 7-11, thinking that they'd have milk at the coffee bar.... NO!!!

Check out  the lack of milk and the abundance of syrups, flavored creams, and cream substitutes!

I buckled. And drank coffee that tasted like ice cream.

ANYHOO

Off to LOLLAPALOOZA!

Yeasayer

I just started listening to them. They remind me a little of Vampire Weekend... All the percussion I guess?

Yeasayer - Madder Red

MGMT

I love them. There is nothing more I could add to that.

MGMT - Kids

Cypress Hill

Yeah. There's nothing I can say about this either. I was just that happy. Happy in that strange fog. 

Hmm... It sure was foggy that day...

Cypress Hill - Dr. Greenthumb

Soundgarden

YAY!!

*** and was it just me, or did they have sound problems half-way through? It seemed like their mics had problems? Did anyone else notice that too?**

In the vid below I love how the song gets so sexy and slow around 2:40...

Soundgarden - Rusty Cage

All in all, Lollapalooza was one of the best organized events of this kind I've been to. Getting in was seamless, no line-ups for access, or washrooms, or food, or beer... Moving around the park was fluid.  

And there was a lot of green consciousness: recycling, clean-up incentives, etc.

There were water re-filling stations so you could refill your water bottles. 

There was so much room everywhere, so if you felt like leaving the crowd and sitting down,
you could.

Lollapalooza was great. I can't wait to see what the line-up is for next year!!!

Lollapalooza - DAY TWO

After a fun day of body painting the day before, we dropped by a store to pick up some sponges. As we drove into the city, I cut them into shapes!

When we got there, we left them to see if anyone would use them!

People started to use them!  :)

Mario's new sponged up shirt!

Against Me!

I'd never listened to this band before but we went to see them after our painting party. They were pretty good but we left half-way to get a good spot for Gogol Bordello. Their music reminded me of some cute punk boys I used to know who loved Guiness and had mohawks and looooved to drink. ;)

Gogol Bordello

These guys were EFFING FANTASTIC! I'm talking amazing energy, instant party, everyone jumping! This performance was one of my highlights from Lolla. I want to see them perform again!

Gogol Bordello - Not A Crime

Time to roam around the city!

We had a smidgen of time, so we ran off to see the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States.

Awesome Northern view of Chicago from the top of the Willis Tower.

Then I decided to venture out on the glass deck, even though I've recently discovered my fear of heights. 

As you can see, I am really excited by the idea of getting the hell outta there!!!

Back to the festival!!

Cut Copy

Cut Copy - Lights and Music

While we were waiting for Phoenix to get on stage, Cut Copy was finishing their set. I was dancing away and having so much fun, and this lovely girl walked by, smiled, said Hello, and gave me a popsicle! 

That was so nice! Thank you!

Phoenix

They sounded great and I love their songs, but I felt like they didn't keep up the momentum. There were points in their performance where the energy level dipped too much. They even said "Goodnight" and left the stage at one point. People started to leave. But I knew that they could not finish without playing "1901".

Phoenix - Fences

Song Du Jour

 They played this at Lollapalooza, and everyone went nuts.

Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire

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!

I'm Baaaaaack!!!

Hello happy shiny people!

I've recieved a few e-mails asking where the heck I went... Well, I was in Chicago for Lollapalooza and to see the city. I only got back yesterday and since I am a technological dinosaur (meaning I have no IPhone or Blackberry, or any other way of accessing the internet when roaming)  I could not update my blog, which is a shame, because now I have SO MUCH TO POST!

While I get that all ready for you, take a look at this awesome pic that I found on threadless.com