Lollapalooza 2015
Let's just get right into this three day odyssey. Friday is all about conserving energy. It is 12:00 and I am already melting. First couple of bands today were clearly for the kids - Misterwives and Tove Lo. No problem, from 4:30 on, it would be music for the older set. I happily avoid Father John Misty's "clever" banter and get a front spot for Hot Chip. Father John likes to make fun of all the corporate sponsorship at the fest. Who do you think is paying for your soapbox? Since this is the same banter he was peddling two years ago at this same event and happily came back for more, I would say he's more compliant than rebellious. Okay, so Hot Chip...they have the golden formula for me - dance music played with a mixture of traditional and digital elements. I did not expect to see a steel drum, however. Nice. The beat never stopped and even security couldn't stop from bobbing their heads. The man singing was wearing a silver foil skirt with silver leggings. It was more flame-retardant than fashionable, but style is not what I was looking for, I just wanted to jump around. Poor Greg, I'm sure he was dying a slow death. They did play a Bruce Springsteen cover, which he probably liked. "This one goes out to Greg!"
Cruised across the park to catch Alabama Shakes. I am told they were great, but I was toast and I put earplugs in, laid down, took my shoes off, and put my Cubs hat over my face. After coming to, we watched Gary Clark Jr. play a guitar hero. I'm not a big fan, but he got a little prog on one song, which surprised me. I like surprises like that.
We finished the night with Sir Paul. We enjoyed singing along to all of the oldies. Cam loved it. All of these songs are new to him. The old Beatle was good, but we left before the end and I ended up hearing Let It Be in the Porta-potty, which was kind of sad. Still sang along, though. I always sound better in the bathroom anyway.
Saturday
I am told that we saw Givers, but I have no recollection of this. Not a comment on them, I'm just drawing a complete blank. Sturgill Simpson, I remember. The Bud Light stage in the afternoon has some interesting bookings. We've seen Planet Hemp, Ghost B.C., Trombone Shorty, and now Sturgill. He had probably the best guitarist I saw the entire weekend - a tiny man calmly pouring out bluegrass riffs. Sturgill had a "don't give a shit" attitude, not as an adopted persona, I just don't think he gave a shit about anything except playing some good music. It felt weirdly rebellious watching a country guy with no style and no pretension, just standing at a mic. Plus, he wore Sambas, which are the best shoes ever.
We watched Charlie XCX for a bit and was reflecting on the contrast between her and Sturgill Simpson, when some guy offered me some weed. "No thanks, dude." He said, "Sorry, man", and moved to the next group of people. I then took a drink from my can of soda pop. We left the clusters of sorority girls behind and waited for Death From Above 1979. It was a blur of screaming vocals, heavily distorted bass, and feedback - just the remedy I needed after Charlie XCX.
From here, I departed Greg and Cam and wove my way to the Grove to see Delta Spirit. Being early, I waited in the middle of the field and it felt like a thousand eyes were watching me stand there alone. I struck up a conversation, maybe the first time I've ever "struck up a conversation", with an old dude wearing a Hoodoo Gurus concert shirt - a kindred spirit. I saw a coworker of mine with her friends in the crowd about twenty feet away from me, but I didn't approach her. I was too sweaty and gross. The band's set went by in a flash and I went to rendezvous with the others for Tame Impala. "We'll be on the far steps", Greg said. I like all of the place names we use. We watch bands from "The Steps", "The Far Steps", "The Hill With The Little Trees", "The Railing", and "The Infield". All of these would also make pretty good band names. Tame Impala was better in concert than on record. At full volume, the sound seemed to flow over us - my favorite set of the day.
We just sort of waited around until Metallica came on. Before they did, they played the graveyard clip from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". It was very cool - the biggest drive-in ever. The band was good but they kept talking between songs about all of us being indoctrinated into the Metallica family. Look, I don't want to commit to anything right now, just want to hear some metal.
We started our journey across the park to leave for the night, but paused at Buckingham Fountain to observe the spectacle - moonlight, the lake, spotlights, and music from all sides. We told Cam to just take it all in. As we did, I felt the weekend, and the summer, start to slip away.
Lollapalooza Sunday
We walked through the gates and folded our schedules to show Sunday's lineup. Hmm, there was no one I wanted to see until 2:45, so I just went wherever everyone else wanted to go. The bands that we saw early that day didn't move me, but It helped pass the time until Moon Taxi was finally going to start. Clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, and I got a bad feeling. I asked a security guy if the concert was going to be postponed. He shrugged as another security dude walked up and squirted me in the face with a super-soaker, ostensibly to keep me cool, but I suspect he was just being a dick. At any rate, it served to mask my tears as the public address system informed us that the park was being evacuated for the approaching storm. It turned out to be a pretty mild weather event and Cam and I walked down Michigan Avenue and gathered up Greg at the Art Institute lions to go to the entry and wait for the gates to reopen. It was a mob scene there, so we climbed a nearby staircase to get a little perspective. An NBC cameraman was recording the scene. Another man approached him and asked what was happening. "It's an evacuation of Lollapalooza", the cameraman said. "What is Lollapalooza?", the man said. "Please excuse me, I am French". That struck me as funny. The gates were finally reopened and we let the first wave of dummies push their way inside. After that we got in pretty quickly and I said goodbye to Greg and Cam as I walked right to the front of the stage as the members of Moon Taxi stood quietly waiting for me to arrive, apparently. They started playing as soon as I dropped my backpack and leaned of the fence. The others went to see George Ezra, who looks like my Nephew, Keenan, and sings like Bob Seger's dad. My band was fun and over too soon. Time to find those guys on the other side of the park.
Twenty-one Pilots would begin soon, so Cam burrowed his way to the front as Greg and I hung back. They were very entertaining, although there were times when the Singer/keyboard player was running through the audience or doing backflips, when the music kept playing as if he were still up on stage playing - or was he ever playing? I scanned the stage and found an additional, older musician, kind of stashed behind the Marshall stacks. The younger fans are not bothered by this like my generation is. But, again, they were very entertaining and I knew Cam was having a blast. He came out exhilarated and I put a Sierra Mist into his hands as he recounted his adventure in the trenches,
Need food. Must get food. I left the guys on the "far stairs" waiting for Of Monsters and Men and struck out across the park for snacks. Cruising through the back alleys and groves of trees, I was back with chicken parms and a couple of sodas in record time. I bought two sandwiches, gambling that Greg would say he wasn't interested, then I would keep that one for myself. I shouldn't have made that bet and found myself handing over that delicious meal, saying that I had already eaten. Gotta keep a baguette stashed for these occasions.
By the time Of Monsters got onstage, the wind was really whipping up. Dust clouds were pouring over the crowd as the trees were bending and the sky was becoming dark. It had a post-apocalyptic feel, which perfectly suited the band. An alert on our phones warned that a new storm might close the place early. We decided to listen to a few songs and then escape. It was hard to tear ourselves away, but we did, storing the scene in our memory banks until next year.
When the lineup was announced in the spring, I was not very excited. My eyes scanned the list from top to bottom, feeling more despondent as the band names got smaller and smaller. It turned out to be one of my favorite years anyway.
