Lollapalooza-Friday

Lollapalooza, probably for the final time for me. A great chance to smell your fellow man and take in music.

The walkmen underwhelmed me. Hearing the new songs was ok, but when they did their old stuff, it just showed why I've lost interest. Still, it was worth coming to hear the Rat.

Rapahel Saadiq was the first of many pleasant surprises this year. Had heard good things, but neither of us had ever heard a song by him. Enjoyed every second.


The Drive By Truckers weren't really a surprise. We had high expectations, and they were met. Really not the sort of band either of us would like, but they are too good not to be liked.


We had left the south side of the fest to hear the New Pornographers. 4 years ago, they blew us away, and had made 2 really good albums since. This was the first act we saw that had excellent whistling and the first one that left with us wanting to ehar a lot more. Damn, I have been forced to say good things about a bunch of Canadians.




I'll admit, I had no desire to see Matt & Kim, and no real idea who they were. I wouldn't say they were the most fun to watch, but it was clear they were having the most fun out of everyone we saw that day. It would be tough not to enjoy them, since they clearly were thrilled to be there. The decision to stand on the crowd and dance is to be applauded.


Hot Chip, on the other hand, we both wanted to see. They were a bit more energetic than expected, though they did not dance on the crowd. Halfway through their set, we became obsessed with whether it was the guy from the Eurythmics and the singer from the Hold Steady going undercover. Doesn't sound like either band, but the resemblance was uncanny. we may have had heat stroke.


Chromeo was our dinner break. We were sitting dowen far away kind of watching, and thus kind of enjoyed them. Probably more fun up close.



Ok, going to see Lady gaga was a mistake. Not enough of a trainwreck to be entertaining in a bad way, and way too slow and drawn out to be entertaining in a good way. Should have gone to see the Strokes. The video clip below features a long, pointless break before she starts, which gives a good indication of what it was like. Still, it's one of my girlfriend's favorite songs, so I kind of enjoyed it. the Bear enjoyed it much less.