As you surely know, this Lolla 2012 was a bit crazy at times (
two 19 year-olds punching an 11 year old for a beach ball) or (
the great evacuation) but overall, it was a pretty HOT, but otherwise enlightening weekend.
Pre-Lolla Show at House of Blues Chicago:
The Givers, Passion Pit
It feels funny to say, but the surprise of the festival for us happened the day before the official start of Lollapalooza. At House of Blues on Thursday was a full night of great music to get everyone amped up .... success.
The Givers, an indie (because who isn't these days) band from Lafayette, Louisiana put on a passionate, solid and rocking set, led by the drumming, uke-playing, xylophone slamming, Tiffany Lamson, whose gravelly Janis Joplin-esque vocals set the stage for a great night and weekend of music. While we have not heard their recorded music, The Givers were great live.
Passion Pit followed with their poppy upbeat dance tunes.
Day One:
Metric, Head & The Heart, The Shins, M83, Black Keys, Black Sabbath
While Lolla was just warming up outside in the oppressive heat and humidity on Friday, some of us had work to do. So, while unfortunate because we missed a few acts like Blind Pilot, we arrived at the event around 4:00 for an early evening set from
Metric at the Bud Light Stage. At first most people warned that Metric would be just another electronic music fiasco, but Metric was pretty awesome. Led by Emily Haines, who consistently moved around and owned that giant stage, Metric powered through a bunch of fast-paced tunes while it became increasingly clear that everyone had already had the energy sucked out of them by the 100 degree temps in the sun.
After already handing over some cash for surprisingly affordable drinks to keep from passing out we headed over to the diametrically opposed (see what we did there)
Head And The Heart. While they may have been a stark contrast to Metric, they played a perfect set, at a perfect time. It was a low key, well orchestrated and exceedingly well-delivered performance that led right into a eerily similar performance next door by
The Shins. Both bands delivered a fairly safe collection of songs, rarely turning heads, but providing a chill soundtrack to a hot summer day, in other words, exactly what everyone on the South side of the park was looking for at that point.
After The Shins and grabbing some grub we headed back to Grant Park South to grab a good spot for The Black Keys. The band immediately preceding The Keys was
M83. We will readily admit that we are generally not big fans of electronic music (yeah, we hear you ... why did you go to Lolla then, blah blah blah) but M83 actually brought a full, and very talented, band. The jammed through some pretty nondescript tunes while people essentially vibed to the tunes and light show. Then M83 hit their big single and people went crazy ... and M83 killed it. The frenchman put on a good show.
The Black Keys. If I have to tell one more person that there are actually more than two people in that band I might lose it. However, Auerbach and Carney served as perfect first-night headliners slamming their way through a bunch of their tunes, bringing the raw power that they forged in their basement, all the way onto the massive Red Bull Soundstage at Lolla. But ... we HAD TO GO SEE OZZY!!!
Black Sabbath was most likely everything that everyone said they were, old, sloggy, slow, impassioned, etc ... but who cares?!?!? It is not often that you get to see one of the biggest acts in the history of rock n' roll in such a unique and awesome location. And for the record, as we walked over from The Keys and heard the open chord to "Ironman" we started jogging. We didn't want to miss one of the most iconic rock songs ever. And even though Ozzy is not a sprite young man any more, he delivered a solid rock show and showed the youngsters how it was done in the old days.
Day Two:
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, JEFF The Brotherhood, Delta Spirit, JJ Grey & Mofro, Fun., Franz Ferdinand, Washed Out, Calvin Harris, RHCP
Even though it was a draining and HOT first day, we pulled our lives together to see one of Chicago's own,
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound. At noon, JC had some of the highest temperatures of the weekend as the sun beat down on everyone at the Sony stage. However, what the band delivered was a high-powered, power soul set, if there is such a thing. Front man Jayson Brooks was entertaining, witty and foul-mouthed, but in a funny and timely way ... at one point explaining the difference between a "happy dance and a weed dance" and showing us a version of each. The set was so great that Benny decided to jump over to the autograph tent and say hey to the band.
After we stopped sweating and grabbed some liquids, we headed over to see Nashville duo, that is right, duo,
JEFF the Brotherhood. These two brothers rocked a drum kit and a killer faded blue Gibson SG and filled the medium-sized and normally horrible sounding Playstation Stage with a gritty rock set that would have made the 2002 Black Keys proud. A solid and surprising performance by a band we really did not know much about.
After JEFF was
Delta Spirit, a band from San Diego, but with a sound more suited for a band from the south as they incorporated some different instruments and uniquely orchestrated a pretty solid set. While none of us found it to be remarkable, it was a good set, only complaint was the lack of a variety of sound. Each song sounded similar and there was never a song that showed off what was obviously a talented group of musicians.
As the clouds gathered during Delta we shuffled our sweaty and stinky bodies over to see
JJ Grey & Mofro, who we had been advised, would be amazing. Literally only a couple songs in we were notified (via our handy Lolla app) that the festival was being evacuated. We beat the rush, walked a block and chilled at the nearest Starbucks and ate rice crispy treats. So, basically, JJ Grey was amazing. Ha ha.
After the rain delay, the ground crew rolled the tarp off the field and Lolla invited everyone back to play ball. The bad news, one of our top 5 band we wanted to see
Alabama Shakes had been cancelled, and the whole schedule had been changed. We did our best to catch a few songs from a few different acts, the first of which was
Fun. What a perfect way to re-open the festival. After all of us had first sweated out our energy and then tried to outrun a ridiculous storm, we needed a band that was all about performing. While the recorded version of Fun's most recent album has a plethora of auto-tune and extra effects, the live show was a bit more rocky and gritty. It was entertaining, not necessarily polished, but perfect for a HUGE crowd of half-bummed, rain-soaked music fans.
Before Fun. had finished we had already determined to find our way to the front of the crowd for
Franz Ferdinand on the Bud Light stage. Fighting to the front of a Lolla crowd after a rainstorm can only be likened to a twisted combination of frogger, paintball and jack & the beanstalk ... you are constantly finding the open areas, hopping in, then ducking under waving flags and hands, while escaping the wobbling arms of some poor drunk bastard moving in slow motion and looking for an unlucky landing zone. However, this crew was successful as we secured a great spot right in front of the sound board for the Franz set. Being the first act after the storm on the Bud Light stage meant no video or other eyecandy (as you can see from the photo) but Franz did not need it. They delivered an awesome and energy-filled show, pleasing the pretty sizeable crowd that had decided to return after the evacuation.
On our way from Franz to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers we briefly stopped by:
Washed Out ... who oddly enough was having technical difficulties because the stage had been ... well, washed out.
Calvin Harris ... You read earlier that we were not huge fans of EDM, but this guy wrote the remix that everyone is singing right now ... "ooooooh sometimes, I get a good feeeeelin ... yeah." So we decided to happen by Perry's Stage for the first time. It immediately became apparent why we had been hearing the thud from Perry's all weekend. What, in years prior had been a cool tent, where the ravers went to party, was now an all out attack on the senses which started with ground-rumbling bass and sub-bass. Calvin is extremely talented, but his talent was lost in all the ear-numbing bass and we missed all the highs and trills that make "the drop" in EDM even more anticipated and awesome.
And then there were the Peppers ... or should we say Flea and some other guys that play with Flea. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers is essentially a legacy act now, part of the group at this years' Lolla of the reformed rockers like The Afghan Whigs or At The Drive-In. However, with a headlining spot and no real legitimate act against them on Saturday night, RHCP had the opportunity to put on a great show and reintroduce some of the younger crowd to what made them so popular back in their hay day. Their performance ... well, it was fine. Not amazing, not bad, just fine. Kiedis missed vocals at times and a few words here and there, but overall served as a functional frontman, but the show was all about Flea and Will Ferr - err ... Chad Smith. Flea was the one given all the solos and was really the only one that interacted with the crowd, at one point saying "f*ck the 1%." We started thinking ... um, aren't YOU GUYS in the 1%, but we digress. Overall a solid set from RHCP, but given how big they were when we were young musicians, I think we all were hoping for something more.
Day Three:
Trampled By Turtles, The Walkmen, Gary Clark Jr., Gaslight Anthem, Of Monsters & Men, Florence & The Machine, Miike Snow, Jack White
Let us just go ahead and say that we either are getting too old, or are not getting prescribed the right drugs to keep up with the folks who were going to Lolla every day from 12 - 11. It was so hot each day and that will suck the energy out of you. We managed to get over to Grant Park at around 2:30 to catch some of the Trampled by Turtles set. It was great to see these talented musicians from Minneapolis get a mainstage, especially given their more "bluegrass" leaning type music. We also ran into our good friend Jay O'Malley from Chicago band Sunfallen, who we chatted with for a while. Our conversation was only broken up once, as TBT busted into the fastest and guttiest tune they played all day. It was pretty awesome. Definitely a band we would like to see in a more intimate setting.
Before we headed over to one of our most anticipated couple hours of the weekend, we stuck around for another "legacy" act as we listened to
The Walkmen on the Sony stage. Only spent about 10 - 15 minutes there before we headed to
Gary Clark Jr., but their sound was solid and rock, which was a good primer for the rest of the day. Gary Clark Jr. was amazing. An exceptionally talented guitarist, it was unfortunate that he was stuck on the Playstation stage (which in our opinion has the worst sound) but he made the most of it, delivering blues-rock with passion and fire to a pretty large crowd gathered around him. Definitely one of the highlight sets of the weekend and made us regret not catching tickets to his show the night before at Schubas.
From there it was on to the show that everyone had been amping up for us ...
Gaslight Anthem. These guys are a legend in their own right as they have had THE BOSS come up with them on stage several times in their careers, which is just pretty awesome. Hailing from New Jersey, these guys delivered a solid 30 minutes of their classics, but nothing that stood out as exceptional. In the last three songs they put an excellent bow on the show they had started wrapping. The last chunk featured two slower ballad tunes that showed the ability of the band to tell a story and not just gut punch you with power chords and an ungodly amount of reverb. The ballads were delivered really well and they wrapped the show with a great rocker that drove the pretty large crowd wild. A great set on the newer Google Play stage, which was placed in a little grove of trees, making the set feel unique and more intimate.
At this point we had some time to kill, so we had some excellent burgers from Kuma's Korner and some ridiculously good ice cream from Windsor Ice Cream Shoppe ... UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE. After our "fat-kid coma" we noticed a ton of people re-gathering at the Google Play stage, so we hung around for
Of Monsters & Men. We at first were a bit caught off guard because most of the people that we waded through leaving Gaslight all looked like 14 year olds and Of Monsters seemed to be an "atypical" band for a teenager, especially with Perry's stage still pumping thuds the whole weekend. But the few songs we heard were pretty decent and we will probably check them out in the future.
By far one of the bigger crowds of the weekend was for
Florence & The Machine. Clearly beloved by the festival planners, Florence was up against virtually no one (At The Drive-In, Big Gigantic and The Jezabels) and that drove almost every Lolla attendee to the Bud Light stage. Florence donned a giant flowing red gown and pranced around stage while her band played a solid set over her melodramatic crooning. The coolest touch was the harp playing, which added a layer not heard very often at live shows. However, for us there were more important issues at hand, namely checking out some good locations for Jack White to close out the evening.
Before Jack White went on, there was one more dance party to be had at the Sony stage where
Miike Snow entertained a weary group of EDM soldiers. Flanked by two dudes who basically hung out on stage and pressed a button every once in a while, Snow delivered lyrics over electric melody lines, but suffered from not having a true "frontman" persona. Clearly Snow writes good music, we note "Black and Blue" as a pretty great tune, but the band came across as fairly lifeless, which is hard to do when your crowd is dancing and grooving to what you are playing. But we suppose this is part of the deal with dance music, it is not so much about who is playing, but what is playing and who you are with. In that case, we enjoyed the set and hanging out on this final Lolla evening together.
The final headliner for the festival was
Jack White. He was probably the headliner that most people really did not understand, or truly believe was worthy of the slot. After the set, no one was wondering any more. White delivered a truly blistering, almost garage band sounding set, rocking and grinding through all of his musical catalog, while switching from guitar to piano and back to guitar without missing a beat. Jack White was a sorely missed element of this Lollapalooza, an extremely talented songwriter AND musician, that performed songs that were able to capture both elements of his musicianship.
Overall that was probably the biggest thing we noticed from the festival. We jokingly said that "to play Lolla you need one of these things: a full-time tamborine player, a fiddle player, a TON of reverb/delay and a lead singer that yells at people." If you can combine these things ... even BETTER! Ha ha. But in all seriousness ... there was a ton of talent on display at Lollapalooza. The festival inspired us to keep working on our craft and to also focus on putting on an excellent show. The idea of live music is to deliver the music you carefully crafted elsewhere, but also to do it in a way that entertains. During Lollapalooza, we heard great music and we heard okay music, we saw excellent performances and some so-so ones, but it was rare to see the excellence together at once, however, we definitely were entertained.
