Day 3 Recap by Consequence of Sound

The third day of any festival is always hard. Aching backs, sore legs, and trembling eyes are usually the sort that describe a third day attendee. It makes you wonder how anyone can survive the fourth day at Bonnaroo, let alone the late nights. Fortunately for those that attend Lollapalooza, things are wrapped up nicely on Sunday, usually. Unfortunately, this year's Sunday was a bit stale in comparison to Friday and Saturday, with most of the acts smudged at the end, inviting chaotic scheduling conflicts that nobody should have to make. It didn't help that the sold out crowd felt overbooked and unwarranted, either

Heat and humidity didn't stop vocalist Michael Kincaid from rocking out on a Sunday morning. Over at the Citi stage, What Made Milwaukee Famous churned out a few genre spanning songs, mostly picked from this year's album, What Doesn't Kill Us. Everything from Spoon to Dashboard Confessional bled from the set, though much to the audience's pleasure, they never strayed too far from the garage. It was a good early morning set for the Austin, Texas unit, though not nearly as memorable as one would have expected

To read the full article, click here:  http://consequenceofsound.net/2008/08/04/lollapalooza-in-review-sunday-august-3rd/

Read all of Day 3 Recap by Consequence of Sound

Day 2 Recap by Ross Hebert

After a day one that included the otherworldliness of Radiohead and raucousness of Gogol Bordello, what could possibly happen on day two to keep up the pace?

My Lolla Saturday included a little bit of everything, leaving another big smile on my face when the day was done.

I managed to walk into Grant Park a few minutes after 11am and kicked things off with the rip-roaring teenage rap rock of Krista. I’m not really into her musical style (imagine Evanescence with rapping verses), but a decent-sized early crowd seemed to enjoy her. With her heavy teenage wail, I think we saw and heard 17-year-old Krista becoming a woman.

After a small taste of Krista, I headed over to the Playstation Stage to join dozens of Lollapalooza message boarder members for the fun and danceable rock of Nashville band De Novo Dahl. Message board moderator Carl is longtime friends with several members of the band and managed to organize the largest board member meet-up that I’ve ever been a part of. Well done, Carl.

When it comes to kicking of a long festival day with the right attitude, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better option than De Novo Dahl. From their trademark red and yellow-striped uniforms to their playful stage banter (“Hi, everyone. We’re Dierks Bentley,” said bassist Keith early in the set), the band really set the perfect tone for another fun day at Lollapalooza.

After about 30 minutes of De Novo Dahl, I made my first cross-fountain trek to catch 8-piece indie rock outfit Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s. They would win my vote for worst band name on the lineup, but I really enjoyed their spacey, intricate sound. I really hope to catch them again in a club setting, because their incredibly short set really left me wanting more.

Question:  So what happens when one of your songs is featured in an Apple iPod commercial?
Answer:  You draw a massive early day crowd at the main stage of Lollapalooza.

That’s what was waiting for AT&T Stage opener the Ting Tings. The pop duo from England kept the large crowd’s momentum going with groovy guitar riffs and steady drum beats that almost anyone could clap along to. Countless camera shots into the crowd revealed that the band was pleasing fans of all ages during their fantastic 45 minute set. Closing the show with “That’s Not My Name” and the Apple-approved “Shut Up and Let Me Go,” the Ting Tings walked offstage to loud cheers and applause.

It was only 1:30p by the time that the Ting Tings were done, but I was already in desperate need of a break. I met up with some friends near the food vendors and we all ate a little lunch under much-needed shade as Dr. Dog delivered a fun set on the MySpace Stage.

Refreshed from a half hour in the shade, a few of us headed over to the nearby street stage to catch one of the biggest buzz bands on the lineup, Foals. They drew a pretty large audience that was very reminiscent of last year’s crowd for Cold War Kids. Because of this, we had a tough time getting anywhere near the stage. The band sounded really good and seemed to be getting a strong crowd response, but we decided to wander around to other stages about 20 minutes into their set.

Our next stop was the pop rock of New Jersey-based band Steel Train. We showed up a little early for their set and found one of the biggest BMI Stage crowds that I’ve seen in my two years of attending Lollapalooza. They hit the stage and tore through several songs that I recognized from their MySpace page. Everything they played was really fun and catchy. If you enjoy pop rock, I definitely recommend checking them out.

After about 20 minutes of Steel Train, I made my way over to the Playstation Stage to catch one of my major acts of the day, DeVotchKa. I love the band’s albums and have missed out on several chances to see them. The opportunity to catch their beautiful music with the Chicago skyline in the background was something I could not miss.

The show managed to surpass my already sky-high expectations. From the grooving energy of “Enemy Guns” to the sheer beauty of “How It Ends,” DeVotchKa’s mid-afternoon set was nothing short of amazing. If you get the chance, go see this band.

Still beaming from DeVotchKa’s set, I decided to spend the next hour meeting up with a few friends and enjoying a few beers before the evening really kicked into gear. I made my first trip over to the brand new beer garden and came away pretty impressed. There was an excellent beer selection, plenty of seating under the shade and video screens displaying the acts playing on the main stages. I definitely plan on spending a little more time there on Sunday.

After an hour of recharging my batteries, I crossed back to the south side of the park to catch my most anticipated act of the day, Jamie Lidell. I saw Jamie for the first time a few years ago and was blown away by his unbelievable ability to improvise and build complete songs using only his voice.

I met my friend Andrew along the front rail and immediately got excited for what I knew would be one of the highlights of the entire festival.

Jamie arrived onstage with a full band and dressed in an outfit that he obviously snagged from Perry Farrell’s trailer. He started the show by performing several songs from his fantastic new album JIM including “Another Day” and “Figured Me Out.”

A few songs into the set, his band members grabbed tambourines and shakers while Jamie started to toy around with his trademark vocal loops. Just a few moments later, the bands members jumped down from the stage, hopped over the barricade and took off into the crowd, leaving Jamie onstage by himself!

He then proceeded to do what he does best, recording small samples of his voice and then looping them to build songs. He would beatbox into the microphone to create drum tracks and hum to lay down the bass. It’s really something that everyone needs to see live.

After wowing the crowd for several songs all by his lonesome, Jamie brought the band back out to close the show strongly. An extended version of “Multiply” closed the show out and left everyone around me cheering their lungs out. Well done, Jamie.

After that incredible show by Jamie Lidell, my friend Chuck and I rushed back to the north side of the park to catch Broken Social Scene. People are still taking about their great performance at Lollapalooza 2006 and there was no way that I would miss their set.

It’s hard to imagine a band having a more all-encompassing live presence than Broken Social Scene. With so many members onstage and so many instruments in the mix, their live sound just consumes you. This was my fourth time seeing the band and my love for them grows with every show. HUGE thumbs up for Broken Social Scene.

Once BSS was winding down, we headed back across the park to catch 90s throwback Toadies on the MySpace Stage. If you were between the ages of 12 and 25 in the mid-90’s, you have to appreciate songs like “Away” and “Possum Kingdom.” I sat with a group of friends and took in their rocking set from afar. It was definitely a good time.

Finally, the main event of the evening was set to start. The field really began to fill up with people as Rage Against the Machine was set to take the AT&T Stage. The band came out to a huge ovation and kicked things off, as usual, with “Testify.”

It seems odd to say this, but Rage actually seemed to be pretty happy during the first few songs. I’ve seen them twice before (once before the breakup) and they’ve never talked so much to the crowd.

Unfortunately, that changed a bit after a few songs, as the band decided to temporarily stop the show so that order could be restored in the crowd. The band was urging fans to take several steps back and to tone things down. I was pretty far back and couldn’t tell what was going on, but it seemed like people were getting crushed or possibly injured up front.

The band started up again after a few minutes, but had to stop one more time just a short while later. About 30 minutes into their set, I decided to head back across the park and catch a decent amount of Wilco.

Wilco is a band that I probably should like, but I’ve never really taken the time to listen to their albums or get into them. That will definitely change after this show. They are an excellent live band.

I was fortunate enough to catch the final 30 minutes of their set surrounding by several members of the Lollapalooza and ACL message boards who were all huge Wilco fans. It was fun to see the band for the first time while being around a ton of people who knew all the words to every song. I walked away very impressed with the band and their fans.

I spent a short while hanging out with a few of those friends and some new acquaintances before heading back to my hotel to freshen up before the Bloc Party aftershow at the House of Blues.

Five of us made it into the show a few minutes before midnight and met up with one of the board members (Alex from North Carolina), who had snagged a prime viewing spot in the center of the balcony.

We had the best seats in the house for one of the best shows of the entire weekend. While yesterday’s festival crowd wasn’t very responsive to Bloc Party, the crowd at their aftershow was very excited to see them.

The band really responded to that enthusiasm and put on the best Bloc Party show that I’ve ever seen.

Our entire group walked away from the show completely satisfied, relishing another amazing day at Lollapalooza.

Top Performances of the Day:

Bloc Party
Jamie Lidell
DeVotchKa
Broken Social Scene
De Novo Dahl

So that does it for Day 2 of Lollapalooza. Here’s hoping that Day 3 can match the extremely high standards that have been set so far.

My most anticipated acts of the day will be The National, Chromeo and Nine Inch Nails.

I hope everyone is having a fun and safe time. It’s been a real blast so far.

Read all of Day 2 Recap by Ross Hebert

Day 1 Recap by Ross Hebert

Hey, everyone. My name is Ross and I’ll be writing this daily blog about my Lollapalooza experience as a representative of the incredible Lollapalooza Message Board.
Before I get into my first day at the festival, I’d like to invite all of you to check out the message board. If you love to talk about music and festivals year-round, you’ll fit right in.

This year’s festival marks my second trip to Lollapalooza, and it was clear from the moment  that I walked up  to Grant Park that the 2008 version of Lollapalooza was destined to be bigger and better than past years.

Perhaps the most noticeable example of things that are bigger in 2008 is the super-sized crowd (3-day passes and Friday tickets were sold out). A quick pass by the park at 9:30am (a full 90 minutes before the gates were scheduled to open) revealed a line that already stretched several blocks!

After exchanging our tickets for excellent new cloth wristbands, my friends and I hopped into the extremely long line a few minutes after 11am. It seemed like the gates didn’t open at 11am like scheduled, a problem that hopefully will be remedied over the next two days.

Once we made our way through the gates, we headed south to check out a little bit of MySpace Stage opening band, Bang Camaro. The band’s primary claim to fame is the inclusion of their songs on Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games. With three guitarists and countless singers on stage, they played up their 80s metal kitsch to the max.

It definitely wasn’t for everyone, but if you still enjoy bands like Skid Row and Motley Crue, you might want to give them a shot.

The next act that we caught was my first highly-anticipated act of the festival, Holy F*ck. A fairly-large group of Lollapalooza Message Board members met up to take in the excellent set by the electronic rock foursome from Toronto. One of the highlights of their set was to hear them create warped vocal sounds by running 35mm film through some kind of editing machine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.

I’ve missed a few opportunities to see Holy F*ck in the past, so I was very happy to see them put on such a good show and win over a pretty large crowd. By the time they closed with the gorgeous “Lovely Allen,” it seemed like they had won over thousands of onlookers who had probably never heard of them before. I definitely recommend checking them out any chance you get.

Once Holy F*ck was done, I hustled over to catch the second half of Manchester Orchestra’s set on the street stage. I’ve seen this band a few times since stumbling upon them about a year ago. They always deliver an incredibly intense performance and today’s set was no exception.

The highlight of their show was closing out with “I Can Barely Breathe” and “Where Have You Been.” It was another solid showing from a young and promising band.

Next came one of the more difficult tasks for an Lolla fan: crossing Buckingham Fountain. Making your way across the park can be a bit of a hike, but I managed to walk over to Butch Walker’s set on the PlayStation Stage with relative ease.

Butch is a talented songwriter and record producer who’s probably most well-known for helping to churn out hit songs for the likes of Avril Lavigne, Pete Yorn and All-American Rejects, but he’s also an incredible live performer. This was my first time seeing him live and I was really surprised by how great he and his band sounded. The highlight for me was the extended closing performance of “Best Thing You Never Had.”

Butch Walker definitely has a rock star persona and I highly recommend his live show.

The next hour brought about one of my biggest conflicts of the day, deciding between the fun and energetic dance music of The Go! Team or the psychedelic indie rock of Yeasayer. I had a tough time making a choice between the two, so I came to the only logical conclusion:  why see one of those bands, when you could see both of them?

I started the hour with The Go! Team, who might be the perfect afternoon band. They brought loads of energy to a large and enthusiastic crowd, even drawing chants of a KoolAid Man-approved “oh, yeah” from everyone during “Grip Like a Vice.”

Content with about 20 minutes of The Go! Team, I made my trek back across the park to catch the second half of Yeasayer. I saw them a few months ago at South by Southwest on a stage the size of a Volkswagen, so seeing them on the massive AT&T Stage was a bit of a change. There seemed to be a bit of a disconnect between the band and the then-swelling main stage crowd, but I thought Yeasayer delivered a quality show.

Next came one of the bands that I started to really like in recent weeks, The Kills. Did you know that The Kills’ guitarist Jamie “Hotel” Hince is dating supermodel Kate Moss? Isn’t that exciting? No?

The Kills tore through a bunch of great songs from their excellent new album Midnight Boom including “U.R.A. Fever” and “Last Day of Magic,” but they were a little less enthusiastic than I was expecting. It was also slightly disappointing that they ended their set 15 minutes early.

Once again, it was time to make the hike across the park to catch The Black Keys.

I didn’t have to see the Raconteurs to witness the power of Jack White. As I walked into the north field to catch the Black Keys (playing the Bud Light Stage once slot earlier than Jack and those 3 other guys), I was shocked at the sheer number of people in crowd. It took a lot of crafty maneuvering just to get within 50 yards of the excellent blues rock duo.

The Black Keys’ Attack and Release is one of my favorite albums of the year, so I was surprised to see that their setlist only included a few songs from the new album. Still, I walked away pretty satisfied as they were closing with my favorite new track “I Got Mine.”

I held out until 5pm, but it was finally time to dig into some of the delicious Lolla grub. For veterans of the festival, there’s only one real option to kick your Lollapalooza meals off right: Chicken on a Stick (a.k.a. Sticken). It’s a skewer of marinated chicken that comes on top of a plate of vegetable rice or noodles. It’s seriously festival food heaven.

Those of you going to the festival can find Chicken on a Stick at Lee’s Concessions. Fortunately, they have a booth at both food courts. Other food options approved by Ross include Sweet Leaf Tea, smoothies from Maui Wowi and the gourmet turkey sandwich from Winston’s Market.

I took my Sticken back across the park just as Mates of State were taking the MySpace Stage. Staying pretty far back and taking time with my food and a few beers, I was bracing myself for the main event of the night: Bloc Party leading into Radiohead.

After meeting back up with my Lolla roommate Chuck and his buddies from Milwaukee (insert token shout out to Dan here), we made our way into the shoulder-to-shoulder body-odor expo known as the AT&T Stage crowd. We managed to get within 40-50 yards of the stage on the right side, which was pretty good considering the enormous crowd that was filling the field.

Bloc Party came out to huge applause and immediately tore into “Hunting for Witches,” followed by fan-favorite “Banquet.” This was my second time seeing the band (the first time was at Austin City Limits Festival last year) and I strongly believe that they’re perfectly-tailored for a festival like Lollapalooza.

It seemed to take the massive crowd a little while to really get into the set, but the collective energy was very strong by the time other favorites like “This Modern Love” and the fantastic closer “Helicopter” came around.

Bloc Party just put on an excellent show and really set the stage for the evening’s main attraction, Radiohead.

I should probably preface my Radiohead comments by saying that they’ve been my favorite band for several years, but I really feel like their headlining performance was one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen.

They came on stage to a huge swell of cheers from the crowd and kicked things off with In Rainbows opener “15 Step.” From that point on, the beginning of every song induced a big wave of cheers and screams, including older songs like “Airbag” and “No Surprises,” and new songs like “Nude” and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.”

I really thought that the set was hitting a high point about an hour in, when the band followed OK Computer favorite “Lucky” with a raucous version of “The Bends,” but what came just a few minutes later was pure transcendence. As Thom Yorke grabbed his acoustic guitar and played the opening chords to longtime favorite “Fake Plastic Trees,” fireworks began to shoot off far behind the stage. As the song built up, so did the frequency of the fireworks. At the huge climax near the end (when the full band comes in), fireworks were exploding everywhere and the stage lights illuminated an enraptured crowd.

At that very moment, Lollapalooza 2008 reached perfection.

After a rocking rendition of “Bodysnatchers,” the band left the stage leaving the giddy crowd begging for more. They obliged a few minutes later with a first encore that included “Paranoid Android,” “Dollars and Cents” and “Optimistic.”

Once again, the crowd was begging for just a few more songs. The band re-emerged to finish off their incredible set with “2+2=5” and “Idioteque.” It was 2+ hours of heaven.

Like almost everyone around us, we walked out of Grant Park with smiles on our faces, completely satisfied with an incredible first day of the festival. Luckily, the day of music wasn’t quite over.

One of the best things about Lollapalooza is the addition of aftershows by several artists playing the festival. After a quick stop at the hotel for showers and slight rest, we made our way north to the Metro to catch the always-incredible Gogol Bordello.

Anyone who’s seen this amazing band in a festival setting knows that they bring non-stop energy to their shows and demand the same thing from their crowds. Seeing the band inside a smaller club like the Metro only multiplied the craziness.

It was an unbelievable show and a very enthusiastic crowd. By the time Gogol Bordello took their final bows, my energy tank was resting firmly at zero. A 3am arrival back at our hotel marked the end of a long and near-perfect day one of Lollapalooza.

Best Performances of the Day:

Radiohead
Gogol Bordello
Holy F*ck
Bloc Party
Butch Walker

Best Stage Banter: "Guys lose you minds, girls lose your girlfriends. Woo!"  - Bang Camaro

Best Fashion Statement of the Day: Matt Tong of Bloc Party sporting the best/worst shorts I’ve ever seen…

So, that’s my look at Day 1.

Day 2 is sure to bring more great performances, including Jamie Lidell, Broken Social Scene and DeVotchKa. For those of you not attending the festival, I strongly urge you to check out the live streams of those 3 acts in addition to Dr. Dog and Wilco online at AT&T’s Blue Room.

It’s sure to be another incredible day in Chicago.

Have fun! I know I will.

Read all of Day 1 Recap by Ross Hebert

Radiohead recap by Consequence of Sound

Tonight, Chicagoans (and out of towners) were finally treated to the British spectacle that's been in the cards for four to five months. Riding on a hype that would benefit most summer blockbuster films, Radiohead headlined the first night of 2008's Lollapalooza. Thom Yorke and Co. were welcomed with open arms, literally, and they responded with a warm, balmy performance.

It's a wet dream for Perry Farrell that the British quintet matched the hype. The buzz over the past few months has been deafening, with fans scorching up the web and tickets for Friday leaving the box office. This morning, it wasn't really a surprise to see several fans, well actually hundreds, catapulting through the entrance and racing to the front of the AT&T stage, where they'd be camping for a mere ten hours. As the day aged, more and more eco-friendly Radiohead shirts were bought and worn. It seemed as if they were the only band that mattered.

To read the full Radiohead recap, click here:  http://consequenceofsound.net/2008/08/02/lolla-main-event-radiohead-81/

Read all of Radiohead recap by Consequence of Sound

Day 1 Recap (continued) by Consequence of Sound

As we alluded to earlier today, day one of Lollapalooza 2008 started off with a bang. Though with a line of festival-goers stretching more than five blocks, most folks didn't start rolling in until Holy Fuck and Black Lips kicked off their respective sets, unofficially signaling the start of this year's festivities.

Neither band shows signs of early morning hangovers as Holy Fuck thrilled an already crowded AT&T Stage, many composed of those diehard Radiohead fans in hour one of their day-long camp out, with the electro bliss of "The Pulse". While fans of Yorke and company didn't seem all too captivated by the Canadian natives, perhaps because no remix of "Nude" was offered, Holy Fuck did offer the other willing recipients a set of overpowering sounds that brought reminders and memories of LCD Soundsystem's ruckus set last Lollapalooza.

To read the full article, click here: http://consequenceofsound.net/2008/08/02/lollapalooza-in-review-friday-august-1st/

Read all of Day 1 Recap (continued) by Consequence of Sound

See Previous Articles by Month:
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007