It’s a fine summer day, especially when you’ve got air-conditioned buses and lots of water for fans for want to take a load off in between wicked sets.  Ones like British heartbreaker Bats for Lashes and Aussie troubadours The Greencards put on earlier for eager fans.

The Greencards host a hoedown (in Chicago!)

Bat For Lashes played many instruments during her set, including a tambourine

Literally, the coolest festival goers in Grant Park at one of the many CTA chill stations

Photos by Jack Edinger and Dave Mead from the Lollapalooza 2009 Flickr

No doubt about it, fans make the most honest, reliable journalists. It just so happens that this weekend they’re all assigned to the Lolla beat.  Here’s some of the great mini-stories they’re turning in.

• rwkela: “The Airborne Toxic Event just played ‘Goodbye Horses!’ “
• tspangler: “Enjoying Kaiser chief’s riotous perfomance”
• vapormache: “Wow. Saw @bassnectar for the first time last night. Ridiculous. Go Lollapalooza.”
• clashbabi: “Thankful for the lollapalooza app on the iPhone.”
• MTSonkin: “Watching my bro play lollapalooza online. Love me some technology.”
• lbock: “The Sweet Leaf Tea people are awesome at Lollapalooza. We got free tea and a water soaked bandana to keep cool.”
• trisarahtop: “omg I’m 98.7% positive Gareth @loscampesinos just walked by me at #lollapalooza. I died a little no doubt.”
• coslive: “Winner of the weeked for most people on stage at one time… dan deacon ensemble”
• IainBluett: “Free water at #lollapalooza at one of tents. Nice job C3″
• boredvalencian: “cannot wait until snoop takes the Chicago 2016 stage. been waiting for this and Janes Addiction/Killers all wkend. Lollapalooza 09 =]”

Last night, in a pleasing one-two punch for Lolla attendees, Ben Harper and Relentless 7 took their audience by storm right before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs proceeded to blow everyone away again. Here’s some eye candy!

Eveningwear by the always eccentric Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Ben Harper and Relentless 7 get into it

Photos by Dave Mead and Jack Edinger from the Lollapalooza 2009 Flickr

Memorable moments are popping up all over Lolla today, both onstage and off.  From a special appearance by blues legend Buddy Guy at the Kidzapalooza tent to the mind-blowing DJ prowess of Kaskade down at Perry’s Stage.  Here’s some fresh pics!

Kaskade moves the crowd at Perry’s

Perry’s Stage hosted lots of Saturday’s best acts, including Moneypenny

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More grassroots coverage from the jamboree going on in Grant Park!

@tylus: “Los Campesinos! #lollapalooza ‘09″

@ryanlange: “Living things at q101 tent”

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One of the most talked about performances of yesterday was Of Montreal’s afternoon set. Incorporating a variety of random props, stage antics, and trademark crazy costumes, their esoteric high-energy indie-pop kept a huge gathering of equally colorful fans captivated.

Upload your own Lolla pictures to Flickr and tag your shots with “Lollapalooza 2009”, “Band Name”, and “Day 1/Day2/Day3”.  They’ll be featured in our Flickr Fan Gallery, and we’ll publish them in our daily slide-show!

Of Montreal’s elaborate stage production impressed Friday fans

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Photo by Jack Edinger from the Lollapalooza 2009 Flickr

You read that correctly.  Country music superstar LeAnn Rimes will perform at Kidzapalooza Friday at 3:30pm with Lollapalooza founder and Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell in what is sure to be an artistic collaboration to remember.  This follows a long tradition of Kidzapalooza special guests that have impressed the young set-as well as their grateful parents-including Jeff Tweedy, Patti Smith, Slash, and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James.  The unprecedented meeting of these two groundbreaking talents promises to leave festival-goers talking throughout the weekend.

Slightly less kid-friendly, yet no less entertaining, is Farrell’s new video for his song “I Like ‘Em Big”.  Debuting in tandem with Lollapalooza 2009’s opening day, the piece features more champagne and lingerie than you can shake a satin scarf at.  Directed by Andrew Bennett, whose work includes videos for Deftones and many others, it captures a side of Perry and his wife Etty that will undoubtedly surprise viewers, reinforcing Farrell’s knack for pushing boundaries and having fun while doing so.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been added to this year’s lineup, and are slated to perform Saturday night on the Budweiser stage. Check out Yeah Yeah Yeahs bio, music and videos.

The Beastie Boys have cancelled their upcoming tour dates due to Adam’s health; we are very sad to hear this news. Adam and his family are in our thoughts. We will keep everyone posted on schedule changes as soon as we have updates.