Lollapalooza Round Up

Way too many bands and way too many plastic bottles filled with cheap wine make it impossible for me to accurately recount my experience at the recent Chicago festival. But if you make the jump, I'll give you a super quick and super sweet rundown of the bands that made the biggest impact. So most of the bands that left me impressed were the smaller acts that I hadn't seen before. I knew the big ones (Radiohead, Kanye, Wilco, Black Keys, Bloc Party, etc.) would be able to hold their own, as they have all been through the gauntlet before. But it was the young guys or the club bands that I most feared would disappoint. Fortunately, many of them brought their A-game. 

The first band that really knocked my socks off was Yeasayer. It was hot as hell on the first day and they had a pretty early set, but the band seemed as if they would have rocked just as hard and have been just as content just playing for themselves. They played two new totally awesome songs, and brought the house down with the All Hour Cymbals classics (especially the a cappella outro on "Red Cave"). Plus, there were a lot of neo-hippies doing funny neo-hippy dances.

After a morning of dry heaving on Saturday, I mustered up the strength to check out MGMT's set. Being a reader of this blog (obvi), I was expecting the worst based on SLB's Brooklyn concert experience, so maybe that was why I was so impressed. Admittedly, the band seemed like it lacked a little in the confidence/stage presence area, but they still commanded a fierce crowd of kids that were totally into it. Everyone was dancing and singing (band members and concert goers alike), and every song elicited huge cheers at the start and huge applause at the finish. Plus a guest appearance and a wild guitar solo from Shooter Jennings for closer "Kids."

But the Saturday band that really kicked it up a notch for me was Okkervil River. I've been a fan of most everything they've been doing over the past few years, and their upcoming album, The Stand Ins, seems poised to continue that trend for me. But this was my first live encounter with the band, and they killed it. Lead singer Will Sheff strutted around that stage in his Sunday best with his beat up acoustic blazing, looking like an old priest possessed by the Holy Spirit and preaching to the masses, warning of the apocalypse. Fucking awesome.

By Sunday, morale was low and I was just going through the motions. Showed up to the National's set expecting to find some nice light adult contempo type songs to bring me down. Not a chance. All the songs started off gentle as they do on the albums. But it seemed by the last minute of each song, these little tiny bedroom nuanced tracks turned into epic rockers. Was totally blown away. Brought some brass as well, which made a world of difference. And closer "Mr. November" is pretty much indescribable. Electricity in the air.

Also, Girl Talk...words escape me. Dude knows how to throw a party.