LoLLaPalooZa!!!
Lollapalooza (lal·la·pa·loo·za) :- Something outstanding of its kind.
Well said. dictionary.com can pat itself on its back. An informal definition? I'd say "A sheer orgasmic musical experience" :).
3 days. 130 bands. 8 stages. 70,000 people. An alternative rock festival at Grant Park, located in the heart of Chicago. It just doesn't get better than this! Though the festival is for rockaholics, it throws a bit of everything at you; Hip hop, blues, jazz, pop, trance, disco, reggae..you name it, they got it. Its a paradise for the open minded. If you like alternative rock (red hot chilli peppers, the killers, queens of stone age, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Death Cab for Cutie and so on..) and you're willing to try out good, yet not so popular bands with cliqued audiences, you would have belonged here.
So, here's a short narration of soulful, crazy, random and enjoyable almost second life at Lollapalooza :)
Day 1, August 4, 2006.
Myself and my roomie stepped into Grant Park at around 6.30pm, just in time for The Raconteurs and had a ball. They were awesome; great vocals and brilliant guitar rips. Plain good shit. Perfect way to kick off the event; I immersed myself in the music and chugged some beers; my roomie was doped out ;) and we cut loose!! I had a bunch of boys n girls standing next to me with their legs spread out and I decided to talk to them; My first social interaction at LPZ! They simply pointed me to a couple who were strongly displaying their affection in public where the guy had his legs spread out (errr...yeah), standing behind the girl. They asked "hey, we're just being assholes, would you like to join us in messing with them?" and I said "sure". So, we stood there, legs apart and random people joined us in adding to the greater good of the event :P Weird. Here's a must see video of one of the songs they played at the event: Crazy
Soon to follow was Ween. Awesome, awesome band. I can't rave enough about them! There's no bigger pleasure for a music lover than to listen to a completely unfamiliar band and get bowled over by the music. We saw the first stroke of craziness; A whole lot (and I mean a whole lot here) of random, doped people just singing and dancing their butts off; I loved the music, so did my roomie. Here's a short video of their HIV song at LPZ. Again, the quality isnt good but u at least get an idea of the kind of music they play.
Day 2, Saturday, August 4, 2006.
Gnarles Barkley, AT&T stage, 4.30p.m. I'd have to say they sucked ass. We hated it but hey, you can't expect every single band to knock your socks off, right? :) We wandered off to the AMD stage for Disco Biscuits, an electronic jam fusion band and boy oh, boy they rocked it! Just amazing trance-ish music with a bit of disco slapped on it. Uber cool! I danced like hell and enjoyed all the songs; I'm definitely seeing them if they play in Chicago again.
Flaming Lips, a psychadelic alternative rock band played at the Bud Light stage at 6.30p.m. Here's a short video clip of the first few minutes; Seriously, can any live show beat this shit?? I mean, come on people! I was speechless to see it; See the video and you'll know what I'm talkin about. Finally, Kanye West wrapped up friday night. This was my first hip hop concert and I had the time of my life :) Enjoyed all the songs and the crowd went crazzzzzy! Here's a small clip of Workout Plan which is worth a watch, foshizzle. If you know KW, he performed "Gold digger", "Jesus Walks", "Slow Jamz", "Overnight Celebrity", "All falls down", "Workout Plan" from his own, did small pieces of "Numb/Encore - Jay Z", "Stand Up - Luda" and "Sweet dreams - La Bouche". Ballistic!!
Day 3, Sunday, August 6, 2006
I got in around noon on Sunday for Mucca Pazza, a circus punk marching band. I love these guys and Brent, who's a part of my so-called, almost oblivious east indian cover music band plays for them. He couldn't perform this time but I enjoy their music nonetheless; Very energetic, tub thumping music. Reminds of the band vadhiyams at Janvasams (a south indian marriage event) and it was worth gettin up early on a frikkin sunday ;) Here's an awesome piece from the show. I should warn you, its very random :)
Sunday was the most productive day because I managed to see at least seven new bands! After Mucca Pazza, I saw Sparta and I throughly enjoyed their music; Good old rock at its best and the lead vocalist was unbelievable. Pretty cool. Benevento Russo Duo, a two man music army rocked the place with their instrumental rock songs with no words (go figure!) and it was entirely different, refreshing experience. Andrew Bird, a singer who plucks the violin, plays the xylophone and also whistles along was a stroke of genius; He didn't care about the audience, no talking, no nothing. He whistled in with his drummer, played his shit and packed his bags. During his show, I met a bunch of guys n girls who totally bonded with me; they danced with me, got me beers, swapped phone numbers and even invited me to an after party on Michigan avenue at their hotel but i had to get to work early the next day and i nicely declined :( sucks.
The event ended with Matisyahu, Queens of Stone Age and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Matisyahu was fabulous; A unique mix of an orthodox judaistic propaganda and classic reggae! Now that's you what you call "unordinary". Not only was it unordinary, it was "off the hook"! If you visited the site, you can hear his music samples playing if your speakers are on; QOSA was kinda blaring, I thought. They tried to rock it too much and it sounded nasty; I walked across to see Wilco and I didn't like them much either. Finally, it was Red Hot Chilli Peppers who closed out the show. This was one retarded show even by my standards! Google "lollapalooza, red hot chilli peppers" and read any review that pops up. That one event by itself deserves a separate blog and I'm tired to write another one :) To give you a rough idea, it was one of those concerts where you're listening to the music and bodies keep falling on you (people are passed along by the crowd and so many people are on the air that you almost have to watch out for bodies falling on you!).
Overall, I give it 5 stars and as long as I'm in Chicago, I'll be there every year. Hell, even if I'm in the US of A, I'll travel for LPZ. As I mentioned before, its almost a second life in there. You get lost in music, people, diversity and randomness. Hard to explain but great to experience :)
// Adios //
Well said. dictionary.com can pat itself on its back. An informal definition? I'd say "A sheer orgasmic musical experience" :).
3 days. 130 bands. 8 stages. 70,000 people. An alternative rock festival at Grant Park, located in the heart of Chicago. It just doesn't get better than this! Though the festival is for rockaholics, it throws a bit of everything at you; Hip hop, blues, jazz, pop, trance, disco, reggae..you name it, they got it. Its a paradise for the open minded. If you like alternative rock (red hot chilli peppers, the killers, queens of stone age, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Death Cab for Cutie and so on..) and you're willing to try out good, yet not so popular bands with cliqued audiences, you would have belonged here.
So, here's a short narration of soulful, crazy, random and enjoyable almost second life at Lollapalooza :)
Day 1, August 4, 2006.
Myself and my roomie stepped into Grant Park at around 6.30pm, just in time for The Raconteurs and had a ball. They were awesome; great vocals and brilliant guitar rips. Plain good shit. Perfect way to kick off the event; I immersed myself in the music and chugged some beers; my roomie was doped out ;) and we cut loose!! I had a bunch of boys n girls standing next to me with their legs spread out and I decided to talk to them; My first social interaction at LPZ! They simply pointed me to a couple who were strongly displaying their affection in public where the guy had his legs spread out (errr...yeah), standing behind the girl. They asked "hey, we're just being assholes, would you like to join us in messing with them?" and I said "sure". So, we stood there, legs apart and random people joined us in adding to the greater good of the event :P Weird. Here's a must see video of one of the songs they played at the event: Crazy
Soon to follow was Ween. Awesome, awesome band. I can't rave enough about them! There's no bigger pleasure for a music lover than to listen to a completely unfamiliar band and get bowled over by the music. We saw the first stroke of craziness; A whole lot (and I mean a whole lot here) of random, doped people just singing and dancing their butts off; I loved the music, so did my roomie. Here's a short video of their HIV song at LPZ. Again, the quality isnt good but u at least get an idea of the kind of music they play.
Day 2, Saturday, August 4, 2006.
Gnarles Barkley, AT&T stage, 4.30p.m. I'd have to say they sucked ass. We hated it but hey, you can't expect every single band to knock your socks off, right? :) We wandered off to the AMD stage for Disco Biscuits, an electronic jam fusion band and boy oh, boy they rocked it! Just amazing trance-ish music with a bit of disco slapped on it. Uber cool! I danced like hell and enjoyed all the songs; I'm definitely seeing them if they play in Chicago again.
Flaming Lips, a psychadelic alternative rock band played at the Bud Light stage at 6.30p.m. Here's a short video clip of the first few minutes; Seriously, can any live show beat this shit?? I mean, come on people! I was speechless to see it; See the video and you'll know what I'm talkin about. Finally, Kanye West wrapped up friday night. This was my first hip hop concert and I had the time of my life :) Enjoyed all the songs and the crowd went crazzzzzy! Here's a small clip of Workout Plan which is worth a watch, foshizzle. If you know KW, he performed "Gold digger", "Jesus Walks", "Slow Jamz", "Overnight Celebrity", "All falls down", "Workout Plan" from his own, did small pieces of "Numb/Encore - Jay Z", "Stand Up - Luda" and "Sweet dreams - La Bouche". Ballistic!!
Day 3, Sunday, August 6, 2006
I got in around noon on Sunday for Mucca Pazza, a circus punk marching band. I love these guys and Brent, who's a part of my so-called, almost oblivious east indian cover music band plays for them. He couldn't perform this time but I enjoy their music nonetheless; Very energetic, tub thumping music. Reminds of the band vadhiyams at Janvasams (a south indian marriage event) and it was worth gettin up early on a frikkin sunday ;) Here's an awesome piece from the show. I should warn you, its very random :)
Sunday was the most productive day because I managed to see at least seven new bands! After Mucca Pazza, I saw Sparta and I throughly enjoyed their music; Good old rock at its best and the lead vocalist was unbelievable. Pretty cool. Benevento Russo Duo, a two man music army rocked the place with their instrumental rock songs with no words (go figure!) and it was entirely different, refreshing experience. Andrew Bird, a singer who plucks the violin, plays the xylophone and also whistles along was a stroke of genius; He didn't care about the audience, no talking, no nothing. He whistled in with his drummer, played his shit and packed his bags. During his show, I met a bunch of guys n girls who totally bonded with me; they danced with me, got me beers, swapped phone numbers and even invited me to an after party on Michigan avenue at their hotel but i had to get to work early the next day and i nicely declined :( sucks.
The event ended with Matisyahu, Queens of Stone Age and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Matisyahu was fabulous; A unique mix of an orthodox judaistic propaganda and classic reggae! Now that's you what you call "unordinary". Not only was it unordinary, it was "off the hook"! If you visited the site, you can hear his music samples playing if your speakers are on; QOSA was kinda blaring, I thought. They tried to rock it too much and it sounded nasty; I walked across to see Wilco and I didn't like them much either. Finally, it was Red Hot Chilli Peppers who closed out the show. This was one retarded show even by my standards! Google "lollapalooza, red hot chilli peppers" and read any review that pops up. That one event by itself deserves a separate blog and I'm tired to write another one :) To give you a rough idea, it was one of those concerts where you're listening to the music and bodies keep falling on you (people are passed along by the crowd and so many people are on the air that you almost have to watch out for bodies falling on you!).
Overall, I give it 5 stars and as long as I'm in Chicago, I'll be there every year. Hell, even if I'm in the US of A, I'll travel for LPZ. As I mentioned before, its almost a second life in there. You get lost in music, people, diversity and randomness. Hard to explain but great to experience :)
// Adios //
posted by Bharath at 6:14 PM
1 comments
