A brief Day 2 round up because…I’m just…I hurt. Everywhere.
Most Consistent Failure #2: Yeah. I got there later than I wanted. Again.
Most Annoying Thing That Happened That I Fully Expected to Happen but UGH Anyway: Being the black chick at the country show – I don’t think I’ve mentioned much that I LOVE country music. A lot. But I never go to shows because…yeah. Lollapalooza has occasionally sprinkled in country acts and this year they offered Court Yard Hounds (the two Dixie Chicks who aren’t Natalie Maines) and Eric Church (THE GOD). I settled in for a spot close to the stage for Eric Church because I knew it was gonna be a shit kickin’ party of a set and I wanted to be in the thick of it. But as I sat on the grounds with everyone else I experienced my fair share of weird ass looks. I’m pretty sure that most people assumed my friend (a white woman) was the reason I was there when in truth it was the opposite. I was STOKED for Eric Church and she was just mildly interested. Once the show started I caught several open mouthed stares as I sang along to almost every song and danced…like every one else. Stop that shit.
The Best Band with the Worst Fans: Mumford & Sons – The crowd at Mumford & Sons was the best case ever for keeping wildly popular TOP 40 acts far far away from Lollapalooza. No disrespect to the band, they were great. But it seemed like 80% of the crowd showed up to take selfies and talk. OH MY GOD the talking. You actually couldn’t properly hear the show because everyone was just yapping away. It seems impossible for that to have actually happened but trust me. Between everyone shoving their way through the crowd (I have NEVER seen so many people leave during a set, and again this had nothing to do with the band) and the constant din of chatter I gave up on the whole thing halfway through. Once some guy has decked you in the back of the head with his elbow because he wants to get in front of you, the whole thing loses its magic.
Biggest DRAMA: Death Grips – Early in the day on Saturday a story broke about the band Death Grips (who?) pulling out of Lollapalooza. Apparently they were supposed to play an after party at Bottom Lounge the night before and they never showed…which apparently incited the crowd to trash their equipment. From what I could gather the band never even showed up in Chicago. Yikes
Biggest OMG WHUT: Shaun White has a band – Hipster snowboarding King Shaun White has apparently decided to try his hand at being a rock star by starting the band Bad Things (the jokes write themselves). These rock gods managed to score a Saturday slot at Lollapalooza…at the kids stage. But as fate and luck and name recognition would have it, they ended up sliding into the evening slot vacated by drama queens Death Grips.
Bad Things feat. Perry Farrell PHOTO BY IAN WITLEN
Yeah. Thats about what I expected.
Band That Seems to Play Lollapalooza Every Year Despite Being Fucking Awful: Matt and Kim – A few years ago I had the displeasure of catching their set at Lollapalooza because I was waiting for a act close by. For a better part of an hour they did covers of other people’s much better music and swore nonsensically. I have no reason to believe they’ve changed.
Best Shows of the Day: Eric Church…and Kendrick Lamar- I already briefly touched on Eric Church. He provided the kick ass good time that I expected of him and I imagine that at least half of the soreness in my legs and feet is due to how hard I partied at his set. The rest of it is probably Kendrick’s fault. He was AMAZING. I don’t listen to a lot of rap music but I stumbled upon his album Good Kid, M.a.a.d. City and fell in love. His set was predictably awesome and the crowd was super into it. A really neat moment was Kendrick being completely taken aback by the dude who ended up crowd surfing…in his wheelchair. And then moments later…a second dude crowd surging in his wheelchair. Kendrick seemed to really savor that moment and it was cool to see that he was definitely feeling the love, which he then threw right back at us. Good times.
Kendrick Lamar PHOTO BY IAN WITLEN
Most Ridiculous Crowd Comments: the girl at the Kendrick Lamar set who insisted that Kendrick…wasn’t Kendrick. I think she thought he was the hype man or something. I don’t know many hype men who come out and do an entire song belonging to the artist they are hyping but…girl whatever. First runner up: the dude who, upon seeing Kendrick’s afro’ed keyboardist on the big screen seriously asked “Oh shit is that Questlove!?” I can’t.
Awkward Moment of the Day: the inevitable point at any country music act where it gets all “fuck yeah we’re rednecks!!!”. Its always a little moment for me. I still had a great time tho.
How could I not?
The final day of Lollapalooza is upon us.
Early predictions: I’ll get to the park late. I will declare a half dozen times that this is my last Lollapalooza. I will be unable to stop myself from going to see 2 Chainz. Sensible Shoe Lollaplooza will rep hard at The Cure.
shikagoland 