Chicago-palooza 2006 (Part 1)

As I put pen to paper, I am ever so tired. And because, absent highly unique situations, I don’t believe in naps, I’ll have to make up my sleep deficiency in the next couple of evenings. My eyes are bagged, my body aches, all because I have had entirely too much fun in the last three days. I’m okay with that. Good trade. For on this past weekend, Chicago’s Grant Park reined in hippies, hip-hoppers, and hipsters alike for Lollapalooza. I will attempt to do the affair some type of justice; though I will no doubt just graze the facade of what one could potentially relate about the weekend.

The heat/humidity bane of our collective mid-western existences broke, just enough, in Chicago this weekend. (I hear it rages on in St. Louis and KC). While, at times, one could certainly describe the midday sun as “fucking hot,” it was never a heat stroke death risk (a la Taste of Chicago 1996), and when the breeze blew or when a cumulus cruised by, it was downright pleasant. Don’t get me wrong, sweat poured and sunburns were narrowly avoided, but if there be anything to distract from filmy stickiness or the potential need for aloe, it be great friends, great musicians, a great city, and a festival that harnessed it all.

The weekend was virtually flawless. From the miniscule bathroom lines to the variety and abundance of food, beer, and water, to the aforementioned meteorological flawlessness, to the well behaved attendees, everything went off without a proverbial hitch. Oh, and the music. Dear God, the music.

In 3 days, my cohorts and I were able to seek out and experience nearly twenty performances in large or full part, and countless others in passing… I will now attempt to rank the performances, if such an undertaking is possible, or even meaningful. So much of it could only be described as flat out brilliant.

19) The Hold Steady – I’m officially done with the Hold Steady. Despite being a critic’s darling following the release of Separation Sunday in 2005, the men from Brooklyn came off as more of an annoyance to more than just I.

18) The Shins – Though clearly not their fault, The Shins played what looked like a great show. It sounded as if it was being played loudly in your cousin’s bedroom while you were stuck downstairs with your Aunt talking about how awesome it was to be an English major. Speaker banks towards the back of the Bud Light Stage area simply were not turned on. People pointed to the sky (which I guess is the universal symbol for “turn that shit up up UP!”). Major let-down. This, in all truth and fact was my one and only beef with Lollapalooza. It drove me to drink.

17) Stars – Eh. While the music is still dynamite and they gave me “Calendar Girl,” I was distracted with beer and analyzing the program for the coming night.

16) Ryan Adams – As foretold by Jables Bagels the show was very very chill, but I still liked it. No tantrums. Just the chilled out country grooves that have become characteristic of RyRy’s last three (or so) records. I have become intensely in to 29, and I was grateful to hear some of the songs performed live.

15) Sound Team – Ranked only this low because we arrived late and only caught the final 2 or 3 songs, the hated-by-Pitchfork, Austin rockers seemed like they were really killing it. I once saw Sound Team perform in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis, where I bough their demo for 5 dollars. Now they are playing for thousands at Lollapalooza. Right on.

14) The M’s – Chicago band. Hooray. Very solid performance. Good crowd at one of the smaller stages.

13) Iron & Wine – Definitely the best beard of all the artists… although Tweedy’s was fresh to death. When the crowd wasn’t chattering too much, Sam sounded great.

12) Andy Bird – Chicago guy. Hooray. This is my third time seeing the Bird man. He is incredible live, accompanied only by percussionist Martin Dosh, Bird records and loops everything, building his songs up from nothing. It is quite a show.

11) Common – Chicago MC. Hooray. Always fly, very dynamic on stage. Did “The Light” which was cool.
10) The Redwalls – Chicago suburbs. Hooray. Looking hip as ever, The Redwalls’ set was split evenly between old and new tracks, with the new ones sounding quite nice. At one point in the show one of the brothers said (in a sort of Brit accent) “We’re gonna be gone for a while. We’re going to Sweden to make our new record.” I laughed out loud.

The rest tomorrow or the next day...

(pictures from www.chicagotribune.com)