Quibbling with the Lollapalooza blogging

First, up, as always, is DeRo:

Whether promoters have heeded complaints that the lavish V.I.P. areas occupied too much of the prime shady real estate in the park over the last few years, or they simply sold fewer of the pricey three-day "LollaLounge" passes ($850 per person) and even more ostentatious private cabanas (parties of 20 and up, $1,500 per person for the "premier section," $1,250 per person for the "prime section"), there's no denying that these areas are much smaller in 2008--and those in the "cheap seats" no doubt applaud.

I won VIP tickets last year. They don't look any different to me, but I will check today just to make a point. Maybe the cabanas, but I think the heat may have already gotten to Jim. And kudos to Time Out Chicago for offering a bit of a more interesting take on the subject.

Also adding a lot of congestion this year: The layout of the festival has been made a lot more constricted and rigid, with north-south (and vice versa) traffic narrowly confined along set paths thanks to a lot more fencing. For anyone planning to see, say, half of a band's set at 5 and the other half of another group's at 5:30 on the far end of the park--well, you'd better think again.

I also don't think this is true, unless there's a Western passage that's been blocked. There are at least four or five north-south routes that I could see, which seemed consistent with the last couple of years.

And the big quibble:

Late in the set, Yorke admitted the band was dragging a bit, saying, "We're a little jet-lagged." But the famously anti-globalization, No Logo-championing activist made no comment about politics or the fact that he was performing on the stage sponsored by AT&T, which last year censored Pearl Jam as it lashed out against President Bush.

Not a single mention of the fact that they took down the big banners on the side of the stage, Jim -- something I don't think the festival did even for Pearl Jam last year (although my pictures are somewhat inconclusive)? Did it just slip your mind, or are you deliberately omitting information that doesn't support your argument? Tsk tsk.

Besides, the joke's on AT&T, as Verizon cell phones seemed to be working fine throughout the festival grounds, while the AT&T network was wholly unavailable except right around Buckingham Fountain. All the signage is just going to remind people of exactly who's responsible for them not being able to find their friends.

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reports:

It was all matched up with the incredible light show, which was augmented by an unrelated fireworks display in the distance that kicked in at the end of “The Bends.”

I'm pretty sure it was at the end of "Fake Plastic Trees," which is a song from The Bends, so at least you were close.

And I didn't notice, sonically or visually, if the guy from Yeasayer was, in fact, playing fretless. He might have been, or he might have done it once, so well-read rock critics feel it necessary to mention it at every possibility.

UPDATE: I saw someone else mention that the fireworks actually started during "The Bends", and then went through "Fake Plastic Trees". So, if I was wrong on the fretless bit, too, then I'm sort of exposed as just trying to add balance so it doesn't sound like another gratuitous DeRo-bashing post.