[concerts] Lollapalooza Day 1 (8/3/2007)

Okay, so I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet in an effort to actually finish it. Unlike last year. I finally deleted the draft of that one.

And I'm not promising I'll post pictures, but I might post pictures. Not from Friday, though, as I forgot my camera.

Last Band Standing: Helicopters. Well, I managed to catch the last note of the last song, but in my defense, I was there to help them actually land the slot at Double Door on Wednesday.

The Fratellis. They're not going to change the world or anything, but damn, they're just fun, bratty, well-played British post-post-punk. And I can't resist pumping my fist to the line "These are crazy times down at Costello music."

Soulive. My boss is a big fan, but I didn't really hear anything in their brand of funk and soul that stood out. Maybe they need walls to really come across.

Colour Revolt. The sound got a little dense with guitars and a little abrasive at times, but overall they sounded alright.

SIDENOTE: The first sighting of Beatle Bob!

Ted Leo and Pharmacists. Down goes Leo! The first real memorable moment was watching Ted Leo wipe out into his amplifier in the first song, cutting up his hand, then point out how nobody on the stage crew could be bothered to help him. He also re-tuned his guitar pretty badly after the fall, and had to break down to a drum vamp while he fixed it. I've tried using a foot pedal tuner in the daylight, and I know how that can happen. Still, a potent set once he got going.

SIDENOTE: And thus begins the MySpace stage's inexplicable fascination with showing guys tuning their guitars on the big screen.

The Polyphonic Spree. What a joyous noise! While my analytical mind was trying to figure out how the heck a band this big can ever tour unless they're all trust fund kids, the rest of me was just digging the sheer audacious fun of some thirty people on stage playing relentlessly feel-good music. And then parading through the crowd right in front of me and going on to cover "Lithium" from Nirvana.

SIDENOTE: The beginning of another trend, as it will become evident over the course of the weekend that bands with trombones are only allowed on the Bud Light stage.

Sparklehorse. This was the first band that we just listened to from across the park. They sounded pretty good, even on the obligatory "medium tempo in E" song that every Britpop band is obligated by law to write. You know, like "Yellow," "Somewhere Only We Know," etc.

Silversun Pickups. Several people I talked to walked out on their set, which seems to have been due to crap sound on the Citi stage. Either we got there late, or were distracted by the guy holding a stuffed chicken over his head for the entire set, because they sounded pretty good to me, but in that way that getting beaten over the head with a sledgehammer of distorted guitar sounds pretty good. Singer Brian Aubert scores first runner-up in the Witty Banter Awards, in part for dedicating a song not to the guy holding up the stuffed chicken, but to the chicken itself.

SIDENOTE: The stuffed chicken makes the first of several appearances for the weekend.

G. Love and Special Sauce. Caught the second half of the set from across the park again, but it sounded good to me. Love's lazy funk seemed well-suited to the outdoors.

The Black Keys. I didn't really catch enough of these guys to get what all the fuss is about. Yes, it sounded raw and bluesy, but nothing past that reached me.

SIDENOTE: Had a nice conversation with Greg Kot during the walk over to see LCD Soundsystem, in which he scolded me for not listening to Sound Opinions anymore and we talked about online music quite a bit.

LCD Soundsystem. I'm not crazy about these guys on record, but live is a different matter entirely, once again demonstrating the awesome power of live instrumentation. They actually reminded me a lot of Moby without actually sounding anything like Moby. Or maybe sounding like Moby's band fronted by Donal Logue. Singer and ringleader James Murphy takes first prize in the Witty Banter Awards, hands-down. Some singers think they're stand-up comedians between songs. Murphy actually was one, and a funny one at that, commenting once on how if you're a dude dancing in the middle of a bunch of other dudes, you're doing it wrong.

Daft Punk. I could only stay for about ten minutes of the set before I had to take off for my own gig, but I still don't understand why I'm supposed to care so much about these guys. The praise for this band was so over the top as to be totally inexplicable if you managed to travel a different musical path. That said, the reductive visuals and booming electronica held up pretty far back in the crowd as I departed.

Bands I would have liked to have seen, but didn't get to: Femi Kuti, Ben Harper, maybe a bit more of The Black Keys.