Jiggety jig. or something like that
We're back from Lolla. A little sad that it's over, but so tired I'm not sure it's a terrible thing. There's a little (tiny) rumor that Radiohead will be next year's main headliner. I am so there.
Perry Farrell is everything I thought, and then a little. Pete DeStifano came out and rocked with Satellite Party for a few songs, and of course Perry had to kiss him, which Carl maintains had him losing half the crowd. I didn't care, they flat out ROCKED and played a bunch of Jane's and PFP. I'm really hoping that the reconciliation door will open between PF and Dave Navarro. I am the beacon of eternal hope. Anyway, they opened with Stop, and closed with Jane Says, and in-between Perry was his usual insane self. :)
Daft Punk was worth waiting for, and I'm so glad we got the chance to see them. I'd heard so much about their pyramid show, but I tried to stay away from all the YouTube videos, so it wasn't really what I had envisioned. They were still awesome and between them and LCD Soundsystem it was like a giant rave in Grant Park. I'm hoping that next year the electronica genre doesn't get shut out now that there's been this success...I'm thinking that the Chemical Brothers would be an excellent fit here.
The Spree was so great, even Carl liked them. I'm glad they played early in the weekend, because I was so disappointed when their set was over, but I was able to get past it because there was so much other stuff to look forward to. If they had played later in the weekend I think I might have actually been a little depressed.
My Morning Jacket performed with the Chicago Children's Orchestra, and it was cute, they did a really good job. I wish we'd walked down to the opposite end of the park to hear Modest Mouse, but I got the schedule mixed up and by the time I figured it out I decided we'd just hang where we were. We had a decent spot for Pearl Jam, up on the hill. We were down front for DP and Muse (also excellent, I overheard a guy walking out saying "I'm only saying one word for the rest of my life...Muse." And then he'd say it again. LOL), and I was pretty sure the PJ crowd might be a bunch of frat boys, and Carl was pretty sure Eddie would go off on some anti-war rant (which he did), so we wanted to be able to make a getaway if necessary. Fortunately he waited until the 2nd hour of their set before he brought out the veteran in a wheelchair (and I did feel for the guy, but I did NOT pay $330 for tickets to a political rally). We left as soon as he started in on that, and from what I hear we missed some decent sounds after that, but the whole weekend was so excellent I really didn't want it to end on a sour note. (ha!)
Suggestions for me to consider next year: take full LITERS of water, not pints. More sunscreen. Get the laminated schedule every day first thing. Try to do fewer split sets, it's hard to get a feel for a band based on just a couple of songs. Find the Best Western Hotel (never did see it...the Congress is RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE PARK. Rooms were not fabulous, but it was so close!).
All in all, it was a great mini-vacation and I'm sure I'll be checking out some of the new bands we saw. I'm hoping that a couple will be back next year but we'll see. As soon as I find out the dates I want to book a room. The train is definitely the way to go, we ended up paying $68 round trip (yeah, that was for BOTH of us), caught a cab to and from our hotel, cabbed to the aquarium (which wasn't necessary at all) and took the trolley back after we did the aquarium and the planetarium. We'd done both of those things a few years ago, but it was fun to give our eardrums a few hours off and check out the fishes. My Mom and I are going up in a few weeks to hit the aquarium and maybe the architectural boat tour.
There's so much more that happened, and a thousand times I wished it didn't have to end, but like all good things, it did. Now I've gotta figure out how to get back into the groove at work tomorrow. Cya next year Lolla buddies :)