see the stars, they're shining bright...
HEY GUYS, I'M BACK IN OMAHA NOW.
LOLLAPALOOZA WAS INCREDIBLY ... SOMETHING.
It was, by turns, amazing, unbelievable, hilarious, disgusting, absurd, demeaning, tempestuous and filthy. I know if I don't write an LJ entry soon, I never will, and as I've spent the last hour searching for Martin Gore interviews (to figure out if "Never Let Me Down Again" really IS a paean to Fletch, as Chesh told me) and singing the fuck out of Depeche Mode tunes (same as above, as well as "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" and "I Feel Loved" and "Home" and... I really need more DM on this computer), I decided that now is the best time to talk about where I've spent the last several days.
FRIDAY: We walked out of the hotel around noon to find that it was cloudy, cool and drizzly out, but we figured it'd clear up by the time Fleet Foxes were on at 4 PM. After taking the bus successfully down to Michigan and Congress, we wandered back and forth between lines until we decided to just walk around downtown Chicago for a while before entering the festival.
The rain got worse. It was cold. We got pretty fucking wet as we walked through a few parks and up Michigan Street. Veer and Hollysmeg bought an umbrella at one souvenir store; I finally ended up buying a rain poncho and a $20 bright orange zip-up Chicago hoodie at Walgreens as well as a second umbrella. Or something. I don't remember the order in which things were bought. We plodded back down to Lolla and my feet were, for some reason, KILLING ME. I don't know when I got so old!
Grant Park seems like it's a really nice place when it's not full of 20,000+ under-30 people who are drunk, soaking wet and more often than not high as a kite. Everyone was running through the mud, looking a right mess all covered in grass and filth. The food was overpriced, the port-a-potties were cesspools, and the ground was swampy, slippery and gravelly. I basically wanted to go back to the hotel as soon as we got there and vowed never to attend a festival again because all the walking in the rain we'd done had made me pretty pissed off. I was menstruating, too; that never helps. Veer, Smeg and Chesh went to see Fleet Foxes and I sat beneath a row of flower boxes against a fence and read a sopping wet Lolla program while hiding from the rain behind an umbrella. I just couldn't stand/walk anymore. I spent most of the show down there and honestly couldn't give an opinion of that band.
Next up was the Decemberists, who... well, I would have liked it more if I hadn't just been watching the two screens from the very back of the crowd. It seemed ludicrous to be watching TV in the rain and mud, but I couldn't see anyone on the stage AT ALL thanks to this enormous tent in the middle of the audience. Brilliant planning there! I like the girl singers in that band more than the dude--he basically annoys the piss out of me. I don't know, maybe he grows on you like a Brian Molko or Isaac Brock.
Theeennnn we ended up missing most of Of Montreal, a band Veer wanted to see, because we had to walk the whole way across the park and I stopped to use a toilet, which took forever. However, we were just in time for DEPECHE MODE. The rain had stopped, my feet still hurt, but once they began, I was totally into it. Chesh and I went ahead into the crowd and, while we were really quite far from the stage, we could make out the people on it and it felt much more lively and personal than the Decemberists show had.
Their setlist, copied from the Lolla forums because I'm a 'tard:
1. In Chains
2. Wrong
3. Hole to Feed
4. Walking In My Shoes
5. It's No Good
6. A Question of Time
7. Precious
8. Fly on the Windscreen
9. Home
10. Come Back
11. Policy of Truth
12. In Your Room
13. I Feel You
14. Enjoy the Silence
15. Never Let Me Down Again
(encore)
16. Stripped
17. Personal Jesus
WHAT. WHAT. OH MY GOD. OKAY.
So like Chesh kept saying, each song on this set was better than the last. Dave Gahan, despite having had A TUMOR REMOVED in June and getting leg injuries and gastroenteritis and being at Death's door basically the whole summer, WAS AMAZING. He really didn't sound very good vocally, which stood out during several songs, but after a point, it didn't matter, because he had so much stage presence and enthusiasm and did the best little flamboyant dances.
Martin Gore, who is like up there with Johnny Marr as far as Amazing Male British Songwriters Who Are Just Total Darlings go, was all glitzy in a silver ... outfit of some kind with a shiny guitar and JESUS GOD, THE MAN CAN PLAY GUITAR. LIKE SO WELL. I SERIOUSLY.... IT DIDN'T OCCUR TO ME HOW GOOD HE IS AT IT. I FEEL STUPID.
TAKE A FUCKING LOOK AT THAT SETLIST. I danced my fucking FACE off to every fucking song. I could not stop jumping and screaming and singing--I totally forgot how sore and cold I'd been all day and it was just basically one of the best shows I've EVER been to because they're SUCH a good band and it was AWESOME. The best parts had to be
WHEN MARTIN
SANG "HOME"
TO THE ACCOMPANIMENT
OF DAVE PLAYING PIANO
AND MARTIN HELD OUT THE FINAL NOTE ON "FEELS LIKE HOOOME, I SHOULD HAVE KNOOOOWN FROM MY FIRST BREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAATH" FOR ABOUT 300 YEARS AND IT WAS POSSIBLY THE BEST SOUND I'VE EVER HEARD HE IS SO BEAUTIFUL I LOVE HIS VOICE SO MUCH I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED STILL
AND THEN HE WAVED HIS ARMS IN THE AIR
WHILE DAVE PLAYED PIANO
WHICH WAS REALLY REALLY PRETTY AND I LOVED THE ARRANGEMENT
AND MARTIN DANCED AROUND THE STAGE
AND IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
If I hadn't been so dehydrated, I would have cried during "Home." God DAMN, words cannot express how flipping AMAZING that song is.
AND "NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN" WAS ... DAMN. IT WAS LIKE. THAT SONG. THAT IS PROBABLY MY SECOND FAVORITE DM SONG (AFTER "HOME"!!!) AND THEY PLAYED IT. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I WAS LIKE, AM I DREAMING? DOES IT HURT WHEN I POUND THE GROUND WITH MY WORN-OUT FEET AND SHAKY KNEES? I CAN'T TELL ANYMORE. Christ! It was a religious experience, y'all.
"Enjoy The Silence" was probably the HARDEST I have EVER rocked (although Muse threw out my knee and I haven't fallen on the stairs in excruciating pain yet, so maybe I toned the rock down a little in three years) and they made all the dancey bits really long so we could all thrash as long as we needed to. "Personal Jesus" started with Martin playing the SEXIEST guitar riff. I mean, yeah, it's totally pumpin' in the studio version, but LIVE it was just ASTOUNDINGLY HOT.
Seriously, every song was great. The low point might have been, like, "Wrong." "In Chains" was GREAT and made me feel guilty for not listening to the new album enough. But God, you guys, if you even have a remote interest in Depeche Mode, you have to go see them play because they're INCREDIBLE MEN who make FANTASTIC SOUNDS. They will not disappoint you! Martin Gore sings the prettiest, quaveriest backing vocals (I WANT TO MARRY HIS VOICE) and Dave does the best dances and Fletch is ... Fletch! It's just great.
Chesh and I met up with Smeg and Veer and all four of us totally had a great time. Veer made videos of four songs and when we rewatched them at the hotel on Sunday night, I was still blown away by how fucking fantastic the show was and how much thought they put into the updated arrangements of their older songs and the screen imagery and everything. They're so dedicated! THEY'RE SO GREAT.
We plodded painfully out of the muddy grassy park and down the street with the other multithousand exhausted fans to board a bus back to the hotel, where we all cleaned up and found dinner and complained about our aches and pains before finally falling asleep.
SATURDAY: I could not make myself wake up when I heard Chesh and Veer getting ready for their day. I munched some Teddy Grahams and read some of a copy of Nylon I'd brought along before crashing. I didn't even hear them leave--I was in so much pain and I was exhausted. At 3, I finally sat up for more than 30 seconds and began massaging my feet and legs, which were in searing pain, to the point where I was limping across the room when I had to get up. My feet have never ached so much as they did this weekend--it's ridiculous how little walking I can get away with doing before I want to collapse from the pain. Smeg had woken me up and we eventually got clothes on and decided to find a Target as we were sorely lacking in several things, and I drove us up State Street to a really neat-looking Target, where we spent about 90 minutes before we left and drove further north to admire downtown Chicago at twilight.
I really love urban areas. I drive like a myopic old biddy racing to Bingo night, which is pretty much perfect for inner-city Chi-town. A cab came within 12 inches of slamming into me as it changed lanes, but I hit the brakes hard enough to pitch all our groceries onto the floor of the backseat and saved the car. Fucking cab--I swear that was NOT my fault. Turning into the wrong lanes and being a laggy butthead WAS my fault, as was getting turned around on one-way streets, but damn, that cab was totally fucking out of line!
We drove past the Lolla entrance twice and I told Smeg to try to call Chesh and ask if she and Veer might like to save the bus fare and have us pick them up. Chesh misheard Veer and said no, they'd take the bus, but as Smeg and I were driving around the Chinatown district near our hotel, she called again and informed Smeg that they WOULD, in fact, like to be picked up because Veer had a headache and was skipping Tool, the last show of the night. So I headed down there again and we finally found them north of the main entrance. They were heading through a closed lane towards my car and I was all motioning frantically to COME ON because I'd already held people up several times and there were cops nearby and the light was about to turn green... so when I figured everyone was in the backseat, I started to pull forward because the light WAS green and everyone was moving, but Veer screamed from the backseat, "I'M NOT IN THE CAR YET!" and I hit the brakes. Whoops. :X I'm still sorry about that, Veer! Everything was a mess. We did get back to the hotel without killing anyone, though. Crashing and burning happened pretty early again, although Chesh, Smeg and I had some major lolz going on for about an hour about, like, nothing at all. We're good like that.
SUNDAY: Veer didn't want to come to the 2:30 Kaiser Chiefs show with Chesh and me, so she and Smeg (who only attended Friday's shows) decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium for the afternoon before Veer met us at 6:00 for Lou Reed (LOU FUCKING REED). Chesh and I headed out into a very sunny, very hot, very sticky day. I wore a black long-sleeved (but somewhat sheer) shirt over a camisole and a very thin skirt over spandex leggings, but this proved to be an unwise choice as I felt hot even sitting at the bus stop. I don't like NOT wearing layers, though, because I feel ugly and like I'm offending someone with my excess girth if I don't work hard to shield it from view. So I figured I'd tough it out.
Chesh & I got to the park about 45 minutes ahead of time and we sat on the grass in front of the stage for ages, slathered in sunscreen and slurping water. The Kaiser Chiefs were pretty prompt, though, and Ricky Wilson was fucking LOADED with energy. He fucking BOUNCED onto the stage and I didn't recognize him at first because he's sporting this long, shaggy blond haircut and I swear to God, it is so fucking cute. Chesh doesn't approve, but I love a good head of hair on a boy (see: Bernard Butler ca. People Move On, Jarvis Cocker, Brett Andersuede, Cillian Murphy and every fucking Britpoppy bastard who's not in Oasis). Um, anyway, they started out with "Never Miss A Beat" and I flailed ahead into the crowd about 15 more feet because I wanted to get closer to the small niche of people surrounding the barrier who were dancing like mad. I hated standing out with the bored hipsters who didn't really care about the band! I WANTED TO DANCE TO KAISER CHIEFS AND SO I DID.
For about 3 songs. And then during "Ruby," I began to feel lightheaded and nauseated as hell, which I found strange as I'd eaten lightly and had been drinking water frequently, but I was sweating buckets and just could not keep up the pogoing AND the shouting AND everything. I staggered back through to Chesh as the song ended (that was maybe the most important one, anyway--RUBAYRUBAYRUBAY RUUUUUUUUBAAAAAAAAAAAY ahhh AHH AHHH ahhh ahhh AHHHHHH...) and then plonked down on the grass again, since I had a major headache over my eyes that was in no way ameliorated by the 500 PEOPLE SMOKING WEED. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU PAY $200 TO SIT IN A HOT FIELD GETTING STONED. YOU'RE HERE FOR THE MUSIC. IF YOU HAVE TO GET HIGH TO ENJOY THE MUSIC, THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE. Jesus CHRIST, I have personal drug phobias, but I don't really care if people use them as long as it's 1) done somewhat responsibly and 2) doesn't affect me in any way. But Lollakids apparently get the stinkiest fucking grass they can find and then stuff bongs with it so they can puff away for ENTIRE SHOWS. Chesh and Veer had complained about the amounts of weed they'd encountered on Saturday and said it was WORSE than Sunday and I just have to say I feel really bad for them because I could not AVOID people with Ziploc baggies of grass and bongs on Sunday afternoon!
... Anyway, Chesh told me to get up and head for the tree-lined side lawn, where we could still see the stage (and Ricky Wilson being completely adorable, shouting, "WE'RE THE KAISER CHIEFS! WHO'S HEARD OF US?!?!" before climbing the scaffolding) and hear everything, but it was about 10* cooler and once I'd gotten the leggings and stupid black shirt off, I felt somewhat better.
KCs' set:
1. Never Miss A Beat
2. Everything Is Average Nowadays
3. Everyday I Love You Less and Less
4. Ruby
5. Can't Say What I Mean
6. Love's Not A Competition, But I'm Winning
7. Like It Too Much
8. Modern Way
9. You Want History
10. I Predict A Riot
11. The Angry Mob
12. Take My Temperature
13. Oh My God
"Love's Not A Competition..." is one of my FAVORITES, but they played a peculiar version that I didn't recognize as Chesh and I were heading for the trees. I felt like they chose some weaker songs ("You Want History," "Can't Say What I Mean," "Like It Too Much," "Everything Is Average Nowadays") compared to some of their more amazing ones ("Na Na Na Na Naa," "Born To Be A Dancer," "Heat Dies Down," "Always Happens Like That"), but it was the Kaiser Chiefs! I need to get my hands on "Take My Temperature," because I enjoyed it and I've never heard it before.
ALSO, THEY ENDED WITH "OH MY GOD" AND THAT MADE ME REALLY HAPPY. Ricky was like, "So who wants us to do one more song!!" and Chesh leaned over and said, "I think he's the only one!" and I was like, "Awwww! I want 'Oh My God!' COME ON, DO ITTT." And they DID.
There was a meet-and-get-your-shit-signed thing with the Kaiser Chiefs from 4 to 4:30, but once I saw the massive line of fans holding newly-purchased copies of Off With Their Heads, I decided not to join it in favor of accompanying Chesh to the food stalls, where we scored a few bottles of free water and some mediocre smoothies and spicy chicken strips. Chesh recommended that I buy a Lolla shirt in a light color so I could take off my camisole and not feel as hot, so I did. It's just this dumb white shirt, but it really helped me feel less shitty, so I guess it was worth the $20.
After we ate under the trees, I, unable to stop thinking about Kaiser Chiefs and how much I wanted to tell Ricky Wilson that he needs to host more episodes of "Nevermind The Buzzcocks," decided to see if the line had shortened/KC were still there. They WERE, but the 'security' said they'd cut off the signing, so I just stood at the ribbon barrier and stared past people at them. When I caught sight of Ricky, I waved and called, "Hello, Kaiser Chiefs!!!" And the other two with him were busy, but Ricky stared at me quizzically before lifting a hand to give me a slow wave. He looked totally confused and I don't really blame him--it was really hot out and he probably wondered why I was just hanging out 30 feet away.
I made Chesh follow me around to the chain-link fence after KC went back through the little tent, and we saw them board this little golf cart thing so they could be driven to a magical Lolla place where people wouldn't bother them. I got distracted admiring Ricky's haircut and skinny jeans so I didn't see when The Curly-Haired One waved at me, and Chesh has been upbraiding me EVER SINCE. I'M SO SORRY, CURLY-HAIRED CHIEF. I WAVED AT THE WHOLE CAR LIKE TWICE, BUT I DIDN'T THINK ANYONE CARED. I JUST WANTED TO BE NOTICED SO I COULD EXPRESS MY ADORATION.
Also I'm creepy.
Chesh and I spent another hour under the shade of the trees, doing fuck-all because there's nothing to do at Lolla when you're not watching a show. They make it SOUND like there's shit to do, but there isn't, really, unless you want to buy overpriced merchandise or just roam from show to show like a musical nomad. You could collect bags of recyclables and trade them in for shirts, but the bags were fucking huge and it was over 90* and I totally stopped caring. I threw away a lot of shit this weekend, guys. I also used a lot of gas. I need to make up to Mother Earth for my rock'n'roll excesses somehow.
Chesh said we should go sit in front of the stage again for Mr. Reed, so we parked ourselves maybe 20 feet from the stage, about 10 from the barriers, and Veer located us a short while later, having walked to Grant Park from the Aquarium. As the time neared 6:30, people began getting really agitated, eager to see Lou Flipping Reed walk onstage, but his roadies and band just kept twiddling with equipment. 6:30 came and went and Lou wasn't onstage, so we began joking that he was just backstage, fixing his hair and totally not giving a shit about our problems. Some dudes around us began crowing, "LOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHGHGGHGH!" as though that would speed him up, and at 6:40, he finally
ambled
onstage.
WE WERE IN THE PRESENCE OF LOU FUCKING REED. HE'S SO OLD AND AWESOME. He wore this charcoal V-neck tee with a robot-cowboy thing on it and slightly baggy black trousers and his usual glasses and he sauntered onstage as though he were a truant tenth-grader strolling into study hall a half-hour late. He emanated Cool and also Fuck Off and we LOVED it. A roadie slipped a guitar over his head and he immediately tore into the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane," which made everyone flip their fucking shit. I have to say, I wasn't expecting him to play real SONGS or anything. I kind of thought we were just going to stand around watching him be Lou Reed for a while. Maybe he'd complain at us about how much he doesn't like Transformer now. Or he'd call us all assholes and fly back to New York. I DON'T KNOW. BUT I PAID TO SEE IT.
BECAUSE HE'S LOU FUCKING REED.
So when he DID play a whole set of songs, it was kind of surprising!
Lou's set:
1. Sweet Jane
2. Senselessly Cruel
3. Dirty Blvd
4. Waves of Fear
5. Mad
6. Paranoia Key of E (with extended noise jam)
7. Waiting for the Man
8. Walk on the Wild Side
That noise jam was probably the only time I quit smiling beatifically and watching him in hushed awe. He likes to gesture and point at his fellow musicians onstage, telling them to go up here or down there and to continue playing, speed up, slow down or stop. He had this completely bonkers dude on two Macbooks with this weird slidey synth thing who made sliding his hand across the synth look like churning butter. With a fork. Dude was HARDcore into it, just sliding the shit out of whatever the fuck that thing was.
And Lou kept making squwonky guitar sounds and telling the sax player to make terrible, whistle-register noises, and everyone would break into smatterings of applause every minute or so. I don't know if the audience was trying to make him shut the fuck up or to egg him on, but eventually he grew bored of making terrible noises and went right into "Waiting For The Man" like nothing had ever happened.
I love. Lou Reed.
LOOK.
LOOK AT THAT SETLIST.
DO YOU SEE THE LAST SONG.
YES.
HE REALLY, TRULY, SERIOUSLY FUCKING PLAYED THAT SONG.
HE HONESTLY ACTUALLY PLAYED 'WALK ON THE WILD SIDE' FOR A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO COULD BE HIS GRANDKIDS (IF HE WANTED US). AND EVERYONE LOST THEIR FUCKING SHIT. BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD. And really, who can pass up a chance to sing, "Doot, doo-doot, doo-doot, do-doot, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo..."?
AND LOU BLEW A KISS TO OUR SIDE OF THE CROWD AND IT WAS FUCKING ADORABLE THAT MAN IS AMAZING.
Lou went over his time limit and Veer wanted to get to the other side of the park to see the Silversun Pickups at the stage near the Killers' stage, but I stoppede off to grab some water before heading that way. They found me just in time for the Killers to come on.
And oh, my Jesus, the Killers. The Killers!! What the fuck?? Their show was so TERRIBLE. First of all, Brandon Flowers, who was born in 1980, was breathless, flat and let the crowd sing large chunks of everything, including a song so bland that I didn't know whether or not I even knew it or owned it.
But Veer, Chesh and I, always determined to have fun wherever we are, began to make up dances to all the Killers songs and we sang the ones we knew (a select few for them, most of them for me). And Mr. Flowers yelped his way through everything, backed by a band whose sound engineer should be hung out to dry because that guy did something AWFUL that made the entire band sound like amateurs. I don't even know what was wrong, but that show sounded bad in so many ways!!
Still, we had a really great time. Here's the Killers' setlist:
1. Human
2. This Is Your Life
3. Somebody Told Me
4. For Reasons Unknown
5. Bones
6. Joy Ride
7. Bling (Confession of a King)
8. Shadowplay
9. Smile Like You Mean It
10. Spaceman
11. A Dustland Fairytale
12. Read My Mind
13. Mr. Brightside
14. All These Things That I've Done
-- encore
15. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
16. When You Were Young
DO YOU SEE WHAT IS MISSING.
"TRANQUILIZE" DID NOT MATERIALIZE. EVEN THOUGH LOU REED -AND- THE KILLERS WERE IN THE SAME FUCKING VENUE PARK THING AT THE SAME TIME AND TOTALLY -COULD HAVE- WORKED THIS OUT. Buuuut no. Lou's just too cool for performing with others now. EDIT: I just found this brief interview with Brandon Flowers re: Lollapalooza where he seems to indicate that there wasn't enough time for them to rehearse with "the king of New York." So maybe it just fell through somehow. :\ Damn! That song's AMAZING, too.
And Monday, we drove home! It was lolarious as usual. When we got home, Chesh made Veer watch some of Smeg's and my childhood home videos, which was ... something. Christ, I used to have an Oklahoman accent, you guys. Be glad I dropped that bitch like a hot turd when I moved up here--I sounded COMPLETELY MENTAL. Then we watched the cinemagraphic horror that is "Blub Blub Blub," which is a horrific movie Smeg and I made at 10 & 12 with string dolls and a very loose retelling of the sinking of the Titanic.
This inspired us to create our OWN shitty Sconecon 2009 movie, which Veer will be editing and uploading to YouTubes presently. Aren't you fucking excited?!?!?
Tuesday, I ended up sleeping until 1:30 PM or sod we trundled off to the airport to drop Veer off after some Mario Kart and nothing. Then Chesh, Smeg and I went SHOPPING. We got some dumb shit. It was fun!
Okay, I really ought to shut this thing off and go to bed, since Chesh will undoubtedly wake me far too early for my liking so we can hit up the craft store or something. LOLZ. But that's my Lolla report! AMAZING SHOWS and some lolarity. I still probably won't do that again until I'm wealthy enough for my own VIP booths.
That'll REALLY fuck with Mother Nature, won't it?
J.
LOLLAPALOOZA WAS INCREDIBLY ... SOMETHING.
It was, by turns, amazing, unbelievable, hilarious, disgusting, absurd, demeaning, tempestuous and filthy. I know if I don't write an LJ entry soon, I never will, and as I've spent the last hour searching for Martin Gore interviews (to figure out if "Never Let Me Down Again" really IS a paean to Fletch, as Chesh told me) and singing the fuck out of Depeche Mode tunes (same as above, as well as "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" and "I Feel Loved" and "Home" and... I really need more DM on this computer), I decided that now is the best time to talk about where I've spent the last several days.
FRIDAY: We walked out of the hotel around noon to find that it was cloudy, cool and drizzly out, but we figured it'd clear up by the time Fleet Foxes were on at 4 PM. After taking the bus successfully down to Michigan and Congress, we wandered back and forth between lines until we decided to just walk around downtown Chicago for a while before entering the festival.
The rain got worse. It was cold. We got pretty fucking wet as we walked through a few parks and up Michigan Street. Veer and Hollysmeg bought an umbrella at one souvenir store; I finally ended up buying a rain poncho and a $20 bright orange zip-up Chicago hoodie at Walgreens as well as a second umbrella. Or something. I don't remember the order in which things were bought. We plodded back down to Lolla and my feet were, for some reason, KILLING ME. I don't know when I got so old!
Grant Park seems like it's a really nice place when it's not full of 20,000+ under-30 people who are drunk, soaking wet and more often than not high as a kite. Everyone was running through the mud, looking a right mess all covered in grass and filth. The food was overpriced, the port-a-potties were cesspools, and the ground was swampy, slippery and gravelly. I basically wanted to go back to the hotel as soon as we got there and vowed never to attend a festival again because all the walking in the rain we'd done had made me pretty pissed off. I was menstruating, too; that never helps. Veer, Smeg and Chesh went to see Fleet Foxes and I sat beneath a row of flower boxes against a fence and read a sopping wet Lolla program while hiding from the rain behind an umbrella. I just couldn't stand/walk anymore. I spent most of the show down there and honestly couldn't give an opinion of that band.
Next up was the Decemberists, who... well, I would have liked it more if I hadn't just been watching the two screens from the very back of the crowd. It seemed ludicrous to be watching TV in the rain and mud, but I couldn't see anyone on the stage AT ALL thanks to this enormous tent in the middle of the audience. Brilliant planning there! I like the girl singers in that band more than the dude--he basically annoys the piss out of me. I don't know, maybe he grows on you like a Brian Molko or Isaac Brock.
Theeennnn we ended up missing most of Of Montreal, a band Veer wanted to see, because we had to walk the whole way across the park and I stopped to use a toilet, which took forever. However, we were just in time for DEPECHE MODE. The rain had stopped, my feet still hurt, but once they began, I was totally into it. Chesh and I went ahead into the crowd and, while we were really quite far from the stage, we could make out the people on it and it felt much more lively and personal than the Decemberists show had.
Their setlist, copied from the Lolla forums because I'm a 'tard:
1. In Chains
2. Wrong
3. Hole to Feed
4. Walking In My Shoes
5. It's No Good
6. A Question of Time
7. Precious
8. Fly on the Windscreen
9. Home
10. Come Back
11. Policy of Truth
12. In Your Room
13. I Feel You
14. Enjoy the Silence
15. Never Let Me Down Again
(encore)
16. Stripped
17. Personal Jesus
WHAT. WHAT. OH MY GOD. OKAY.
So like Chesh kept saying, each song on this set was better than the last. Dave Gahan, despite having had A TUMOR REMOVED in June and getting leg injuries and gastroenteritis and being at Death's door basically the whole summer, WAS AMAZING. He really didn't sound very good vocally, which stood out during several songs, but after a point, it didn't matter, because he had so much stage presence and enthusiasm and did the best little flamboyant dances.
Martin Gore, who is like up there with Johnny Marr as far as Amazing Male British Songwriters Who Are Just Total Darlings go, was all glitzy in a silver ... outfit of some kind with a shiny guitar and JESUS GOD, THE MAN CAN PLAY GUITAR. LIKE SO WELL. I SERIOUSLY.... IT DIDN'T OCCUR TO ME HOW GOOD HE IS AT IT. I FEEL STUPID.
TAKE A FUCKING LOOK AT THAT SETLIST. I danced my fucking FACE off to every fucking song. I could not stop jumping and screaming and singing--I totally forgot how sore and cold I'd been all day and it was just basically one of the best shows I've EVER been to because they're SUCH a good band and it was AWESOME. The best parts had to be
WHEN MARTIN
SANG "HOME"
TO THE ACCOMPANIMENT
OF DAVE PLAYING PIANO
AND MARTIN HELD OUT THE FINAL NOTE ON "FEELS LIKE HOOOME, I SHOULD HAVE KNOOOOWN FROM MY FIRST BREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAATH" FOR ABOUT 300 YEARS AND IT WAS POSSIBLY THE BEST SOUND I'VE EVER HEARD HE IS SO BEAUTIFUL I LOVE HIS VOICE SO MUCH I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED STILL
AND THEN HE WAVED HIS ARMS IN THE AIR
WHILE DAVE PLAYED PIANO
WHICH WAS REALLY REALLY PRETTY AND I LOVED THE ARRANGEMENT
AND MARTIN DANCED AROUND THE STAGE
AND IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
If I hadn't been so dehydrated, I would have cried during "Home." God DAMN, words cannot express how flipping AMAZING that song is.
AND "NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN" WAS ... DAMN. IT WAS LIKE. THAT SONG. THAT IS PROBABLY MY SECOND FAVORITE DM SONG (AFTER "HOME"!!!) AND THEY PLAYED IT. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I WAS LIKE, AM I DREAMING? DOES IT HURT WHEN I POUND THE GROUND WITH MY WORN-OUT FEET AND SHAKY KNEES? I CAN'T TELL ANYMORE. Christ! It was a religious experience, y'all.
"Enjoy The Silence" was probably the HARDEST I have EVER rocked (although Muse threw out my knee and I haven't fallen on the stairs in excruciating pain yet, so maybe I toned the rock down a little in three years) and they made all the dancey bits really long so we could all thrash as long as we needed to. "Personal Jesus" started with Martin playing the SEXIEST guitar riff. I mean, yeah, it's totally pumpin' in the studio version, but LIVE it was just ASTOUNDINGLY HOT.
Seriously, every song was great. The low point might have been, like, "Wrong." "In Chains" was GREAT and made me feel guilty for not listening to the new album enough. But God, you guys, if you even have a remote interest in Depeche Mode, you have to go see them play because they're INCREDIBLE MEN who make FANTASTIC SOUNDS. They will not disappoint you! Martin Gore sings the prettiest, quaveriest backing vocals (I WANT TO MARRY HIS VOICE) and Dave does the best dances and Fletch is ... Fletch! It's just great.
Chesh and I met up with Smeg and Veer and all four of us totally had a great time. Veer made videos of four songs and when we rewatched them at the hotel on Sunday night, I was still blown away by how fucking fantastic the show was and how much thought they put into the updated arrangements of their older songs and the screen imagery and everything. They're so dedicated! THEY'RE SO GREAT.
We plodded painfully out of the muddy grassy park and down the street with the other multithousand exhausted fans to board a bus back to the hotel, where we all cleaned up and found dinner and complained about our aches and pains before finally falling asleep.
SATURDAY: I could not make myself wake up when I heard Chesh and Veer getting ready for their day. I munched some Teddy Grahams and read some of a copy of Nylon I'd brought along before crashing. I didn't even hear them leave--I was in so much pain and I was exhausted. At 3, I finally sat up for more than 30 seconds and began massaging my feet and legs, which were in searing pain, to the point where I was limping across the room when I had to get up. My feet have never ached so much as they did this weekend--it's ridiculous how little walking I can get away with doing before I want to collapse from the pain. Smeg had woken me up and we eventually got clothes on and decided to find a Target as we were sorely lacking in several things, and I drove us up State Street to a really neat-looking Target, where we spent about 90 minutes before we left and drove further north to admire downtown Chicago at twilight.
I really love urban areas. I drive like a myopic old biddy racing to Bingo night, which is pretty much perfect for inner-city Chi-town. A cab came within 12 inches of slamming into me as it changed lanes, but I hit the brakes hard enough to pitch all our groceries onto the floor of the backseat and saved the car. Fucking cab--I swear that was NOT my fault. Turning into the wrong lanes and being a laggy butthead WAS my fault, as was getting turned around on one-way streets, but damn, that cab was totally fucking out of line!
We drove past the Lolla entrance twice and I told Smeg to try to call Chesh and ask if she and Veer might like to save the bus fare and have us pick them up. Chesh misheard Veer and said no, they'd take the bus, but as Smeg and I were driving around the Chinatown district near our hotel, she called again and informed Smeg that they WOULD, in fact, like to be picked up because Veer had a headache and was skipping Tool, the last show of the night. So I headed down there again and we finally found them north of the main entrance. They were heading through a closed lane towards my car and I was all motioning frantically to COME ON because I'd already held people up several times and there were cops nearby and the light was about to turn green... so when I figured everyone was in the backseat, I started to pull forward because the light WAS green and everyone was moving, but Veer screamed from the backseat, "I'M NOT IN THE CAR YET!" and I hit the brakes. Whoops. :X I'm still sorry about that, Veer! Everything was a mess. We did get back to the hotel without killing anyone, though. Crashing and burning happened pretty early again, although Chesh, Smeg and I had some major lolz going on for about an hour about, like, nothing at all. We're good like that.
SUNDAY: Veer didn't want to come to the 2:30 Kaiser Chiefs show with Chesh and me, so she and Smeg (who only attended Friday's shows) decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium for the afternoon before Veer met us at 6:00 for Lou Reed (LOU FUCKING REED). Chesh and I headed out into a very sunny, very hot, very sticky day. I wore a black long-sleeved (but somewhat sheer) shirt over a camisole and a very thin skirt over spandex leggings, but this proved to be an unwise choice as I felt hot even sitting at the bus stop. I don't like NOT wearing layers, though, because I feel ugly and like I'm offending someone with my excess girth if I don't work hard to shield it from view. So I figured I'd tough it out.
Chesh & I got to the park about 45 minutes ahead of time and we sat on the grass in front of the stage for ages, slathered in sunscreen and slurping water. The Kaiser Chiefs were pretty prompt, though, and Ricky Wilson was fucking LOADED with energy. He fucking BOUNCED onto the stage and I didn't recognize him at first because he's sporting this long, shaggy blond haircut and I swear to God, it is so fucking cute. Chesh doesn't approve, but I love a good head of hair on a boy (see: Bernard Butler ca. People Move On, Jarvis Cocker, Brett Andersuede, Cillian Murphy and every fucking Britpoppy bastard who's not in Oasis). Um, anyway, they started out with "Never Miss A Beat" and I flailed ahead into the crowd about 15 more feet because I wanted to get closer to the small niche of people surrounding the barrier who were dancing like mad. I hated standing out with the bored hipsters who didn't really care about the band! I WANTED TO DANCE TO KAISER CHIEFS AND SO I DID.
For about 3 songs. And then during "Ruby," I began to feel lightheaded and nauseated as hell, which I found strange as I'd eaten lightly and had been drinking water frequently, but I was sweating buckets and just could not keep up the pogoing AND the shouting AND everything. I staggered back through to Chesh as the song ended (that was maybe the most important one, anyway--RUBAYRUBAYRUBAY RUUUUUUUUBAAAAAAAAAAAY ahhh AHH AHHH ahhh ahhh AHHHHHH...) and then plonked down on the grass again, since I had a major headache over my eyes that was in no way ameliorated by the 500 PEOPLE SMOKING WEED. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU PAY $200 TO SIT IN A HOT FIELD GETTING STONED. YOU'RE HERE FOR THE MUSIC. IF YOU HAVE TO GET HIGH TO ENJOY THE MUSIC, THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE. Jesus CHRIST, I have personal drug phobias, but I don't really care if people use them as long as it's 1) done somewhat responsibly and 2) doesn't affect me in any way. But Lollakids apparently get the stinkiest fucking grass they can find and then stuff bongs with it so they can puff away for ENTIRE SHOWS. Chesh and Veer had complained about the amounts of weed they'd encountered on Saturday and said it was WORSE than Sunday and I just have to say I feel really bad for them because I could not AVOID people with Ziploc baggies of grass and bongs on Sunday afternoon!
... Anyway, Chesh told me to get up and head for the tree-lined side lawn, where we could still see the stage (and Ricky Wilson being completely adorable, shouting, "WE'RE THE KAISER CHIEFS! WHO'S HEARD OF US?!?!" before climbing the scaffolding) and hear everything, but it was about 10* cooler and once I'd gotten the leggings and stupid black shirt off, I felt somewhat better.
KCs' set:
1. Never Miss A Beat
2. Everything Is Average Nowadays
3. Everyday I Love You Less and Less
4. Ruby
5. Can't Say What I Mean
6. Love's Not A Competition, But I'm Winning
7. Like It Too Much
8. Modern Way
9. You Want History
10. I Predict A Riot
11. The Angry Mob
12. Take My Temperature
13. Oh My God
"Love's Not A Competition..." is one of my FAVORITES, but they played a peculiar version that I didn't recognize as Chesh and I were heading for the trees. I felt like they chose some weaker songs ("You Want History," "Can't Say What I Mean," "Like It Too Much," "Everything Is Average Nowadays") compared to some of their more amazing ones ("Na Na Na Na Naa," "Born To Be A Dancer," "Heat Dies Down," "Always Happens Like That"), but it was the Kaiser Chiefs! I need to get my hands on "Take My Temperature," because I enjoyed it and I've never heard it before.
ALSO, THEY ENDED WITH "OH MY GOD" AND THAT MADE ME REALLY HAPPY. Ricky was like, "So who wants us to do one more song!!" and Chesh leaned over and said, "I think he's the only one!" and I was like, "Awwww! I want 'Oh My God!' COME ON, DO ITTT." And they DID.
There was a meet-and-get-your-shit-signed thing with the Kaiser Chiefs from 4 to 4:30, but once I saw the massive line of fans holding newly-purchased copies of Off With Their Heads, I decided not to join it in favor of accompanying Chesh to the food stalls, where we scored a few bottles of free water and some mediocre smoothies and spicy chicken strips. Chesh recommended that I buy a Lolla shirt in a light color so I could take off my camisole and not feel as hot, so I did. It's just this dumb white shirt, but it really helped me feel less shitty, so I guess it was worth the $20.
After we ate under the trees, I, unable to stop thinking about Kaiser Chiefs and how much I wanted to tell Ricky Wilson that he needs to host more episodes of "Nevermind The Buzzcocks," decided to see if the line had shortened/KC were still there. They WERE, but the 'security' said they'd cut off the signing, so I just stood at the ribbon barrier and stared past people at them. When I caught sight of Ricky, I waved and called, "Hello, Kaiser Chiefs!!!" And the other two with him were busy, but Ricky stared at me quizzically before lifting a hand to give me a slow wave. He looked totally confused and I don't really blame him--it was really hot out and he probably wondered why I was just hanging out 30 feet away.
I made Chesh follow me around to the chain-link fence after KC went back through the little tent, and we saw them board this little golf cart thing so they could be driven to a magical Lolla place where people wouldn't bother them. I got distracted admiring Ricky's haircut and skinny jeans so I didn't see when The Curly-Haired One waved at me, and Chesh has been upbraiding me EVER SINCE. I'M SO SORRY, CURLY-HAIRED CHIEF. I WAVED AT THE WHOLE CAR LIKE TWICE, BUT I DIDN'T THINK ANYONE CARED. I JUST WANTED TO BE NOTICED SO I COULD EXPRESS MY ADORATION.
Also I'm creepy.
Chesh and I spent another hour under the shade of the trees, doing fuck-all because there's nothing to do at Lolla when you're not watching a show. They make it SOUND like there's shit to do, but there isn't, really, unless you want to buy overpriced merchandise or just roam from show to show like a musical nomad. You could collect bags of recyclables and trade them in for shirts, but the bags were fucking huge and it was over 90* and I totally stopped caring. I threw away a lot of shit this weekend, guys. I also used a lot of gas. I need to make up to Mother Earth for my rock'n'roll excesses somehow.
Chesh said we should go sit in front of the stage again for Mr. Reed, so we parked ourselves maybe 20 feet from the stage, about 10 from the barriers, and Veer located us a short while later, having walked to Grant Park from the Aquarium. As the time neared 6:30, people began getting really agitated, eager to see Lou Flipping Reed walk onstage, but his roadies and band just kept twiddling with equipment. 6:30 came and went and Lou wasn't onstage, so we began joking that he was just backstage, fixing his hair and totally not giving a shit about our problems. Some dudes around us began crowing, "LOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHGHGGHGH!" as though that would speed him up, and at 6:40, he finally
ambled
onstage.
WE WERE IN THE PRESENCE OF LOU FUCKING REED. HE'S SO OLD AND AWESOME. He wore this charcoal V-neck tee with a robot-cowboy thing on it and slightly baggy black trousers and his usual glasses and he sauntered onstage as though he were a truant tenth-grader strolling into study hall a half-hour late. He emanated Cool and also Fuck Off and we LOVED it. A roadie slipped a guitar over his head and he immediately tore into the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane," which made everyone flip their fucking shit. I have to say, I wasn't expecting him to play real SONGS or anything. I kind of thought we were just going to stand around watching him be Lou Reed for a while. Maybe he'd complain at us about how much he doesn't like Transformer now. Or he'd call us all assholes and fly back to New York. I DON'T KNOW. BUT I PAID TO SEE IT.
BECAUSE HE'S LOU FUCKING REED.
So when he DID play a whole set of songs, it was kind of surprising!
Lou's set:
1. Sweet Jane
2. Senselessly Cruel
3. Dirty Blvd
4. Waves of Fear
5. Mad
6. Paranoia Key of E (with extended noise jam)
7. Waiting for the Man
8. Walk on the Wild Side
That noise jam was probably the only time I quit smiling beatifically and watching him in hushed awe. He likes to gesture and point at his fellow musicians onstage, telling them to go up here or down there and to continue playing, speed up, slow down or stop. He had this completely bonkers dude on two Macbooks with this weird slidey synth thing who made sliding his hand across the synth look like churning butter. With a fork. Dude was HARDcore into it, just sliding the shit out of whatever the fuck that thing was.
And Lou kept making squwonky guitar sounds and telling the sax player to make terrible, whistle-register noises, and everyone would break into smatterings of applause every minute or so. I don't know if the audience was trying to make him shut the fuck up or to egg him on, but eventually he grew bored of making terrible noises and went right into "Waiting For The Man" like nothing had ever happened.
I love. Lou Reed.
LOOK.
LOOK AT THAT SETLIST.
DO YOU SEE THE LAST SONG.
YES.
HE REALLY, TRULY, SERIOUSLY FUCKING PLAYED THAT SONG.
HE HONESTLY ACTUALLY PLAYED 'WALK ON THE WILD SIDE' FOR A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO COULD BE HIS GRANDKIDS (IF HE WANTED US). AND EVERYONE LOST THEIR FUCKING SHIT. BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD. And really, who can pass up a chance to sing, "Doot, doo-doot, doo-doot, do-doot, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo..."?
AND LOU BLEW A KISS TO OUR SIDE OF THE CROWD AND IT WAS FUCKING ADORABLE THAT MAN IS AMAZING.
Lou went over his time limit and Veer wanted to get to the other side of the park to see the Silversun Pickups at the stage near the Killers' stage, but I stoppede off to grab some water before heading that way. They found me just in time for the Killers to come on.
And oh, my Jesus, the Killers. The Killers!! What the fuck?? Their show was so TERRIBLE. First of all, Brandon Flowers, who was born in 1980, was breathless, flat and let the crowd sing large chunks of everything, including a song so bland that I didn't know whether or not I even knew it or owned it.
But Veer, Chesh and I, always determined to have fun wherever we are, began to make up dances to all the Killers songs and we sang the ones we knew (a select few for them, most of them for me). And Mr. Flowers yelped his way through everything, backed by a band whose sound engineer should be hung out to dry because that guy did something AWFUL that made the entire band sound like amateurs. I don't even know what was wrong, but that show sounded bad in so many ways!!
Still, we had a really great time. Here's the Killers' setlist:
1. Human
2. This Is Your Life
3. Somebody Told Me
4. For Reasons Unknown
5. Bones
6. Joy Ride
7. Bling (Confession of a King)
8. Shadowplay
9. Smile Like You Mean It
10. Spaceman
11. A Dustland Fairytale
12. Read My Mind
13. Mr. Brightside
14. All These Things That I've Done
-- encore
15. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
16. When You Were Young
DO YOU SEE WHAT IS MISSING.
"TRANQUILIZE" DID NOT MATERIALIZE. EVEN THOUGH LOU REED -AND- THE KILLERS WERE IN THE SAME FUCKING VENUE PARK THING AT THE SAME TIME AND TOTALLY -COULD HAVE- WORKED THIS OUT. Buuuut no. Lou's just too cool for performing with others now. EDIT: I just found this brief interview with Brandon Flowers re: Lollapalooza where he seems to indicate that there wasn't enough time for them to rehearse with "the king of New York." So maybe it just fell through somehow. :\ Damn! That song's AMAZING, too.
And Monday, we drove home! It was lolarious as usual. When we got home, Chesh made Veer watch some of Smeg's and my childhood home videos, which was ... something. Christ, I used to have an Oklahoman accent, you guys. Be glad I dropped that bitch like a hot turd when I moved up here--I sounded COMPLETELY MENTAL. Then we watched the cinemagraphic horror that is "Blub Blub Blub," which is a horrific movie Smeg and I made at 10 & 12 with string dolls and a very loose retelling of the sinking of the Titanic.
This inspired us to create our OWN shitty Sconecon 2009 movie, which Veer will be editing and uploading to YouTubes presently. Aren't you fucking excited?!?!?
Tuesday, I ended up sleeping until 1:30 PM or sod we trundled off to the airport to drop Veer off after some Mario Kart and nothing. Then Chesh, Smeg and I went SHOPPING. We got some dumb shit. It was fun!
Okay, I really ought to shut this thing off and go to bed, since Chesh will undoubtedly wake me far too early for my liking so we can hit up the craft store or something. LOLZ. But that's my Lolla report! AMAZING SHOWS and some lolarity. I still probably won't do that again until I'm wealthy enough for my own VIP booths.
That'll REALLY fuck with Mother Nature, won't it?
J.