three days of heat, beats, and dirty feet

lollapalooza is better than christmas.

that was our motto this past weekend as we walked and rocked around grant park. i didn't make it to the concert last summer (i sold my ticket at the last minute), but i am so glad i made the decision to buy one for this year's fest. the lineup was diverse and exciting and almost too jammed with great artists. in fact, i think the biggest complaint from concertgoers was the distance between the two stage areas. with large crowds, it took awhile to get from one end to the other which was frustrating when trying to see bands playing in either area. and because there were so many acts i wanted to see, i had to sacrifice seeing a few to catch others.

complaints aside, it was an amazing weekend. there was good music all around, abundant people watching, and it couldn't have been in a better location. i can only hope that perry ferrell is in love with chicago and keeps the festival here for years to come. i take it for granted that i live just a short train ride from the park.

what i liked best about this festival was that i got to bands i would have never seen otherwise. i coughed up $145 in april for those acts that i knew. but there were plenty of others that i had barely (or never) heard of. i think that's what i liked best about friday; spending most of the day alone allowed me to just enjoy the music around me. saturday i was focused on the evening's lineup of chicago natives common & kanye west so my day was centered around getting a good spot for those two shows. sunday was probably the most relaxed day of all until the melee that was red hot chili peppers.

i regret not seeing panic! at the disco, the raconteurs, the flaming lips, thievery corporation, or of montreal. but no regrets for missing some of those acts because i was standing & waiting near the at&t stage for common and kanye. that last set made my entire weekend. i wish i had seen more of the go team as well. i caught the end of their set and they were so high energy that the entire crowd was bouncing. i haven't seen that since the kelly clarkson concert i attended a few weeks ago (don't ask). best surprise of the weekend goes to mates of state who were incredible. they drew a rather large crowd and everyone was bopping along to their poppy/synth beats. andrew bird and ben kweller are two other artists i would like to get to know better - i saw parts of both sets and really enjoyed them.

all in all i saw aqualung, ohmega watts, stars, mates of state, secret machines, my morning jacket, sleater-kinney, death cab for cutie, the go team, built to spill, calexico, gnarls barkley, common, kanye west, ben kweller, andrew bird, the shins, wilco, and the red hot chili peppers.