Lollapalooza 2007 - Outdoor Music Festival in Chicago

[monarch]

we got a taste of it all...

Grant Park is in downtown Chicago right next to Lake Shore Drive, which runs along Lake Michigan. So half of our view was the lake, and the other half of our view was the amazing skyline of downtown Chicago.

They said over 200,000 people attended the event, which lasted three days beginning Friday, August 3rd. So, I expect that about 40,000 were there on Friday and about 80,000 on Saturday and 80,000 on Sunday. Everyone was really cool, and there were TONS of pretty ladies!

Grant Park is retangular shaped, so they had a main stage at each end, with a medium-sized stage facing it so that when one band finished you would just turn around 180 degrees and you'd be facing the next band. There were little stages all along the path between the two main sections...it took about 20 minutes to walk from one main section to the other so we generally stayed in one area...which was cool because they kinda planned it out that way (genre-wise).

Tickets were about $80 each day, and the event went from noon to 10pm. We usually got there around 2pm but definitely got our monies worth. The mains acts were no surprise, but there was some others that I was unfamiliar with that really surprised me.

Pearl Jam - they still got it......keep on rockin' in the free world!

Interpol - they did good, but nothing really amazing...kinda boring live.

My Morning Jacket - these guys makes some beautiful music! they got a wide range of sound, too...hitting the downtempo stuff, ambient/instrumental rock, etc

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - pretty sick show, the lead lady is like a female Reznor

The Black Keys - big surprise! they make a big impact for just two guys. they also have a wide range...jazz, blues, funk, soul, classic rock, etc

LCD Soundsystem - wow, they know how to put on a show, tons of energy!

Kings of Leon - almost as good live as in the studio. solid performance.

The Rapture - hell yeah these guys just plain ROCKED...never let up once.

Daft Punk - even better than when I saw them at Coachella...WOW!

Stephen Marley - played a lot of Bob tracks, so that was cool...

STS9 - awesome. lots of inst'l tracks...like a semi-electronic jamband.

The Roots - they stole the show. They had 10 guys on stage (and only 1 of them was one of their MC's). They had a lead guitar, bass guitar, tuba/bass, drums, keyboard, saxaphone, trumpet, back-up vocals...the whole 9. They started off playing some 90's classics, then went into their new stuff. Then they played a 20-minute mega-mix of covers ranging from Salt-N-Pepa to whoever that guy is that does the "Throw some D's on that Bitch"...and then they finished up with some 70's funk-sounding shit that had the place going crazy. Several band members got solo's, but not ?uestlove




ok, sorry for writing so much

[Nightlife Privilege Revoker]

Originally Posted by monarch

The Roots - they stole the show. They had 10 guys on stage (and only 1 of them was one of their MC's). They had a lead guitar, bass guitar, tuba/bass, drums, keyboard, saxaphone, trumpet, back-up vocals...the whole 9. They started off playing some 90's classics, then went into their new stuff. Then they played a 20-minute mega-mix of covers ranging from Salt-N-Pepa to whoever that guy is that does the "Throw some D's on that Bitch"...and then they finished up with some 70's funk-sounding shit that had the place going crazy. Several band members got solo's, but not ?uestlove

Black Thought is the only rapper in the group. and yeah, that IS rather odd that ?uestlove wouldnt get a solo.

[Roos]

Maybe he refrained from taking the spotlight so that the others could get their glory since he's got so many other projects goin on. Shit, ?uestlove has his hands in so much right now... he's even responsible for getting The Family back together... one of the greatest bands that ever came out of all the Prince projects.

Great review Jeremy. Wait... didn't Rage play too? Or am I thinking of something else?

[reddaisy6]

Agreed on My Morning Jacket & Kings of Leon.

They are soooooooooooo fucking amazing live....

[monarch]

I'm definitely going back next year.

[A-Dub]

Originally Posted by Roos

Wait... didn't Rage play too? Or am I thinking of something else?

Mike, Rage played Coachella and did a few stops on the Rock The Bells tour but they weren't at Lollapalooza.

I echo Jeremy's review, it was a wicked time. Besides seeing Nick Neath up there, I think we were the only two Dallasinians (Dallasites?) that made the trip.

Won't go into as much depth as J but my top 5:

1) The Roots - 2nd time seeing them and they killed it. Diverse, energetic, and completely raw which made their improvisation that much more fun to enjoy. Not to mention it was hilarious watching the sign language dood try and keep up w/ the MC.

http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/roots_covers2.avi

2) Pearl jam - Eddie has an amazing voice and I was caught up in the moment seeing one of my favorite bands from my youth.

http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/pea...s&thoughts.avi
http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/pearljam_corduroy.avi

3) Daft Punk - Better set than Coachella a few years ago, better programming, and more diverse track selection.

http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/daft2.avi -- (130 MB)

4) My Morning Jacket - Had only heard one of these guys song and I didn't know what to expect going into it but they were amazing. They did an Earth, Wind, & Fire cover that was top notch.

http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/mym...fire_cover.avi

5) Kings of Leon - One of my personal favs of the festival but we weren't close enough to get into the show. Still played a lot of their jammin tracks and Eddie Vedder came out on their last song and beat the tambourines to death.

http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/kol_oncall.avi

::Other Video::

http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/the...tersaviour.avi -- (60 MB)
http://www.dallasbeats.com/mixes/sts9_3.avi

Enjoy!!