Lollapalooza 2006

You can view all the photos here. Lollapalooza kicked off on Friday 4 August and ran through the end of Sunday 6 August. I was the person who couldn't afford a 3 day pass but got to spend the entire day Saturday there! It was WICKED. Top notch. The weather was steaming, though.

It kicked off with The Go Team! at 12.30 (I think they were my favourite). Ninja and the other members of the band were going crazy with the harmonica, recorder, keyboards and especially the drums and guitar!! The lead guitar player (she also plays a mean recorder) looks and reminds me specially of my ex-flatmate Fay, she was Jamming! I was going crazy dancing in the crowd and there were cameras all around shooting footage for the band.

I had an hour or so between bands and wandered around the park grounds with my concert friends while thousands of people streamed in. There were really nice market stands selling everything from jewelry to clothes to food to beer (the only alcohol available). Mind you, they would cost you an arm and a leg.

Wandered back over to the Q101 stage where Aussie band Wolfmother was beginning to play. These guys are no joke! Their sound is that of classic rock from back in the days with a modern twist. I fully expected them to start smashing their guitars at any moment and then rip off their shirts and jump into the crowd (by that time reaching 60,000 people). They managed to hold off, just. The keyboard player was moving the keyboard all over the stage from by the drums to the front right playing it vertically. The lead singer with his fro' looked like a throw-back to an early '70s free-rights protest. They were EXCELLENT.

After Wolfmother we made our way to the AT&T stage to see Gnarls Barkley. Yeah, they were good but is it just me or are they a little over-hyped? They came out in their funky tennis outfits (made sense, actually, to wear sweatbands around the head and wrists as it was so effing hot). It was entertaining but after they played their top two hits "St. Elsewhere" and "Crazy" the crowd started leaving at once. I had to step over a poor guy already sprawled out on the ground passed out cold being poked at by security (it was only 5.30!).

While doing the 15 minute trek across Grant Park to catch the Flaming Lips, we caught whiffs of Blacklicious (funky beats mixed with hip-hop, really catchy!) and The Dresden Dolls. The lead singer, Amanda, of the 'Dolls looks and sounds like a vampire in drag (i.e. she wallowed in songs of blood and suicide. I knew it was a woman because I had looked her up a few weeks earlier online).

Ok, The Flaming Lips. Man, these guys knew how to put on a show (and they should as they were at the first Lolla in 1994). Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, arrived with a massive clear, plastic "spaceball" that he climbed into and went rolling around in the crowd! On stage there were huge blow-up dolls of a Santa, a Spaceman, and a "sexy" Alien. Then there were several Santa dancers, and several sexy aliens (girls dressed in "space age" short skirts). Balloons and streamers were rocketed into the crowd, it was really fantastic! "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

After that great performance I left my mates to trek the 15 minutes back across the park to catch The New Pornographers. They didn't disappoint me! Really great stuff. I enjoyed listening to their Twin Cinema album but couldn't stay long as had to hop it back for Manu Chao. I got back in time to see the end of the Thievery Corportion (FANTASTIC). It was getting quite dark at this time and when Manu Chao came on it was a lot of fun, an expectant atmosphere. (Kanye West was playing at the other end of the park but I was happy that his sound didn't carry...his ego is too big). Manu had some crazy bandmates banging on the bongos (LOVED the bongo song!) and a wicked guitar player really going for it. A huge cheer went up in the crowd with "Me gusta marijuana, me gusta tu!" Yeah, I think 85% of the crowd was under the weed's influence.

Overall it was a really memorable day and I hope to be there next year! When I was getting on the El I had another surprise, the entire carriage went up in cheers and applause for me getting on! It was really funny and flattering, I didn't care if they were joking, these guys and girls were SO nice. I felt so good until the next stop when they did the same thing to another passenger. Whatever. It was the PERFECT ending to the day.