Lollapalooza, Day 1

Tim and I got a bit of a later start than we wanted to for two reasons. First, I forgot there was street cleaning that morning and realized I had to move my car. So I took the ticket (ugh) off my car and started looking for a spot, and that took a good 15 minutes. Second, our Red Line train was very slow. Slower than normal. That's okay, because we had a great day.

By the time we got through security we managed to miss the first few songs by The Fratellis. After their set we were going to walk across the field to see Ghostland Observatory, but then decided to just stay put and move closer for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. It's a good thing we did, because I ran into my friends and we hung out with them between sets. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were great, as I expected, even after Ted Leo fell and his guitar strap came off.



I knew more of the Lollapalooza artists than Tim did. Somewhere along the way it was decided we were going to stick together through the festival, so I did my best to try to accommodate him and who he wanted to see. I was more excited about more bands, but that didn't mean I should make all the decisions as to who we saw and where we went (though, bless his heart, he often did leave it up to me). One of the bands Tim was really looking forward to seeing was the Polyphonic Spree. I really wanted to see them too, so I decided to leave Ted Leo early to head over to the other end of the park to catch Polyphonic Spree from the beginning. I'm sure glad I did. I thought they were amazing. I was expecting something cool, but I got much more than I had anticipated. As if I wasn't enjoying their set enough, their cover of Nirvana's "Lithium" sealed the deal.

The heat was starting to get to me, and the sun was being mean to my skin, even after repeated sunscreen applications. Okay, I must digress here. The best freebie of the weekend was the white myspace.com bandanna. Unfortunately I had a slight sunburn on my scalp before I got it, but once I put it on the top of my head was no longer hot. I wore it for at least part of the time all three days. Anyway, back to the heat. I was hot, so I was glad that Electric Six was up next. They were on one of the smaller stages, and there were some trees nearby, so we sat on our blanket and ate and cooled off for a bit. I don't think Tim liked Electric Six at all, but I did. At least what I could hear.

We wandered over to MIA for a little bit. She sounded good, but she looked so small on that stage! Then we headed over to hear Silversun Pickups, again sitting in the trees. I think we heard the last two or three songs of their set, and I wish I would have heard more.

Finally, we moved over to the south field. We missed the first few songs of Satellite Party's set, but we enjoyed the rest, especially the Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros songs. LCD Soundsystem was great! I'm glad I decided to see that, although I'm a little disappointed about missing Femi Kuti. Oh well, with so many great acts one is sure to miss a lot of great stuff.

And Daft Punk. This was the act Tim really wanted to see, and I was so glad he wasn't disappointed. He even danced a little bit! Most of you reading this probably don't realize how monumental that is. They were great. The sight of so many people dancing up a storm was something to behold. Tim said he as impressed that I recognized that the tones at the beginning of their set were from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.