lollapalooza

Review: Lollapalooza, August 1 -3, Grant Park, Chicago

Posted on by Celeste in Everything | Leave a comment

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Best Banter: Smallpools

“Do you guys ever google yourselves? Yeah? Well we google our band name all the time, and mostly we’re the first thing that comes up, but the second most popular result is these articles against keeping killer whales in small pools. So we dedicated a song to them – this song is called killer whales.”

Best outfit: Phosphorescent

Matthew Houck had a dilemma on his hands on Saturday – he was playing Lollapalooza and he did.not.have.a.thing.to.wear. He was literally on his knees, in tears, at 2:00pm, fifteen minutes before his set was to start, with tears streaming down his face at the impropriety of having to play shirtless. Then hark! His eyes alighted upon boxes of his own swag. Hey man, where better to pub your band than at a music festival right? You were rocking that shirt Matt.

Worst set ending: Benjamin Booker

Booker played an amazing set, after which he smashed his guitar to bits on stage (I’ve never actually seen anyone do this – it was impressive but also what a waste of a guitar.) He then whipped the broken guitar out at the unsuspecting crowd, and managed to hit a girl in the face. He then proceeded to walk off stage like it was any other day of the week while she dripped blood from her hairline. Maybe give a heads up if you’re planning on maiming your fans.

Band with a the single that does them the least justice: Kongos

These guys blew me away. I showed up early on Sunday and figured I’d check Kongos out because I always hear ‘Come With Me Now’ on the top 40 stations, and it’s okay, so I figured why not? I don’t know who decided that was going to be their single – ‘I’m Only Joking’ is 1,000 times better and it’s 1,000 times better live than recorded which is saying something (for those of you keeping track at home, that comes to a total of ‘I’m Only Joking’ live being 1,000,000 times better than the recorded version of ‘Come With Me Now.’) See these guys live if you have the chance.

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Most expectations met and exceeded: Bleachers

Jack Antonoff is:

A) Enthusiastic to the max
B) Adorable
C) Catchy as hell
D) All of the above

It’s hard to overstate how high my expectations were for Bleachers. Two years ago I bought my ticket to Lollapalooza almost entirely for the benefit of seeing Fun. That was the year a thunderstorm shut down the festival for a couple of hours, and long story short I ended up falling asleep in a bathtub, Lolla reopened their gates and I missed Fun. So essentially all of my expectations for Fun. from two years of waiting were resting on Jack Antonoff.

On top of that, it decided to pour down rain thirty minutes before their set. As I was waiting in the pouring rain waiting for the Bleachers set to start I was thinking to myself ‘this guy’d better be the equivalent of rainbows and butterflies and chocolate cake and justice combined to make this worth it.’ He is. Jack Antonoff started out with a whoop and ended with a stage rush. In between he had the crowd’s hands in the air the entire time as he played ‘Rollercoaster’, ‘Wild Heart’, ‘Reckless Love’, and of course ‘I Wanna Get Better’. I actually just went ahead and ended the fest with his set at 1:30 on Sunday because I knew it couldn’t get any better than that.

Winner of Lollapalooza: Jon Batiste and Stay Human

Nothing’s better than those couple of hours in the morning between 1pm and 3pm at Lolla when you can actually move freely in the fest and get close to the stage. I was waiting for PAPA to start their set at Palladia around noon when I heard the strains of joy, peace, harmony, love and a badass tambourine coming from the Grove stage. Nobody in the world can resist those sounds – I literally sprinted over to the stage and came upon a rainbow of six men wielding a saxophone, a pianica (essentially a mouth keyboard), a banjo, a tambourine, and a tuba and looking like they were having the time of their lives. Jon Batiste and Stay Human were by far the most fun set of Lolla. Playing to a very small group of us, they killed it with their single “Express Yourself” and a fantastic rendition of “Killing Me Softly,” and finished by climbing off the stage into the crowd (and into my heart) for a samba line finish. Nicely done gentlemen.

Song Of The Day: Benjamin Booker – Violent Shiver

Posted on by Celeste in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Punky, bluesy and full of raw energy, the single “Violent Shiver” from Benjamin Booker’s eponymous debut album to be dropped on August 19th is like a copious helping of the finest hot sauce in musical form – just the thing to perk you up even on the blandest of days, to make you sweat just a little, and to make tears come to your eyes.

He’s on tour right now (and for any of you Chicagoans lucky enough to have that magical and coveted Lollapalooza wristband, he’ll be taking the Grove stage at 12:50 on Saturday). Give “Violent Shiver” a listen – it’ll be the best 2 minutes and 46 seconds of your day:

Lollapalooza Day 2 Review: St Lucia, Family of the Year, Haim

Posted on by Celeste in Concerts | Leave a comment

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Editor’s Note: These are Celeste’s notes as she takes to her annual Lollapalooza trip.

Best swagger of Lollapalooza Saturday: Not even a contest – St Lucia brought the swagger in spades. Frontman Jean-Philip Grobler rocked out in a pair of pink pants and a paintball splattered button-up, and amped up the crowd to the point of frenzy – definitely the most intense dance party of Lolla Saturday. He also had a great rapport with the crowd – getting everyone to holler the “Don’t Go, Don’t Go Away” chorus of We Got it Wrong.

Most distracting backdrop of Lollapalooza Saturday: The National. Why? Why you gotta have something that looks like a screen saver from the 90’s blazing in the background? You all are talented enough that I’m happy to just see you create music – no swirling discs of color needed.

Best sister trio of Lollapalooza Saturday: Haim Haim Haim. Also Haim. This sister trio has so much obvious sibling love going on you can’t help but smile. What’s better than seeing people who look alike having fun? Seeing three talented people who look alike having fun on a stage. Also best crowd interaction: some very enthusiastic girl threw her bra onstage with “I will always support you” written on it.

Overall winner of Lollapalooza Saturday: A fight to the death between Family of the Year and St. Lucia but I’ve got to give this one to Family of the Year for the sole reason that they were an utter surprise. When the bassist of this band boogied (and I don’t use that term lightly) onto the stage with his long hair, his jorts and a beer in hand I thought the group was going to be an absolute mess. They weren’t. They were a surprising refreshing delight. Family of the year had a folk/indie mashup vibe that fit well with the theme of Lolla Saturday (Lumineers and Mumford headlined) and while they played relatively early on, they drew a very enthusiastic crowd to the tucked away Grove Stage, and in the midst of a blazing hot day they created a shady cool refreshing oasis of sound. Their keyboardist also wins for her highlighter yellow hair.

Lollapalooza Day 1 Review: Hey Marseilles, Hot Chip, Smith Westerns

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Celeste went to Lollapalooza the past weekend, here is her take on the annual Chicago festival.

Winner of Friday Lollapalooza: Hey Marseilles
I only knew about this small band who was playing on the tucked away BMI stage because I have a friend who is local to the Seattle area where the band hails from and she told me I had to go see them. It’s hard not to love a band full of tall, good looking men holding an assortment of string and wind instruments. Songs abounded with the sound of the mandolin, guitar, viola, trumpets and accordion. There was also hand clapping. Even the half of the crowd who had obviously just come early to catch chance the rapper who was performing next on the stage were enjoying themselves. That’s a true testament to how much fun these guys are.

Most disappointing act of Friday Lollapalooza: New Order
They weren’t actually that bad. I just passed the Queens of the Stone Age stage while on my way to New Order and, much like restaurant order regret, spent the entire time wondering if everyone at the other stage was having a tastier time.

Loudest act of Friday Lollapalooza: Smith Westerns
I literally could not hear anything for the next thirty minutes.

Best local act of Friday Lollapalooza: Smith Westerns
It was worth it not to be able to hear anything for the next thirty minutes.

This local-Chicago-band-made-good apparently used to play really sloppy shows – their act was also their rehearsal. The band has since grown out of the practice, and they sounded much cleaner and more professional at this Lolla fest. While the Chicago hip-hop community tends to have a cohesive Chicago feel to them (I’d say we’re known for our witty rappers – Lupe Fiasco, Chance the Rapper, Kanye) the Chicago indie-rock community doesn’t seem to have to have any kind of style associated with them – these guys almost have a southern twang alt-country thing going on and it works for them.

Most fun act of Friday Lollapalooza: Hot Chip
Every time I’ve seen Hot Chip it’s been by accident and every time they’ve blown me away. Last year at Pitchfork and then again this year at Lolla – they’re just a great festival band. Their set is just an hour of pure unadulterated good old fashioned fun. Halley and I have decided that the greatest compliment you can give someone is that when you’re with them you have zero fomo. I have zero fomo when I’m watching Hot Chip. There’s literally nowhere else I’d rather be.

Most talented act of Friday Lollapalooza: Jessie Ware
Sure there might have been better dancing, better light shows, more sing-alongs and so on and so forth at other stages, but for pure talent, Jessie ware wins.