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Lollapalooza 2017: Preview Guide


So you’re headed to Lollapalooza. Whether it’s your first time or your thirteenth (points to self), spending four days in the heart of Grant Park is never easy, but if done properly, is always a ton of fun. And while there are plenty of activities to do and things to consume, the real reason you’re there is to see and hear some of your favorite bands and artists perform as well as maybe make some new discoveries. So in between waiting in line to get in and waiting in line to get a beer and waiting in line to use the restroom and waiting in line to get food, you could realistically catch a good 8-10 performances each day. The punishment on your body won’t be great, but the rewards will likely be worth it when all is said and done. Whether you’ve already planned out your Lolla weekend or are simply going to play it by ear, it helps to at least have an idea of some of the top artists for every hour of every day. This guide is here to help! After the jump is a roadmap to four days of festival fun that will hopefully ensure a quality experience with fewer challenges and scheduling conflicts.

But first! A couple of annual tips about how to manage your time at Lollapalooza, from somebody who hasn’t missed a single day since 2005. First and foremost – prepare for weather! Coat yourself in sunscreen and bug spray before even leaving the house. You’ll thank me later. Bring a poncho, because it’s probably gonna rain at some point. As I’m writing this, the forecast says rain on Thursday and Saturday, so you’ll want to stay dry as best as you can. Wear comfortable but disposable shoes. If it rains at all over the four days, Grant Park will turn into a mud-filled swamp, and your shoes may not survive, so don’t wear your new, flashy sneakers. Don’t pick flip flops or heels, either. You’ll likely be on your feet for several hours each day, and the last thing you’ll want is to feel like your feet are going to fall off. Speaking of which, don’t forget to rest every now and then! Get off your feet by finding a comfortable spot to sit in the grass or dirt. It can be near a stage so you don’t miss anything except maybe some sweaty bodies rubbing up against one another. Just be aware that if you stand the entire time and keep walking between stages, your body will take a huge beating and each subsequent day will be a greater struggle than the one before it. Tons of water helps too, so drink more of that than you’re comfortable with and use the park water stations to keep refilling containers for free. Lastly, a word about stage locations. The Grant Park, Lake Shore and Perry’s stages are all on one side of the park. The Bud Light, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, BMI and Pepsi stages are on the other side. It is about a 15 minute walk from one end of the park to the other. Make sure your daily strategy doesn’t involve too much back and forth otherwise you’ll get worn down fast. Similarly, if you want to see the start of a set taking place on the opposite side of the park, you’ll need to head out early to make it in time. With good planning and everything in moderation, you too can survive Lollapalooza weekend without taking a trip to the medical tent or at least feeling like death for days afterward. Now then, let’s get to that day-by-day artist guide!

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015: Sunday in Photos


Join me after the jump for a collection of photos that I took on Day 3 (Sunday) of this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. Photos are arranged by set time. They are also available in higher resolution on Facebook. Check out my full recap of the day, as well as all the rest of the coverage, by going here.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015: Sunday Recap

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With the rain completely out of the forecast and temperatures dipping back into the 80s, things were certainly looking up for Sunday at Pitchfork. Just about all of the muddy spots in Union Park from Saturday’s storm were now cleverly covered up with some quick dry solution and a whole bunch of carpet square samples. One of the big product placements over the weekend was a company freely handing out recycled carpet squares so people could sit on the ground without getting their pants dirty. I doubt becoming patchwork quilts atop mud pits was their original intention, but at least it was functional and made walking around easier. There was plenty of great music to watch as well, so join me after the jump for a recap of the third and final day at Pitchfork Music Festival.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015: Sunday Preview Guide

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If you’re attending all three days of this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival and are anything like me, by the time Sunday rolls around you’ll wake up even though your body will definitely not want to. The thought that you’ll have to spend another full day standing around will seem like the worst idea in the world. Take an extra hour to rest if you must, but then you’ve got to push through and get moving, because music waits for no human. Which brings me to a couple of quick tips on surviving your weekend at Pitchfork without winding up in a medical tent or the hospital. Priority one is hydration. It’s going to be hot outside, and you’ll be standing on your feet for extended periods of time, so do yourself a favor and drink plenty of water. Save the majority of your alcohol consumption for the early evening hours when it starts to cool down. The next tip is to sit and find shade whenever possible. Yes, you want to see as many artists as up close and personal as possible, but don’t put your body at risk any more than you feel you have to. You know your limits, so be sure to keep close attention on how you’re feeling and rest when and where you can. You’ll still be able to hear the music while seated under some shady trees, even if it’s across the big field in Union Park. Wear sunscreen and bug spray. You know why, and will pay the price for forgetting. Lastly, be prepared for weather. I’ve already mentioned the heat, but currently the forecast is suggesting scattered storms pretty much the entire weekend. Definitely don’t forget a poncho, and consider an umbrella too even though you’ll likely annoy fellow fest-goers if you leave it up while standing close to a stage. Also, mud. If it rains, Union Park will turn into a large mud pit, so wear appropriate shoes you’re okay with potentially trashing at the end of the weekend. So that pretty much wraps up my Pitchfork tips. Join me after the jump for the Sunday Preview Guide!

If you missed my previous Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 posts, go here to hear/see/download songs from every artist on this year’s lineup. If you’ll be at Union Park on Friday, you may want to look over my preview guide for that day by going here. Last but not least, go here for my preview guide for Saturday.

Lollapalooza 2014: Sunday Recap


Here’s where the weekend finally caught up with me. After exiting Grant Park on Saturday night riding high thanks to an excellent set from Cut Copy, I jetted off to a Glen Hansard aftershow that would eventually become my downfall. See, the headlining set for most aftershows lasts 90 minutes or less, so attendees get out at a (somewhat) reasonable hour for another day of festival-going. Well, Hansard seemed to feel like he wanted to give the crowd a proper SHOW, and decided to play for a little more than 2.5 hours. That’s following an opening band, too. It was incredible but also took a more serious toll on my body than expected. Add in an early morning brunch that was previously scheduled, and suddenly I needed a nap just to ensure I’d make it through Sunday at Lolla. So I arrived on the grounds a couple of hours later than I had the previous two days, and missed a couple of artists it might have been nice to have seen. Alas, this is one of the problems with getting older – you can’t always do as much as you might like. Here’s a closer look at the music I saw on Sunday:

After a healthy 30 minute wait to get through bag check (which was a bit longer than Saturday but about equal to Friday), I made it through the gates to find that thanks to plenty of rain earlier in the day, Grant Park had once again become Mud City. Getting dirty wasn’t so much a choice as it was an occupational hazard, particularly if you wanted to get anywhere close to the stage to watch your favorite band perform. I had arrived in time to see the final 15 minutes of London Grammar‘s set, but noticed significant gaps in the crowd where the mud was just so thick nobody wanted to stand in it. That’s not something I wanted to embrace at the start of my day either, so I hung back a bit and enjoyed them from a distance. To my delight, the band was actually pretty fantastic. I think that singer Hannah Reid said at one point that the overcast skies and light drizzle felt just like home, as they are from the UK. And indeed, London Grammar seemed quite comfortable in their performance. My only gripe was that they ended a bit early, with about 20 minutes left to go in their time slot. Of course they’re a relatively new band and only have an album and EP under their belts, so it’s entirely possible they just ran out of material.

Speaking of artists running out of material, the hip hop pairing of El-P and Killer Mike, aka Run the Jewels, also wound up in that same situation. Of course because they’ve had lengthy solo careers they also know a thing or two about stretching for time. When they ended their set with about 15 minutes still left, they came back out and asked the crowd if they wanted to hear some new, unpremiered material from the forthcoming Run the Jewels 2 record. It was something they had “just recorded like five days ago,” and though they claim they probably wouldn’t remember the lyrics, seemed to get by just fine. Following that, they left the stage again, only to return due to chants of “one more song.” They were technically out of material, but did one of Killer Mike’s tracks on which El-P guested before Run the Jewels ever came into existence. As for the rest of their set, it was nothing short of stellar. They plowed through the only Run the Jewels record in masterful fashion, and though the crowd was a bit thin, just about everyone had a blast. Well, except for one person, who got into it with security. El-P stopped in the middle of a track to yell at security for roughing up a girl, only to be told a moment later that it was a guy. Whoops. A brief guest appearance from Z-Trip helped to make up for it, elevating the set to an even higher level than it was already at. As a whole it wound up being one of Sunday’s best, and it’s just a shame so many people missed it in favor of Cage the Elephant or other options.

The 1975 are another band from the UK, and they too pointed out that the rainy, overcast weather reminded them of home. Unfortunately, they didn’t sound very at home during the first half of their set. At first I thought they were dragging a bit out of sheer apathy, like they didn’t want to be there and decided to give a half-assed performance. Watching more carefully though, I spotted a couple of band members drinking wine straight from the bottle in between songs. Singer Matt Healy was also talking pretty slowly and slurring his words, which gave me the impression at least he was drunk. Whatever state the band was in wasn’t increasing their likability, though I’m not entirely sure how many people really cared. They were just there to hear The 1975’s two hit singles “Chocolate” and “Sex,” which they naturally saved for very last. For whatever reason, they perked up for those two, and made me wish the entire set was at that level. I think their record is okay, and from what I’ve been told by friends who know or have met them they’re very nice guys, but their Lolla performance didn’t do much for me.

As the rain began to increase just a bit, I sought shelter in the trees near the BMI stage, where Betty Who happened to be performing. More accurately, I wanted to be there, as I’ve heard good things about the up-and-coming pop singer-songwriter. She’s got two EPs to her name, a full length album out later this fall, and will be opening for Katy Perry on the Australian leg of her world tour this November. In other words, she’s about to blow up. The moderately large sized crowd for her set at Lolla could certainly be an early indicator of future success. They were there to sing and dance, and Betty Who wasn’t about to let them down. While the first half of her set was very upbeat and fun in a similar vein as Swedish pop star Robyn, the last few songs were where things really started to get interesting. She performed one song for what was likely to be the last time in a very long time (for whatever reason), slipped into a seriously crowd pleasing cover of the Destiny’s Child hit “Say My Name,” and then wrapped everything up in a nice little bow with her rising hit single “Somebody Loves You.” Her band played it cool, and was reliable through every twist and turn. She may be on the small BMI stage for right now, but rest assured next time will be a much different story.

Somewhere about three or four songs into The Airborne Toxic Event‘s set, it started to pour. Like soaked to the bone sort of pour. I had my poncho on and was huddled up underneath a large tree but was still getting pretty wet, just to give you an idea of how heavy it really was. It actually almost put a stop to the band’s set too, as they quickly went into their biggest hit “Sometime Around Midnight” and implied that the plug was likely going to get pulled at any second. Yet it didn’t, and they were able to play for their full time in spite of everything. As for the crowd, well, those already stuck in the middle of things just embraced it, while small groups on the outer edges made a break for drier ground. Mostly though, everyone stuck it out with the band, who was extremely appreciative. They kept the energy high, spaced out their singles pretty evenly, and even managed to fit in a new song from their next record. Overall I was pretty impressed, quite possibly because I went in with low expectations in the first place. As soon as the band’s time was up and they left the stage, the rain stopped. Funny how that happens sometimes.

Following that extremely heavy downpour, the wet and muddy conditions became extremely sloppy. It was messy any time you stepped off the pavement, and what used to be puddles had quickly become small lakes. If you knew the right spots to go however, you could stay relatively clean amidst the mud people. With that logic in mind, I ventured over to see how Childish Gambino was doing. If the gigantic crowd was any indication, he was doing quite well. Decked out in an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and swim trunks, Donald Glover looked like he was on vacation and ready for a day at the beach. He got a day in the mud instead. That didn’t seem to have any effect on him though, as he strutted back and forth across the stage to work the crowd and kept throwing up his hands in an effort to control them like a puppet master. He earns serious points for stage presence and charisma. Towards the end he even tossed some serious pyrotechnics into the mix as well, with gigantic flame cannons shooting up from the front of the stage. With all that flash, was there any substance? I’d argue not really, but judging by how much the crowd seemed to love every second, clearly I was in the minority.

Having stayed for the duration of Childish Gambino’s set, I missed about half of Flume‘s over at the nearby Grove stage. There was a pretty huge crowd already there when I arrived, and it only got bigger as more people filtered over like me from other stages. Given that Flume is essentially an electronica act and that he effortlessly blends his own original compositions with remixes of tracks by popular artists, he probably would have been more at home on the Perry’s stage. Not that stage placement really matters in the end, anyways. People showed up to his set to dance, and he delivered the music that allowed them to do so. Armed with his super cool looking Infinity Prism and busting out remixes of tracks from Lorde and Disclosure (among others), the sounds and crowd enthusiasm reminded me a whole lot of Girl Talk when I saw him perform at Lolla a few years back. Will Flume soon become an equally respected household name in the world of dance music and remixes? That seems like a reasonable assumption.

Exactly 366 days after his Lollapalooza debut on the tiny BMI stage, Chance the Rapper was now primed and ready to headline Perry’s stage. Last year, he attracted such a huge crowd on the side stage that people bled out into the major walkways and caused a huge traffic jam on that end of the park. This year, he managed to fill the huge field set aside for Perry’s and then some. To say he’s become huge would be an understatement, and it’s even more incredible that he hasn’t really released any new material in that time either. Compared to the no frills approach he had last time, suddenly he had all the frills, including gigantic smoke machines, dynamic, multi-colored lighting, and screens for huge graphics. I jammed myself in on the sidewalk as close to the stage as I could get without venturing out into the huge mud pit, and still felt like I was watching from a pretty extreme distance. That was about as good as it was going to get, and I wasn’t planning on staying the whole time anyways. The 25 or so minutes of the set that I saw were pretty fantastic. It’s clear that Chance is not only ready for but fully embracing his sharply rising star in the hip hop world. He dedicated the performance to his home, the City of Chicago, and in turn the city embraced him. He and his full band were still going strong when I stepped away to go and see what else the night had to offer. Afterwards, I heard he brought out R. Kelly for a couple of songs, and even tried to teach the crowd a new dance. Sounds like it was a blast.

My final stop of the entire festival would be a return to The Grove stage, where DARKSIDE were closing out the weekend. By comparison to the other stages, they had a rather paltry few hundred people in the crowd, but anybody that skipped them missed out on one of the truly unique and brilliant performances of all three days. DARKSIDE’s debut album Psychic was one of 2013’s finest, and the duo’s set was just about at that same level. Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington aren’t ones for stage banter, choosing instead to let the music and atmosphere do their talking for them. They sounded fantastic, their experimental electronica consistently shifting between cool dance floor beats and slower, more subtle flavors. The show played up the visual as much as it did the audio, and through careful use of lighting and fog the duo appeared in shadow almost the entire time. The small crowd that was there seemed to love it. Most were dancing, some were whipping around glow sticks on strings, while a couple other guys decided it would be a good time to roll around in the mud while moving to the music. Overall it put a nice little bow on this year’s Lollapalooza, once again providing enough incentive that I want to do it all again next year.

Lollapalooza 2013: Friday Recap


With Lollapalooza kicking off on Friday, my goal is to bring you the best possible coverage of the festival to help you get an impression of what it’s like to be there, and comment on some of the amazing slash not so amazing things I see. Traditionally in the past that means writing somewhat lengthy recaps of each day to describe all the action. Well, this year I’ve decided to do something a little different. I’m keeping the daily summaries very short, and will expand upon them at the end of the weekend with a lengthy final writeup. Basically, I’m taking my Twitter impressions and giving you a little bit (but not much) more. That said, here’s the bands I saw on Day 1, and my lightning quick thoughts on all of their sets.

San Cisco are a band with plenty of mediocre indie pop songs, but it’s sunny out & they’re fun, so who cares? A great way to start the festival (to a degree), and if everyone’s enjoying themselves, far be it from em to call this bad.

After a somewhat slow start to their set, Deap Vally really stepped it up and brought some great rock ‘n roll to their Lolla. Nice work, ladies. The duo crafts what basically amount to party and heavy drinking songs under the guise of a Black Keys/White Stripes garage rock/blues combo, and while early afternoon on a Friday isn’t exactly the best time for such debauchery, the crowd still seemed receptive to their charms.

Almost as if by prophecy, rain clouds rolled in and it began to drizzle in time for the start of Ghost B.C.‘s set. Thankfully for everyone in the crowd, it was only a brief, five minute light rain and the only precipitation that would hit Grant Park on Friday. In terms of the band though, they came out in their traditional black hooded robes and skeleton cardinal outfits and did some spectacular work moving beyond the mere theatrics of their performance and turning in a precise, enjoyable set of Swedish metal.

Jessie Ware‘s set was a fair amount of fun. Though her songs aren’t always the most energetic, her enthusiasm gave them a much needed boost. She was super friendly with the crowd, and in turn the crowd was super friendly to her. Smiles and light dancing abound, Ware charged through her debut album and certainly helped me to see it in a new light.

For the first time ever, I watched a full Crystal Castles set. Generally speaking, I had a blast. Alice Glass is hardcore. She came out on stage drinking straight from a bottle of Jameson and smoking a cigarette, then proceeded to crawl to the microphone like she could barely make it there. But she as usual, she wound up the focal point of the set, dancing and tossing a microphone stand around. Twice she attempted to crowd surf. The first time her microphone got detached and she has to abort the song and get back to the stage, but the second time she almost literally walked on top of people and kept singing at the same time. There was a big crowd and they loved every second of it. Even the cuts from their relatively weak third album sounded pretty good live.

Attempted to watch some of Imagine Dragons‘ set, but the crowd was so huge I could barely hear and certainly couldn’t see the band. So I left. I had a similar experience during M83 on the same stage at Lolla last year, but this time was even worse. Apparently the stage lost power after two songs and it took 10 minutes to restart it, but I was long gone by that time. It may as well have lost power from the very start, since I was so crushed into a spot so far away it was near impossible to hear anyways.

The Disclosure dance party at Lolla was absolutely one of the day’s highlights. Jessie Ware had to prep for her aftershow later that evening so couldn’t be there to do her vocals live for her guest track, but the duo just played back the recorded vocals from the record, along with those of AlunaGeorge and a host of other guests on their debut album. Though they were triggering those samples and some beats via laptop, they also tried their best to “perform” via some additional live drums and bass. It all worked pretty well, but I think nobody in the crowd really cared. All they wanted to do was dance.

New Order‘s Lolla set was almost exactly the same as the one I saw them do in Chicago a few months ago. Same backing videos, nearly the same stage banter, and the arrangements of their greatest hits hasn’t really changed either. As such, to me it was like watching a rerun of a TV show I love. It doesn’t take away from your love, you just know what’s coming and are probably only watching because there’s nothing better on. But for those that hadn’t seen New Order in awhile (or ever), this was a treat, and another dance party.

They should’ve put Chance the Rapper on a bigger stage at Lolla. The BMI stage was packed beyond packed for his set, and the crowd went so far back they spilled into some of the main walkways of Grant Park. Because the BMI stage is the smallest stage, you couldn’t see much unless you were really close. But the audio was crisp all the way back, and you could tell it was a strong performance simply by listening. Chance seemed overwhelmed by the crowd, and also equally appreciative. At the end of his set he tried to crowd surf to the back of the massive crowd while riding inside of an inflatable kiddie pool. He didn’t make it very far. Oh well.

Finally, it was a treat to see Nine Inch Nails again. Trent Reznor knows how to put on a live show better than anyone I can think of, and NIN’s headlining set was a feast for both the eyes and the ears. The interplay of shadows, the blinding columns of light, the fierce, attack dog way he tears apart every one of his songs with his band is nothing short of mindblowing. There were 3 songs off the band’s forthcoming record that were performed last night, and all sounded great. I was hoping for some off-kilter, reworked renditions of some popular NIN classics, but unfortunately only “Sanctified” got that treatment and nothing else. Still, “Closer,” “Head Like A Hole,” “Terrible Lie,” and all the others retain their power. It doesn’t feel like the band has been gone at all, though this was their first North American show in four years. Welcome back, Trent.

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