Lollapalooza 2009

[onebloodonelife]

I must admit, oneblood...I think that "Brother Sport" sounds pretty magical. Really, though, that's because all that's ever kept me trying, with this band, is the promise of more Avey Tare shrieking. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. That's all "Peacebone" is to me--a series of glorious, perfectly orchestrated squeals. Amazing shit. Still, though...those poor people. The heat index is around 99, and the humidity in the post-90% range. It must be murder.

Eh. I could do without it. That was the only song of the set I saw though, so maybe they were much worse earlier? Yeah, I can't imagine being there right now. It's humid as hell up here; I was sweating just walking around. Being in a massive crowd? No thanks.

Hilariously enough, just before watching the webcast, I'd decided to throw MPP on the turntable. Amazing how much better that album sounds on vinyl.

 

[If you shout...]

This isn't quite the place, oneblood, but what are you using to clean your LPs, lately? I have had CRAAAAAAAZY problems with new, rather than my old or newly purchased used, LPs being static-ified. MPP springs immediately to mind as a culprit. A lot of the cleaners I've used are hit and miss, re: static. The problem is usually in the drying process--in other words, drying them by hand tends to create more static and then fuck up the playback audio with pops and crackles and such; on the other hand, not drying them by hand lessens static but lends itself to uneven sound (due to uneven drying) and, oftentimes, further accumulation. Do you have any tricks or recommended kits? I swear to you that the vintage ones didn't do this (or at least do it as badly), but these new guys have really fucked me.

Or I just got too used to CD audio and clean, old vinyl, in the last few decades. Either way. Thoughts?

 

[onebloodonelife]

This isn't quite the place, oneblood, but what are you using to clean your LPs, lately? I have had CRAAAAAAAZY problems with new, rather than my old or newly purchased used, LPs being static-ified. MPP springs immediately to mind as a culprit. A lot of the cleaners I've used are hit and miss, re: static. The problem is usually in the drying process--in other words, drying them by hand tends to create more static and then fuck up the playback audio with pops and crackles and such; on the other hand, not drying them by hand lessens static but lends itself to uneven sound (due to uneven drying) and, oftentimes, further accumulation. Do you have any tricks or recommended kits? I swear to you that the vintage ones didn't do this (or at least do it as badly), but these new guys have really fucked me.

Or I just got too used to CD audio and clean, old vinyl, in the last few decades. Either way. Thoughts?

I'm not actually using anything at the moment. I need to buy a brush or kit or something though. Back home, my mom's husband had one of those little brushes, so I just used that before each play and never had issues. Now that you bring it up, since getting my own turntable, I have had some more static, but it's usually because I either don't have the little static grounder connected to my receiver or I have it up too loud and my cheap desktop speakers are freaking out. There's static on some of my records, mostly a few of my vintage ones, as a matter of fact, but MPP is incredibly clear. I know you said it's a problem with other records as well, but I think I remember your copy of MPP getting damaged in shipping, though if that were the problem, I'd think there would be bigger issues than some static. I have read about using wood glue as a cleaner, believe it or not. That's totally at your own risk though; I haven't done it myself, but a couple of people over on what.cd talked about it.

Watching the Ben Harper webcast right now, and I think he's killing it. I'm a huge fan of his, and he's got fantastic energy live, plus I love a guy who can play slide guitar like that.

 

[If you shout...]

When I grow up, I'm going to kill Ben Harper. But, as always, to teach goes his/her own. For example, I think that Belinda Carlisle is one of the best artists of the last 30 years. Most would call me crazy, but whatever. To each, his/her own. At any rate, I want not to rag on Ben Harper or sing the praises of sweet Belinda; rather, I wanted to thank you for a solid post and your input.

Really, for me, it's just the new pressings of records (whether they be brand-ass new or repressings). I know why there's static (not just with MPP, but with everything from Sundazed repressings of surf records to avant-pseudo-black-metal releases on TYPE)--it happens all the time, now, when batches come off the presses and are packaged and then jostled around. I mean, how many times have you had trouble getting an LP out of a jacket, because it was too clingy? All the time. My problem is just getting rid of it, these days. Turrible business.

 

[onebloodonelife]

It's a reaction I get quite frequently after saying I'm a fan of his. I'm used to it by now.

Yeah, I do get the clinginess all the time as well. It's annoying, since I feel like I shouldn't have to unstick my records from their sleeves to play them. Just looking around online quickly, I found this: AcousTech - Anti-Static Record Brush - Record Cleaner It's a dry brush, but it looks like it'd work well to get rid of some of the surface static. And, it's similar to the one I was using back home, which seems like it was doing something.

 

[If you shout...]

I'm always antsy about brushes, but I keep hearing good things about these kinds of cleaners. Time to spring for one of them, I guess. I can't help but feel skeptical about dry cleaners, but the evidence seems to suggest I've nothing to fear.

In other news, did No Age actually play...?

 

[onebloodonelife]

Doing a full cleaning after taking them out of storage or buying vintage records is still the best, but the brushes are a good little cleaning boost, is what I'm gathering from reading around a bit.

Yep, I believe so. Whichever member injured himself was sitting down, but they still played, according to Pitchfork.

 

[If you shout...]

I forgot to discuss my audience highlights, from the DM set...

1) A quiet guy in my vicinity suddenly getting even quieter, during an early song...and then just straight-up face-planting, to his doom. We had to call over security, cuz the guy looked like he had just died on his feet AND was then getting trampled. When we finally got him up, though, he refused to leave, and they just kind of propped him up on the guardrail. By the end of the set, he was semi-coherent. Very strange.

2) A little while later, two girls came in playing the now-cliche "lie my way to the front" game. Rather than insisting that they got us some beers in a cheap effort to buy good will, the miniature ringleader simply kept insisting that they were just trying to find a way out of the crowd but, you know, since that didn't seem to be working, they'd just have to stay right there. What a shame...! Anyway, I called over security immediately, explained that these chicks absolutely needed to be taken out of the crowd...and then the guys actually did drag them out. Absolutely hilarious. Probably not entirely fair, since I was mostly just taking out a year's worth of frustration with that sort of shallow, faceless behavior on a few pretty harmless idiots, but whatever. Had a great laugh at their fury upon realizing what was happening, let me tell you.

3) About 2/3 of the way through the set, some bro whose buddies had abandoned him started collapsing on people and losing consciousness. Yet the fuck again, security had to be summoned, as this guy was totally incapacitated and weighed like 250 pounds. It was an ordeal to end ordeals, let me tell you, getting him over the rail. Absolutely hilarious to watch a team of like six guys trying to figure out how to do it without killing or depantsing the guy. I'll leave it up to you to guess in which one of those goals they succeeded; just know that it was only one.

 

[No spoken words]

Absolutely hilarious to watch a team of like six guys trying to figure out how to do it without killing or depantsing the guy. I'll leave it up to you to guess in which one of those goals they succeeded; just know that it was only one.

He's dead?

 

[If you shout...]

Ha. Only his dignity.

 

[No spoken words]

A friend of mine lost her cell phone at Lolla last night...Security helped her and her friends comb the floor for it...no luck....kept calling it....finally some teenager over at the Bean answered at like midnight and was all "I have your phone"....they went to meet him there, but he was gone. Called him again and he had moved to another place. They went there. He was gone. He had moved again. They called again and asked if he coul maybe just stay in place. He did, then turned down a cash reward.

While this was going on, I was probably vomiting.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I forgot to discuss my audience highlights, from the DM set...

1) A quiet guy in my vicinity suddenly getting even quieter, during an early song...and then just straight-up face-planting, to his doom. We had to call over security, cuz the guy looked like he had just died on his feet AND was then getting trampled. When we finally got him up, though, he refused to leave, and they just kind of propped him up on the guardrail. By the end of the set, he was semi-coherent. Very strange.

2) A little while later, two girls came in playing the now-cliche "lie my way to the front" game. Rather than insisting that they got us some beers in a cheap effort to buy good will, the miniature ringleader simply kept insisting that they were just trying to find a way out of the crowd but, you know, since that didn't seem to be working, they'd just have to stay right there. What a shame...! Anyway, I called over security immediately, explained that these chicks absolutely needed to be taken out of the crowd...and then the guys actually did drag them out. Absolutely hilarious. Probably not entirely fair, since I was mostly just taking out a year's worth of frustration with that sort of shallow, faceless behavior on a few pretty harmless idiots, but whatever. Had a great laugh at their fury upon realizing what was happening, let me tell you.

3) About 2/3 of the way through the set, some bro whose buddies had abandoned him started collapsing on people and losing consciousness. Yet the fuck again, security had to be summoned, as this guy was totally incapacitated and weighed like 250 pounds. It was an ordeal to end ordeals, let me tell you, getting him over the rail. Absolutely hilarious to watch a team of like six guys trying to figure out how to do it without killing or depantsing the guy. I'll leave it up to you to guess in which one of those goals they succeeded; just know that it was only one.

Nice, all great stories. Good for you for getting those girls kicked out. I'm a female, and I still get pissed at those types of girls who think they can just slink up in front of everybody else, bat their eyes, and pretend nothing just happened.


Of course, just after talking about record static, I put All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky on, and it's got static all the way throughout. Ugh.

 

[lazarus]

It's a reaction I get quite frequently after saying I'm a fan of his. I'm used to it by now.

Fucking hippie.

2) A little while later, two girls came in playing the now-cliche "lie my way to the front" game. Rather than insisting that they got us some beers in a cheap effort to buy good will, the miniature ringleader simply kept insisting that they were just trying to find a way out of the crowd but, you know, since that didn't seem to be working, they'd just have to stay right there. What a shame...! Anyway, I called over security immediately, explained that these chicks absolutely needed to be taken out of the crowd...and then the guys actually did drag them out. Absolutely hilarious. Probably not entirely fair, since I was mostly just taking out a year's worth of frustration with that sort of shallow, faceless behavior on a few pretty harmless idiots, but whatever. Had a great laugh at their fury upon realizing what was happening, let me tell you.

You're my hero.

 

[LemonMelon]

Right now, there's no way in fuck I make it tomorrow. At least I get to watch Yanks/Sox, it's my silver lining.

Sorry to hear that, Mike. Meeting up with you was a presumed highlight of the day (or at least the slower portions). Regardless, I hope your Yankees make a mockery of themselves the same way they've made a mockery of the human race for decades.

Tomorrow:

Friendly Fires
Bat For Lashes
Dan Deacon
Neko Case
Passion Pit
Lou Reed
Deerhunter
Band Of Horses
The Killers

 

[onebloodonelife]

Fucking hippie.

Fuck you. I probably am as close to a modern hippie as is possible.

It's usually his bro fans who get on my nerves though. Hippies are cool, as long as they haven't fried all of their brain cells yet. Bros are always douchey, no matter what.

 

[lazarus]

Will you be attending any DMB concerts in the near future?

Yes, Bros suck, no doubt about that. But hippies or neo-hippies are not cool either. The ideals are admirable, but the fashion and aesthetic? No.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Will you be attending any DMB concerts in the near future?

Yes, Bros suck, no doubt about that. But hippies or neo-hippies are not cool either. The ideals are admirable, but the fashion and aesthetic? No.

Ugh, no. DMB can go fall in a river for all that I care. Can't stand them. I also don't like granola, for the record, though that's probably a by-product of my wannabe-hippie mom feeding it to us non-stop as a kid.

Agreed. I know plenty of people who think they can still dress like hippies today, but just end up looking ridiculous.

 

[No spoken words]

Sorry to hear that, Mike. Meeting up with you was a presumed highlight of the day (or at least the slower portions). Regardless, I hope your Yankees make a mockery of themselves the same way they've made a mockery of the human race for decades.

Tomorrow:

Friendly Fires
Bat For Lashes
Dan Deacon
Neko Case
Passion Pit
Lou Reed
Deerhunter
Band Of Horses
The Killers

Nice.

Yeah, been up most of the night...worst is definitely over, one the way to recovery but I have like zero energy and spending the day in 90 degree 90% humidity weather with tens of thousands of people aint happening. Hope you guys have a blast, though!

 

[lazarus]

Too bad they didn't have douchebag seats for Lollapalooza; you could sure use them now.

 

[No spoken words]

Too bad they didn't have douchebag seats for Lollapalooza; you could sure use them now.

If the douche bag seats were air conditioned, with a private toilet, yeah, I'd consider going.

 

[If you shout...]

Nice, all great stories. Good for you for getting those girls kicked out. I'm a female, and I still get pissed at those types of girls who think they can just slink up in front of everybody else, bat their eyes, and pretend nothing just happened.

For what it's worth, I notice a lot more guys doing this than women. The guys aren't giving me cleavage, or anything, but it's the same principle. Although, now that I think about it...wow, I can't believe that this had somehow already faded from my memory. The leader of the two girls I mentioned purposely grabbed my junk, while explaining that they were just trying to get out and, since they omg obv got so turned around, they'd have to stay. She was outlandishly attractive, too...what the hell is going on, these days? I have other, recent stories which I guess I have to share with the usual crew, at some point. Weird.

Anyway, it's usually guys. I can't even count how many times, in the past year, some guy or group of guys has come up and insisted that I take a beer (even more annoying, since I'm straightedge) from their armload, before they set up shop. Ugh. Assholes.

 

[onebloodonelife]

For what it's worth, I notice a lot more guys doing this than women. The guys aren't giving me cleavage, or anything, but it's the same principle. Although, now that I think about it...wow, I can't believe that this had somehow already faded from my memory. The leader of the two girls I mentioned purposely grabbed my junk, while explaining that they were just trying to get out and, since they omg obv got so turned around, they'd have to stay. She was outlandishly attractive, too...what the hell is going on, these days? I have other, recent stories which I guess I have to share with the usual crew, at some point. Weird.

Anyway, it's usually guys. I can't even count how many times, in the past year, some guy or group of guys has come up and insisted that I take a beer (even more annoying, since I'm straightedge) from their armload, before they set up shop. Ugh. Assholes.

Interesting, my experiences have been with more females doing it than males. Though, if a guy does try to get in front of me, he's much more pushy (usually literally physically pushing or elbowing through) about it, while a girl just tries puppy dog eyes on everyone around.

 

[If you shout...]

At any rate, NSW sadly missed this:

YouTube - Los Campesinos - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheaks (Chicago - Lollapalooza 2009, 8/8/09)

 

[If you shout...]

P.S. Best band in the world, seriously.

 

[No spoken words]

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

I'm exhausted.

 

[bono_212]

Today was...amazing! Now to pass out.

 

[bono_212]

Now that I've slightly recovered from yesterday:

It's a no-brainer that I'm going to say I loved the Killers, so I'll just skip over that part. The biggest highlight for me was Friendly Fires. I went in knowing maybe two songs by them and came out a huge fan. God, I love when there's saxaphone involved in a live performance, add in the trumpet, and it really adds so much to the atmosphere to me. The lead singer was so energetic, I said something to a friend about thinking he was going to pass out if he kept that up (it was in the high 80s by that point, I believe, if not the 90s) and just a few minutes later he commented on feeling faint, but he just kept on dancing. Anyways, they were great, a favorite of the day for the day for sure.

Big surprise for me was Dan Deacon. Loved Bromst, but did not expect him to be any good live. How wrong I was. There were like 20 people up on that stage with him and the sound was great, imo. The guy got the crowd to do like a conga line around the crowd, it was just a fantastic time. And like I said above, when band instruments get involved in a live performance, I get pretty pumped, and he had a fucking marching band up there with him to play Woof Woof, and it completely won me over.

My only slight disappointment (and I wouldn't even say it was a disappointment, more just a not quite as excited as I was the rest of the day) was Passion Pit. I was just pretty bummed they played so much from the EP, but I think it was mostly just disappointed bias because they didn't play my favorite song .

Um...other than that...Kaiser Chiefs were good, but I don't like their music, so no surprises there, Neko Case was great with the crowd, but I think it was a HUGE mistake that she was on a main stage while Passion Pit was on a side stage. Who else...Bat For Lashes, didn't get to see all of their set, but did get there for the two songs I know best (What's A Girl to Do and Daniel) and they were great, though the daytime is not the best atmosphere for their music.

Anyways, wonderful, WONDERFUL day, and I am quite tired still, but so glad I did it.

 

[LemonMelon]

Sunday was awesome. I would rank my top 5 for the day as follows:

1. The Killers
Hardly my favorite band here, but they have improved just that much as a live act. I hate Sam's Town, but damn if they haven't figured that album out live. Best performance of For Reasons Unknown I've ever seen. Every track from Hot Fuss drew the crowd mad. The Day & Age material seemed a bit flat to me, though Human was a tidy improvement over the album version, and it was fantastic hearing Joyride.

2. Friendly Fires
I didn't know a single note of their music going in, and I'm glad for it, as the surprise they delivered was immense. The only thing I wish is that experiencing them live could have happened ages ago. That was one incredibly energetic, sharply-performed set. Got to check their album out ASAP.

3. Passion Pit
Frustratingly short, EP-heavy set aside, I had a great time. I honestly did not expect them to be any good live, particularly in the vocal department, but I have no complaints about the performance itself whatsoever. Ashley is dead on about the idiocy of placing them on such a small stage. They needed video screens.

4. Dan Deacon
While Friendly Fires was likely the biggest surprise of the show for me, Dan Deacon was a close second. Just a fucking blast, great crowd participation, great music. Had I seen his entire performance, he would have been placed even higher, I suspect. I thought it was going to be a mess, but I was certainly proven wrong here.

5. Lou Reed
He fucked around with us for a good 20 minutes (is he incorporating Metal Machine Music into the set?), showed up late and fucked up lyric after lyric. Do I care? No. It's THE LOU! we're talking about here. He delivered one electric, highly badass performance after another, culminating in I'm Waiting For The Man, which was raw power.

Wish I could have seen more of Neko Case's set. Loved Middle Cyclone, and she was very charming. Bat For Lashes is great, but her music simply doesn't work outdoors, in broad daylight (though, I must say, Daniel was amazing). Lolla '09 wasn't the three-day long hipster eargasm Lolla '08 would have been for me, but that was a fantastic time all around. The weather was hardly ideal, but it was pretty great by 6:00 or thereabouts.

 

[redhotswami]

A friend of mine lost her cell phone at Lolla last night...Security helped her and her friends comb the floor for it...no luck....kept calling it....finally some teenager over at the Bean answered at like midnight and was all "I have your phone"....they went to meet him there, but he was gone. Called him again and he had moved to another place. They went there. He was gone. He had moved again. They called again and asked if he coul maybe just stay in place. He did, then turned down a cash reward.

While this was going on, I was probably vomiting.

Thanks for not being as descriptive about your evening. I should just have the fucking thing duct taped to my hand.

Now that I've slightly recovered from yesterday:

It's a no-brainer that I'm going to say I loved the Killers, so I'll just skip over that part. The biggest highlight for me was Friendly Fires. I went in knowing maybe two songs by them and came out a huge fan. God, I love when there's saxaphone involved in a live performance, add in the trumpet, and it really adds so much to the atmosphere to me. The lead singer was so energetic, I said something to a friend about thinking he was going to pass out if he kept that up (it was in the high 80s by that point, I believe, if not the 90s) and just a few minutes later he commented on feeling faint, but he just kept on dancing. Anyways, they were great, a favorite of the day for the day for sure.

Big surprise for me was Dan Deacon. Loved Bromst, but did not expect him to be any good live. How wrong I was. There were like 20 people up on that stage with him and the sound was great, imo. The guy got the crowd to do like a conga line around the crowd, it was just a fantastic time. And like I said above, when band instruments get involved in a live performance, I get pretty pumped, and he had a fucking marching band up there with him to play Woof Woof, and it completely won me over.

My only slight disappointment (and I wouldn't even say it was a disappointment, more just a not quite as excited as I was the rest of the day) was Passion Pit. I was just pretty bummed they played so much from the EP, but I think it was mostly just disappointed bias because they didn't play my favorite song .

Um...other than that...Kaiser Chiefs were good, but I don't like their music, so no surprises there, Neko Case was great with the crowd, but I think it was a HUGE mistake that she was on a main stage while Passion Pit was on a side stage. Who else...Bat For Lashes, didn't get to see all of their set, but did get there for the two songs I know best (What's A Girl to Do and Daniel) and they were great, though the daytime is not the best atmosphere for their music.

Anyways, wonderful, WONDERFUL day, and I am quite tired still, but so glad I did it.

Sunday was awesome. I would rank my top 5 for the day as follows:

1. The Killers
Hardly my favorite band here, but they have improved just that much as a live act. I hate Sam's Town, but damn if they haven't figured that album out live. Best performance of For Reasons Unknown I've ever seen. Every track from Hot Fuss drew the crowd mad. The Day & Age material seemed a bit flat to me, though Human was a tidy improvement over the album version, and it was fantastic hearing Joyride.

2. Friendly Fires
I didn't know a single note of their music going in, and I'm glad for it, as the surprise they delivered was immense. The only thing I wish is that experiencing them live could have happened ages ago. That was one incredibly energetic, sharply-performed set. Got to check their album out ASAP.

3. Passion Pit
Frustratingly short, EP-heavy set aside, I had a great time. I honestly did not expect them to be any good live, particularly in the vocal department, but I have no complaints about the performance itself whatsoever. Ashley is dead on about the idiocy of placing them on such a small stage. They needed video screens.

4. Dan Deacon
While Friendly Fires was likely the biggest surprise of the show for me, Dan Deacon was a close second. Just a fucking blast, great crowd participation, great music. Had I seen his entire performance, he would have been placed even higher, I suspect. I thought it was going to be a mess, but I was certainly proven wrong here.

5. Lou Reed
He fucked around with us for a good 20 minutes (is he incorporating Metal Machine Music into the set?), showed up late and fucked up lyric after lyric. Do I care? No. It's THE LOU! we're talking about here. He delivered one electric, highly badass performance after another, culminating in I'm Waiting For The Man, which was raw power.

Wish I could have seen more of Neko Case's set. Loved Middle Cyclone, and she was very charming. Bat For Lashes is great, but her music simply doesn't work outdoors, in broad daylight (though, I must say, Daniel was amazing). Lolla '09 wasn't the three-day long hipster eargasm Lolla '08 would have been for me, but that was a fantastic time all around. The weather was hardly ideal, but it was pretty great by 6:00 or thereabouts.

I'm glad that our paths finally crossed. You two should know how awesome you are, and you make a presh couple. I had a lot of fun with you both. Thanks for introducing me to badass music!