Lollapalooza - part 4

Day three was my most anticipated day of music. I just wish my feet were a little more enthusiastic about another day of concerts.

It was raining when the day began so we bought ponchos (I call them that only because that is what the package said, but really I think they were glorified trash bags with white sox's written across the front) that the 7-eleven convinced us of not having, and then we were on our way. Luckily, we only had to use those ponchos to go under the curtain. We were starting to closely resemble homeless woman who dug through the trash to find things to sit on. But hey, whatever it takes for comfort, right?

We started out the day with Blitzen Trapper on the hippie side. Here they are with "Black River Killer."

Next it was Mumford & Sons. They were another band I had never heard of until I knew I was going to Lolla. But I really love their music! They have an Irish sound like Flogging Molly, but they are from London (close enough). The only problem I have with their music is what the program refers to as not-radio friendly music. This is my clip from the concert, and I already warned you, it is not family/work friendly (but not terrible either).

Even though it rained earlier, it was the hottest of the three days. So we quickly moved to the Bloggie stage and back into the shade. There we watched Hockey.

Next, at the Bloggie stage was Frightened Rabbit.

Before that show ended we headed back to the family friendly side, our wonderful hill and listened to the last of Erykah Badu's set. There was an awkward moment when her set ran long and the other band went ahead and started playing. They were both playing at the same time and you really couldn't make out either one. AWKWARD. But here's Erykah Badu's music anyways.

The real reason we went over to that side of the park was to see Wolfmother. They are from Australia, and as Emily pointed out, would be harder to see in concert than MGMT that was playing on the other side of the park at the same time. I did like their music, but I loved the guy in the kilt right in front of us dancing more. Emily has a video of that, one day I might get it from her and post it on here. But here's Wolfmother while you wait for that other video.

Now, what we did next was a feat that still blows my mind. We left the Wolfmother show at 6:45. We stopped and got dinner (classic Chicago-style deep-dish pizza), we continued walking while eating and crossing the entire park (remember one mile across). But Emily wanted to see a band, The Temper Trap, that was playing at the Bloggie stage. That stage conveniently had port-o-potties that ran perpendicular to the stage and with great views of the stage, so we got to go to wait for the RR while watching the Temper Trap play. Then we immediately (well actually, first, I nailed someone with the port-o-potty door) made our way to the hippie side. We saw the last two MGMT songs. Then the next band began, The National, at 7:15.

So, if you add that all up, that is four bands, dinner, RR break and a one mile walk all under 30 minutes. Now that is using your time efficiently.

Here's Temper Trap with "Sweet Disposition":

I do love MGMT, but I am not upset about missing most of the show. I can always see them again and I heard the beginning of the show was not that good. And I did get to hear one of their songs I love, but here they are:

The next band was my most anticipated band of the entire festival. The National. I also didn't know who they were before signing up to go to the festival. But the lead singer, Matt Berninger, has this deep voice that makes you melt. I think he could be singing about anything or nothing, it doesn't matter you just want him to continue singing. Anyways, they did not disappoint, still love them!

Here's "Fake Empire":




This is "Slow Show," this has cuss words that I didn't notice until I watched this clip:

I just can't narrow it down, this is "Bloodbuzz Ohio":

And I am the worst video taker of all of these, but here's mine during "Slow Show":

Emily and I had an unspoken understanding all weekend that if someone started to not feel good or wanted to sit down, there were no questions asked, we would do it. So during the National when the pizza, walking and heat all got to me I said to Emily that I didn't feel good. So she said we could go sit. But this was the one time I powered through it, they meant that much to me.

Well, until song five when we did go and sit down, I just can't stress enough how hot it was out there.

This other group of girls came and sat down in front of us and one of the girls laid down on her back in the grass. But she landed on my shoes (that I had taken off my feet). The shoes I wore for three days that simply must have had less than a pleasant smell. I didn't know what to do, so I just left them. And she took a twenty minute nap on them. I mean... sometimes you just are THAT tired.

And the final band for Lollapalooza was Arcade Fire. You may remember them from the "Where the Wild Things Are" trailer. By this point of the festival we were all about just putting our curtain and trash bag down, back where it wasn't crowded and just sitting and enjoying the music. It was a nice way to end a wonderful experience.

We did get up closer for a little while during the show. And we kept seeing what we thought was one person throw a bunch of glow sticks into the rest of the crowd. But as I watched this video I saw someone do it in there too, plus lots of people wearing them. Not sure how that is all happening, but it is rather cool!

By the end of this night we were quite tired. So we went home and we ordered room service. And if someone would have told me that tip was already included in that, that would have been great. But now there is someone in Chicago that thinks I am the best tipper ever.

The next day our flight didn't leave until 8pm. We had all the time in the world to do some more sight-seeing in Chicago. We started out by walking to a cute little bakery on the Magnificent Mile. Then we went back to the hotel and decided we wanted nothing more to do with walking, standing or negotiating walking through crowds. And that pretty much ruled out anything we could further do in Chicago. So off to O'Hare we went.

So after Emily's traumatic experience, she was a little gun-shy about the subway. I talked her into taking a taxi to a handi-capped accessible subway entrance that was on the line that took you straight to O'Hare. But as soon as we got in and the cabi asked where we were going Emily spoke, "O'Hare Airport."

Well you can't blame her. Especially if you saw that video (that doesn't exist) of her going through that turnstile.

And we spent the rest of the day in a glorious (considering the conditions of the previous three days) place with chairs, air-conditioning and tucked-away places you can find where you hardly see any people. I think most people wouldn't agree that the glorious place would be O'Hare, but I think those people also weren't at Lollapalooza for three days, unfortunately for them.

Good-bye Lolla, hopefully we will meet again.