Let's see, the weather forecast for today was mid 80's and it really only ever made it to about 82 according to Channel 7 weather. Awesome. Nice breeze coming off the lake so no one suffered serious heat exhaustion. You would occaisonally feel you were melting, but that soon passed.

I ended up solo for the first couple hours or so of the day and caught only the last 15 minutes of The Redwalls which, well, they weren't that great. They held a somewhat decent audience since the fest had just begun. But before they even ended The Warlocks were beginning across the way and it was interesting how people flocked in droves over to them. I was one of them.

I saw about a half hour of the show which was awesome and they have some new chick in the band who briefly I thought was a man in drag, a very skinny man in drag. But it was a woman. Anyways, I proceeded up to get the first of many expensive bottles of water since I made the mistake of opening my bottle on the way and so they made me throw it out. bastards.

I went back to the Warlocks, who rocked, but I got the feeling they would have been better suited to play the evening rather then 12:30 in the afternoon.

After that you had a choice of Ambulance LTD. or And you will knows us by the Trail of The Dead. Eesh. Try saying that three times fast. Not being ultra familiar with either I chose the nearest one to me. Ambulance LTD. They were ok. They actually reminded me a bit of what The Redwalls were trying to accomplish and so I was a bit torn. But they did have a couple catchy songs.

Meanwhile I waited ever so patiently for Spade to call me so we could meet up. Patient my ass.

I decided after a half hour of Ambulance to make my way to the east stage to secure a spot to see Liz Phair. Now I LOVED Liz back in the 90's, before she became a Matrix whore(ok, I'll admit I really liked "Rock Me" off that album). I found a lovely spot to the right of the stage in the grass where I tried desperately not to melt.

Liz came on looking absolutely wonderful and well, sounding not so hot. Some of her songs sounded awfully flat and her voice cracked really badly. She did a few songs off her new album, and those songs were the ones that were awful. But man did she bring it in when she ended up doing TONS of songs off Exile in Guyville, including "Fuck and Run", "Divorce Song" and her big closer "Flower"- which absolutely ROCKED live. She ended up being awesome despite a couple weak moments. And when the cameras on stage showed the audience- it was unreal-it stretched forever. Apparently everyone there was watching Liz. I of course was mesmerized by the dude in the blue suit onstage to the far left who was dancing really bizarre. My friend Jolie later told me his name was Beatle Bob or something like that.

Best moment so far: The woman in pearls in front of me asking her young daughters if they heard any of Liz's lyrics from Flower. She told them to put their hands on their ears. Of course she did this about 90% into the song. A little late Mom.

I then ran into our friends the Browns, Mr is the proprietor of Glorious Noise. They forgot I was a blonde so it took them a moment. And a friend of theirs introduced herself to me not realizing she actually knew me. Ahh, hair color change.

Ok, so we proceeded to Brian Jonestown Massacre. I don't know how to describe this one. So many words come to mind. Awful. Hilarious. Expected. Awesome. Anton was wasted and continued to drink onstage. This was also the first act that I believe Mr.Farrell introduced for the day himself. The band came onstage and did their thing, then Anton did some odd cheer to mothers, and assorted other bullshit. Honestly? They didn't play a lot of music. Anton kept screaming at Dashboard Confessional who were playing in the opposite end of the grounds. But they were HEARD. They were fucking loud and kept drowning out BJM. So good for him.

But the comical end took over the actual musical end and after a while the crowd started dwindling, and even myself who is a big fan, lost interest. So I sat and discussed breast size with the Browns' friend.

Anton is Anton, and at least he delivered in the extent of pissing people off and being pissed.

I left when they ended. I went home and showered and waited for my husband who was on his way home from a business trip.

We eventually made our way back for The Pixies. Ok, what can I possibly say about them. The Pixies rock. Plain and simple. They always sound amazing. And I've now seen them twice in this year, making it twice ever.

They played a bit over an hour and played all the songs we know and love.

I never found Spade. We had a brief text messaging but he texted me right after I left the first time. Oh well. I texted him back during The Pixies but never heard back so I assume he left by then.

Last but not least: Weezer. They drew a HUGE and I mean HUGE fucking crowd. I think everyone was there at the end of the night. And forget the new fucking album guys, cause they played off of mostly The Blue Album and Pinkerton. It shocked me how much they played off Pinkerton, because as a general rule, they don't play anything off it. Awesome. They really sounded great and were a lot of fun to see. It was definitely a great way to end the night!

My husband was getting buzzed, so was I and after an hour of watching them and our eventual discovery that the beer service closed early, we made the two block trek home.

My legs and feet hurt, and I'm tired. But it was worth it.

Tomorrow: It's supposed to be 100 degrees so I'm holding out til late day to see DBT's, Arcade Fire, Spoon and The Killers with a little Dandy Warhols sprinkled in there somewhere. I'm expecting to have my ears blown away and my ass kicked by the Truckers tomorrow. I hope they don't disappoint. I'm also wearing a skirt and sneakers.

I'll report back tomorrow night.

Good report, can't wait to hear about tomorrow.

I'm exhausted and can't even think...


Awesome day and I only cared for some of the lineup. Z-Trip was a blast, Pixies did sound pretty damn good and Weezer was fun. I still like singing along to Blue and Pinkerton songs. I really wanted to see Digable Planets, but the group I was with was sold on Weezer.

Anyone catch Digable??

Tomorrow is going to be crazy hot, but the lineup is solid. I"m out after Spoon though, maybe even after Arcade Fire.

Can anyone give me Tania contact info? I'd really like to say hi!

In brief: what I saw of BJM totally sucked, Bravery were pretty cool but formulaic, I predictably couldn't stand Cake, Blonde Redhead was the best part of the day, Saw maybe 5 Billy Idol songs and it was predictable, Primus ruled and was a nice throwback to fifteen years ago. and the Pixies were of course, great.

Jen you didn't text message me that you were back until 15 minutes before I had to leave!

I know. Josh got in really late due to his car being blocked in up north when he returned from his trip. We got there a bit into the Pixies set.

First part of comment was teasing, cause I was wating around for ya for two hours at first.

Yeah BJM was not at their best. Anton was wasted and pissed off. I'll admit that the performance was really crappy. He bitched at Dashboard the whole time, well most of it.

Yeah, I wish I had gotten there earlier

I had a much better time than I expected to have

I would highly recommend NOT missing the Arcade Fire's set. I've seen them three times, and all three times they were fantastic. Add to that Spoon and DBT's, and that's a pretty great day at the festival. Wish I could be there. Have fun.

Yeah those are the three I'm going specifically to see, them and The Killers.

Josh said it's pretty nasty out heatwise(it's already 102 and feels like 107 according to the weather report) so he's heading home until we go back for the truckers.

I hate this fucking weather. Absolutely hate it. As much as I'm looking forward to this day I absolutely can't wait til it's over so I can be in air conditioning.

Were only a few people from this board attending this? I had so much more fun this weekend than last. Crazy.

I honestly think that you, me, my husband and Spade were the only ones from the board there this weekend. And spade just saturday late day.

Did people meet up with Tania?? I shot her some text messages today, but we never found one another. Finding people for me was next to impossible.

T has my number, but i didn't get a call, and she didn't come haunt me at Estelle's. I'm assuming the heat wore all y'all out.

Temps in the 80's...I'm thinking "sounds fairly reasonable, I can deal with that". Suuuuure, if you live in Southern California! Holy crap! The air was thick with humidity -- my friends and I were sweatin' gallons by the time we walked over to the main entrance. Between water. shaved ice and frozen fruit smoothies throughout the day, it was the least I could do to keep hydrated.

First of all, I'd like to commend the Lollapalooza organizers for making it very easy to enter and exit the park. Security wasn't made up of jerks. There were lotsa people around trying their hardest to pick up as much trash as possible. Medical personnel were highly responsive (I saw a girl faint from the heat on Sunday -- as soon as I called for a medic, one was there within 3 minutes). The only complaint I have is that they should have had more cooling stations within the park nearer the stages vs the main entrance. All in all a great job done by those involved.

Btw, why is it that some people insist on NOT using deodorant? Goddamn, but there were a ton of smelly people about -- the majority being girls! Honey, put those arms down. Yeeesh!

My day one:

The Redwalls -- my first experience with these local Chicago boys and I couldn't have been more pleased. Great chemistry, great sound and they were having fun playing to their hometown crowd. But, christ, what a price to pay to look hip when you wear a bloody leather jacket onstage in the fuckin' heat!

The Warlocks -- Each time I've purchased tickets to see this band, something has prevented me from doing so. To FINALLY see them in the flesh was worth the wait. Jen was right, though, experiencing them in the midday sun just didn't seem to fit them. I did my best to close my eyes and think of cooler climate, unfortunately, the sweat running down the middle of my back prevented me from doing so. Great band, would love to see them in a smaller setting.

Dead 60's -- such fun! Sorry to say, I only caught the last half of their set, but what I saw only made me excited to see them later this week. Can't wait!

Kaiser Chiefs -- I really love this band and everytime I see them, I love them more and more. Ricky was suffering from laryngitis but still managed to get the audience motivated in the sweltering heat. Picking a random couple from out of the crowd to sing "Oh My God" was stellar! One of my fave bands this year.

Brian Jonestown Massacre -- wow, what a sad sad disappointment BJM turned out to be. I had to walk away from the stage with the fear that their performance would taint any feelings I've had for them thus far. I think I'll stick to BJM's recorded stuff vs live.

The Bravery -- my concertmates absolutely love this band. Frankly, I think they're just eh. They were alright, nothing spectacular. I watched them from afar and saw Jason Hill of Louis XIV (another hated band) walk by in shorts. Uh yeah...

Blonde Redhead -- by far, the LOUDEST band of the weekend! So loud that The Black Keys could barely do a soundcheck across the way. BR were good and after seeing them a couple of times now, I'm still not a big fan.

The Black Keys -- phenomenal! Right before the guys took the stage, the clouds burst and it began to rain. The audience and I were beginning to feel very "Glastonbury-ish", but we persevered figuring the rain would stop at some point in time. Anyway, these guys were so fuckin' good and it was nice to see that others thought so too. Later that weekend, I'd hear people talking to their mates asking if they happened to catch 'em and would rave on about their performance. Yay for The Black Keys!

The Walkmen -- it had been over a year since I had last seen The Walkmen and was excited to see them this weekend. Once again, another great performance! Lotsa familiar songs and the crowd loved 'em!

Digable Planets -- I didn't stay for their entire performance. It was about three songs in that I realized just how tired I was. Sorry to say, I'm not familiar with a lot of their songs, but they sounded quite good. They opened with a couple of breakdancers who were fantastic! It had been YEARS since I'd seen b-boys!

Mark Farina -- my weary body was forced to go see my boy, Mark. (I did it for you, Dri!) He was spinnin' some incredible tunes and while my spirit was definitely willing, my body wasn't. The humidity was so thick coupled with all the smokers following me (or so it seemed) made it harder for me to breathe. I reluctantly left and made my way back to my hotel.

A great first day at Lollapalooza!

I gotta get off my ass and start going to some of these festivals. They sound like so much fun.