Sweet home Chicago! What can I say except the 20th Anniversary of Lollapalooza far exceeded any experience I could have ever imagined. More photos will be coming soon but wow what a good time and so many great bands/artists performing. If you wanted to discover new music, hear some great bands of the past 20+ years or just come and hang out, Grant Park was the place to be.
My First Show: Ryan Leslie
My Final Show: Deadmau5
My Favorite Show: GROUPLOVE
Who I Saw:
Day One of Lolla: Ryan Leslie, Tab The Band, Young The Giant, Naked & Famous, Delta Spirit, Foster The People, White Lies, Two Door Cinema Club, Skrillex, Afrojack, Muse, Coldplay and late night CULTS show at the Hard Rock.
Day Two of Lolla: GROUPLOVE, Walk The Moon, Maps & Atlases, Friendly Fires, Black Lips, Big Audio Dynamite, Joachim Garraud, Local Natives, My Morning Jacket, Eminem, My Morning Jacket. Night show: Skylar Grey, Mia Moretti & Caitlin Moe, Black Lips.
Day Three of Lolla: Rival Schools, little hurricane, The Cool Kids, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Cars, Flogging Molly, Boy & Bear, Nas & Damian Marley, Deadmau5
Best Bud Light Stage Show: Young The Giant or Friendly Fires
Best Music Unlimited Stage Show: Muse
Best Sony Stage Show: GROUPLOVE
Best Google+ Stage Show: little hurricane
Best BMI Stage Show: Boy & Bear
Biggest Surprise: Maps & Atlases and Tab The Band
Overall Stage With The Best Performances: Sony Stage
Most Entertaining Show: Deadmau5 – debut of his new rig extravaganza
Most Disappointing Moment: the police during Eminem not caring about kids who were comatose from whatever got them into that state
Next Big Thing: Young The Giant, these guys drew over 20,000 people at 1 p.m. and Foster The People, man in six months these guys are doing it!
Band Redemption In My Book: My Morning Jacket – I’ve seen them a handful of times and never really dug their shows, I did this time
Bands I Was Sad To Miss: Fitz & The Tantrums, City & Colour, Ween and Foo Fighters plus Portugal. The Man, again – just too hard to be two places at once
Late Night Show: CULTS at the Hard Rock
Angriest Performer: again, Eminem. The crowd was pretty angry too
What Would Have Been Great: a fourth day of the festival
Top Lolla’er: The dude dressed in a watermelon costume crowd surfing
Random Moment Of Awesomeness: mud wrestling taking center stage after the first downpour on Sunday
Best Festival Eats: the guy who brought in Garrett Popcorn in with him. Thanks for sharing!
Best Place To Cool Off: didn’t find one
Biggest Waste of Time: Food lines or anyone who waited for a cooling bandana from Toyota
Best Marketing at Festival: Outside a street team was handing out Foster The People “Pumped Up Kicks” shoelaces and of course I got some
Worst Part: not having a poncho or jacket when the rain came pouring down on Sunday
Clutch Move: running straight for the port o johns and finding a new garbage bag to make a poncho
Tips For Next Year: carry a poncho – when it rains it pours, drink as much water as possible, don’t try to go swimming in Buckingham Fountain – I witnessed a few beat downs, ice cream is your friend in August, make a list of bands you want to see but don’t stick to it, comfortable shoes, you will walk a lot
Tags: Afrojack, Big Audio Dynamite, Black Lips, Boy & Bear, Chicago, Coldplay CULTS, Concert, Deadmau5, Delta Spirit, Eminem, Festival, Flogging Molly, Foster the People, Friendly Fires, Grant Park, Hard Rock GROUPLOVE, Joachim Garraud, Little Hurricane, Local Natives, Lollapalooza, Maps & Atlases, Mia Moretti & Caitlin Moe, Muse, Music, My Morning Jacket, My Morning Jacket. Night show: Skylar Grey, Naked & Famous, Nas & Damian Marley, Rival Schools, Ryan Leslie, Skrillex, Tab The Band, The Cars, The Cool Kids, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Two Door Cinema Club, W, Walk The Moon, White Lies, Young The Giant