Lollapalooza 2012: Those Who Have Rocked, I Salute You

Lots of people (no one) have been asking me about my Lollapalooza experience and I'm happy to oblige with my thoughts! The only other Lollapalooza that I attended took place in 2003 and it's incredible to see how the festival has expanded from a single field to the entirety of Grant Park. I attended  for all 3 days and had a great time despite the heat, my aging back and the weird nerve in my left knee that starts tingling after I've been standing for half an hour. I see columnists getting snarky about the capitalism on display but it was awfully handy having a "general store" on the grounds where I could purchase some benadryl when I started feeling an oncoming cold.

Look at those massive crowds!

I also appreciate attending a concert with not only a wide variety of foods on display but also lots for vegetarians and pescetarians. As long as you weren't getting pizza the lines were short, as were those for portapotties if you were willing to walk a little bit farther to the less "popular" ones.

We didn't bring our kid for mostly selfish reasons, but it was kind of sweet seeing families running around with their little ones. I question the wisdom of bringing a kid to a concert like this on a hot day but the kids probably came out feeling better physically at the end of the day than I did.

Frozen water is KEY

And speaking of kids, while I didn't feel totally out of place (hell, half the bands were "oldie" acts) it was cute to see the masses of half-dressed teens having a great time. It reminds me of attending Dead shows with my friends, though these kids were dosed on apps instead of acid (don't ask me what that means). I saw very few instances of rudeness and bad behavior, security was low-key, police presence was hands-off and I feel like I would be confident sending my son to this type of festival when he becomes old enough to be interested. The birds were getting a little rough, though.

And speaking of drugs, pot smoking was ubiquitous and I was offered acid twice. I have hope for the younger generation. Unfortunately once the sun started going down and the crowds filled out it became impossible to escape the cigarette smoke. Apparently events in the open air are the only places where people are allowed to smoke anymore so they take full advantage.

Kids, this is what a rocker looks like

Now on to the good stuff. Here are my ratings of the bands that I saw. I put an asterisk next to the acts that I was unfamiliar with before Lollapalooza.

5 stars: The Black Angels*, Tame Impala*, Moon Taxi*, Franz Ferdinand, At the Drive-In
4 stars: Animal Kingdom*, The Shins, Los Jaivas*, Bombay Bicycle Club*, Sigur Ros, Justice
3 stars: The Afghan Whigs, Black Sabbath, The Tallest Man on Earth*, The Devil Makes Three*, Toro Y Moi*
2 stars: The Growlers*, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Walkmen
1 star: The Head & The Heart*
Incomplete: Neon Indian

• Coolest moment: When Tame Impala launched into a great Todd Rundgren song from one of my favorite albums - International Feel from A Wizard a True Star
• Biggest disappointments: The Walkmen and The Afghan Whigs. I love The Walkmen. Their rerecording of the Lennon/Nilsson album Pussy Cats is brilliant. I hope to someday enjoy their most recent cd as much as I enjoy their earliest albums. I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing with their career but I kept waiting for them to kick out the jams live and it never happened. OTOH, The Afghan Whigs started off intense but lost that intensity halfway through and started sounding like Audioslave or something.
• I give them shit but they were good: The Shins and Sigur Ros
• Wish I Could Have Seen: M83 and thenewno2
• Best sponsor: I'm not sure how long Camelbak has been involved in music festivals but everybody was wearing them. The marketing dude who came up with this idea for the company has hopefully gotten a big raise. There were long lines for the Camelbak filling stations but having a few hours' worth of cool water on their backs probably made it well worth it. Unfortunately it also meant that lots of people looked like they were sucking from an oxygen tank.
• Best app: The Lollapalooza app. Man, that thing was actually really helpful!
• Worst trends: Kids, learn from your elders' mistakes. There is never a reason to wear neon.
• Moment of panic: Massive numbers of people stuck on a narrow staircase trying to enter the field where the Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing. This could have been bad if people had started pushing and was really the only time that I felt negative about the massive size of the event.

Unless there are some amazing announcements next year I can't see attending again until my son is ready and anxious to go. It's simply too exhausting. Last time we went it hit 100 degrees and we toughed it out but this year 85 degrees felt awfully hot. It's a really well run concert, though, so kudos to Perry and his partners!

You mean there are two more days of this???