Lollapalooza Best & Worst 2008
Best #1) The weather - thank you baby jesus! Reports earlier in the week called for mid-high 90s. We ended up with gorgeous low 80s. Which lead to…
Best #2) getting a quiet moment on the north end of the park early on Saturday before many people had arrived. I was rushing to get to De Novo Dahl, but missed them completely because of…
Worst #1) city traffic control completely rerouted the way to get to the entrance (presumably in reaction to the long lines that Friday’s sold out crowd created early) which required walking an extra six blocks to get across the street. But even after missing De Novo Dahl, the gorgeous spot on the field I claimed with a cold beer calmed me down pretty quickly. I decided to wait for the next band out of curiosity which led to…
Worst #2) the band was Does It Offend You, Yeah? and the answer is yes, yes it does. When I see teenagers freak out for bands like this and the Black Kids, I feel like this:
You call that music…give me some beans and I’ll play better for you.
Best #3) Seeing great bands like Okkervil River, the National, and Broken Social Scene get prominent pre-headliner spots and use them to convert a ton of new fans.
Best #4) Finding new bands to be impressed by, including Yeasayer, Foals, and the Gutter Twins (if the duo of Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli can be called “new”)
Best #5) Jack White. I don’t need to elaborate, do I?
Best and Worst, simultaneously: Definitely the most creative solution to the issue of Sunday’s elevated temps: after all, who really needs a crotch in his pants?
And of course, there are the obvious bests of Radiohead (better than the 2001 Grant Park show, if only because In Rainbows sounds amazing live); not being at the Rage clusterfuck, seeing an amazing aftershow at Schuba’s featuring Okkervil River and The Octopus Project, and the whole afterglow resulting from three days of music in a beautiful setting where nearly 99% of the people are just happy to be there.
