A year after an epic 2008 Lolla we are back here again for another go.
2009, Lollapalooza, Grant Park, Chicago, US and A
Another special edition reminisce. After such a great experience the previous year with what has been subsequently voted the best Lolla ever we decided to do it all over again. It was still cheap enough to do then and compared favourably to a weekend in Glasto in terms of cost. That said, no Hard Rock Hotel this year but we are just round the corner right on the banks of the Chicago River.
2008 was very much about the three headline acts and that’s not discounting the fine supporting case but this year’s line-up oozes quality throughout and I could probably give or take this year’s headliners, Kings of Leon, Tool and Janes Addiction, although I’m sure Alex wouldn’t agree about Tool.
It’s a casual start to Friday allowing our jet lag to subside a little as we enter the site at lunchtime. First up is The Gaslight Anthem. Coming soon after the release of their magnificent album ’59 Sound’ we were treated to the whole of that record. This reminded me of the first act at Glasto on the Other Stage on a Friday. We always go to it as your feel that this is when the festival really starts. This was probably the best first act at a festival I have seen. Brilliant.
Next up there’s no reduction in quality as we catch Bon Iver on a smaller stage. Again with only one album behind him we are treated to most of ‘For Emma, Forever’. Still probably the best time I have seen him, just him and an acoustic guitar on a small stage.
Another new act riding high critically after their debut album is Fleet Foxes. Appearing on the same stage as Bon Iver sadly their set doesn’t deliver the same way as Mr Vernon did. It’s memorable for how much neither Alex nor I enjoyed it. There are some good songs in there but when you break it down its gets a bit samey with essentially every track going ooh ooh ooh, ahh ahh ahh, eeh eeh eeh. Its beautiful harmonies but … I’ve tried hard to like them and I do actually love their EP, Sun Giant but I have seen them live twice and both times I got a little bored. Luckily, drummer Josh Tillman has gone on to do some great stuff after he left.
We are back on form next with The Decemberists. Touring on the back of their masterpiece concept album ‘Hazards of Love’ the set is essentially the whole album played straight all of the way through. And that is how that album should be heard. In these days of low attention spans it’s sad that many people won’t hear this opus in its entirety. As a single piece of work it is one of my favourite 59 minutes of recorded music. You won’t be surprised to hear it was brilliant and I was lucky enough to see them do it all over again in London a few months later
Sadly the sun gods were not looking kindly on us as the heavens opened. As we experienced the year before, when it rains in Chicago it really rains. We seek shelter and sustenance and then return for a fine set from Andrew Bird. I didn’t know much of his stuff beforehand but he was very good.
Closing the first night was the Kings of Leon. KoL started life off as a great southern rock band and we saw them on their first tour in the UK and were great. They had a raw sound and offered something a bit different at the time. Of course with success came compromise. Hair was cut, sound got a little too polished and that edge was gone. I won’t knock the show tonight as they delivered a fine rock show but I enjoyed the earlier stuff more over the tracks from their current offering, ‘Sex on Fire’ et all.
We bid a hasty retreat to the hotel after a sticky wet day hoping that we don’t go full Glasto with a quagmire the next day.
It’s Saturday and the park seems to be covered in every piece of sawdust in the state of Illinois. The weather is holding which is good and we have an early start with brit newbies Band of Skulls who deliver a solid first on the bill show. Next though is Delta Spirit who I love. Like many of the acts form yesterday they are a new band with one album the mighty fine ‘Ode to Sunshine’ and it’s great to hear most of that today. I feel the day has properly started now.
Regrouping for food we take in bits of Langhorne Slim and Joe Pug before moving to one of the main stages for Arctic Monkeys. Heralded for their live shows there was a lot of anticipation over this one. At this time album three ‘Humbug’ had been released and they had grown their hair and shifted to a more heavy rock sound. They seemed unengaged from the audience and it certainly wasn’t a festival set with a lot of the new stuff falling short. Of course for ’Dancefloor’’ and ‘Fluorescent’ the crowd went wild but for me it was a lost opportunity.
Staying on the main stage we saw TV on the Radio performing most of their current album ‘Dear Science’. Apparently they can be a bit hit or miss live but I really enjoyed this one and were certainly one of Alex’s favourites.
We have a bit of time at that end of the park to catch most of Ben Harper, the master of acoustic blues who never fails to deliver. It’s then a hop skip and a jump the mile to the other end of the park to get into position for US prog meisters Tool. Not known for their short songs we get just nine in ninety minutes. It’s a dramatic show and the lighting is moody with the band in silhouette throughout but it fits perfectly with the grooves going on. Another long day done and those soft sheets, mattress and pillows of the hotel are a welcome relief.
On to Sunday. Around this time a new supergroup was formed with Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and the other bloke. Together they were known as Them Crooked Vultures. Coincidentally, they were going to play their first ever show that night at midnight in Chicago at the tiny Metro Club. Tickets went on sale that morning on line. Now at that time we didn’t have 2G let alone 5G or superfast broadband. Undeterred we get up early and make our way to the hotels business centre. We take over one of the workstations and wait and wait and wait. You could hear the hamsters turning the wheels inside the PC, running along the cable to Ticketmaster and back again carrying each data packet with them. There were two websites apparently you could get tickets and we made our choice and went for one of them. Now there was also another young person making use of the facilities and I couldn’t help notice that he had selected the other, as it turned out incorrect website. Somehow the ticket gods were looking down on us, we secured the tickets printed them out on the world’s worst printer and silently high fived. As we left the room I did point the other guy to the correct site but of course not until we have secured ours. So a great start to the day and as we were up we proceed along to the park for an early set.
First up its Alberta Cross, an English rock band with a very seventies feel. It’s a good thirty minute set to start the day and I’m glad to say that the weather has taken a turn for the better too. With a bit of a gap until the next act we wanted to see we go across the road for some much need lunch after our early start. The restaurant is packed but everyone is in jovial mood.
Keeping with the British them it’s the Kaiser Chiefs next. I have always found them inoffensive enough and enjoyed both of their albums to date. An early afternoon set is always a tricky one. Its bright sunlight and so you are completely reliant on the quality of the show and can’t fall back on a stunning light display. Luckily, the Kaiser’s didn’t have to worry as they were bloody great. Ricky Wilson generated so much energy and contribution from the crowd and they were with him from the first song. A surprising but thoroughly enjoyable hour with these guys.
That’s the end of the brit contribution today as we head across the whole site to the other main stage to take in the usually up beat Vampire Weekend set. As is the theme this weekend it’s a new band with one album and a great one and we are treated to the whole of it. I defy anyone to watch a Vampire set and not leave with a broad grin on your face.
Back to the other end of the Park where we will stay for the rest of the day to see a brilliant Dan Auerbach solo set. It’s not a massive leap from the Black Keys stuff but I guess a little more soulful from the harder raw blues sound of the Keys. Auerbach has continued that shift with one of his other bands ‘The Arcs’. Fine stuff for this uber talented singer songwriter, guitarist and now accomplished go to producer.
A short stroll right to the main stage for Lou ‘fucking‘ Reed. Time keeping is critical in a festival and none more so than here where the mains stages are adjacent to the second stage and so within a couple of minutes of one set finishing the next set starts on the other stage.
I have never met Reed but I believe he has the reputation for being a moody, belligerent bugger and I may be doing him a massive injustice and there could have been some technical reason for his delay but we waited and waited and waited some more until he eventually stumbled on stage at least twenty minutes late. At this stage I could care less to be able to tick this off of my list of ‘legends’ I hadn’t seen. He seemed as disinterested as I was as he rattled through ‘Sweet Jane’, ‘Waiting for the man’, ‘Walk on the wild side’ and others. Couldn’t end soon enough for me.
Luckily the next act were playing on my favourite stage to the side which is very much like The Park at Glasto in a natural mini amphitheatre and when it gets dark has the feel of a club. It’s one of my favourite bands on next ‘Band of Horses’. Two albums in and all of the classics here in the set. Scheduled to play for an hour after thirty minutes they were being ushered from the stage because of Lour Reed being late and BoH having to be off stage before Janes’ Addiction come on. It’s probably not a good idea to annoy Perry Farrell as it’s his festival but Ben Bridwell turns to the audience and ask ‘what do you want us to do?’. Should they stay or should they go. It’s a unanimous plea for them to stay and stay they did. With Jane’s Addiction rocking on the main stage BoH crack on with the ‘The Funeral’, ‘Ode to LRC’ and ‘The General Specific’. Frankly they blew Janes away. Stunning stuff and it had the real feel that we were completely isolated from the rest of the festival in our very own theatre. So after my rant against Reed I should probably thank him for one of my all-time festival highlights with the closing thirty minutes with the Horses.
We move across to take in about an hour of Jane’s Addiction and they were OK but with Them Crooked Vultures tickets burning in our pockets we leave early to get the subway out to the small club, Metro a short walk from Wrigley Fields out in the suburbs.
Arriving in good time the club is already packed. I am not sure what the fire regs capacity is for the venue but it feels like double the amount that should be allowed in have been allowed in this hot sweaty mess of people.
It’s a strict no camera policy with this being enforced with security shining bright lights into anyone they see taking snaps. Of course undeterred I did fire off a few during the set and was approached by a writer from Rolling Stone magazine for me to send him a couple. The quality of most was ropey but I did have a couple of half decent ones.
Onto the music. Obviously every track was new to the audience as there is no album out yet. What impresses me most is we get eighty minutes of top quality rock music. These guys whilst being super talented have put together a seamless set of new songs, no covers in such a short amount of time.
Nice to see Grohl behind the skins instead of centre and Homme holds it’s all together from the front of the stage. JPJ does what he does best which is to provide the glue between all of the other performers and the other bloke is there too. It’s a stunning set and I feel so lucky for us both to be there at their first ever gig.
It’s soon over and with the other sweaty hordes we make our way back into the city on the subway at 2 in the morning. Oh the sweet sensation of sinking into that King size bed with the pillows and duvet enveloping me like a marshmallow after three full on days of great music.
It’s all over for another year and while very different from the year before it is as memorable as 2008 but this time the highlights were a great undercard of superb acts. But wait it’s not all over. Arriving at the airport the next day we bump into the Kaiser Chiefs and have a brief chat about their set, etc. as they wait to board the BA flight back to London. We are booked onto the Virgin Atlantic flight a few minutes later. Sadly those few minutes turned into 24 hours as the plane developed a fault, they couldn’t shut the door. Quite a fault. It’s then a sprint to the booking office to beat the queue as we are then shipped out to a nice hotel just outside the airport. Not the way we wanted to spend the night but its pleasant enough as we get chatting to a lot of British youngsters who had been to the festival too and it gave me a new audience to bore with my concert going war stories down the years.
Sadly, the costs of doing this in future years got out of hand with flights being the main problem and also most of the future line-up have become very bland and safe and look very similar to every other main stream festival around. Luckily for me its only a few years after that I broke my Glastonbury duck and have been able to go for the last five years.