Chicago's Lollapalooza 2006 (8/7/06)

Chicago truly shined once again as Lollapalooza returned to the city’s parks for its 2006 incarnation. This time around, the event was a 3-day music festival that doubled in size to include 69 lakefront acres of Grant Park and Hutchinson Field (home to last year’s event and Radiohead in 2001). Last year’s event was attended by 60,000 total paid attendees, raised $400,000 for park improvements and pumped $15 million into the local economy via hotels, restaurants and transportation. This year, ticket sales grossed $8 million with 166,000 total paid attendees and $800,000 was raised for the parks….with significantly more money than last year entering the local economy. Again run by Austin, Texas’ Capital Sports & Entertainment, entrance to the event cost $130 for a 3-day pass. Despite a less-than-incredible overall lineup, this fee was worth every penny thanks to the combination of the beautiful setting, great food, well-behaved crowd, eclectic mix of musical talent and close-to-flawless festival execution by Capital. Sure, there were some little things that could have been better….but Capital deserves a major pat on the back for getting people in to the festival each day with no lines, keeping food and drink lines running between 1 to 10 minutes max, keeping the bands performing on schedule, and having more than enough port-o-potties spread across the fields in easily accessible locations. As for what could be better: It took 15-20 minutes to walk from the first main stage to the second. If the stages really need to be this far apart, why not book music that appeals to different types of people on each main stage? It would be nice to not have to think about missing a band due to the thought of walking for 20 minutes in the heat. Another problem this year: Bass sounds were overwhelming the North main stage the entire weekend. This is the type of issue that needs to be addressed quickly during a festival since it clearly drags down the potential enjoyment of the music. Final complaint: By having 8 stages, it meant that most available real estate needed to be filled with stages...including the food areas. Last year you were able to go to the food areas to get a break from all of the music, relax, eat and talk to friends. This year, you had to digest your pulled pork sandwich while some awful band not worthy of a better stage was screeching into the microphone, forcing you to shout to your friends to tell them how great the festival’s BBQ sauce tasted.

Don't get me wrong - there is very little to complain about from this event. The vibe was great - friendly staff, no in-your-face cops, well-behaved crowd and the usual festival freaks who dressed in clown outfits, court jester get-ups and who-knows-what-else. One day we agreed to count the clowns just for laughs...when we hit 8 clowns in one hour, we stopped because it seemed like there would be too many to count. Some people on-line have been complaining about the amount of corporate sponsorship at the event. First of all, the artists weren't being sponsored (Neil Young's biggest fear)...the event was being sponsored. Sure, every stage and just about every piece of real estate was sponsored by some major company like Bud Light, AT&T and Adidas. It's thanks to those sponsors that this festival was able to be such a success for the fans. I see nothing wrong with that...especially after attending events without sponsorship that had dirty port-o-potties and endless lines for everything.

On Day 1 of the event, our crew (which ranged from 2-10 peeps depending on the time) got to see Ryan Adams, Secret Machines, The Raconteurs, Violent Femmes and Ween. Ryan Adams played a nice set that didn’t include enough of his well-known songs to truly captivate the crowd. People instead looked at him like “what the hell is this” and talked to their friends through most of the set. We, however, were entertained thanks to his set featuring a lot of musical improvisation as well as 3 Grateful Dead covers (“Franklin’s Tower”, “Wharf Rat”, and “He’s Gone”). There was nothing earth-shattering here, but for a sunny summer day in a park with friends surrounded by Chicago’s great skyline, it made for pleasant entertainment. Thanks to that 20 minute walk (see above) and the need to eat some of Chicago’s finest (BBQ pulled pork, beer, BBQ chicken sandwiches, pizza, sausages, Vitamin Water and did I say beer?), we only caught the tail end of Secret Machines. They appeared to be playing a typically interesting, rocking, psychedelic set that would have been fun to catch in its entirety. We then faced some incredibly difficult decision-making…the type of decision-making that should be reserved for the office. We had to choose whether to see My Morning Jacket or The Raconteurs. We chose The Raconteurs. Why? We have seen MMJ in clubs and know we would see them again in clubs. The Raconteurs are a one album band that may never exist again, due to Jack White’s regular gig in the White Stripes...and why make a whole night in a club of just seeing that 1 album? We made a great decision because this set turned out to be a festival highlight. Jack White stole the show with his exciting stage personality, riffing and solos. He rocked out on some great covers, including Gnarls Barkely’s “Crazy” and Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang My Baby Shot Me Down”. Pitchfork has compared this set to a beer commercial. God forbid the indie scene have to listen to songs that aren’t concise ideas like the Velvet Underground catalog. Lighten up, Pitchfork. Have some fun. This set rocked. Period. We caught the Violent Femmes doing their thing next. They played the classics and sounded good. Although this set would have been a blast at Metro in 1986, today it was background entertainment that would have fit in better at Milwaukee’s Summerfest. Next came Ween. I don’t know how to describe Ween other than to throw words around like weird, freak, Zappa and weird. They brought out the smoke machines and light show to enhance their bizarre songs that are stylistically all over the place while featuring solid musicianship. It was a fun set that provided a good closer to the end of the first day.

Day 2 featured the hottest weather of the 3 days as the humidity came on strong and the sun got a chance to shine as the clouds faded away. The first set we caught was Built To Spill. They were on the North main stage, which had such severe sound trouble that it was tough to enjoy the set. The band started things off with some lame songs and weak performances but the material and performances dramatically improved as the set went on. Right when things were getting great, we had to do the 20 minute hike in order to get to Wolfmother on time. We fought our way to a great spot in the massive crowd right as Perry Farrell took the stage to give the band a dramatic introduction. You could definitely feel the buzz surrounding the Wolfmother stage. The crowd wanted to see these guys….as did the large number of press photographers gathered in front of the stage. A young trio from Australia, Wolfmother knows how to rock 1970's style. They may be 100% derivative, but they’re damn fun. Their sound mixes early Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and a handful of generic 70's hard rock bands. Throw in top-notch stage performance schtick, great vocals, drums and a bass player who also plays organ and you’ve got Wolfmother. This set entertained us from start to finish while the crowd ate it up like the polish sausages being served in the food section. Wolfmother was definitely a festival highlight. We were already exhausted as a result of the music, the heat and yet another 20 minute walk to Sonic Youth by the time they took the stage. They played that North main stage with the weak sound so we all sat on the lawn and only half- paid attention to this great band. They played their new album, which sounded good. Then it was time for BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, Vitamin Water and beer. Common took the stage next. This performance was considered a big deal due to the fact that last year’s festival featured no major rappers…and here was Common, a successful hometown rapper playing to an audience much larger than he’s used to. He did a great job combining moments of freestyle rap with his jazzy recordings. His band featured a great jazzy drummer, keyboard player and DJ. His set was a blast that was very well-received. This guy has talent as well as a great sound and vibe. Next came Thievery Corporation. They had a huge band that blended all forms of world music into one giant dancefest. They brought the party and had the whole crowd smiling and wanting more. We all agreed that we would see them live again any time. We then caught a few minutes of Manu Chao, who also performed a danceable set of world music. Then we headed over to the big draw of Kanye West. This was exactly what I expected: pure crap. I don’t care what the critics say but this guy is overrated. He’s a good producer and wrote a masterpiece in “Jesus Walks” but after that I just don’t see it. He drew a large crowd – probably 60,000 people. This, by the way, was probably the whitest hip-hop crowd in the history of hip-hop concerts. You would think Common and Kanye would bring at least some diversity to the festival audience! Where was the diversity?? Jazz Fest in New Orleans has such a great blend of people attending the event. Why not this Chicago event? Was there not enough hip-hop to justify the ticket price to the black community? Has the Lollapalooza name only been marketed to the white concert-going crowd all these years? It would be nice to see some diversity next time around. Anyway, back to how Kanye is overrated. The Chicago Tribune interviewed several teenagers who loved his set, so maybe that’s the level of sophistication his music is intended for. Whatever the case, after giving it at least 30 minutes, we unanimously thought it sucked…so we headed out. We walked across the street from the park to a giant hotel. We gathered in their bar with a view of Michigan Avenue, ordered drinks and stuffed our faces with food until we began drifting into comas. That’s when we all went to Wicker Park and literally crashed for 12 hours.

As soon as we woke up, it was time to head back for more! We headed out to the streets of Wicker Park with the goal of finding some Pop Tarts before jumping in a taxi to Grant Park. After all, it would be a bit rough to kick off the day with BBQ pulled pork sandwiches for breakfast. We entered a local corner store where the employee was too busy watching sports on his small black & white television to acknowledge our existence while his buddy was standing outside laughing with a shiny, silver colored garbage can-top balancing on his head. He was cracking himself up, so this overall scene made for a trippy, amusing way to start the day. We ultimately got to the festival and kicked things off with Nickel Creek. They were a perfect morning band…wholesome, happy bluegrass with the Chicago skyline behind them. Band leader Chris Thiele is a future rock star. He led the band through a great set that included covers of Radiohead’s “Nice Dream” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic”. “Toxic” was a blast and went over incredibly well. Thiele took a huge political risk by stepping into sensitive Chicago territory when he said that he liked the Cubs better than the White Sox. If it weren't for the heat or the lack of beer being consumed at that early hour, his comments might have launched a Woodstock 99-like tirade in the crowd...but that fortunately didn't happen.

I concluded during this set that musicians like Chris Thiele and Jack White are such a rare breed. It’s good to know that there are still young artists coming up who are truly mastering their craft, doing their homework to learn the roots of the music and at the same time keeping everything current and fresh. There is something ageless about artists like these. Think about Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain. I’m not saying White and Thiele are or will be on the same level of artistry as those 3. But those 3 artists all had wisdom way beyond their years as youngsters and, although we’ll never know how Cobain would have progressed, the other 2 maintained their youth and creativity throughout their aging process. It’s as if they were never young…and were never old….they just always channeled something magical. I think White and Thiele share those traits….and look forward to seeing what comes from them down the road. Throw Jeff Tweedy in there too...but I'll save my praise for him until the next paragraph.

After Nickel Creek, we did the 20-minute trek to see Matisyahu. Although this was entertaining, early-afternoon festival fare, I think the whole Hassidic reggae thing lacks depth. The bearded Phish fan has a great band but he lacks the artistic depth to match their sound. The crowd seemed to like it but I think that’s due to his Flavor Of the Month status. We’ll see where he goes, but I wasn’t impressed. Poi Dog Pondering came next. I unfortunately didn’t get to see them in their prime, 10-12 years ago. I used to hear great things about Poi Dog…but this set was not impressive or entertaining. Next up was my favorite band, Wilco. It was a trip for me to be standing behind a crowd of thousands to see an artist I used to see in the 100-person capacity Lounge Ax back in 1991. Jeff Tweedy is the only artist whose career I have followed since the beginning. It’s been a thrill to watch him grow and watch the crowd slowly grow with him. Tweedy is finally starting to get the respect he deserves. He is the Neil Young/Tom Petty of my generation and I intend to remain a fan indefinitely. I expect that one day he’ll have his breakthrough record with the mainstream world, a la Bonnie Raitt in the late-80's…when he’ll be heralded as Best New Artist after having been around forever. Sporting a beard that rivaled Matisyahu’s and an I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-bought-my-outfit-at-the-local thrift-shop look, Tweedy led his band of top musicians through a solid one hour set of songs both familiar and new. He was in perfect voice - as if he finally stayed away from cigarettes for an extended period. Wilco opened with “Shot In the Arm” and the entire crowd sang along with every word. The set featured crowd pleasers like "Heavy Metal Drummer", "Via Chicago" and "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" as well as 4 new songs. A horn section sat in for a few tunes, including some of the new material. Tweedy was hilarious as always when he joked about the giant zit on his forehead and complained that he can only imagine how big it must look on the Jumbotron videoscreen. Tweedy also joked after getting the crowd to sing along with one of his songs that as the band gets bigger, he's trying to get better at the whole crowd participation thing, despite the awkwardness of it all. After Wilco came more BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, Vitamin Water and beer. Then the entire festival crowd gathered at the South main stage for the official festival headliner: Red Hot Chili Peppers. There was an endless sea of people (estimated at 75,000) as the RHCP played a kickass set of funky, jammy rock. 43-year-old bass player Flea let his freak flag fly as he jumped around the stage wearing a psychedelic unitard that looked like one, giant body tattoo. Flea's bass and Frusciante's guitar combined to create a feel that was at times reminiscent of the Grateful Dead shows that had become a summertime Chicago staple in the 90's at the nearby Soldier Field. The happy crowd of all ages danced and sang along as the RHCP served as the perfect end to a great music festival weekend. Their story of going from cult band status to heroin death, explosion of success, key band member leaving to do heroin, downhill slide, key band member returns better than ever, band surpasses their previous level of success and then gets cocky enough to release a double CD...all led to this triumphant moment at Lollapalooza 2006. They headlined Lollapalooza II in 1992, rode out many crazy years in the music business, got discovered by new generations...and in the post-dot com, post-cell phone, post iTunes, George W. Bush era, here they were, sounding at the top of their game, playing to a massive crowd of people in the heart of Chicago after a rousing introduction by their peer, Perry Farrell. The RHCP did their job and left everyone happy and wanting more.

As the festival wound to a close, I found myself exiting the grounds next to one of the event's most colorful clowns, a banana. I'm not used to walking next to bananas, so I couldn't resist striking up a conversation. I asked the banana if it was hot being a banana at Lollapalooza, given that it was close to 90 degrees and humid for the 3 days of the event. The banana, who was a bearded hippie and looked something like the lead singer of the Spin Doctors, told me, "man, you wouldn't believe how hot it was!" I asked him if lots of people wanted to take his picture. "I probably posed for 1,000 pictures today. It was great." I then asked the question I was most curious about. "What inspired you to be a banana for Lollapalooza this season?" He said, "When I woke up the other morning I just felt like I should dress up...and it seemed like being a banana would be perfect. I mean, my friend was going to be a hot dog, so I thought I should be a banana." I liked his logic. I laughed while exiting the park and thought, "I'm ready for Lollapalooza 2007."