Blogapalooza: The experience.

Mind you, this was my first-ever Lollapalooza, and I knew what to expect, which is probably why I've never gone before. I'm not particularly fond of heat, crowds, or combining the two, add in an infinite impatience with teenagers, and well, you've got a lot of Lollavoidance. But I had to go. I just had to. I couldn't pass up the lineup. Too many bands I love, all in the same place, for the low-low price of $110. Hard to resist. Top it off with my friends A, K, B, Jen and Bosco all going, well, you suck it up and you get out there. I did not, of course, need or even want to see each and every act, and fortunately for me, I didn't need to be there either day before 2:30. Anyways, without further ado, the Lollareview:

Saturday
First things first, I couldn't believe their setup for getting your 21+ bracelet. You stood in one line to show your id to one guy, who then wrote on your hand with a marker, and then you went to another line where another guy put on your bracelet. Any under-ager with half a brain could have run across the street to the art supply store, and made good money marking up his friends so they could get bracelets. Not to mention it was just a waste of time. Anyways.

2:30-3:30: Kaiser Chiefs/Liz Phair.
I had some problems getting through security, so I was delayed and missed the early parts of Liz, and had to eat something, so I stopped and listened to the Kaiser Chiefs, who fucking rocked. Good music- kinda brit punk mixed with brit pop. Tasty, loud, and pissy. Just the way I like it. After stuffing two hamburgers down my throat($5 each) and listening to another KC song, I headed to see Liz, mid-set. She, of course, rocked her hometown crowd, even did Flower, the song that probably makes all straight men want her more than words can express. She did a great job, even joking with the crowd between songs.

4:30-5:30: Cake
Man, these guys were preachy. I almost felt guilty for spending the money to get there and listen to them. They still played some good songs, but I was a little disappointed in their overall act- I didn't come to be told what a corporate tool I was being for going to Lollapalooza, I already knew that. Shit. I'm not an idiot.

5:30-6:30: Billy Idol (Vital Idol)
Holy shit did he completely rock my fucking world. There wasn't a bad song in the set, and he did them all just like he did them 25 years ago. Out of all the shows this weekend, his was probably second best.

6:30-7:30: Primus
I hung back during this show, knowing that it was going to be a mass of jumping around fools, but I liked it. They played extremely well, and I loved the giant rubber ducks on stage. They definitely made it worth the effort, and I'm extremely glad I got to see them, finally.

7:30-8:45: Pixies
By far and away, the best show I went to this weekend. They played their hearts out and were so on and tight it was scary. The only part I didn't like about this show was that Weezer started playing at the next stage over, and decided that it was now their turn, kinda fucking up the ambience that we had with the Pixies. I loved hearing two versions of Wave of Mutilation, my all-time favorite Pixies song. They even came out and did an encore, which was really cool.

On my way out, I caught a bit of the Digable Planets show, but I couldn't stay anymore. I had to head home and get some food.

Sunday
3:30-4:30: Tegan and Sara
They have always, as Rannie the photojunkie puts it "rock[ed] my pants." The problem was, it was 104F (40C) where we were. I don't know for sure, but I'd say it's probably never been that warm in Vancouver. Yesterday's high was only 72F (22C), so you can imagine the toll weather would have taken on them. And it did. Sara fell ill, dashing off stage to vomit twice, then Tegan finished a short set, said thank you, and that was it. I hope the Sara is ok, though. It was horrible out. Even in such a short set, they still managed to rock my pants.

5:30-6:30: G. Love & Special Sauce
Almost 10 years exactly after the first time I saw him live, I got to see him again. That first time was at Cedarfest in Minneapolis, and it was sweltering hot. This time, it was Chicago and again, sweltering hot. He still came out onstage wearing a suit (pants and jacket only, a t-shirt on underneath), as he put it "so you guys wouldn't feel too hot). Gotta love and respect him for that. He played a lot of newer stuff, but still hit on his old stuff that I like so much. I'd say this was the bronze medal winner for me. Great show, and really good chemistry with the crowd. He's definitely improved with age- I haven't seen him live in at least 7 years or so.

7:30-8:30: The Dandy Warhols
I'd never seen them live before yesterday (at least, not that I remember), and honestly, although they're one of my favorite bands, especially as of late, I doubt I'll see them again. Not that their performance was bad, they started off really strong, but I didn't want to see them jam for 12 minutes on the same damn song. I wasn't too happy with that. I was even less happy with that when they did it twice.

After that, well, it was time to go home, and I took my sweaty ass home to my AC, some leftovers, and my bed. Overall, it was a good experience, but not something I'm probably going to repeat. We'll see if the bands they have next year so perfectly match my tastes again, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Anybody have any horror or other stories from this weekend's palooza?