Full Metal Lunchbox

 
Busy weekend has left me with lactic acid in my leg muscles, sun on my face, a touch of vodka in my veins, and plenty of memories of loud music.

I'm going to tell you all about it.  But first, there is something I need to get out of the way.

The following is a personal message to all American males (particularly white male college kids) between the ages of 18 and 25.  The rest of you reading this should skip the next paragraph.

PERSONAL MESASGE TO 18-25 YEAR OLD WHITE MALE COLLEGE DUDES: Dudes, it's not for lack trying, but virtually none of you look like Johnny Knoxville.  And by the way, it's not really a cool look if every single one of you does it; you just look like a bunch of tools.  Who do you think you're kidding?  Ditch the Aviators.

OK, glad I got that off my chest.  Now I can tell you about my weekend.

Adding to the growing of things I swore I'd never do but would end up enjoying:

I went to Lollapalooza.  

Justyna and I got three day passes and had a terrific time.  It was her idea.

I was initially concerned that we weren't going to get our full money's worth.  And our experience Friday night didn't do much to make me thing otherwise.  Neither one of us remembered to take Friday off of work, arriving so late to the festival that we missed Lady Sovereign and most of Secret Machines.  (No big deal, actually, since we had just seen Lady Sovereign at Intonation and Secret Machines has only one really good song.)  

We did make it for The Raconteurs; They were alright--nothing to write home about.

Here we are lined up early for Ween.  This was one of the acts we had been most anticipating, but it was a terrible dissappointment.  I think the Tribune review says it best:

The once merry pranksters have become what they once mocked, with fog machines, lasers and solo-padded arrangements worthy of an arena-rock dinosaur.

Saturday was a much better day, and not just for the concerts.

I started out Saturday with a 6:30AM group run roundtrip to Ohio Street Beach.

Distance: 12 miles
Pace: 9:27/mile

I didn't set any personal records that morning.  But this was the first time I ran such a long distance and then spent two days at an outdoor rock festival!

First on the Saturday agenda for us was Peeping Tom.  Mike Patton and his talented touring group played all the same songs we saw in concert a few weeks ago (though with less improvization), but it was still a great time.  It's hard to believe an original group like this one was relegated to a side stage.

While waiting to grab a good spot near the stage for Dresden Dolls, we sat out on the lawn and rested our aching legs while listening to Calexico.  They were nice.

In retrospect, we spent a lot of time (nearly two hours) sitting around waiting for Dresden Dolls when we could have gone around and seen some other shows.  But I have to say that the wait to secure 3rd row standing positions near the stage was probably worth it.  The Dresden Dolls did not dissappoint!  (For those of you as yet unfamiliar with this dynamic duo, The Dresden Dolls play music best described as a fast-paced, european-influenced dark cabaret, similar to Gogol Bordello and DeVotchKa.)  I don't think there are many performers who could manage such energy and personality out of just a piano and a set of drums.  Amanda Palmer had so much enthusiasm that for most of the concert it looked like she was going to tip over her piano bench!

We did a lot of jumping around on our own, so after the The Dreden Dolls we retired to a distant lawn spot to relax and watch the Flaming Lips.  From a team of Santas, to space aliens, to giant hands (!) these guys really know how to make a visual impression.  The stage was far away, but we saw everything on one of the giant LCD monitors above the amplifiers.

The New Pornagraphers are lame, I don't care what anybody says.  Fortunatley a wonderful alternative was Thievery Corporation.  Playing downtempo electronica enhanced with traditional music from Brazil and instruments from south asia, these guys produced a magical set as the sun went down.  I enjoyed the on-stage belly dancer, as well as the talented audience members who showed off their moves.  I don't have any photos from the Thievery Corporation set, but I doubt pictures would do it justice.  At the end of the show Lollapalooza organizer Perry Farrell himself came onstage to offer an encore--the only non-headliner encore of the entire weekend.

We didn't stay late Saturday night to see Manu Chao or Kanye West.  Our running fatigue finaly caught up with us.  So tired.

By Sunday I knew we had gotten our money's worth buying the Lollapalooza three day pass.  We arrived late again, but the first concert we saw yesterday was my favorite from the entire weekend: Hot Chip.  Here was another great band relegated to a side stage, with just a few hundred spectators.  But oh my god, what a treat!  They put on 15 minute jams that I got totally lost in.  I had never heard of Hot Chip before, so this show was a nice surprise.

It was after Hot Chip that I started sneaking alcohol into the festival.  First I walked downtown to a liquor store for rum, which we mixed into smoothies.  Later I went back for vodka.  Made the crowds easier to handle.

After watching some comedy improv, we snagged a good standing spot to watch the Reverend Horton Heat.  This was an act that I have been missing chances to see for over a decade, so it was nice to finaly catch the show.  And it was worth the wait.  This band has matured, and it showed.  We had to miss the Shins, Matisyahu, and She Wants Revenge to see these guys, but it was worth it.

After Horton Heat my only goal was to get as far away from Blues Traveler as possible, so we went to the opposite side of the park to lie down on a hillside.  From that vantage point we got to see the back of the stage while Broken Social Scene was playing.  We couldn't see the actual band, but we were more than close enough to hear them.  I thought they were pretty good.

Meanwhile thousands of people were pouring onto the field from the other side of the park to line up for the final act of the weekend: the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  This was the only band of the weekend that Justyna and I completely disagreed on.  But not wanting to rain on her excitement, I joined Justyna on the field amidst the teeming throngs to witness "Flea" play his guitar.  They played better than I expected, but we still left early in search of Thai food (eventually settling on pizza).  I spent the last of my money on a couple of t-shirts and after dinner went home for a few precious hours of sleep before coming in to work.

It was a full weekend.  But no rest for the weary!  I have to get back out and run tonight.

See you out on the running path.  I'll be the one in the funny red t-shirt.