tonyballinger.com

Every year I compare Lollapalooza to Coachella, so I’ll quickly get it out of the way. Lollapalooza is a great event, but it’s no Coachella. There’s a few reasons for this, but the main one this year was the weather. Coachella is pretty much guaranteed to be hot, sunny and with nearly no humidity. It’s tough standing in the sun all day at Coachella, but since most of the sets are inside tents, it’s easy to work with the weather.

Lolla’s another matter, especially this year. Friday was cool and rainy and the next two days were hot and hotter. But enough about the weather. Let’s get into the music.

Best Set: Depeche Mode

I might be biased on this, but who cares. I love Depeche Mode and always have. I’ve seen them many times and it just never gets old. The set was heavy on the new stuff, but the new stuff is pretty solid and they played enough of the songs from my teen years to make me happy. They played “Policy of Truth”, “Never Let Me Down Again”, “Enjoy the Silence” and of course, “Personal Jesus”. My only complaint is they didn’t play longer than they did.

Best Set Runner Up: Lykke Li

Lykke Li put on an amazing set of songs from her debut album, Youth Stories. Interesting songs, cool instrumentation and vocals that remind me a bit of Kate Bush. The high point is that this delicate singer launched into a bass-heavy gangster rap cover mid-set that was both amazing and awesome. I’ll definitely see her again.

Worst Set: Lou Reed

I feel terrible writing this, because I have a lot of respect for Lou Reed. But the set was nearly unbearable for me. He doesn’t really sing these songs as much as he speaks them, which is his style I suppose, but it just wasn’t working for me. Add the obnoxious sax solos that reminded me of what I imagine to be a Billy Joel concert, the 10 minutes of Metal Machine Music and the fact his set went 15 minutes over – and it was all just unforgivable.

Worst Set Runner Up: Animal Collective

I had a feeling I knew what I was getting into, but I try and be open-minded about these kinds of things and a team player about picking the sets we see as a group. That said, there were no songs here – just droning, repetitive jam-sessions. And I typically like repetitive droning music, after all I love Brian Eno and Philip Glass.

Best Stage: Citi

Forget the big stages, they’re in the heat of the sun and there’s too many freaking people at them to get a decent view. The city stage has a variety of shaded areas nearby and it’s close to food and drinks. Plus, most of the sets at the Citi stage don’t suck. I saw Amazing Baby, Ida Maria, Lykke Li and Passion Pit at this stage.

Worst Stage: BMI

I want to like this stage, I really do. It’s in a fantastic location and if they had a single band I wanted to see it would have been great. Actually, they did have one band (Blind Pilot) who sounded pretty good on CD, but they were taking a while to get their set rolling and I was headed to the Arctic Monkeys (who rocked out). Seriously, BMI – get some hot acts at your stage and I’ll camp out there, but until then you’re dead to me.

The weather at Lollapalooza is remarkably consistent. If it’s not unbearably hot, it rains for part of it. Or, as in our case today, both. Here’s what’s on the forecast for the weekend, from Yahoo.com:

Friday

Rain showers early then thundershowers for the afternoon. High 77F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Friday Night

Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Saturday

Scattered thunderstorms and windy in the morning, then skies turning partly cloudy late. Hot and humid. High 92F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Saturday Night

Partly cloudy. Low 76F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph.

Sunday

Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the mid 70s.

I’m always tempted to skip the early sets at Lollapalooza. Grant Park is just an el ride away and it would be easy enough to show up at 3 or 4pm and see a solid run of kickass sets for the rest of the night. However, I’ve been burned by that a few times – a few years ago I missed Be Your Own Pet and Midlake because I was too much of a weenie to brave the crazy heat for a few early sets.

But not this year. This time I’m bringing my A-game, researching the early sets and showing up earlier to get the most of the festival. Here’s a few of the artists I hadn’t heart of before a few weeks ago, but that I might catch live.

Other Lives

Pretty mellow stuff, but with a distinctive sound. A bit like Andrew Bird – the string section fills out the songs and the tunes are understated in a way.

The Low Anthem

The Low Anthem has elements of Joseph Arthur (acoustic guitar and harmonica), Tom Waits (gravely voices) and Iron and Wine (nearly whispered vocals). Plus, they’re on the Nonesuch label, which means they have to be solid.

Living Things

A bit more of a straightforward rock band that I’m used to, but there’s hints (just hints, don’t get excited) of Nirvana here. Plus, after The Low Anthem I’ll be ready to rock the hell out.

Amazing Baby

I think Amazing Baby wants to be David Bowie when they grow up. They rock, they’re danceable – and it sounds like they’ll put on a vigorous live set.

Ra Ra Riot

I’m really looking forward to these guys – they remind me a little of Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire. This should be a solid set and I’m surprised they’re going on as early as they are.

The Airborne Toxic Event

These guys have really grown on me, but it’s gonna be a hike across the park and back for them. We’ll see if I’m that committed to catching their performance. They have solid guitar and synth hooks and edgy vocals too.