The Upstate Life

Friday, August 11, 2006

TUL's Take: Lollapalooza - Day Three

Our third and final day started out by securing ourselves a nice spot at the Q101 stage for one of our favorite live acts, The Hold Steady. Just like they did in Albany, these guys tore it up. This is a band that can pull off a live show in any venue, regardless of its size. The group performed material from their first 2 LP's as well as songs from their soon-to-be released album (which sounds very promising, btw). Great way to kick off the last day.

On our way over to The Shins, we caught some of The New Amsterdams' set at the AMD stage. They were pretty good and it's too bad we couldn't catch more of their show, but unfortunately we had an arduous trek ahead of us in order to get to the other side of the park for those zany Shins. Speaking of which, their hour-long set was quite enjoyable. They weren't spectacular or anything, but the group provided a perfect soundtrack to a sunny afternoon in Grant Park. The band also threw in some new numbers from their upcoming LP which, regrettably, has been pushed back to an early 2007 release.

After The Shins, we camped out at the Bud Light stage to get a good seat for Wilco. Unfortunately, we had to sacrifice seeing Of Montreal during the hour-long break since they were playing all the way over at the AMD stage. That's the problem with music festivals, but there was no way we were giving up our primo spot. Wilco came onstage around 6:30 and opened things up with "Shot in the Arm" to an anxious crowd. The band sounded tight and played a perfect-length hour-long set to the tens of thousands in attendance. Midway through the show I realized that Tweedy now bears an uncanny resemblance to McCartney during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions.

We really, really wanted to catch all of Broken Social Scene's performance, but since that entailed having to travel all the way back to the other side of the park, we were only able to catch the last 15 minutes of their abbreviated 45-minute long set. It should be noted that they were the only marquee act not to have the usual one hour time slot, but we can thank the stupid Chili Peppers for that. Of course, they blew everyone out of the water with their amazing set, evoking one of the strongest encore chants from a crowd we've ever witnessed. Shouts of "One more song" resonated throughout the Q101 stage area in hopes of hearing BSS deliver one more number from a nearly complete lineup (which included Amy Millian, Emily Haines, and Feist). Unfortunately, that encore never came to fruition thanks in part to the stage manager's urgency for them to get off the stage since the precious Chili Peppers were set to perform shortly.

Speaking of RHCP, we really couldn't have cared less for the headliner of headliners of Lollapalooza 2006. It was more of a bonus attraction if anything after seeing the dozens upon dozens of great bands we witnessed the last three days. Their set, for the most part, seemed uninspiring, like they were just going through the motions. The highlights of their 75-minute show (even though they were penciled in for 90... BSS got the shaft I tells ya!!) included John Frusciante's cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" and throwback single "Give It Away". Overall, the Chili Peppers were meh but it's still safe to say that they were at least better than Gnarls Barkley.