Lollapalooza day two recap

So after taking the train back to Grant Park on Saturday morning, I headed straight over to catch Be Your Own Pet, and (as I expected) they were a glorious mess. Sounding just like snotty teenage chaos does, they looked like a band coming apart at the seams.

Be Your Own Pet

From there I dashed over to see Rainer Maria play a bunch of excellent tunes from their new album Catastrophe Keeps Us Together. Despite relocating to Brooklyn from Madison, WI, they are one of the last remaining bastions of true Midwestern emo. Caithlin’s vocals were gorgeous.

Rainer Maria

I then decided to catch a little bit of Austin’s St. James and their breezy country pop songs complete with soaring pedal steel.

St. James

Then back to the AMD stage to be blown away by Cold War Kids. I’d listened to their EP’s and wasn’t sold but had also heard their live show was great. It certainly was. They brought so much energy to the stage and have given me a reason to spin them some more.

Cold War Kids

It would have been hard for anyone to top Cold War Kids, but The Go! Team managed to do just that. Watching these multi-instrumentalists prance around the stage was like watching a mad dash for the last remaining chair once the music has stopped. Their performance exhausted me so I can’t even imagine how they felt. Definitely a highlight of weekend!

The Go! Team

And (again) back to the AMD stage for Oh No! Oh My! and more great indie pop.

Oh No! Oh My!

Then I rushed over to see Built To Spill, but missed the start of their set so I was a 1/4 mile from the stage.

Built To Spill

As with any large festival, they are perfect for people with ADHD. For a little while (at least) I seemed to be more doing more running around than watching bands. Just for my brother I caught a few songs from Coheed and Cambria and have to say he wasn’t missing much. The Aussies in Wolfmother were up next and I watched them just long enough to see 3 people get pulled out from the front and taken for medical attention. It was crazy. Then I caught a little Lyrics Born and also Calexico as I headed over to see Sonic Youth. They were (as I had expected them to be) great.

Sonic Youth

Then 8 blocks back to the other end of the festival to have a few beers with Ryan and watch Gnarls Barkley sound exactly like their album. Lip synch anyone?

Then came the reformed Smoking Popes. They played a bunch of old favorites and even two great new tunes that Josh said would be on the “next Smoking Popes album.” Singing along to “Writing A Letter” and “Pretty Pathetic” brought back the memories.

Smoking Popes

Then my camera died.

So when I was done being rocked by the Popes, I booked it back to the other end of the stage for The Flaming Lips. All I can say is holy shit. Aliens, Santa Clauses, balloons, confetti, and streamers were just eye candy to go along with their ear candy. Totally phenomenal. Wayne & company were in top form and were urging the crowd to sing loud enough to stop traffic on Lake Shore Drive as they closed their set with “She Don’t Use Jelly.”

The New Pornographers, Kanye West, blah, blah, blah… I was (at this point) totally out of energy and headed off onto the brown line and over to my sister’s place for pizza and beer.

What a great freakin’ day.