Lollapalooza 2011 Recap: Part 2

Sorry I'm a slacker. Here's part two of the Lollapalooza recap: Sunday and additional musings. (Read part one here.) 

Sunday

I taught the back-up team about interrobangs. Carrie models our modified sign.

After about six hours of sleep, I got up for my 9am-1pm shift on a new Lollapalooza volunteer crew. I left behind box office and joined "back-up." We helped a bit around Volunteer HQ and hid from the rain and ate baked goods. Great people. I'm excited to (hopefully) volunteer again next year. 

Backstage at Lollapalooza Volunteer HQ. We're all about safety.

After my shift I walked up to The Joy Formidable. Lead singer Ritzy Bryan hit a gong with an electric guitar during the final song, and that remains the most memorable thing about the show. Good stuff, just not really my style.

(She hits the gong around 6:15.)

I met up with my friend Mike, who was following a guide printed in Metromix or the Red Eye or something, a suggested Lolla schedule. On the paper's suggestion, we headed down to see Imelda May, who was my surprise find of the weekend. I'd never heard of her before, but her rockabilly attitude hooked me immediately. Her voice is smooth and confident, even cocky; she smirks through every song. And her musicality is skilled: she had the band go tacit for a few minutes while she scat sang a call-and-response over claps and percussion. It was an impressive display of bravado, and next time I feel like indulging my rockabilly side, I'll definitely look her up on the jukebox.

Of the whole performance, I most enjoyed her cover of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love." Listen all the way to the end for some improv and audience participation. The audio and video aren't synced perfectly, but it's a decent look at the stage.

After Imelda there was just one more person to see before I left Lolla 2011, and that was Keller Williams. He played a 25-minute set on the kids stage, but Mike and I were not the only adults that lined up in the back to hear Keller sing songs about goats and coloring and bath time. He threw in a couple for us, including "Freeker by the Speaker," which was one of the first songs I posted on this blog. I'd seen Keller live in concert twice before and he hadn't played this song, so when he broke out the starting chords I totally geeked out, shoving children to the ground and fighting my way closer to the stage.

Okay not really, but it was a happy moment. 

Feeling about ready to collapse, I told Mike I needed to do two more things: eat one of Graham Elliot's lobster corndogs, which the volunteer staff had been talking about all weekend, and take a picture in front of Buckingham Fountain in my Lolla volunteer t-shirt. One of those things was unbelievably delicious and indulgent and PURE LOBSTER covered in breading and aioli. The other is right here: 

Mike Kato and me at Lollapalooza 2011.

I left Lollapalooza 2011 at approximately 3:30 on Sunday afternoon. I left behind almost seven solid hours of music in favor of a bed, a shower, and grocery shopping. I needed to get ready for my week, which was to be a busy one. I chose responsibly, but I would have loved to see Portugal. The Man, The Arctic Monkeys, and especially Manchester Orchestra, not to mention the legendary Foo Fighters.

Still, I feel good about my Lollapalooza weekend. I saw some new bands, saw some old favorites, and met a lot of one-day friends. (What up, box office and back-up crews!) Who knows, maybe I'll see them again next year, and we'll recognize each other by our made-up gang sign. Maybe this is the start of membership in a new community. If I'm learning anything about being a musician in Chicago, it's definitely about who you know. And knowing more people is always good.

When I got home I called a seasoned member of that community, my mom. We talked for two hours about the bands I'd seen, the ones I hadn't, and the ones that were streaming live on Lolla's YouTube page -- a new innovation for 2011. Thanks to the free service, I saw a few songs of Portugal. The Man, whose variety of sound I enjoyed:

As well as the Arctic Monkeys, who took the stage a half an hour late but were welcomed by an adoring and growing fan base (the video is their full 45-minute show preceded by two minutes of waiting):

It looked epically awesome to be there. The true hippies were covered in mud and rain and sweat and that film of filth that legitimizes your festival attendance. But I knew if I'd been standing in the crowd, I couldn't have enjoyed what was happening. I really needed that nap.

My mom and I rehashed the festival, and she got nostalgic for the early '90s, when the first Lollapalooza was the brainchild of the Jane's Addiction singer, Perry Farrell. It was a traveling festival, and the purpose was to be a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction as well as highlight some new and upcoming acts. Today, Lollapalooza and festivals like it continue to play a positive role in music development and creation. Young talent can be identified and presented to thousands of potential new fans. Millions of potential new fans, thanks to the Internet. For a lot of these musicians, playing Lolla is a big break.

The organizers sell tickets based on headiners -- Eminem, the Foo Fighters, Coldplay, and Muse this year -- and often these performers influence the value of the year's ticket and the personality of the crowd that attends. But it's always a worthy experience. A weekend-long music festival is something that should be on everyone's bucket list, and I highly recommend it while you're at an age that you can just let loose, be exhausted, and spend your time exactly how you want to, without worrying about kids or even friends' music tastes. Whether that means 10 hours of solid music a day, or being a bit more choosy, it doesn't matter.

And hey, if you can get someone to let you in for free, all the better.

FINAL TALLY:
Festival pass: Free
Festival poster: $30 (unframed)
Festival beers: $20
Festival lobster corndog: $9
Festival itself: what do you think?

Outside Perry's DJ tent, Saturday festivalgoers make their way to the last few sets of the night.

Arctic Monkeys: "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured"

One of the things I love about music is its ability to capture a mood. Songs remind us of people or places or things (nouns, I suppose, in general), and they stir memory. But all music worth listening to has the ability to slip directly into our bodies and seize us whole. Some people react to dance music and go batshit insane. Others can't study unless they've got Gregorian chant and/or the Garden State soundtrack playing softly in the background (hello, freshman year). Music transports us, sets the tone, gives us attitude.

Led Zeppelin reminds me of spring cleaning and open windows. Blues Traveler reminds me of Iowa. The Decemberists make me think of summer. (Their music just doesn't sound right in the dead of winter.) But I turn to the Arctic Monkeys when I need to feel cool (they're British! how hip!) and hardcore (I almost died in the AM mosh pit at Lolla 2007). Thus the Arctic Monkeys are often my choice during the day at my office job, where I deftly push paper and answer phones and generally feel like a badass. Because if clerical work is anything, it's most certainly badass.

What music do you listen to at work? And why?

Arctic Monkeys: "Fake Tales of San Fransicso"

This song reminds me of spring, probably because the first time I heard it I was walking down the street in Evanston and the sun was shining and the flowers were blooming and the birds were chirping. Not that I could hear them, because I had this blasting in my ear. I do that with songs; I associate them with a place or a person or a feeling and they'll forever remind me of that, even if the song itself has nothing to do with spring or that person or whatever. It's one of the reasons music is so powerful, that muscle memory.

This song, the beat and lick are so simple, but the song burrows into your head. Listen to this three times and it'll be there forever. And I maintain that anything sang in a British accent -- especially by Alex Turner -- is undeniably sexy and attractive. Enjoy.

"Fake Tales of San Fransisco," performed by the Arctic Monkeys
Original on the Arctic Monkeys' "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (2006)

Arctic Monkeys: A Trio of Songs!

It's your lucky week, Reader. Yet another video featuring multiple songs. Because we're generous like that.

Formed in 2002 in Sheffield, England, the Arctic Monkeys are a testament to the power of tape-trading -- that is, their original fan base grew entirely out of free recordings distributed by the band. (Suck it, Metallica.) By the time the Arctic Monkeys' first singles dropped in May 2005 -- one of which is the third tune in this video -- people were rabid for more. The first full album was released in 2006 (containing all three songs in the video) and sold 350,000 copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling debut album in British history. They've released two more albums and have a third coming out this June.

Frontman Alex Turner has enjoyed instant recognition in the UK; he was even named the coolest person in the world in 2005 by British music tabloid NME -- at age 19. In a Q&A with SPIN Magazine, Turner talked about how the band has gotten louder since starting out, which works for headlining huge shows (which they do all over Europe) but means they can no longer perform small venues for fear of "blowing your head off."The Arctic Monkeys haven't garnered the same massive attention in the U.S. but they have gained a foothold: Their 2006 and 2009 albums topped the Billboard independent album charts, and the song "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" spent 18 weeks on the alternative chart, peaking at #7. Their fourth album -- "Suck It and See," due out June 6th -- may change that.

I've seen the Arctic Monkeys twice -- once at Lollapalooza 2007 (for which I deserve a medal for escaping the mosh pit alive) and once at the Riv in Chicago -- and my head is still intact, but my ears were ringing for days. Boy are they ENERGETIC. They just rock the indie/punk/British/garage genre, with all its quirks. Their first two albums are regular members of my morning commute "PUMP UP AND TAKE ON THE DAAAAAAY" playlist. (Yes, it's really named that.) (That's a lie, but now I'm going to go home and make it happen.)

And seriously, the British accent gets me. Every. Time. Alexa Chung is a lucky woman.

The Arctic Monkeys are spending this spring and summer purposefully avoiding Chicago (or so it would seem), but I'm hopeful they'll return soon. Until then, all hail Jools Holland. Enjoy.

"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," "When the Sun Goes Down (Scummy),"
& "From the Ritz to the Rubble," performed by the Arctic Monkeys.
Originals on "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (2006).