The Lolla Low-Down: Day 1

Posted Saturday, August 02, 2008 @ 01:50 in Events by Jen Boyles

Rather than provide you with some long, drawn-out narrative about the first day of Lollapalooza 08, I thought in the interest of time I'd just run down the list of my personal highlights and observations. So here we go:

 

1. IT WAS HOT. I mean like, the kind of hot where you're dripping wet consistently. My black tank dress weirdly shed all over myself so it looked like I had the armpit hair of Randy Macho Man Savage. This was especially embarrassing upon hugging longtime MTV newsman John Norris (who was interviewing Duffy). Overall, lots of shirtless dudes with backpacks on -- which I guess was OK. Mostly.

2. LOTS OF ROCK. I caught the Black Keys set during the height of the day Friday, and the heat was almost too distracting to enjoy it. It seemed like everywhere we went, there were dudes wailing on guitars. So it was really refreshing when....

3. BLOC PARTY KILLED IT. They played every song that you'd recognize from radio or various DJ sets, and the electronic element was oddly soothing. "Helicopter" was the crowd favorite by far, and seemed to liven people's spirits. But it wasn't long before the vibe turned around and there were ...

4. LOTS OF KIDS TRIPPING TO RADIOHEAD'S BEAUTIFULLY SAD TUNES. It's gorgeous music for sure, and I was really happy to finally hear Thom Yorke live. But there's something kind of disheartening about putting a band like Radiohead on as the last headliner on a Friday night -- it doesn't exactly get you hyped to go run around to some afterparties. Definite highlight was during Fake Plastic Trees when a fireworks display went off in the background, seemingly planned for the high-point in the song. When all was said and done, it was a tiring day, the end of which leading to...

5. TOO MANY AFTERPARTIES! My lord. All over the city, throughout the neighborhoods and downtown. Hit up a Bloc Party afterparty at Debonair in WickerPark and had to call it a night around 2:30.

 

Heading off to DAY TWO now. Spank Rock's at 4:30. Hope I can catch it ...

 

Jen

 

RADIOHEAD doing FAKE PLASTIC TREES:

 

 

URB AT LOLLAPALOOZA, DAYS 1-3:

 

DAY 2 (Lupe, Uffie, Rage)

DAY 3 (Kanye, Chromeo, Flosstradamus)

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