Wow, I didn’t mean to let the week get away from me! But, that’s what happens when trying to readjust from the rock-n-roll lifestyle to the ordinary one. *sigh*
Anyhow, here’s how day one panned out.
After our later than expected arrival, we had to commence napping. Our initial plan was to catch Louis XIV at 3:15, see what all the fuss is about over at Gogol Bordello at 4:15, Catch the Raconteurs at 6:15 and finish off with Radiohead at 8. We are so cute with our ambition.
We were sleepy kids. We woke up later than planned, and realized we would mis Louis XIV. We were only going to see Gogol because we would already be there and have time to kill. So, we decided to just go for The Raconteurs and Radiohead. So, we got ready, applied mucho sunscreen and bugspray, and headed off for the Park-and-Ride. (Reason number one we were not pleased with our hotel. We had to park-and-ride, rather than get right on the el.) So, we parked, we picked up transit passes, and got on the train. It was pretty smooth sailing into the loop, we got off, and set out for the lovely Grant Park. We made it to the park, among many other music fans, lots of whom were that guy, wearing their favorite Radiohead shirts to the show. No, really, you are going to see Radiohead, and you actually like them? Thanks for wearing the shirt so I could figure it out!! Douche. Bags. Anyhow, we get to the park, and we see the clearly labeled gate with the Lollapalooza logo above it. Hurray! Success! Until we find out we can’t actually just cross the street and get there. Nope, that crosswalk was closed. We had to walk to one end of the park, cross the street, and walk back to the gate. Whiskey tango foxtrot, mates. So, we head to the south end of the park. On the bright side, we did hit where we had to exchange our tickets for wristbands. See, the deal was, if you had a one-day ticket, you just relinquished your ticket at the gate, and were stuck inside from that point on. No re-entry. However, for those of us who were three-daying it, the tickets had to be turned in for wristbands. You got one wristband, and if it was altered, damaged, lost, etc, you were screwed. They did not get replaced. We were nervous about this, expecting plastic berr garden style bracelets that we were expected to keep pristine. When we received our wristbands, we were pleasantly surprised, however, to find they were woven fabric, with a one-way slider. We figured these would be more difficult to lose, and thus figured we wold be able to see everyone we wanted to see. Se did our loop-de-loop and made it back to the gate for entrance. At nearly the end of the Raconteur set, with growling tummies. Didn’t realize we would have to do so much to get in, and made a mental note for Saturday. Decided to see what the food court had to offer. I had a yummy slice of pizza, and a delicious veggie wrap, while G had some tacos. A little pricey compared to general food, but reasonable for arena fare, and definitely reasonable considering the quality. I also thought a beer sounded delicious, so we picked up a Bud Select (don’t laugh. Of the options, it was the best) and some sodas, and enjoyed our festival lunch. We then proceeded to the South Stage to gear of for Radiohead.
Now, I was pretty fucking excited to see them. I’d never seen them live, and they rarely come here. G’s seen them a couple of times, and even had the luck of meeting Thom and Johnny at First Ave, as they happened to be wandering around after the show. Now that’s one to tell the grandkids. Maybe someone else’s grandkids. I will admit a seething envy over that story, and was pretty pumped for the show.
We made our way to the area where the crowd started getting dense, and figured we could work our way more forward as crowd shift occurred. We spent a while standing behind a couple that just made me sad. Mainly, it was the girl who made me sad. She was petite, and huddled up to her boy, in a way that made her look scared. She appeared to be Chinese, based on her features, though I could be wrong, sadly my skills at these things are not tip-top. Anyhow, she had her hair bleached, and not well. It was the at home style of bleaching, that I would strongly caution against for those with black hair, as it turns it a putrid shade of goldenrod. She desperately needed the color to be toned out, which is not what made me sad…I’m getting there. She also had light blue contacts in. It was as though she was trying desperately to fit this Aryan mold. She was a lovely girl. However, with all the weird fake things she had going on, it just distracted from her features. I’m not saying she shouldn’t dye her hair or anything, it just seemed she was trying to mask who she was. She could’ve gone so many other routes with color that would have looked awesome, and that a pasty girl like me could never pull off. I mean I don’t know her, so I could just be reading too much into it, but it was weird and sad to me. I felt as though there was something to her heritage she was trying to reject.
Enough about that. Eventually, it was concert time! There was a chunk we were behind some serious stoners. I don’t get in the case of drugs/alcohol why you would drop serious bank to see a show, then get totally messed up. Why not just enjoy the show??? Anyhow, eventually we were able to distance ourselves, and just immerse ourselves in the Radiohead. It was delightful. My only beef was the screens that made it more possible for those of us toward the back to see the stage action. The whole time they were doing crazy split images, usually in quadrants and always in wacky colors. I see where they were going artistically, but could’ve done with some straight up shots of the band. One of the highlights of the show was partway through. Fireworks started going off somewhere behind the stage, and were reflected in a couple of the buildings across the way. They started during “Everything In Its right Place,” and continued during “Fake Plastic Trees.” Simply amazing. I kind of wished that it could’ve been at the end of the show, just because it was so cool. They actually closed with a favorite of mine, “Idiotheque,” so I can’t complain too much. I will say that I was not disappointed. Thom Yorke has such a beautiful voice. I realized during the show that I think he’s adorable, but not in a “list” sort of way, but more in the way that I could just see hanging out with him at the pub over a couple of pints and chatting about the world today and stumbling off into the night. I sort of want a mini Thom to keep in my pocket so he’s handy for whenever I needed such a situation to occur. We hung back a bit until the crowds thinned a bit before making our way out.
To keep the rock-and-roll theme, we ate at the Hard Rock. Cheesey? Yes. However, also delicious! I got my Nacho fix, and my frozen drink fix, and we got a couple of pins for our collection and I picked up a tee that I have long thought to be cute, but finally got since it was on clearance. We finally made it back to the hotel in the wee hours. I had planned to shower off the ick, but crashed into bed instead. I figured at worst, we could use the other bed in the room when we needed clean linens. Probably the only bright side to being in a room with two doubles.
Next up, Day two and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!!!!