Day 1:
Stars
Umphrey’s McGee
Mates of State
My Morning Jacket
VHS or Beta DJ set
Death Cab for Cutie
After a well-deserved week of rest and recuperation, I can now begin covering my experience at Lollapalooza 2006. As you may or may not expect, I went into the weekend with the entire festival almost completely planned out. Although some of the plans did change, I am proud to say that my brother David and I survived from approximately noon to 10 pm three days in a row. To save time (and avoid boring you), I will only talk about the groups who rocked my socks off. If I didn’t see a band, don’t remember much about their set, or didn’t enjoy a band, I probably won’t mention them here. I like to follow the age old motto, “If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything at all.”
According to my plan, we arrived at Grant Park on Friday promptly at 12 pm so I could help pass out Innerview magazines for an hour. The first band I was determined to see was Anathallo, who bombarded the audience from the PlayStation stage at 1:00 pm. Descriptions of the group always mention the former marching band participation of these Michiganders, but it’s no secret when you see their stage set. Their xylophones look like they were permanently “borrowed” from the band storage room. But a couple things stood out to me about this group’s live set. First, the front man has a sense of humor, and likes connecting with the crowd. It doesn’t matter if we had no idea what he was yapping about when describing a Japanese folk story (which inspired much of their album Floating World). He reminded me of the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy. Secondly, I was amazed at how their complex music came together so seamlessly in a live setting. With seven members on stage, there is much to coordinate, and they pulled it off like pros. Third, they were extremely grateful for the chance to be there. I heard multiple thank you’s and other phrases of awe and excitement from the band. So it seems that Anathallo learned a bit more at band camp than that geek from American Pie, like how to kick off a three day urban music festival the right way.
The next band to tickle my fancy was Stars, who played the Adidas stage at 3:30 pm. Stars are the band for springtime, but fit well in summer too. Their music would fit well accompanying time lapse photography of flowers opening. Strangely, their music would also fit in many 80’s teen movies (think Breakfast Club or really any of the Howard Hughes flicks). Seeing them on the festival’s only permanent stage was rewarding, despite the camera crews constantly blocking our view (there’d better be a live DVD MR. PERRY FERREL!). Their music has a raw naivety to it, but also a stylistic quality that makes it completely unique. Their music is bittersweet in nature, but also for me personally because I came to know them around MSU graduation time. Songs like “Set Yourself On Fire” play like a moment stopped in time, allowing the listener to witness it all in detail. They didn’t play “The Big Fight” or “He Lied About Death,” which are my favorites, but their performance was still once of the best of the weekend. I also love them because Evan Cranley and Amy Millan are on the current Broken Social Scene roster, but I’ll get to that later. I said enough about this band between this festival coverage and my
I had seen Umphrey’s Mcgee about a dozen times at indoor venues, so I had some idea what to expect for their set at 4:30 pm on the AT&T stage. What I didn’t expect was the giant crowd. Umphrey’s isn’t your run of the mill jam band. They operate with a strictly no bullshit mentality, melting all forms of rock together with a currently unmatched ability for improvisation. And improvisation is the key factor. My favorite moments of their concerts are when they experiment and let themselves wander. Some of their album tracks just aren’t that exciting, and the vocals are often unattractive. The bottom line is that this set was a chance for the little turbo touring band to show a crowd of near 40,000 what they’re capable of.
Power duo Mates of State played on the AMD stage at 5:00 pm. Although there wasn’t as much tangible energy as a small club show (it’s too bad that I missed their Lolla pre-show at Abbey Pub), they still drew one of the biggest crowds to that smaller stage. Their performance didn’t falter in the boiling afternoon sun either. Opening with “Fraud in the 80’s,” they pushed on for the hour allowed to them and created more racket than would seem possible by two people. The best thing about Mates is that they know their role. They know what they’re capable of, and they do it full out with their keyboards, drums, and dual vocals. They are right when they claim “You will surely find us pleasing to your ears.”
After a hefty walk to the north end, I found what would become my regular spot on the hill to the viewers left of the Bud Light stage, where My Morning Jacket played at 6:30 pm. I have to admit, I was impressed by this Kentucky rock band. I want to hate them because of all the praise given to their 2005 album Z, but they make it so difficult. With songs like “What A Wonderful Man” and “Anytime,” you can’t help but bounce to the beat while taking in all the sunshine and skyscraper views. Their set made me think of them as the new brand of arena rockers. With Jim James' gigantic voice and straight up rocking guitars, they could fill every square inch of a stadium with celebratory sound. So cheers to MMJ for impressing me, despite my desire to detest them.
Since I didn’t want to watch Sleater-Kinney or take another trip to the south end to see Violent Femmes, I went to check out the Mindfield where a VHS or Beta DJ Set was slated for 8:00 to 10:00 pm. During the day, this was supposedly filled with movies, comedy, and singing competitions. But at night, the small stage with dual video screens turned into a dance party. This was a real unexpected treasure. There were streamers and inflatable brains hanging from the trees, creating a small forest haven from the chaos of the festival. I wish that I had been intoxicated, because VHS or Beta was spinning some awesome music (including Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers). But I was sober, so I just relaxed and watched the psychedelic visuals on the screen.
After a half hour of that, I returned to the Bud Light stage for Death Cab for Cutie’s set at 8:30 pm. Just two years ago, I saw them in a small ballroom at MSU, and now they played a headline slot at Lollapalooza. That’s crazy! I give them kudos for playing such a wide variety of music. They included older songs like “President of What?” and “Company Calls,” and played many from Transatlanticism (my favorite of their CD’s) like “The New Year” and “Title and Registration.” So Death Cab is no longer the tiny Pacific Northwestern emo band, but instead are world class performers. I don’t think they made my top ten performance count, but I was still impressed. I did leave before the end of their set in order to beat the traffic to the train. So day one I survived from 1:00 pm to about 9:30 pm. Stay tuned for days 2 and 3!
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