Whoever the hell this red blazer guy was — I don’t care — he was awesome! He danced along with a few of the acts as if he had discovered them and was finally watching them take the world by storm. It was kinda cute, actually…
Photo © Hardy-Kado
Day One of Lollapalooza 2006 was spectacular. A truly impressive lineup, a truly impressive backdrop, a truly impressive festival presence, and gorgeous, warm weather all came together yesterday for a very fun day in downtown Chicago…
Here’s my recap…
We got to the festival grounds right around 3:25pm and got in through the gates in less than three minutes or so. Entering was painless and quick, and thanks to the wristband I’ve got on my left arm, exiting and re-entering is also painless…
We moseyed over to the south main stage area where Editors were playing and walked by some excellent music in the process. Quick, look at your schedule to see who the hell this is. Turns out it was a very, excellent band called Mute Math. We went to Editors, caught my two favorite songs (played in a row), and then they launched into the first slow jam* of the day.
* – There were multiple instances throughout the day where a few bands launched into complete momentum-killing songs after some really strong segments. It became our joke of the day — “oh hell, not another slow jam…
From where we were standing, you could pick up glimpses of sound coming from the Mute Math set whenever Editors would stop playing and it finally drew us closer, almost instinctively. From what we heard and saw, these guys are absolutely amazing and the music is fantastic. Their stage antics include plenty of percussive cross-instrument playing by multiple members of the band. Fantastic drummer, fantastic lead — all in all, quite a show and it really drew a crowd. I text-messaged my friends — “Mute Math=awesome” — to which I got “I just walked by … I agree” as a reply from Eric.
- Mute Math – Chaos [mp3]
- Mute Math – Stare at the Sun [mp3]
We headed over to the Umphrey’s McGee set in time to grab a good spot right before they came on. They opened with “All in Time” — not that there’s anything wrong with the quick crowd pleaser — and played a great set (mostly).
Setlist: All In Time, Higgins, Dump City, Words*, Believe the Lie > Plunger
Stasik looked really funky. “Words” was clearly the slow jam. It was around this time that Marc Brownstein, the bassist for the Disco Biscuits, stopped by and dropped off the Disco Biscuits Stolen Tracks 2 — an effective promo disc too good to not share — and it wasn’t until he walked away that we noticed it was him. He stopped by us and fiddled with his backpack, so I just assumed he was reaching for something illegal. Then he tosses a disc on our blanket, doesn’t say one word, and walks off. It was awesome.
From there, we headed across the field to grab a spot for the Secret Machines. Right before they came on, some dude from Q101 announced that the band will be coming back to Chicago in October to play an “in the round” show at Park West. They played at Hiro Ballroom in NYC recently — in the round — and it looked amazing. Their set was fantastic — opened exactly the same as the show at the Metro recently — and the crowd was fantastically blown away.
From there with a little time left on their set, we began our journey cross-festival to see My Morning Jacket. On the way, we bought a smoothie that wasn’t that good. We grabbed a good spot under the monitor for MMJ and they tore the roof off. Easily enjoyable, plenty of rockin’, and a good time had by all. I saw Devil Horn’s Guy run by — that was pretty sweet.
Sleater-Kinney’s set was next and it was amazing. I was mesmerized throughout.
But seriously, the music was great and they really rocked the crowd and got everyone pretty excited by the end of the set. I’m sure that was a lot more special for the true Sleater-Kinney fans as this is the last time they’ll ever play Chicago. They did it justice and went out on a nice Lollapalooza bang…
After Death Cab for Cutie’s first notes, it was clear that it was time to go. Nothing too much against them; I just wanted to conserve the energy I have left for more stuff on Saturday and Sunday. It was a no brainer, really…
