We had our buddy Jimmy Coulas from Scents & Subtle Sounds on hand for Lollapalooza 2010 this year, and he gave us some thoughts each day as he got home. Here are his notes from day one…
It has been a while since I have attended a music festival, but I was very excited for this weekend’s Lollapalooza. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the festival on Friday until early evening, but that didn’t stop me from seeing some great music.
First off, I forgot how large this festival is. I made my way across the park over to the Budweiser stage at the north end of Grand Park to catch The Black Keys. I am a big fan of the Keys and really dig their new album, Brothers, which saw the band record with a full band and not just the stripped-down duo that folks are used to. There was a huge crowd on hand and you could sense the anticipation for the Akron duo. The band did a fine job of mixing some of their older material with their new tunes. One of the highlights for me was the jammed out version of “Stack Shot Billy”. With the sun beating down on the stage, guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney delivered some blistering rock ‘n roll. Auerbach had some great solo work and he was sounding very Hendrix-esqe. “Everlasting Light” is one of my favorite songs on the new album and the song didn’t disappoint live. They definitely slowed the song down a bit, which sounded great and gave it a really mellow vibe.
After the Keys finished up with a rip roaring version of “I Got Mine”, I headed over to the Playstation Stage to catch reggae legend Jimmy Cliff. His performance was simply amazing. I really don’t know any other way to describe it. Cliff took no time to break out the classic “Sitting in Limbo,” which sounded about as good as the breeze that swept across the sun-drenched crowd. His enthusiastic performance possessed an energy that not only made you dance, but more than anything made you feel really, really good. It will definitely be in my Top 5 sets of Lollapalooza 2010.
Sadly enough, the crowd seemed to thin out substantially as his performance was coming to an end. It seemed that everyone had Lady Gaga fever and wanted to get a spot to catch her much anticipated set. That just meant more dancing room for everyone who stuck around, including myself.
I decided to check out Chow Town to pick up some grub before the next set. I did a quick survey of my options and decided to go with Kuma’s Corner. They only had a few menu selections, but I went with the Kuma Burger and while it was good, it wasn’t the same as having it at Kuma’s.
I am not really familiar with The Strokes, but I decided to go check them out. One of my goals this weekend is to discover new music and I will have to pick up some of their stuff. They went on stage about 15 minutes late, but they delivered the goods. Frontman Julian Casablancas looked like a mix between Jim Morrison and Joey Ramone from a distance. Wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses Casablancas remained parked in front of the mic while his bandmates cranked out the music.
I am very excited about the next two days at Lolla. There are some great bands and I am really looking forward to it. I am gonna get some sleep and charge my batteries as tomorrow will be a full day!
