gotshoo?

First off - Some observations:

• I feel left out of the body modification crowd. I have no tattoos, piercings, or wild and crazy hair except for morning bed head.
• $2 for a bottle of water isn’t a bad price.
• My teenage angst years are long gone. I no longer fear the man; I am the man.
• The 80’s are alive again. I mean it. Huge sunglasses, neon colors, running shorts.
• Music still speaks to me.

I drove up late Thursday night leaving Mrs. Shoo with her girlfriend while I headed to Lollapalooza with the guys. As if that was a wise decision, we’ll leave that for another blog post. We both had a great time - even though she encountered the deadly smell of a skunk and had a slight injury with some stairs - and I acted like I was 21 again and watched (note: watched, not par-taked) the guys get turn down by several girls. They eventually scored some numbers.

Three days of concert going, walking the Chicago streets, and trying to keep up with the guys can leave one Shoo tired, so I’ll do my best with the abridged version of my recap.

How about some rockin?

Day 1 -

Friday we didn’t get there till the middle of the afternoon because A. We took the bus, B. They wouldn’t allow my digital SLR in. Even though last year I didn’t have a problem at all. So I had to walk with my buddy Josh to his office which over a mile away (so it seemed) to stash it. In hindsight, if I just put it in my cargo pocket they wouldn’t have even noticed.

The first band we encountered was the Go! Team. The Go! Team was an energetic bunch from England with two drum sets and an eclectic bunch of instruments. All six of them played multiple instruments banging out indie rock tunes with hiphop lyrics. They were a great start and had the crowd going in the blistering heat.

On the way to Gogol Bordello, we stopped and listened to Louis XIV. Another bunch of chaps from England. They were all wearing suits and looked incredibly hot. They would have been a good band to see at an concert hall and not a outdoor festival.

Gogol Bordello. First of all, I picked up their super energetic album back in January last year, so I new what to expect. The concert was like polka on steroids. The band was super energetic, the crowd was into it. It didn’t matter that beer was $5 per cup, we were going to dance. Definitely one of the hi-lights from this year.

Afterwards we jetted back across Grant Park to see Jack White and The Raconteurs. Musically these guys are incredible, but again, another band that would have been better suited for a concert hall and not an outdoor festival.

For the first time, Lollapalooza was sold out this year because of the headlining band on Friday: Radiohead. I’d call myself an avid Radiohead listener. I have the majority of their albums and didn’t get into them till Kid A, but I was disappointed in the concert. Maybe I was spoiled last year with the spetacular light display from Daft Punk or the range of musical talent from Muse, but Radiohead didn’t do it for me.

I hate saying it, and I really didn’t want to believe it but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I needed a mind altering experience, but the feeling wasn’t there.

Probably a case of expecting too much when I would have been better not knowing anything.

Day 2 and 3 coming. Comment if you’ve seen any of the other bands.