lollapalooza 2005

did you hear the news?
it was hot in chicago over the weekend.
FUCKING hot.
kinda like STANDING ON THE SUN fucking hot.

from the Chicago Sun Times:
"The temperature in Chicago on Sunday was three degrees shy of the all-time high of 105 degrees, reached in 1934".

At the hottest point on Sunday afternoon, Tegan and Sara, my fellow Canadian cuties, quit playing after singer Sara Quin passed out and was taken backstage.

"About 70 people were treated for heat exposure from the event, and two people were sent to the hospital with heat stroke".

I came across 2 people who experienced trouble with the heat - one girl dropped like a bag of rocks saturday morning while we were all waiting for the gates to open. The other guy happened to be sitting next to me under a tree sunday afternoon, waiting for his buddy to grab a medic. And yours truly ALMOST became a victim of the heat sunday evening, watching my last band of the weekend. But more on that later.

So Saturday morning I hit the road to make the 3-hour trip to Chicago - relatively painless for that kind of trip. As I pull into the big city (around 9am), the skies open up and I'm given the impression that the weekend might be wet, even though the earlier weather forecast had called for sunny and clear. Oh well.

Find my exit easy enough, find my hotel easy enough and park the car. Get myself checked into the hotel, but naturally no rooms will be available until mid afternoon. No worries.

With the rain having ended and leaving us with an overcast sky, I make my way a few blocks to Grant Park and join the early crowds in line. Volunteers are moving through the crowd checking tickets and handing out weekend wristbands, so that should speed things up a bit. Not bloody likely!

I think we ended up standing in line for 1.5 hours waiting for the security checks to open, and this would be the time of our first heat casualty as mentioned above.

So the gates open and I check out the merchandise, grab a poster/program/schedule/etc. and make my way to the main field with the 4 music stages. My first impression was that the layout would fucking suck. 4 stages at each corner of the rectangular field could only mean a wash of sound, but as I soon found out, being closer to each stage kind of erased that fear based on the wall of sound coming from the particular stage you were at.

First band of the weekend: The Redwalls (11.45am)
Found myself a piece of grass and parked my ass. These guys are Chicago locals and had a good vibe.

Next band:
...and you will know us by the trail of dead (1.30pm)
Parked myself at stage left and enjoyed the sounds of M83 from across the field while the band set up. They thoroughly kicked everyone's ass as expected and trashed their equipment to end the set. Fuck yeah!

Next band:
Kaiser Chiefs (2.30pm)
Not nearly as close to the stage this time as they had already started their set, but it was pretty fun just the same. The lead singer was close to losing his voice, so at the end of their set, he invites a guy and girl from the front row to sing "Oh My God".

At this point I make my way back to the hotel to grab a room key and drop my backpack that I had been hauling around all morning. In the air conditioned comfort of my room, I splash some water on my face and take a lovely little nap. Right around 5.30pm I make my way back to the park for further musical acts.

Next band:
The Black Keys (6.30pm)
Park myself at stage right and enjoy the sounds of Blonde Redhead from across the field while the band set up.

The Keys fucking kicked everyone's ass. A killer 2-piece band (drummer and guitarist) that rock out the blues! Instant highlight of the weekend.

Next band:
The Walkmen (7.30pm)
Park myself at stage left and enjoy the boys from NYC. I tend to attract the crazies, as evidenced by the freak behind me who would let out blood-curdling screams throughout songs, with no apparent reason for it, other than to scream. Oh well.

Next band:
Digable Planets (8.45pm)
Reunited after 10 years apart, this hip-hop trio made everybody shake their ass.
Again parked myself at stage right - Great stuff and a great way to end the first day of Lolla'05.


Sunday morning was leisure time, sleeping in and resting for what was to be an unbearable day at the park. Somewhere around 11.30am, get myself checked out and make my way back to the park. Was it hot? Yeah, it was fucking hot. Like walking out of the hotel and into the sauna. And the skies were clear, which would only make it worse.

First band:
OK Go (11.45am)
Park myself at stage left and prepare to be thoroughly rocked by these Chicago locals.
For their last song, they play a tune from their soon-to-be-released new disc and the 4 band members perform a killer dance routine. Fun!

Next band:
Kasabian (1.30pm)
Same stage as OK Go, so I kept my same spot, but unfortunately with the sun directly above me, scorching my arms and neck. Enjoyed the sounds of The Ponys across the field as the band set up. And the English blokes did not disappoint, thoroughly rocking it for the crowd.

By this time, the afternoon heat is beginning to kick my ass, so I grab a seat between stages and enjoy the sounds of Louis XIV. I had fully intended to catch Tegan and Sara, and I managed to catch their soundcheck, but the heat was just too stifling. Sounds like I missed seeing Sara pass out on stage. Instead, I made my way off the music field and up towards the entrance, searching for a glimpse of shade, which I thankfully found near the Kidzapalooza stage. It turned out pretty well, cuz their was a fun little female punk band from Detroit who played punk rock nursery rhymes!! Kick ass!!

The punkers changed my mind about leaving early and forced me back into the stifling heat of the music field.

Next band:
Ben Kweller (4.30pm)
Parked myself at stage right and prayed for the sun to sneak behind the stage rigging.
Ben thoroughly kicked our asses!

Next band:
The Arcade Fire (5.30pm)
This was easily the FARTHEST away I had been from any band during the weekend. The crowds were immense for whatever reason. The man himself, Perry Farrell, came out and introduced the fine Canadian troupe of musicians and wowed the crowd.

Next band:
The Dandy Warhols (7.30pm)
Parked myself at stage left for what was to be my final band of the weekend. Enjoyed the sounds of Spoon from across the field as the band set up. The trippy sounds of the Warhols were awesome, but it was obvious the heat was finally wreaking havoc with my body. By the second-last song, a very long and drone-y jam, I was moments away from going down like a bag of rocks. The only time that has ever happened was at an acoustic Posies gig in Cleveland a few years ago, where I totally blacked out and woke up looking at the floor. Scary shit!! And I could totally sense that it was about to happen again!! Thankfully I had water with me, so I tried to sip it up and keep my senses. There was also a steel barrier in front of me, so I leaned on that to gain some composure, while sweat began to pour down my forehead. I've pretty much determined that being on my feet for 2 days, under intense heating conditions, and the sensory overload of the music totally makes my system shut down. So leaning on the barrier saved my ass, cuz I was able to take the pressure off my legs and bring myself back to center.

By the time they did their last song, I was feeling much better and I was ready to get the fuck out of there and into an air-conditioned car for the ride home.

Got back to the hotel parking garage, fetched my car and hit the road. Another uneventful 3-hour ride back into Indiana and in my bed a little after midnight.


Perhaps the weekend heat will be a nice preparation for the next adventure:
My return trip to El Paso, Texas this coming weekend.

August in Texas?
How hot could it possibly be??

Tales to follow.