August 5th, 2007
Lollapalooza
Grant Park
Chicago, Illinois

Ed w/Kings of Leon...
Slow Night, So Long
Main Set...
Why Go, Corduroy, Save You, Do The Evolution, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Severed Hand, Education, Even Flow, Given To Fly, World Wide Suicide, Lukin, Not For You, Daughter, State Of Love And Trust, Wasted Reprise, Alive
First Encore...
Better Man, Crazy Mary, Life Wasted, Rearviewmirror
Second Encore...
No More, Rockin' In The Free World

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Lolla... ...palooza! I'm running on very little sleep here (4-5 hours on Saturday night and about 4 hours last night) so let's see how I do at this... Saturday I drove to Dan and Lynn's house. Dan and I then drove to the O'Hare vicinity to the hotel I reserved. It was a Hilton Garden Inn and it turned out to be really nice. Rich and Steve then met up with us at the hotel...after a trip to Target and Office Depot, we drove to meet up with the others (Bob, Kirk, Rob, and Baker) for dinner. After dinner, we went to Dave & Buster's. We had a good time even though the place is completely ghetto now and about 1 out of 5 games functioned properly. They had a new game, though...a trivia game...that would spit out like a 130-some tickets if you answered all of the questions right. We used a lot of our points on that. By the end of the night, our hard earned tickets (totaling over 7,000) bought us a very sweet The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift remote control CAR! 7,000 tickets = $220. Money well spent!!! It was rad. And everyone but Steve got a kazoo, which was even radder. We went back to Rob's place and charged the car for an hour...and then we were able to drive it for about 5-10 minutes before it died.

Lolla day...we weren't in a rush to get in because we knew we were not going to try to stand up front. Steve and I did want to see Amy Winehouse and she was on around 2...we made it in time...but Steve wanted to go the front. I did not: it was sunny and miserable...I did not want to waste my energy on that shit. There was a rumor that Ed was going to play at the Kidzapalooza stage...so we went there. Ed didn't play but I was alright with that. Perry Ferrell played for a little bit and the School of Rock All Stars performed (kind of reminded me of Pop Concert at Dondero). Regardless of that... that stage was positioned in the SHADE, therefore, it rocked.

We headed over to the main stage (AT&T stage---this is vital for later) to see Kings of Leon. I was sort of curious to see them. I love Slow Night, So Long (the song Ed will perform with them from time to time) but when I went on iTunes to listen to some of their other stuff, I couldn't really take it. I'm not nuts about all of their stuff, but I think they represent themselves better live. My two second uneducated opinion. Ed did come out and play Slow Night, So Long so I was geeked. Things were starting to get crowded around us midway thru the Kings of Leon set. We were maybe 15-20 feet back from the barricade, way Jeff side...in front of the screen.

After KOL, went to go get some food and water! I was excited to see that there was a Chicago Diner stand...my sister is a hardcore fan of the Chicago Diner (Chicago Diner is a vegan/vegetarian restaurant). They had burgers and dogs and something else...but I overheard the people working the booth say that the fajitas wrap was the best. They could've had a lot left and wanted to get rid of them...but I fell for it. I didn't expect it to not be hot...but it was pretty good. It was really large and I ate half of it. I think there was some fake chicken in there...and it was good. I went back to everyone...and I was like...I don't like My Morning Jacket and I really don't want to stand thru them AND Pearl Jam...so I took off and found a "quiet" spot to sit. I noticed more and more people filling in thru the set...and I got a little nervous. So I did one last pee run and miraculously found everyone. I'm just grateful that everyone is so fucking tall...a little easier to find everyone in an insane crowd.

I needed to pee before Pearl Jam came on, but there was no way I was even attempting it. We still hadn't connected with Dan and Lynn and Rob was off somewhere. How perfect was it that we were standing right in front of the AT&T stage...and practically all of us have AT&T and we had zero service. Nice and convenient! Couldn't call or text. Rad beyond rad! I guess Kirk was able to get service by holding his phone way above his head. Haha.

Right before Pearl Jam came on stage, some dick with a cup of piss put it in bag right in front of us. Totally nice guy! We had to be a bit cautious throughout the show...watch the piss bag!

Miraculously, Dan, Lynn, AND Rob got to our group before the show started. I tell ya, we're some awesome people with super skills.

After all the standing...all the heat...the fact I couldn't really see the stage...I thought I was going to have a shit ass time. But I proved myself wrong...I had an awesome time! I was sooooo looking forward to seeing the band...and fuck, they opened with Why Go! And the crowd was LOUD. Everyone was screaming the lyrics. That felt damn good for me...so it had to feel damn good for the band. I swear the ground was shaking. It was a rock show to start, for sure.

Education was a definite rad. The BP/Amaco song definitely would've been better if they went into that SUV improv. Perfect match. Match made in heaven!

Rocking was pretty cool...Ed had everyone and their mother come on stage. Then the camera panned on Mr. Dennis Rodman and the crowd went wild. Definitely looked like a fun party up there...

Some people may think there were some poopers in there (Elderly, Better Man, Crazy Mary) but they didn't phase me. Regardless of what this set looks like to me now, I know I had a fucking great time and I was not bummed I went to Lolla...at all!

They better announce some shows soon...cause I can't wait another year to see them.

After the show, we said our good-byes. Parted ways. Dan, Lynn, and I drove back to their house. We went to bed. We all woke up. Lynn went to work, I drove home.
 
 

08.11.07

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