Lolla Day Two

The night is coming to an end. I am sprawled out on a lawn in uptown. How did I get here? Why is it so damn hot? Was eating chicken nuggets at three in the morn a good idea? So many questions. Now that we have done the required time shift lets skip to the beginning.

Cereal, coffee, shower, water, lots and lots of water. We hit the train and get back to Grant Park just before two. My sister and her friend (who is pretty awesome in his own right) are off to see Ida Marie. I meet up with the POI and drag her along to Atmosphere. Slug is killing it for a crowd much larger than any I remember from last year. I wish he had played a some more uptown stuff or had Murs join him onstage but it was still a good set.

Arctic Monkeys were fun but ultimately forgettable. I could have done with more songs off the first album. High points were Fluorescent Adolescent and I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor. The big disappointment of the day was the fact that there were too many people who wanted to see Santigold. Coming out to the first portion of Major Lazer's Hold The Line the crowd was primed and ready to go, All 80,000 of them. It was too hot and too crowded to stay. After food, beer, and water we set out to get to the front for Animal Collective's set. Things after this got real, really real.



Let me put things into context. It was hot. Chicago on Saturday was hot and humid as I recall Certain substances were being passed around in the crowd like it was communion. People had been sitting waiting for an hour for this set. I had spent the last six months listening to Animal Collective every day on the train and had bought my ticket just for this set. Some people claim that Animal Collective were disappointing, these people are full of shit. Completely full of shit.



That video right there is exactly what it felt like. Being a punk rock kid I have been in the front for some fairly intense shows. But this was something else. The sun was still up and I was still on the fence about Lolla this year. An hour later it was dark, I was drenched, and I had seen one of the best shows of my life. Maybe you had to be in the middle of it to appreciate it? Maybe you had to have been a part of the swirling school of fish we became for that hour on Saturday? Maybe you had to partake in some what was being passed around? I don't know.

We all know how a electronic set should go. The beats, peaks, valleys, and breaks are familiar to all of us. AC work from a similar starting point but create music based on deduction. They remove the parts that should be there. Is it pretentious? Sure, but when it works there is nothing more exciting. They teased the audience throughout the night taking us right to the top of the mountain. They had the us begging to just have one bass drop, just one huge rave up. By the time Brothersport hit the crowd was frothing at the mouth and exploded. Did we hear the "hits"? Nope. Did anyone care? Maybe. But for a few minutes as we all moved together in unison to Fireworks as the sun dropped behind us none of that mattered.

There were other bands that night. There was party full of amazing people. There was late night chicken nuggets. While I was riding the train home with Fireworks on repeat, none of that seemed important.