I go to a dermatologist every so often to get a routine checkup on my moley self.  The dermatologist experience is funny to me because of how they try to make sure you don’t feel naked even though you pretty much are.  The very first thing they tell you when you walk into the little room is to strip down to your underwear and put on a paper gown that covers your body.  The gown is completely unnecessary, though.  It’s like a hot model wearing a robe to their Playboy shoot.  When the doctor comes in, he starts to examine every mole on my arms, then my chest, then stomach, then upper back, and then lower back.  He even examines my scalp (which is surprisingly quite mole-ridden).  It’s never a good thing when a man is done doing his business with you and you’re wearing next to nothing while your hair is a mess.

My last dermatologist was a woman.  I really don’t care what the sex of my dermatologist is.  It’s not like being a girl and having a man for your gynecologist or anything.  The weird thing about her, though, was that she would be all done scanning over my skin but would look down at my boxers as I was laying there and ask if I had any moles “down there” that I wanted her to look at.  Every time she asked that question, I wanted to reply with, “Well, there is an abnormally large growth there.”  Come to think of it, there’s probably some porno movie that begins with that very scene.  I refrained from making any comments like that, though, because I’m classy.  Regardless of the fact that I told her that I had nothing of concern “down there”, she would always lift my waistband and peek at my junk.  There was no examining anything at all.  It was like she just wanted to say hello to the boys.

This past examination proved to be a worthwhile one as the dermatologist told me that there was a mole on my back that may be of concern.  I’ve had a few moles removed in my day with none being cancerous so I don’t get worked up about it at all.  The thought that it could end up being bad news hasn’t even entered into my mind.  Half of that, I’m sure, is because I’ve never had problems in the past.  The other half of me feels that way because I know worrying won’t change anything.  I should get back my results in ten days and hopefully my casual frame of mind won’t come back to haunt me.

I have wanted to see Nicole Atkins in person for the past year or so and was pretty happy to be able to see her so close up at Lollapalooza.  She was on one of the “middle” stages (aka not one of the main stages) which probably helped my cause.  She’s not only cool and has good songs, but she has one of the most powerful voices in the business.  If Ms. Atkins wanted to marry me, I would have no problem with that.  She could even keep her last name if she wanted.

Black Kids

The Black Kids have recently taken on the latest hipster flavor-of-the-month label, and I’d be lying if I said I’d listened to them at all yet.  I was looking forward to seeing what the hype was all about and was lucky enough to get a close spot having stayed from the Nicole Atkins set beforehand.  The first impression I got was that these kids are young.  Really young.  And the lead singer showed off his age by repeatedly dropping f-bombs in between songs as if to try to make people think he was cool or something.  It didn’t exactly work.  I watched/listened to their first few songs and left my close spot to go sit in the shade and watch from afar.  Maybe their recordings are better, but their live stuff just didn’t do it for me at all.

Iron & Wine

When I’m at festivals enduring the heat and massive crowds, I want to listen to music that rocks.  I knew Iron & Wine’s music is pretty mellow, but I was kind of hoping he’d turn it up a bit and rock out a little.  Instead, we just hung out on the lawn and chilled to his music.  It was actually kind of nice to have a break in the middle of the day to relax.

Christmas on Mars Screening

While walking over to see Iron & Wine, we walked right by a big tent.  I didn’t recall seeing the tent before and, upon looking closer, realized that it was for the much-anticipated Christmas on Mars movie by The Flaming Lips (and much “much-anticipated” I mean that it has been eight years in the making).

I asked one of the guys what the story was with the movie, and he said they were holding two screenings for it later in the day.  We just had to wait in line for tickets.  Luckily we were able to snag a one!

When we arrived for showtime, they even had popcorn ready for us…

The movie, as expect, was pretty darn weird. I mean, obviously it was going to be weird considering The Flaming Lips were behind it, but I think I was expecting it to be more fun and strange instead of slower and odd.  It reminded me of an old Kubrick movie which is good, I suppose.  In fact, I was pretty impressed at how well it was done.   Overall, it’s hard to pinpoint just what I felt about the movie because I think I was hoping there’d be a happy medium between weird/fun and odd/complexity.  I’m interested to see what others thing of the film.  Nevertheless, I was really happy to get a chance to enjoy a private screening of it.

The National

I saw The National for the first time last year at Austin City Limits and was really impressed at how their mellow music translated into a rockin’ show.  This time was no exception. They’re really talented and the entire crowd was into them. They were definitely among my top five favorite performances of the festival.

Here’s a video I took of The National playing “Mr. November”.

Nine Inch Nails

I was a big NIN fan back in the day but will admit that I was a little apprehensive seeing them live to finish off the festival.  Luckily, Kanye West was playing opposite his time slot, and I’d already seen him before a couple of years ago. Little did I know, Nine Inch Nails was about to completely blow my mind for almost two straight hours.

I’m not kidding when I say that NIN put on the most elaborate/amazing visual display I’ve ever seen in a live show.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that every single song they performed had its own unique visuals accompanying it.  As my friend Nick pointed out, it was like each song was a music video.

Although I didn’t take this video, here is a clip someone took of the last part of “Ghosts” and the whole song of “Piggy”.  It’s the best one I could find to show how amazing the visuals were throughout the show.

I couldn’t help but think during the show that Trent Reznor is really one of the more innovative artists to emerge in my lifetime.  Even though he was known for being pretty dark and goth-like back in the day, it’s unfair that he’s been pidgeonholed as such because he’s a pretty amazing talent.  I wasn’t expecting to write such a thing after his show, but I think it’s honestly true.  I mean, heck, the guy is created for creating an entire genre of music.  How many people are alive and making good music today that can stake such a claim?

Here’s a video I took of Nine Inch Nails performing “Wish”.

Even though Rage put on a pretty awesome show, I would rank NIN right up there as one of the best shows I’ve seen.

When I was in high school, I had some friends play in a band at our annual talent show.  One of the guys joined the group on guitar to play a Green Day song.  The best part was that he didn’t even plug in for the song, and he just rocked out the whole time.  Watching The Ting Tings was like a flashback of that.  There are only two people in the group and pretty much everything outside of the main vocals and part of the drums were pre-recorded and played back during their live set.  I personally want to be able to see everything that is being played instead of just hearing a recording because, well, that’s why you go to live shows to begin with.  That being said, they really did rock out quite a bit, and it was a really fun show despite the fact it might as well have been a karaoke performance.  For an example of what I’m talking about, check out the video I took of them playing “Shut Up and Let Me Go”.

Dr. Dog

I love me some Dr. Dog and can’t stop listening to their new album, Fate.  They just look like they’re having a blast on stage, and you can tell they are giving it their all when they perform.   They’re coming to play in KC at the Record Bar soon so I was contemplating skipping these guys to see Mason Jennings, a guy I have been a fan of since college, play across the park.  I’m happy I stayed to watch Dr. Dog because their set rocked.

Mason Jennings

The schedule for Lollapalooza said “Special Guest” at the Kidzapalooza stage so I ran over to check out who the guest would be.  Lo and behold, Mason Jennings was the guest which worked out great.  We were only able to stay for a couple songs including one of my favorites, “Sorry Signs on Cash Machines” before leaving.  He sounded great, and I couldn’t believe how much different he looked since I saw him last.  He used to be clean cut and now he’s all shaggy and hippy looking.

MGMT

Even though they played at one of the larger stages, the crowd for MGMT was insane.  You couldn’t even move or get close to the stage.  Other reviews I’ve read of the show weren’t the most favorable of their set, but I thought they sounded alright.  They are coming to Kansas City to open for Beck so I’ll have to see how they are then.  In the meantime, we decided to hightail it out of the mob and go to the Perry Stage.

Perry Ferrell w/ Slash

The schedule showed “Perry and Special Guest” under this time slot, and we had heard a rumor that Slash was the special guest.  We moved close to the stage and saw there was a DJ playing music, a guy who wasn’t Slash on guitar, a scantily-clad woman dancing, and Perry Ferrell singing songs.  Little did we know, the girl DJing the set was Samantha Ronson, the sister to producer/musician Mark Ronson and current questionably gay partner of Lindsay Lohan.  Apparently Ms. Lohan was backstage watching her, but we didn’t catch a glimpse of her.

The sound on this stage was horrible, and you could barely hear anything Perry was singing.  We stayed around, though, because we wanted to see if Slash showed up.  After enduring really bad music that was too quiet to begin with for about 40 minutes, Slash finally walked on stage.  Everyone went wild until he started playing.  The sound wasn’t any better and the crowd chanted “Turn it up, Turn it up!” while pointing their fingers in the air.  Instead of doing anything about it, Perry started dancing while pointing his pointer fingers in the air going, “Yeah!”  He obviously didn’t get it, and we left after a song and a half.  This had the potential to be one of the more memorable moments of Lollapalooza, but it was easily the most disappointing.

Explosions in the Sky

I saw Explosions in the Sky at the Austin City Limits Festival two years ago.  They had a night slot which worked great for them and couldn’t help but wonder how a slot during the middle of the day would be.  I’m not all that familiar with their material so a lot of their stuff comes across as instrumental guitar wanking without hooks, but for some reason, I still think they completely rock.   Daytime or nighttime doesn’t matter with this band.  They know how to put on a show regardless.

Okkervil River

Over the past few years, I’ve turned into a pretty big Okkervil River fan. Even though they’re playing at the Bottleneck on 9/12, I still wanted to see how they’d play to a festival crowd.  I loved every minute of it and, by the reaction of everyone around me, I definitely wasn’t the only one.  Will Sheff writes some truly great songs and has a ton of energy live.  I can’t wait to see them in a smaller venue in September.

After hanging out for a little after Okkervil River’s set to listen to a little of Broken Social Scene, I heard my friend Courtney say, “Hey, that’s that guy..!”  Then Rachel said, “Brad, that’s…that’s…!” To which I turned around, saw Rob Huebel with his girlfriend throwing something away.  I’m a huge fan of Human Giant so I immediately went into geek mode. Without really even thinking, I yelled out, “Rob!” He came over, chatted for a little bit, and agreed to take a picture with us. Love the face he made.

Lupe Fiasco

Because we were too busy rubbing elbows with celebrities I geek out about even though no one else probably even knows who they are, it took a while to make it all the way over to the other end of the park.  Our plan was to see Lupe and then stay to get a good spot for Rage Against the Machine.  By the time we got there, we only saw the last half of his set.  The last half may have been the best performance I’d seen at Lollapalooza up to that point.  He had a full band all dressed in white, and Lupe was all over the place.  He ended up in the crowd to finish up his set.  It’s too bad that so many people were likely there to get a good spot for Rage and not to see him because his performance was pretty great.

Here’s a video I took of Lupe performing “Superstar”.

Rage Against the Machine

I should preface this recap by mentioning that, prior to about a year ago, I honestly would have never imagined that I’d have a chance to see this band.  They broke up in 2000 right at, in my opinion, the peak of their craft and popularity.  Needless to say, our group of friends was beyond jazzed to finally experience what a Rage Against the Machine show was all about.  I felt bad having to miss Wilco co-headlining in their own hometown, but I’ve seen Wilco many times and Rage is literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

As Rage was about to come out, sirens sounded, and the crowd went nuts.  They opened with “Testify”, and I really don’t think I’d be exaggerating by saying that the entire crowd filling up the south end of Grant Park was jumping up and down.  The start of the show was easily the coolest crowd experience I’ve been a part of.

Here’s a clip I took of Rage playing “Testify”.

After a couple of a songs, Zach de la Rocha stopped the show to tell everyone to take 5-10 steps back.  Things were looking pretty intense close to the stage, and I think our spot was at the closest point you could be to still feel completely safe.  I knew that the show was going to have its fair share of douchebags and meatheads, and it’s unfortunate that they had to create a buzzkill for everyone else.

Here’s a video I took of Rage playing “Know Your Enemy”.

The band stopped playing two more times throughout their set, including one time when the Head of Security took center stage to warn everyone about being safe.  Our area was totally fine, but it looked pretty crazy up front when they showed shots of it on the screen.  People were just lifelessly leaning against the front of the fence while others were being pulled out of the crowd and out of harm’s way.  It was kind of a freaky thing to watch and was, again, unfortunate because it took away from the energy of the show.  I had to laugh at one point when Zach took the microphone and said, in his typical, intense and serious tone, “Ya’ll need to look out for each other out there.  You need to be peaceful to one another…okay…this next one is called ‘Bullet in Your Head’!” Ha!

Throughout the show, people would make their way from the front of the stage to take a breather.  When they passed us, they honestly looked like they had just jumped in a pool that was located in a sauna.  They were drenched and steam was coming off of their bodies.  All semi-scary parts aside, the show was pretty awesome. I really hope they start creating some new material soon and, with our country the way is now, they’d have plenty of topics to choose from to write new songs.  Amazing, amazing show.

Here’s a video I took of Rage playing “Freedom”.

After Rage, most of our group was too exhausted to even think about going out for a drink.  I was definitely in that group, as well, but my friends Rachel and Courtney convinced me to go to a bar by The Metro because Broken Social Scene was playing an aftershow there.  They’d heard BSS usually goes to The Gingerman after they play so we hung out there for a beer.  There was still a line outside The Metro when we got there as the show hadn’t even begun yet.  While sitting there, I looked outside and saw Karin, I girl I went to high school with and hadn’t seen since, standing in line for the BSS show.  I immediately went outside to say hi.  It was awesome to see her and catch up after not seeing her for almost a decade.  Talk about random!

With only one more day of the festival, it was going to be tough to top Saturday…

I first got to Chicago Thursday night because I wanted to make sure to spend time with my sister who just moved there a couple months ago.  She picked me up at the airport, showed me her apartment, and took me out to a nearby pub to kick it over a few cocktails.  It was great to see her and good to see that she’s beginning to really settle in with the city she has had her heart set on for so long.

On Friday, I made a point to get to Grant Park early enough to ensure that I’d be able to see The Go! Team to kick off the festival.  I saw them a couple years ago and thought they were a blast to witness live.  Sadly, this ended up not being the case.  For some reason, Lollapalooza organizers decided to block off the entire stretch of the park from festival-goers, forcing them to enter on either end of the park.  There were reports of people having to wait a full hour in line to even enter the place which is absolutely ridiculous.

Once we finally got in, day went very well.  Instead of going to see larger bands I’d already seen multiple times, I opted to check out some bands I’d never seen before.  Here’s a breakdown of my day and who I saw:

Jeff Tweedy

I was able to catch the very tail end of Jeff Tweedy’s solo set at the Kidzapalooza Stage.  At first, I couldn’t tell if I just couldn’t see over the crowd or if Mr. Tweedy was standing off of the stage somewhere to sing.  It turns out that the latter was true as Tweedy played while standing with the kids in the front section of the stage.  Even though this meant I couldn’t get a view of the guy, I thought it was a cool gesture to really only focus on the kids for whom the performance was intended to begin with.  It was still a cool environment as you could hear Tweedy sing songs and interact with the kids during his set.  Here is all I could see:

The Kills

It’s funny how different a band can look live then you envision them when you hear their recorded material.  I had no idea they were a two-piece band.  They still put on a good show for everyone despite the fact that I don’t think I could see what the singer’s face looked like the entire time.Gogol Bordello

These guys played at the same time as The Black Keys, a band I am a big fan of but have seen several times.  All of my friends went to see the Keys, but I was excited to check out the much-hyped Gogol Bordello’s live set.  I’m happy to say they didn’t disappoint.  My only regret was that I didn’t make my way closer than where I was because it would have made the show even better.  I never really got into their albums a whole lot because, well, gypsi/circus-sounding rock just doesn’t do it for me a ton.  Live, though, the energy really adds a lot to the music, and they give it 110% from start to finish.  I can only imagine how crazy their shows would be in a smaller venue after seeing them at an open, outdoor location, and I’m kicking myself for not seeing them when they were in KC recently.  Upon leaving to go see Mates of State, I noticed what a beautiful day it was outside.

Mates of State

I was happy to have a chance to check these guys out because I probably wouldn’t have gone to see them on their own if they came to town.  Their music, although pretty quirky, was surprisingly catchier than expected.

Grizzly Bear

Since becoming Pitchfork-approved, Grizzly Bear has been a favorite among hipsters.  I’ve never understood why people liked them so much and hoped seeing them live would change my mind about them.  It definitely didn’t change my mind at all.

Bloc Party

This was my second time seeing Bloc Party at a festival setting and both, ironically, were because I wanted to get a good spot for the headliner that followed them.  I thought they sounded good and the crowd was really into them.  Some friends of mine went to the aftershow later that night, and the frontman apologized for “putting on a bad show earlier”.  I was surprised to hear it because I thought they did a fine job.

Radiohead

It was weird having Radiohead as a sole Friday headliner because that setup is usually done on Sunday to close out the festival.  The anticipation was pretty great, though, and I was happy to have gotten a pretty good spot to see them. Because they started at 8, the sun wasn’t down yet, causing their impressive light display to be washed out.  It’s too bad they couldn’t have come on just a half hour later because the lighting really wasn’t utilized through a good third of their set.

Soon, though, darkness rolled in, and the full Radiohead “experience” was able to take shape.

I, personally, was drawn in by the performance.  It is, afterall, Radiohead we’re talking about.  The crowd, however, didn’t seem to really be all that pumped up considering they were seeing arguably the biggest, most innovative band in the world.  At one point, Thom Yorke even stopped and asked the crowd why they were so quiet.

Here’s a video of them playing “The Gloaming” that I took during the show.

After thinking about why the audience was a little more mellow than expected, I think some of the reason may be because Radiohead isn’t exactly an arena rock type of a band.  Their live shows aren’t really meant to rock your face off but, instead, give off more of a cerebral experience.  There’s a reason the two words that always comes up when describing a Radiohead show is “religious experience”.  Judging from the Lollapalooza message boards following the show, many in attendance felt that way while others found it a little too “boring”.

I would agree that the band seemed to be less engaging than they did when I saw them in St. Louis this past spring which is kind of ridiculous to really say.  I mean, that’s like hearing Tom Brady say that sleeping with Giselle last night wasn’t quite as amazing as it was the night before.  It’s still Giselle!

Here’s a video of them playing “Optimistic” that I took during the show.

Overall, I liked the show a lot and am still pretty amazed that I’ve had the opportunity to see Radiohead twice this year when I honestly didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to see them.  Considering there were still two full days of festival left, it was a pretty amazing way to kick off the weekend.

Now it’s time for bed.  The first part of my Lolla wrapup will have to wait until tomorrow…