August 8 Lollapalooza Day Two

Day Two - starts out with some religious screwballs whose idea of a fun Saturday is standing outside of Grant Park yelling at people about Jesus and repenting. My idea of a fun Saturday is a little bit different than theirs. It includes rock and roll, beers and scantily clad women basking in the sunshine. I think Jesus would hang out with me over them. He would already be rocking the sandals footwear like most of the Lollapalooza crowd.
A couple of ibuprofen tablets for breakfast and my legs are ready to rock for the second straight day.
What a difference 24 hours makes, sunshine and 80 degree temps. Beer me and rock me.
We start out at Langhorne Slim's set on the BMI stage. He was alright. RIYL - old time folk and bluesy country.
I left George and Marcy at Perry's DJ area and headed to the north main stage to see Los Campesinos!, they were very entertaining. I described them to Geo as the Polyphonic Spree if they rocked more and chanted less. RIYL - fun loving uptempo music
Hey, who put that sticker on my backpack? What the hell it sounds like a good plan.

I met up with Geo & Marcy and we caught a few songs by Joe Pug. My thought then was he's OK, nothing special. But I'm listening to his latest CD now and I really like it. I had a problem with the mellower acts at Lollapalooza, especially on the larger stages. The wide open park space requires the band to rock out, at least in my mind. I enjoyed the bands that cranked it up over the bands that should play smaller venues. RIYL - Bob Dylan, Conor Oberst, singer songwriters

We went to see Robert Earl Keen. I love his "Merry Christmas From the Family" song. I really enjoyed his set. Just enough clever, smart ass lyrics to make me listen to his cool version of country. RIYL - clever lyrics, outlaw country
The Arctic Monkeys. The most disappointing band I saw all weekend. I'll admit I only know their hit songs, the rest weren't very good. Definitely not as uptempo or dance rock as the hits. The singer, Alex Turner didn't seem to be enjoying himself. I'm listening to their first CD and I'm loving it. Something was amiss onstage. RIYL - dance rock mixed with a bit of punk attitude
While trying to find G & M, I watched Perry Farrell perform at the self named DJ stage. He was rocking out with some blonde hottie. RIYL - Perry Farrell
Here is the Scottish band, Glasvegas. They were great. A guitar wall of sound with a punk sound that included harmonizing like the Beach Boys at times. RIYL - rock'n'roll history from doo-wop to punk
I couldn't get anywhere near the mosh pit for Rise Against. I probably would have gotten my ass kicked anyway. I pogo'd to a few songs then headed across Grant Park to see Ben Harper. RIYL - aggressive, political punk rock - is there really any other kind of music worth listening to
Stopped to see Lykke Li, didn't stay long due to technical issues. This stage had problems with sound on Friday. If the south main stage had a heavy bass it carried over to this stage. They corrected it today by cranking the music way up on this stage. Miss Li has an extremely high pitched voice, at this volume it was like an ice pick to my brain. Her fans were loving it, singing and dancing in the street. RIYL - Swedish pop, cute blondes, Europop dance songs
I caught the end of TV on the Radio, definitely worth checking them out if you like indie hipster music, while waiting for Ben Harper's set. Ben and his new band, the Relentless Seven were fantastic. Just so you know, I love Ben Harper. Not like Laura Dern does, but he is one of my favorite musicians. He played the slide guitar often and the appropriately self medicated crowd loved it. RIYL - great musicianship, rock'n'blues, tight bands.

The weather was much better today and the music was just right, 'Saturday In The Park', which stage is Chicago playing on. Can this old man make it through another day?