One of my resolutions for 2008 was to see Radiohead in concert. I thought it was going to be an easy task, which is why I resolved to do it, since I'm quite lazy, but little did I know that it would take a plane ticket, a five day vacation, and well over a thousand dollars to accomplish it.
Festival concerts can be exhausting, and since I'm only 5' 7" and a good three inches shorter than your average fella, most of my view at the festival was either the back of some bong-smoker's head or a ginormatron:
I like music, though, so all's well that ends well. The highlights of the concert were The Go! Team, Jamie Lidell, and Kanye West, although I must admit the Kanye show was so great mostly because I was so drunk.
And then of course there were Radiohead:
It was a tad surreal watching them play Fake Plastic Trees while packt like sardines in a sweaty crowd with fireworks in the background and helicopters overhead. Of course the sound totally blew out my cheap camera mic so it sounds kinda like poop, but trust me, it wasn't:
Sigh. During the three days, we took in:
Friday: Rogue Wave (good) The Go! Team (surprisingly great) Duffy (heard but not seen) The Black Keys (heard but not seen) Gogol Bordello (pretty energetic, but really not my thing) Mates of State (one of my favorite bands, but not appropriate for Lollapalooza) Bloc Party (good, but really just a long wait until Radiohead) Radiohead (unforgettable)
Saturday: MGMT (good) Brand New (ok, but a little too emo for me) Jamie Lidell (surprisingly incredible) Broken Social Scene (heard but not seen) Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (super fun) Wilco (slightly boring, but at least nobody got crushed like they did at the competing Rage concert)
Sunday: Brazilian Girls (pleasant sounds but kinda yawn-worthy) Amadou & Mariam (heard but not seen) Black Kids (Erik called them "tight") Iron & Wine (too quiet for Lollapalooza... too quiet for pretty much anywhere) Gnarls Barkley (played some nice covers, drew a huge crowd) Mark Ronson (lots of fun and cuss words) Kanye West (a drunken delight)
It seems you were always in the opposite direction! Everything we saw was pretty amazing. Did you catch Perry Farrell and Slash on the Kids stage? It was pretty phenomenal. Talk about surreal.
I am glad though, that I didn't talk myself into the pricey tix...I thought they would have been so much better.
