Chicago is... Lollapalooza (Day 1)

I would have posted this earlier but Lollapalooza hangovers are a very real thing and they can happen without a drop of alcohol.  I've recovered enough now to tell of my adventures in Grant Park.

It had been months since I sat, stressed, waiting to click the "Buy" button before the tickets for Lollapalooza 2013 sold out in minutes.  MINUTES.  By some miracle I scored 3-day passes for my fifth consecutive year at the massive and ever-growing festival (300,000 people this year, absolutely insane).  Finally the day had come.  My friend Lizzy, who came into the city for the weekend, and I covered ourselves in sunscreen and ventured out of my apartment to Grant Park.

Lizzy and I started at The Neighbourhood, but it wasn't really my thing so I headed in the direction of the BMI stage. One of my favorite things about Lollapalooza is walking around listening for something that sounds good, and the shady and intimate BMI stage is usually good for this.  There I found American Authors; their banjo-tinted pop was much more my speed.  You may have heard "Best Day Of My Life" in a Lowes commercial.

My cousin put Father John Misty in her top three Bonnaroo shows, so I thought I'd check him out after San Cisco.  It ended up being my favorite show of the day.  J. Tillman had the crowd in the palm of his hand like an Evangelical preacher as he schmoozed and seductively swayed his hips.  I stayed for the whole set.  Here's a video I didn't take:

And here's a picture I did:

My headliner of choice on Friday was The Killers.  Sorry Nine Inch Nails, but I didn't spend the majority of 2008-2010 with you serenading my eardrums or risking frostbite (twice) for an autograph.  This time, however, my friend Lizzy and I opted to watch from the hill near the main south stage instead of fighting through the crowd.  The boys from Sin City ("We'll try not to corrupt you" promised Flowers) got the crowd dancing from the get-go, opening with Mr. Brightside and keeping the dancing going with Spaceman.  As usual, they played their cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay," but this time Bernard Sumner, who was on the stage just a couple hours earlier with New Order, joined Brandon Flowers on vocals.  The Killers sweet-talked Chicago, with Dave Keuning donning a Bulls jersey for the occasion and the band covering (and making up additional lyrics to) "My Kind Of Town."  It was unabashedly cheesy; they showed pictures of the Bean and Al Capone and even Barack Obama.  But then, Las Vegas is known for corny showmanship so it was completely fitting.  You can watch the whole live stream of the show here.

Lizzy and I, a couple of Victims staking out our spot on the hill.

Shadowplay with Bernard Sumner

Mr. Flowers with the bass (unf) during For Reasons Unknown

The Bean. I cannot.

And with that, Day 1 of Lollapalooza 2013 was over.  To save your attention span, I'm breaking my account of the weekend into three posts.  You can read the next one here.


**I made a playlist of everyone I saw at Lolla 2013.  You can listen here:

Lollapalooza 2013 from kc_dilla on 8tracks Radio.