Lollapalooza Day Three

The initial thing of general interest that occurred was that I left my hat on the el. Nate was very kind to offer me his Van's cap, but my first thought upon arriving at the park was "shade, I need shade." I took off to a stage which guaranteed some land mass out of the sun. This determined my fate for the day.

Little Hurricane

This is a band that consists of a woman on drums and a guy on guitar and vocals. (Sound familiar? Of course it does.) They play "dirty blues." Not to my taste, but they did a nice version of "Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone."

Lissie

Got really frustrated trying to find Nina before this young lady's set. I ended up retreating to the shade again. Blond woman doing country tinged singer-songwriter stuff. Not to my (see above.)

Cage the Elephant

Is this the imperative, i.e. "Put that elephant in a cage, asshole," or is "Cage" simply the name of the elephant? I never found out because it was too crowded.

Best Coast

I read up on Best Coast after the show was over, and evidently they are some big fucking shit. In my opinion they sound for all the world like Katrina and the Waves, who had a hit with "I'm Walking on Sunshine" back in the 20th century although they focus more on the poigniancy of unrequited love. I probably wouldn't have stuck around, but right after Best Coast took the stage, "Hi, we're Best Coast, fuck you," the heavens opened up and a torrential rain fell upon us. I figured I might as well huddle in my poncho there as anywhere else. Fifteen minutes into the set, the front woman of Best Coast, Beth, had radically changed her belligerent tone, fervently thanking the crowd for hanging around "under these conditions." After another twenty minutes she was going on about how we would all be telling our grandchildren about our shared experience standing in the rain at Lollapalooza Twenty listening to Best Coast. Right up there with Drew Barrymore directing your video, I assume. After Best Coast left the stage, I turned around, and felt like I was trapped on an island in some Agatha Christie movie. Too many water!

Manchester Orchestra

The focus of my day, Manchester Orchestra, took the stage before a water-logged audience. They were awesome and lovely. Someone had sent a beach ball up into the air, and I was really stressed out by the fact that it kept coming around over my head. Manchester Orchestra is not exactly a party band, and I was irritated by the recurrent need to monitor whether the ball was about to hit me. You know you mean everything to nothing after all.

Deadmau$

Because of excess rain, I sat under my poncho and umbrella by Buckingham Fountain and listened to Deadmau$. (No way was I going to wade around in the water anywhere near the stage.) Gee, Deadmau$ sounds like the Chemical Brothers, Deadmaus is like DJ Aoki, but with a much better stage show. Is there nothing new under the sun?

The Culmination

Nina and Nate and I were all very happy. As we descended to the subway, covered with mud, a lady commented, "You all are real fans!" too true!