What a Weekend

Explosions in the Sky, originally uploaded by Robert Loerzel.

There's something so unique and wonderful about music festivals. Instead of the usual concert experience where you sit through a couple of mediocre bands to finally see your band and then after about an hour of moderate head swaying and enjoyable music, you all file out and go home- at Lollaplooza, you dance energetically with all of the other excited fans and you move from one awesome band to the next while stopping to listen to other incredible bands you've never heard of in between. And Grant Park is such a gorgeous venue with that fucking awesome Buckingham Fountain. Not to mention, they had a biergarten (oh yes) and a place called Hammock Heaven (oh yes yes). And the vibe! You might be under the impression you'd have to tolerate a bunch of rowdy, insensitive 20 somethings everywhere, but it's exactly the opposite. At least half where my age and regardless of age everyone was relaxed and friendly with a perma smile. There were tons of kids & infants there, too, with those cute headphones to block out the noise. Everyone was so darn happy, I actually saw a big burly dude skipping.

Okkervil River wins for the Most Surprisingly Fun, The National wins for the Most Intense Rocking, Wilco wins for the Best Sound, Love & Rockets wins for the Best Throwback (I forgot how much I used to love their songs), Flogging Molly wins for the Rowdiest. Great memories.