Lotta Lolla

Repost from my Myspace blog

Just back from Lollapalooza. Nine Inch Nails were phenomenal as were...wait for it...Love & Rockets.

OTHER WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Radiohead-a bit too quiet, but otherwise breathtaking. I was especially happy to hear all my personal highlights from their latest album played live.

Bloc Party-solid set. I rarely give these guys a spin these days but while prepping for their set I dug out their albums and fell in love all over again.

The Gutter Twins- Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan should need no introduction (if you don't know what bands they were in, you need to take out that shitty Spoon cd and pick up some Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers and Screaming Trees). Simply incredible redemption songs.

MGMT-due to some eye irritation, I was distracted during most of their set so I was pretty bummed that I couldn't fully enjoy songs from a wonderful debut album. MGMT live are more prog, less electro. Never a bad thing in my book.

Witchcraft and Yeasayer both turned in amazing early afternoon performances. Broken Social Scene were even better than they were in 2006 (minus half the band), and Wilco? Sooo good. If the new jam they played was any indication of where they're headed next record, expect a (thankfully) more abrasive update of what Sky Blue Sky turned out to be.

Brand New-I've liked this band for a few years and had never caught them live. I didn't need the singer reminding me (well, the crowd) that I should be catching Explosions In The Sky. That dude was seriously bummed. Regardless, Brand New were pretty damn good.

Grizzly Bear-this was my third time seeing them in a relatively short amount of time, so I knew what to expect and was not let down.

Hit the Battles/Foals afterparty at Double Door Saturday night but by the time Foals (who were tighter than a duck's ass) were done, Old Man Buckley could barely keep his eyes open, so no Battles.

I had assumed Flogging Molly would put on a fun show, but fun doesn't even begin to describe how energetic and entertaining they turned out to be. I only wish The Boy was there to rock out with. My lil' man loves those guys, and after seeing them live so do I.

I love The National and having not seen them live until today, I was not disappointed in the slightest.

Next year's gonna be a family affair. Can they top this year's lineup?

My wishlist for Lolla 2009 (for starters):

My Bloody Valentine
Bjork
The Mars Volta
Tool
Beck
Primal Scream
Jimmy Eat World
Foo Fighters
Dropkick Murphys
The Pogues
Ryan Adams (but would prefer Whiskeytown!)
My Morning Jacket