ooohhhh.... I just scored Wet Leg tickets!
Somewhat related.
The week prior to the "big shutdown" my SiL (who works for a well respected Chicagoland radio station) offered my wife four FREE 4-day passes to Lollapalooza. My wife then texted me asking if we wanted them so I immediately went to my weather app to see what the conditions were going to be during the final week of July. Turns out, it was forecast to be mild with highs in the upper 70's so I told her to take the passes. As a middle aged dude who lives about an hour outside of Chicago I knew I didn't have it in me to spend four whole days up at Grant Park so I reviewed the schedule to try and make the most of my 3-4 hour daily incursions to catch those bands that have been on my "wish list" and those that I'd be willing to catch based solely on their notoriety (largely culminated from the music threads on this forum).
I wasn't going to be able to get Thursday off but I wasn't too upset because outside of Metallica (who I had caught back in the 90's during their 'Black' album tour), there wasn't much of anything else I considered intriguing enough to try and catch.
Friday, however, provided me the opportunity to catch "Wet Leg" followed by "The Regrettes" followed by "Royal Blood". Each was outstanding. Both my wife and I found "Wet Leg" to be the most surprising. While I've enjoyed their album, their live performances are just so much more raw and energetic than their recorded material. They still need a lot of work on relating with a crowd, but their music is really, really, really good live. I've been trying to catch 'The Regrettes" live for the past few years. Even bought tickets to see them open up for SWMRS back in 2019 but they cancelled for health reasons. Finally saw them at Lolla and was a bit disappointed. I think it may have been more to do with the venue they were given. It was the only permanent venue in Grant Park but the audience was forced to stand out in the sun on concrete which made it an uncomfortable affair. Add to the fact I was running around trying to get friends their wrist-bands so they could get into the venue and I didn't get to give "The Regrettes" the attention they deserved during their set. That said, I'm happy to claim I've now seen them live. They definitely didn't suck. "Royal Blood" closed out our Lolla adventure on Friday with an awesome set. My wife and I have been big fans of this band for the past few years so we were excited to see them live. They didn't disappoint. Sometimes you just want to hear a band sound just like their songs on the radio. That's what "Royal Blood" managed. Nothing extravagant. Just as you heard it played on the radio (or your streaming service).
Saturday I ended up going by myself to catch COIN (playing on the same permanent/concrete stage "The Regrettes" had played on the day before) followed by IDLES. I enjoyed the COIN performance and still feel their newest album should be a contender for AOTY, but nothing brought forth the catharsis of screaming "CONCRETE AND LEATHER" over-and-over again during the IDLES set. It was actually somewhat lightly attended, but I didn't mind. I still genuinely enjoyed their performance and would recommend seeing them live to anyone. I ended Saturday walking around the entire festival and ending with the last few sons by Turnstile (another band I'm only aware of due to the music drafts conducted on this forum).
Sunday the missus and I came up to catch the exciting conclusion to the festival. Porno for Pyros (Perry Ferrell, the founder of Lolla himself) and Green Day. Porno for Pyros was solid, but Green Day really showed that they knew what they were doing. They closed out the show like seasoned professionals who had done this kind of thing dozens of times before. Great show, but you could tell you weren't the first audience to get this treatment. I was satisfied.
Now did I enjoy myself? Hell yeah! Was it mainly because I got in for free? Absolutely! I'm not certain I'd have paid the freight to see the handful of bands that I did at full price. My SiL told us the reason she could gift us the tickets was because attendance was down this year and the lineup was considered "weak" compared to previous festivals. Either way, I found the venue to be remarkable. Grant Park is a beautiful location for a festival and provided it's not stupid hot/humid, it's great weather to enjoy an entire day of excellent music.
I've got tickets for the missus and I to see Gretta Van Fleet and Pearl Jam at the Bourbon and Beyond festival in September. After experiencing Lolla, I'm even more excited about our plans for Louisville in September.
Rock out!
J
![[icon]](/data/avatars/m/5/5167.jpg?1660313464){kind=avatar}
. We were upfront along the rail on the stage left side. I guess we'll find out in a few days if he was still contagious and if aerosols can span the 10 feet or so between the stage and the pit.
