Chicagoist: Lollapalooza 2008: Day 3 Recap

claven

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:05:26 -0600

The Weakerthans bus broke down just outside of Cleveland on Sunday morning on the way to their Lollapalooza gig. Too bad for all those people who were there to see one of the best bands on the planet...

lamgray

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:07:18 -0600

And, what was with "Don't Stop Believing" on Sunday. . is that Obama's campaign song or something? I heard it played 3 seperate times throughout the day, and I was wondering, where is the live music?

lamgray

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:05:12 -0600

Actually, we swung by and caught a few songs from NIN (in which the crowd did change F&#* Kanye before the set) and then swung around to his set for a few songs. While it sounded ok, it kinda irked me that he claimed to "put this city on the map." Today, I am going to attempt to mail something in which the city is labeled as "the city that Kanye put on the map" and see if it gets anywhere. I did take a photo of Kanye backstage at Ronson, as proof that yes, the man can in fact walk. He was digging the Saul Williams set (AWESOME as usual), so I will give him credit for good taste. Also, I don't get the Girl Talk hype. . .I mean, he's a dj that plays other peoples songs, right? I went and snapped a few shots about the crazy crowd, but I assume the hype was about drunk people getting crazy and excited to be onstage? He didn't play any live music, so I certainly wouldn't call it a highlight. Overall, this years fest was awesome for me!

JawsOfJosh

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:14:38 -0600

Kanye West is an immense talent and an amazing producer with a keen ear for crafting populist sounds, but please don't compare him to Prince. There are very few people in the same stratosphere as Prince. Even though he just turned 50, Prince would still leave most young bucks sucking up his dust these days.

Chris F

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:12:19 -0600

As one of the volunteer info guys that were left to explain that the Weakerthans weren't there, I can confirm that there were a lot of people who were pissed about the no-show. Of course, the ones I loved were the pissed off "Weakerthan fans" who only realized the Weakerthans weren't playing when Office explained that they were Office and not, in fact, the Weakerthans. And Kanye? Laid waste to that place. Devastated it. Done.

bibliogrrl

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:44:40 -0600

considering the Weakerthans current tour schedule, I wouldn't be shocked if they got stuck somewhere. I'm just glad I didn't shell out $80 to go to one day of Lolla just to see them (and find out they were not there) - I would have been pissed.

bhofmeister13

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:19:06 -0600

What you missed after you left Perry Farrell and Slash at the kids stage was two renditions of Jane's Addiction songs, Mountain Song and Jane Says, followed up by the School of Rock kids doing Three Days. It was the closes any of us have come to a Jane's Addiction concert in a long time!

CL

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:35:26 -0600

NIN's light show was unfrickinbelievable. I've been a NIN fan for a while but recently drifted off a bit and damn that show made me want to go home and get reacquainted with Mr. Reznor. Very good shit.

Ali Trachta

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:52:57 -0600

Me too, Jacy, except obviously we would've gotten into a huge fight over black tank top guy! Glad we're still friends. :-)

AndrewJStone

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:46:55 -0600

Kanye didn't take the stage late because he wasn't ALLOWED to... with most festivals (Bonnaroo, Coachella, Rothbury) you are out in the middle of nowhere, and there is no sound curfew. Schedules running late, late night sets, camping and the noise that creates are all not a problem In Chicago, there is a firm, strict sound curfew. Any time Kanye wasted tooling around with his entourage of 40+ backstage was time he lost on stage. If the concert continues past the curfew, fines are undoubtedly leveled against C3, the promoter. This is undoubtedly something that was addressed in the contracts of all of the artists, that there was a strict curfew, and that ignoring it would cost them. The promoter would probably endure it for a bit, and then pull power. I've seen it happen to George Clinton and P-Funk multiple times. It should also be noted that the Kanye fiasco at Bonnaroo was largely the fault of Pearl Jam's previous set on that same stage and the inability of the crew to turn over the stage quickly.

bronder

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:28:07 -0600

I'm pretty sure most of the "Fuck Kanye" shirts were genuine. Nine Inch Nails was amazing (and Reznor's light show was one that would work at 4 in the afternoon as well as 4 in the morning).

jmagic

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:44:41 -0600

tc3: I also opted for NIN and thought it was phenomenal. "Hurt" was absolutely epic -- too bad the silent parts were slightly marred by Kanye blaring "Don't Stop Believin" (why that fucking song?) -- I'm glad I missed out on the oversized Gap commercial.

Jacy Wojcik

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:40:16 -0600

I regret not forcing Ali to push our way to the front row in hopes of being chosen to dance on stage. We could have been *that* much closer to Black Tank Top Guy. Amazing. And Marcus, maybe you wouldn't be dehydrated if you didn't freeze your water. awww snap. ;)

Tankboy

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:03:58 -0600

I had to explain a beachball with "Fuck Kanye" written on it to the security guards...they'd never heard of Bonnaroo and thought it was really by Kanye-hating members of the crowd!

ThisGuy

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:58:08 -0600

Chromeo was a blast...they deserve a little lovin'.

tc3

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:43:27 -0600

I'm glad Kanye didn't pull another Bonnarroo. I opted for the talent of Mr. Reznor and was blown away, despite the fact that I've never being a huge NIN fan. Epic stuff.

Albanyparkour

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:17:14 -0600

Er...Prince is 50. That's a difference generation. Nothing against him, he's like unto a god to me, but West's polyglot stylings always put me in mind of the Purple one.

P Griffin Baron

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:07:27 -0600

Prince is still our generation's Prince. Kanye is his own thing but Prince is a force to be reckoned with.

Albanyparkour

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:52:13 -0600

I got a text from a friend at the show who pretty much loathes Kanye West saying "I think I just saw something historic" That's what makes his antics so irksome, the man has TALENT. I'm going to be pilloried for this but I say he's our generation's Prince. For good and ill.