Got Live Lolla If You Want It

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 26, 2006 2:31PM

Chicagoist has begrudgingly come to grips with the arrival of fall – seriously, we had to wear a coat this morning – and embracing the good that comes with it. Namely: sweaters and hot toddies.

In the meantime, we're cherishing our memories of summer, especially the hot, sweaty and loud ones we formed at Lollapalooza. It's going to be a long time before we forget sitting in a tree and watching a bunch of Santas and hot alien chicks dancing to the music of the Flaming Lips.

For those of you whose memories are not so good, the Lollapalooza folks have posted some live downloads at iTunes*. While the ease of iTunes attracts us, the selections here are a bit skint. But Lolla promises more tracks without Apple's DRM on October 19th when it launches livelollapalooza.com.

Complete sets are available from a few artists (Hold Steady, Deadboy and the Elephantmen, Be Your Own Pet, Editors), but most of the offerings here are samplers at best (Sleater-Kinney, Blues Traveler, Blue October, Ben Kweller, Wolfmother, Andrew Bird). Locals represent with tracks from Mucca Pazza and Office as well as a full set from Smoking Popes.

Speaking of the Popes, their two new tracks “If You Don’t Care” and “Slow Down” are included in the Lolla live download or you can listen to studio versions here at its MySpace page. Both tracks are expected to be included on a 2007 release.

* If that link is acting funky for you, try opening iTunes first then giving it a click.