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Why I will never forget my 3 days at Lolla 2011
On the third day of Lolla 2011, we brought 3 of my friends kids with us- Maddox, Maddie, and Nathan! My ticket was a gift from... More
3 Days / 3 Beards, Beardapalooza 2011!!!
DAY 1: FULL BEARD (nice and fluffy too) After months of growth and training, my face friend and I set off for the first day of... More
I turned 20 years old, and so did Lollapalooza.
I came to the United States in 2010 as an international college student. Last year was quite groundbreaking to me. I turned... More
My Love Affair With Lollapalooza 2011
This trip all began with music. In the midst of it all, it included encounters with new friends and new memories that will last... More
My Fourteen-Year-Old Brother's Best Birthday Present Ever
Most Lollapolooza stories start the first weekend in August, but not mine. Mine starts in a suburban kitchen on June 21st. A newly fourteen year old boy was tearing into wrapping covered with turtles in party hats. Surrounding him on the kitchen table was his loot: a Dr. Dre poster, a Wu Tang Clan shirt, Skull Candy Headphones, and the standard $15 iTunes gift card that our parents get us for every gift-giving occasion. I gave Brock a sisterly smile as he opened my gift, which just-so-happened to be the number two item on his birthday list: Eminem's "The Slim Shady LP." I know the self-professed "biggest Eminem fan in the world" loved the gift but even so he only smiled back briefly and mumbled the half-hearted thanks only a brother knows how to give before looking around for more things to open. There weren't any. "Dad what about my tickets!" "What tickets?" "Saturday tickets to see Eminem at Lollapolooza! They were first on my list where are they" "Well your mother and I discussed it, and we think you're too young to go to a music festival." "But Dad!" My dad was bluffing of course, like he always did, pretending we weren't getting the biggest things on our lists for some reason or another so it would be more of a surprise when we finally did get them. I'm sure Brock knew this as well, but already I could see panic rising in his eyes at the suggestion that he might not be able to see his favorite rapper. Fortunately my Dad didn't make him wait long: "Alright alright, I'll tell you what. I made up a little quiz about Eminem, and if you can get 70% on the questions right, you'll win a Saturday ticket to Lollapolooza. That shouldn't be a problem for Eminem's number one fan, right?" My dad then produced a piece of paper and proceeded to quiz my brother game-show style on all things related to Eminem. The questions ranged from easy: "What's Marshall Mather's middle name?" "Duh Dad, Bruce, everyone knows that." To hard: "In which song does Eminem famously insult Insane Clown Posse." "Buisness." Brock replies with a cool-guy nod of his head indicating how easy this old guy's quiz on his favorite rapper is. Needless to say, Brock "won" his birthday present, which meant the job of taking him to the concert in a little over a month's time fell on his nineteen year old sister who had three day passes to the event. ---------------------- I didn't mind taking him, of course, but when my group of college-aged girl friends walked into Lollapalooza with a fourteen year old boy in a Biggie Smalls t-shirt in tow (apparently it's uncool to wear a rapper's shirt to his own concert), I began to wonder just how this day would play out. The daylight hours of that Saturday weren't all that memorable, for me -- a girl who had been at Lolla the day before and to countless other music festivals besides -- at least. I'd actually love to ask Brock what he thought of the day, his first music festival, first concert, for that matter. I can imagine it was deliciously overwhelming what with us dragging him from Perry's techno scene to the Budweiser stage to the food booths and back again past people dressed in everything from full face unitards to classic hippie wear. But even if I ask him, I'll never be able to get inside his head, to experience that strange almost taboo feeling of being at a music festival for the first time through his eyes. What I can tell you is what I remember and what I remember best is Eminem. First of all, i had never seen Brock so excited, which is saying a lot because to excite a boy who's life mission is (in his own words) to move to New York to sit on a stoop with a boom box and "head nod"... to excite a boy like that you have to be... well... Eminem. But from the moment the rapper took the stage to the moment he finished his encore, my five-foot-four fourteen year old brother -- who still to this day has yet to go through puberty -- stood on his tip toes watched with wide eyed wonder as his favorite rapper rhymed out song after song. Unfortunately due to the high volume of tall people surrounding us it was quite hard for him to see. But I guess that's where it pays to be the one pre-teen boy in a group of tall college girls because -- after a couple of songs of Brock jumping attempting to the the actual stage instead of just the screens -- one after another Alexa, Dana, Robyn, Erica, and I all took Brock onto our shoulders for as long as we possibly could until our arms were sore and our legs gave out. Unfortunately that happened to every one of us before Eminem played "Stan," which is Brock's all-time favorite song. As the first lyrics: "tea's gone cold I wonder why..." echoed across the fairground and Brock looked at me in amazement, I knew what I had to do. So, even though my shoulders were cramping something awful, I heaved the fourteen-year-old back on my shoulders for the duration of the song. And even though my body hurt for a week after, the smile on his face when I put him down was well worth it. I've been to a lot of music festivals in my life. Some good, some less good, and some unbearably muddy, but my favorite memory is not a venue or a band. It's simply the memory of me, holding my little brother on my aching shoulders, while he sang along to the lyrics of Eminem's "Stan" at Lollapalooza 2011.
Grand mind-opening
I leaned back in my bus seat the day before Lolla started and watched Chicago crash through my travel-brain. Isn’t this the quintessential small-town-girl meets huge-roaring-city? I realized that I had always wanted to see a den of iniquity, and was in one now… what a beautiful, beautiful thing. The door to our Couchsurfing host’s apartment was opened by a bare-breasted short young woman smoking a joint. As we walked in, that familiar Amsterdam smell hit me with a solid wet towel-slap and introduced me to its companion odor of a thousand unwashed cat-stained carpets. Over dinner in a pleasant hipster diner where on all sides of us dreamers on mismatched couches bragged about their new label or the fact that their band had graduated to vinyl, my friend and I decided to ask if we could sleep on the roof at our host’s place. The architecture in Boy’s Town (that’s where we were – on North Clark) is such that roof patios are common, and our host had one slightly slanting painted poop deck just outside her window. Lying above the town at 10pm on a bright Chicago evening with my soulmate (I was her walking iPod in high school, she was my personal masseuse in history class) was one of those times when you smile so much it hurts and your soul feels held by strong hands compressing you… Trannies danced by, blown by some unknown wind and we talked. “I was really drunk on red wine when I called you from Amsterdam to tell you we were going to Lollapalooza… could you tell?” I missed her so much it hurt I just had to get her to come with me – she is French and lives in the States and I am American and live in Holland – how much untouched ground can you cover in one night? I remember everything and nothing from those festival days. I remember the feeling but not the songs, the heartwrenching utter joy when (my first music hero) Eminem came onstage and half the crowd was crying and no one wanted to mosh we just wanted to soak him we just wanted to breathe his air… My friend – well I can’t blame her, she doesn’t listen to much music so she wanted to see half of the Foo Fighters and half of Deadmau5. That thunderstorm hit that Sunday, remember? We hid in one of the busses until I couldn’t take it anymore and ran outside, unadulterated soaking shouting, I splashed in the warm puddles smelled the rain pretended lightning was going to strike my personal pond. I sang my rain song to the sky and to the others who were doing the same thing and to Alix… well the Arctic Monkeys played after the rain. Within five minutes of their concert I lost my first flip-flop. We ended up surrounded by a group of humongous dudes who refused to let us leave the Foos halfway through, as if it were high heresy. They decreed that we would be in the front in 10 minutes; now these people were experienced weavers and new how to dart through the teeming masses – we just swam in their wake like geese at the back of the V, riding already turbulent currents. Dave Grohl is a majestic lion of a man isn’t he? His neck bulges when he makes love to that guitar his hair whips in the storm he screams into – I was transfixed, even in love, watching that magnificent god shred. People around us broke my concentration with their drunken thrashing and I kept an eye on Alix to make sure she was still on her feet but I loved it. I live in the Netherlands, after all, and here such unrestrained boogie is standard faire. Ten minutes into the Foos I lost my second flip-flop so I let my feet squelch in the mud and stopped worrying about glass and stopped worrying about everything really… the steam from thousands of overheating bodies around me turned the stage into some kind of corny 80’s metal “dry ice IS special effects my man!” concert until Grohl stepped into the thick of it – then it was epic – apocalyptic – primal – we were cavemen – we were descending and ascending the steps of human evolution – we were THERE, man. This is rock. The phoenix metaphor comes to mind here: didn’t Dave Grohl rise out of the ashes of friggin’ Nirvana and achieve an enlightenment of his own, which he shared with us all that night? I rode that high for weeks. That concert changed me. I’d never felt such carnal joy, and not even my ruined Lolla t-shirt, my lost shoes and watch (I found new accessories in the mud after) could bring me low. Once, I kept my mind open with just my foot in the door. Now it’s been thrown wide, not a stream but a river of consciousness meanders through me, and though it may seem unlikely I can swear I felt the ground shake and the heavens speak that night… viva Lolla!
Remembering Lolla 2011
Nightfall was coming quickly, but temperatures were still in the high eighties and rising as the crowd began to increase into the thousands. It was 8:30 p.m., which meant Deadmau5 was late. Most of the fans had already settled into their spot in the crowd, but just a few people were still trying to shove their way closer to the front of the stage. Puffs of smoke were floating into the air creating a fog above the crowd that was big enough to clam bake the entire audience, but there was an even bigger cloud coming our way. The second thunderhead of the day was rolling in fast above the skyscrapers and everyone was preparing to be drenched for the second time that day. Grant Park was already covered in muddy puddles, and nearly everyone was still wearing their soaking wet clothes and mud-filled shoes from earlier that day. It was uncomfortable and unattractive, but no one seemed to care. Music was the mindset, and this was not only the last concert of the night, but of the three-day festival. By now darkness covered the city and the building lights were illuminating the giant Bud Light stage a hundred yards ahead of me. Excitement of the nearing cloud and performance was radiating through every body, and then it all began at once. The hum of conversation turned into screams as raindrops finally fell from the sky. As I felt the first drops of water splash onto my face I heard the music break out at the exact same time, and looked toward the stage to see a giant mouse head illuminated behind his spin table. As soon as the music started the entire crowd pushed forward and we were all body-to-body jumping up and down rubbing and flinging sweat and rain onto one another. As the music was getting faster and louder the rain starting coming down harder. The light show Deadmau5 was giving mixed with the giant summer raindrops and smog I was looking through had my senses spinning. There was a moment during the first song where I felt like I was trapped in one moment, not alone, but with everyone and everything surrounding me. It felt as if the entire crowd had transformed into one entity that set aside their differences to enjoy the love of music together as complete strangers. Whenever I remember the experience it still gives me chills. Later I saw a video someone had recorded of the concert, and the timing of the rain and music starting simultaneously seems too perfect to be real life. I believe that experiences like this can change a person’s outlook on life, and become a part of who they are. It’s the thumping of the bass beating through your chest, feeling your heart pulsating throughout your entire body. It’s the intensity of the sound engulfing your being, mind, and spirit. It’s the rhythm taking your mind to a foreign and surreal place where just for a moment you can escape reality. Whether the artists use lyrics or instruments to convey their emotional ties to a particular song, you can feel something deeper and more meaningful radiating over the crowd. The artists seem to get lost in a trance of determination to make each performance their best performance. It’s when you close your eyes and sense the sea of people around you and you feel as though everyone has become one brought together by the same thing – the love of music.
DON KING DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING ON ME: MUD WRESTLING @ LOLLA
Words can't describe Friday and Saturday's activities. From falling in love at Coldplay to witnessing a pick pocketer get his ass beat by an Australian rugby player at Eminem, my weekend was already made ....but the day that completed my Lollapalooza experience was Sunday. Sunday started off the same like Friday and Saturday, but little did we know was that the perfect storm was brewing. The downpour at first put a damper on our day, but was quickly relieved with a mud slip'n'slide. Soon after, my friend and I came upon the idea of starting one on one mud wrestling. We had no idea what it would become. It became girl on girl, guy on guy, and even two super heros battling it out. After about an hour of non-stop mud throwing, hair pulling, straight up wrestling, the cops put an end to our madness. It wasn't until a couple months later that a friend from home sent me a youtube link. This is what I found... (My friend is in the blue cut off and I am in the white beater with the red book bag) ....there ended up being around 15 different videos of 15 different matches
The beginning of our love story was Lollapalooza 2011
I had a busy and distracted summer 2011, working in California away from my family and friends. I planned on having the entire month of August off, including my first time at Lollapalooza. As a college student in Chicago, of course I was aware of the music festival every summer in Grant Park, but between money and other commitments, I never got there. I was so excited for my first year, and I knew it was going to be extra special because of the anniversary year. I didn't know all the other reasons it would be so special. Grace, one of my best friends from high school, had been going to Lolla for many years and was always trying to convince me to go. In the weeks leading up to August 5, we talked many times about the arrangements (she was going to be staying at my apartment on the North side) and the concerts we'd be seeing. As the day arrived, I was so thrilled to be finally going to Lollapalooza, but even more excited to see Grace, who I had not seen since May. There was no denying that over the weekend, there was something different between us. I felt desperate to be in her company the entire weekend, even though there were other friends around us. She and I have always had a different sort of closeness, but I could not predict what would come next. On Sunday night, she and I went alone to see Cold War Kids, her favorite band. That was the day and night of pouring rain for hours straight. I remember, in a sort of paradoxical vivid-blur, running toward the stage, clinging onto Grace's hand and shrieking with soggy joy. We stood at the very bottom of the stage, in the very front, and waited while the crew onstage tried to dry everything off so CWK could set up. The show started so late we had begun to worry it would be canceled altogether, but once it began, we were both entranced by the music. I have to say, for a group I knew very little of and probably only knew six or so of their songs, I was hooked by the end of the performance. We were supposed to meet up with the rest of the crowd (including her then-boyfriend) half-way through the show, to see half of Deadmau5 as well, but we couldn't tear ourselves away from CWK (or being alone with each other, finally). At the end of the show, we both looked at each other and acknowledged, silently, that we had shared an incredibly intimate experience. A few days later, we found ourselves back in Columbus, Ohio, our hometown, on my back steps at about half past one in the middle of the night. Suddenly, but to be honest, not so unexpectedly, Grace was practically in tears confessing her changed feelings for me. She told me how connected she felt to me during Lolla, and in the days following how close she felt to me. Although I had been too shocked to process it, I agreed. Within a few days, I acknowledged my feelings for her, too, and we both fell quickly into a deep spiral for each other. The part of our story with the most richness and depth, I have the least amount of words for now. I have never felt anything quite as real or strong or sustainable with anyone else. I fell for her as I flew across the ocean for my semester abroad. She and I have faced a lot of obstacles in our relationship. Between me being out of the country for the beginning four months of our relationship, to difficult adjustments of family and friends (people seem troubled since we're both women, not to mention how much it sneaked up on them), to continuing our distance once I returned to Chicago (she goes to school in Ohio), we feel like we have already been through so much together as we approach our one-year anniversary. She is moving to be with me for the summer tomorrow— tomorrow!!— and, funnily enough, I go to see Cold War Kids at Northwestern's Dillo Day tomorrow afternoon. We really feel like everything has come full circle, including our summer-to-summer romance... If only we could get tickets to Lollapalooza 2012! We are both poor college students and didn't jump on the chance to buy tickets right away, and sure enough, they were sold out within days of being on sale. I am so in love with Grace. And winning passes to the festival this year would be the best gift we both could receive— beside spending the weekend, this time, actually inseparable.
2011
LOLLAPALOOZA TURNS TWENTY
Lollapaloozas 20th anniversary blowout was an epic experience, shattering fans and critics expectations with an explosive combination of music and community. With globe-straddling headliners supported by a diverse line-up of artists from countless different genres, Lollas birthday was a music lovers dream come true.
Fans delighted in the variety, dancing to electro-legends like Girl Talk and Skrillex over at Perrys, basking in the galaxy-sized rock spectacles of Foo Fighters and Muse as the sun set over the Chicago skyline and throwing down the gauntlet with Eminem and his raucous rhymes. Singing in the rain, nothing could keep the crowds from enjoying Lollas most incredible production yet: the celebration of two decades of making musical history with awesome artists and first-rate fans.
Lollas 20th anniversary was a banner year in more ways than one. After rocking out fans in Chile in Marchs South American debut, Lolla announced a new version of the festival to take place in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 2012 making sure fans keep rocking in both hemispheres!
Festival highlight
EMINEM RETURNS TO THE MIDWEST
Any questions about whether or not Eminem still had his chops were quickly laid to rest when the rap hero took the stage Saturday night. Over sixty-five thousand people were treated to a flurry of the controversial rhyme-slingers hits, jamming out to chart-burners like "My Name Is" and "The Real Slim Shady. Joined on stage by special guests like Skylar Grey and Bruno Mars, Marshall Mathers had no trouble getting 130,000 hands in the air.
FOO FIGHTERS ROCK IN THE RAIN
Rain couldnt keep bands and fans from drenching themselves in great music. Action-packed performances by The Foo Fighters and Cage the Elephant took advantage of the downpour to amp up the rock 'n' roll drama.
COLDPLAY'S FIRST LOLLA SET
Leading up to the release of their much talked-about fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay was on a mission to blow minds at Grant Park. Their set was Brit-rock at its finest, pitch-perfect and poignant, striking high notes with hits like Clocks and Yellow along with their recently released single Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall. Closing with a touching tribute to fallen star Amy Winehouse, it was hard to find a fan that wasnt moved by their performance.
Culturally Speaking
- Arcade Fire wins Album of the Year Grammy for The Suburbs.
- A revolution in Egypt signals the start of the Arab Spring.
- Charlie Sheen goes on a winning streak.
- A 9.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hits the east of Japan.
- President Obama releases his birth certificate in an effort to end an escalating controversy.
- Two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton in London.
- Osama bin Laden bites the dust in Pakistan.
- Space Shuttle Atlantis lands successfully at Kennedy Space Center, concluding NASA's space shuttle program.
- Singer Amy Winehouse dies at 27.
- NASA obtains photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars.
tour stops + dates
August 5-7, 2011Grant Park, Chicago, IL
- Ween
- Bright Eyes
- Arctic Monkeys
- Big Audio Dynamite
- Deftones
- Beirut
- Explosions in the Sky
- Death From Above 1979
- Ratatat
- Crystal Castles
- Flogging Molly
- Atmosphere
- Lykke Li
- Cage the Elephant
- Ok Go
- Local Natives
- The Kills
- White Lies
- Portugal. The Man
- Two Door Cinema Club
- Ellie Goulding
- Delta Spirit
- Beats Antique
- The Mountain Goats
- Manchester Orchestra
- Smith Westerns
- Best Coast
- Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
- The Drums
- Black Lips
- Fitz & The Tantrums
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
- City and Colour
- Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
- Cults
- Noah & The Whale
- Sam Adams
- J. Roddy Walston and the Business
- Tinie Tempah
- Lissie
- Dom
- The Vaccines
- Foster The People
- Titus Andronicus
- Mayer Hawthorne & The County
- Chico Trujillo
- The Naked and Famous
- Phantogram
- Rival Schools
- Friendly Fires
- Le Butcherettes
- DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR.
- Reptar
- Maps & Atlases
- Fences
- little hurricane
- Tennis
- An Horse
- Young The Giant
- Los Bunkers
- Imelda May
- Grouplove
- Wye Oak
- The Joy Formidable
- Lord Huron
- Disappears
- Walk The Moon
- Gold Motel
- Iration
- Ryan Leslie
- TAB the band
- Skylar Grey
- Christina Perri
- Black Cards
- The Pretty Reckless
- Boy & Bear
- Patrick Stump
- Kids These Days
- Young Man
- The Kingston Springs
- Lia Ices
- The Chain Gang of 1974
- Ximena Sariñana
- Typhoon
- Electric Touch
- Kerli
- Ceci Bastida
- Deluka
- Ruby Jane
- Julia Easterlin
- DJ Mel
- Dani Deahl
- Peter DiStefano & Tor
- Elizaveta
- Ralph's World
- The Q Brothers
- Northbrook Garage
- Keller Williams
- Kate Diaz
- The Happiness Club
- Haley Bonar
- Brady Rymer
- Big Bang Boom
- The Glitch Mob
- Super Mash Bros.
- 12th Planet
- Busy P
- Joachim Garraud
- The Cool Kids
- Daedelus
- Switch
- Collie Buddz
- Savoy
- Kyle Lucas & Captain Midnite
- Ana Tijoux
- MIDNIGHT CONSPIRACY
- DJ Neil Armstrong
- L1ght
- LADY D
- Narcisse
