Date: August 4, 2012
City: Chicago, IL
Venue: Grant Park
The day started like every other, I had my list of bands that I wanted to definitely see as well as a list of bands I might want to check out.
FIDLAR – Skate punk/garage punk band from Los Angeles
GIVERS – Indie pop band from Louisiana. Good energy and sound.
EVACUATION
The park had to be evacuated due to an approaching storm. I found this a bit odd since the year prior there had been a rainstorm that delayed bands from performing but did not require everyone to leave the park. I finished my beer and headed for cover. Figuring that the bars and restaurants closest to the park would be packed I walked a bit further out and found refuge in a bar at the last available barstool.
By the time I ordered my drink the storm had begun. I now understood why the park was evacuated. It had only been a few minutes and the roads were soaked and continuing to be hit by the largest raindrops I had ever seen. Other festival attendees weren’t as lucky to find cover before the storm started and walked into the bar completely drenched as if they had been standing in a shower with their clothes on.
Lollapalooza organizers did a great job of keeping festivalgoers informed via Twitter. Once the storm ended, they evaluated the condition of the park and announced that the show would go on with a modified schedule that would accommodate as many bands as possible.
Once I was back in the park the first band I saw was Fun. They are an Indie pop band based in New York that I had seen earlier in the summer at Live 105s BFD. After walking to the bar and then back to the park, I wanted to sit for a while. I went to the cooling bus by Perry’s tent to sit and listen to the DJs. During this ‘break’ I heard and saw the light shows for both Skream and Benga and Calvin Harris.
AVICII – Swedish DJ
AVICII was up against Red Hot Chili Peppers who I had seen three times before. While I’m not a fan of watching DJs perform, in an effort to expand my music horizons, I decided to check out AVICII’s set. He had his turntables at the top of a giant LED head that lit up in rhythm with the music. The first song was “Levels”, the only one I was familiar with.
I watched 20 minutes of AVICII’s set before deciding to call it a day. While I enjoy some of the music DJs put together, watching a guy with his ear to one end of a pair of headphones bouncing his hand from time to time is not my idea of entertainment. I just don’t trust that they are actually doing any mixing during these sets. They could easily have mixed their entire set beforehand and just hit play. I realize most people who go to DJ sets are there to dance, but I like to see performances.
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