Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Lollapalooza Day 1

Dragonflies dove in and out of the crowd as the three day aural sweat fest kicked off with the wake and bake session that was Wavves' set. The air smelled sweetly of the embodiment of Wavves' brand of lo-fi surf-pop: sunscreen and weed. Songs like the new "Post Acid" were executed with messy precision and left everyone wanting more...and a 40 on a sunny summer rooftop.


After a disappointing set by The Big Pink, which included a unique but ultimately unmoving rendition of "These Arms of Mine" by Otis Redding, we grabbed a Mountain Dew float (oh, yes) and headed over to the Budweiser stage to listen in on Dirty Projectors and get set for The Black Keys.

The Black Keys are always good. Scratch that, The Black Keys are always great! However, early in the set the volume on Auerbach's guitar was much too low and thus some of the gritty punch that they are known for went missing in action. All was forgiven after, against a red and black tire tread/communist rally-esque backdrop, the two were joined by a bass and organs to fill out the sound for their Danger Mouse produced/soulful new songs, and The Black Keys put on yet another memorable performance.



The question on everyone's tongue throughout the day and well into the night was "Strokes or Gaga?" We opted for The Strokes. We had to. It is a definite possibility that this would be the last time we would have the chance to see the now seemingly ancient artifacts of the early 21st century garage rock revolution. The Strokes walked onto the stage to "We Will Rock You" and blasted through a joyous romp of a set that opened with fan favorite "New York City Cops." They proved to the absolutely packed Butler field that the gents hadn't missed a beat during their near four year hiatus. "We haven't played the US in forevvvveeerrrrrrrrr," Casablancas announced to the crowd. Lylas, Strokes.

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