#YeahYeahYeahs

Vice Turns 20 w/ Scarlett Johansen & More (Dec/2014)

Vice 20 Party – Dec 5th – 2014 – Duggal’s Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard – Brooklyn, NY

Tired as hell and it’s still raining out, but I was getting it together and catching my second and third winds with the anticipation of something that could be quite legendary. Vice – the irreverant global conglomerate – the taste maker for hipster worldwide and the corporate band for purists alike is turning 20 years old and to celebrate they were reaching deep into their stylish pockets for a blow out of trust-fund proportions.

When I arrived I expected a shitshow to rival the one earlier at the Foo Fighters but since I was a bit late the lines weren’t too insufferable and then you had to take a shuttle bus to the actual spot, three blocks away.
I arrived to long lines of mobbed open bars as usual (thankfully I’m not a big drinker so I really could care less) and free food trucks that were pretty underwhelming but who am I to complain, they were free, and for a poor kid from Texas it’s nuts that I’m even here to have an opinion on it.

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Music began at eleven but it was well after midnight when I arrived so I missed a few of the opening numbers but what they had lined up was a truly special, one-of-a-kind curation that combined hipster actors with forged on the spot supergroups and everything in between.
With a drink in my hand and a falafel in the order I made my way to the stage just as Nick Thorburn from the Rapture was hitting.

“House of Jealous Lovers, will always be the soundtrack to that magical summer when I first moved to NYC in 2006.
Next came something awesome, completely unexpected and my fave moment of the night when these too-cool-for-schoolers let some of my fave metallers onstage –
Dave Ellefson of Megadeth, Alex Skolnick of Testament, and Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste  for a medley of Metal classics.
For most of the night, Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs & co. served as backing band to a variety of singers (though there were just DJs for some rappers, and a few bands played themselves).
And here comes Wu Tang’s Ghostface Killah and Raekwon doing classic “Daytona 500Ghostface Killah and Raekwon

Meredith Graves of Perfect Pussy introduced her cover of The Strokes’ infamous “New York Cops” by saying that black lives matter in reference to the recent senseless violence of innocents by police brutality and the protests in recent weeks that have divided the city.

Meredith Graves

It was mainly about covers, playing stuff everyone knows from unlikely sources – such as Jonah Hill (with director Spike Jonze on guitar) doing Drake’s “Marvin’s Room” and though not her first foray into the music world it was still other wordly just to see Scarlet Johansen in person, let alone see her sing Joy Division.

Jonah Hill

Scarlett Johansen

That buzz carried into an appearance – and actual performance – by Russia’s famed protest punks Pussy Riot, doing a fitting version of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon” (and referencing those protesting across the country that night over recent grand jury verdicts).Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. To cheers, Alyokhina, in her characteristic heavy Russian accent, soberly and firmly read from notes on her phone: “I might not have the right to talk about American problems, but I think that murder is murder everywhere.”
Pussy Riot member Sasha Klokova then sang Le Tigre’s 1999 electroclash hit, “Deceptacon.”

Another great moment came when Zinner’s band doing one of his own songs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ breakthrough “Maps” with Karen O herself on vocals.

A crush of people moved forward for the next guest — Lil Wayne. So I made my way to the back

Lil Wayne

I can’t stand this dude and he’s second only in poseur rap to Kanye but maybe first in inspiring white rich kids to apporpriate something they” truly never understand.

A party like this one would seem to cost just about a zillion dollars, but asked about the total expense of the event, Hosi Simon, Vice’s global general manager] demurred. “It’s actually not a whole lot,” he said. For its 15th anniversary, Vice spent $250,000 to put on a Halloween party. Five years later, “It’s more than that,” he said. “But if you look at the lineup, it’s a multimillion dollar lineup.”
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Party host Andrew WK closed it all out with a bang. A lot has changed over the past twenty years, but one thing’s remained a constant: Vice knows how to throw a fucking party!
VICE has grown up in the past two decades, from shock value drug stories to their own Emmy-winning HBO series  The 20th Anniversary Party admittedly wasn’t really about their current hard-hitting nature but more about their hard-partying history – and being an actually successful media business.The entire event was filmed, so you’ll be able to see it for yourself soon.

Photos – Roy Turner
Laura June Kircsh
Ryan Muir
P Squared
Greg Christman

Austin City Limits Fest 2009

Wed Sept 30th

Made my way to Dallas and out to Fort Worth to catch the Amtrak train to Austin, TX for this year’s big 3 day Austin City Limits Festival. It didn’t start till Friday but I got there a few days early because Them Crooked Vultures were doing a couple of special shows prior to the festival. If you don’t already know (see the August/Lollapalooza entry below for more) that they are a three-piece comprised of Josh Homme (Kyuss/QOTSA), Dave Grohl and freaking John Paul Jones.
The first show was a taping for the legendary TV show (and the festival’s namesake) Austin City Limits. I’ve always wanted to attend one of these unforgettable performances that I’ve always admired no matter who was playing, but this was not to be believed. (thank you Leslie for the hookup).

  I was surprised that alot of people expected them to actually do songs from their other respective bands, and were disappointed when they didn’t. This was a new band making a new statement (their record wasn’t even out yet) and some people still just wanted to hear the same ol, same ol.

Thurs Oct 1st

Back for round two (three if you count Chicago) as now Them Crooked Vultures were doing a public show at Stubb’s as a warmup to their big coming out at the festival on Friday. This was a fun show and a testament to the legendary careers that all three have had, cause no one had even heard a note of this new music and the show sold out in minutes based upon the member’s collective reputations. That was a neat thing to witness and be a part of. Unbearably packed (but thankfully well mannered) and hot in there, the anticipation was huge and when they took the stage the noise was deafening.
This show was identical to the first show in Chicago.

 A big difference and nothing against Chicago but this crowd was so appreciative that it made you proud to be there. Homme who is known for his quips had a great line when JPJ changed from bass to keytar ” Only John Paul Jones could make the keytar look badass”. Here is the set-list from the show:

Fri Oct 2nd

The first day of the festival was here and I tried to prepare myself for the heat and the crowds. I had a late night the night before as after the TCV show at Stubb’s I went to a party at the Beauty Bar which is basically across the street. Made it downtown to Artist Pickup and got my wristbands and finally got to the festival a little after 5pm.

  This was my third year to attend the festival but strangely the first time in five years. Since then I had been to all of the Coachellas and a few of the Lollapalooza‘s and Bonnaroos, but this is a really nice one to attend. Its put on by C3presents (the same company that does Lollapalooza) and its in Austin and who doesn’t love Austin, Texas?
The Artist van drops me off in front of the artists lounge and the great people that do the nationwide free ice cream campaign are the first people I see with their truck parked right at the front of the lounge. Some of the best people you will ever meet, check out his site, its so awesome – icecreamman.com

  So after getting settled and embarrassing myself with a few rounds of the new Beatles Rock Band, I meet a rad local girl (who ironically was the singer in my newly formed fab four) and we head out to see our first band of the day, Thievery Corporation.

They were really good and I had always wanted to see them. Now some will fault me as the festival started at 11am and I didn’t see a band till 630pm but it was hot and admittedly more comfortable in the back with the free food so sue me 🙂
As soon as they ended we had our shuttle driver haul ass to the other side of the festival to see (you guessed it) Them Crooked Vultures. How’s this for obsessive? – This was only their fourth show in the US ever at this point and at that time I had seen ALL of them and three times in as many days. All of those shows had been club shows or other special events but this really the FIRST show in front of a huge crowd and it had that feel to it. If I had had thought the crowd was loud the night before, it paled in comparison to this ovation. It was interesting to see the appeal that John Paul Jones had on the crowd. Though the majority of the this crowd was the young and hip culture that Austin is known for, it was neat to see that some people had come to see JPJ solely and actually didn’t know who the other two people in the band were. That’s dedication.

    This show was identical to the television taping just a few days prior. Though I had it pretty much down at this point, this is a great new exciting thing that must be witnessed.
My new Austin friend was chomping at the bit to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were thankfully playing on the adjacent stage right after. We scrambled around to watch from backstage but couldn’t really see anything so we got as close as we could up front. Now I don’t really have anything to add to my previous and recent description of their performance at Lollapalooza (see previous entry) and I’m of course biased.
But they were replacing the Beastie Boys again just like this past August but this time they didn’t make the nod to them like that show. They did however put on a very powerful and visually entertaining show as always.
 So after they played my new friend and I walk out of Zilker Park and you can see that this festival has just taken over the whole town. This city is always alive with young, progressive people, but this was total meltdown and all the vendors had lined the streets with tents selling their wares, apparently the demographic is alot of tie-dye and bong hits. Good times though as we danced in the streets with everyone else and made our way to get something to eat.
Her and I had different agendas however as she had a birthday to attend so I had her drop me off at Emo’s where some friends of mine from Brooklyn,  !!! (pronounced chk chk chk) where doing a warm up gig of their own before playing the festival tomorrow. For those not familiar, they are one of the most fun and energetic live shows you will ever witness. They have reached beloved status because of their legendary live show and when they hit stage around midnight people were ready to get down!
I have seen a half a dozen of theirs shows or so and I say this every time I see them but this was one of the best ever. The energy and momentum is incomparable. (Editor’s Note: Since this time and now drummer Jerry Fuchs died in a freak accident in Brooklyn- We miss you Jerry R.I.P.)

 I danced my ass off and had a great time as the ended with the one-two punch of Intensify and Heart of Hearts. Got out of the show around 2am and waited to meet a friend who was coming from Round Rock to have a late night meal with me. She finally shows up around 3am and we go to Austin staple Kerbey Lane by the University. A bit of a wait even at this late hour because of the festival so after we eat and talk and she drops me off its after 6am.

Sat Oct 3rd

The night before Nic (chk chk chk) said that since they are going on at 2pm that if I came to the Emo’s gig I didn’t have to show up early. I wanted to prove him wrong but alas I didn’t get into bed until 7am. I didn’t even wake up till after 2pm and when I did it was really gross and rainy outside. Not the ideal setting for a mass outdoor event (more on this later).
I met up and had lunch with Nic and Paul from (chk chk chk) and I asked them how their set was despite the gross conditions and early start time. Those guys could throw a party anywhere.
Then I ventured out to catch the last half of Trail of Dead, another Austin mainstay that are always great live. It wasn’t just raining, it was a freaking buzzkill. Lightening and misery just made everyone and everything seem gross. I did stick it out to see the first couple of songs from Mos Def, who seemed totally unaffected by the rain and brought a huge posse of dancers and a live band. This would have killed in a club and I was disappointed that the conditions made me just want to be a big wuss and retreat to the comfort in the Artists Lounge.

  One of the things I was most looking forward to today was the arrival of my oldest friend Chris Todd and his wife Tammy. They weren’t getting in till after Day 2 of music was over so I promised him I would check out Devotchka. I know I sound so spoiled but wait till you see the pics of the fucking mudpeople, I hold no since of nostalgia for Woodstock nor a need to recreate it, but I kept my word and checked out a bit of their set, and I’m glad I did, they were fantastic.

Now that the rain had cleared and it was night-time (always a bit of an incentive as far as mood goes) I was ready to experience another Austin export that I’ve hearing about from everywhere, Ghostland Observatory. The cool thing about this was that I literally had NO idea what they were about period. Even based on what I heard they were totally (and refreshingly) different. I thought I was gonna be in for like a Radiohead clone (to illustrate just how removed I was from them) but just as I got up to the scaffolding side stage, these two freaks (that being a Texas native, these two could ONLY have come from the Lone Star State) come walking out, one wearing a Tron/Dr. Who looking electric cape and the other was a cross between Richard Petty and any cast member of Easy Rider. So what is THIS gonna sound like? The crowd is already going crazy and then here it comes: This dancy wailing banshee freak show complete with laser light show, just fucking awesome. It occurred to me however what a feat that they had brought this to such a high-profile level, cause being in this business as long as I have and being from Texas I could easily see this just being something that 50 people in Austin care about (but those 50 would REALLY freaking care).  From my perspective I was able to get a small shot of Mos Def who was dancing a jig behind the drum riser that was completely obscured to the audience.

Then has the show had reached such a high momentum, they did a fun smart thing, that dials right into that Texas local pride by bringing out the UT Austin Longhorns Marching Band to join them for a few songs.

Sun Oct 4th

No sleeping in today, as it was the last day of the festival, and I had to meet with my com padres Clutch who got a shitty time slot of 2pm. However the weather did take a nice sunny turn, but when I got to the site, holy shit, yesterday’s monsoon had just the sheer power of the foot traffic had turned the general population area into mushy peat bog about a foot deep. You could literally smell the ooze in the air, probably because as always there are some good-natured folks who embrace this sort of thing and can’t resist saying “fuck it, let’s become Swamp Thing“.

   So after hitting the Lounge for an early lunch I went to meet up with Clutch, whom I’ve had a long history with throughout the years. It was cool watching them rehearse out in the open and so early in the day down beneath the stage. Now it was showtime and they were all business, so I bid them a good show and took my place sidestage. Obviously given the short set-time they wanted to showcase their newest record Strange Cousins from the West as seven of their nine songs were from that record. For a band I’ve come to know so well, it was great to see them so out of their element which is completely what they strive for and deliver every time.

    

   Next up was time for some other old friends of mine from Fort Worth, the Toadies.  Hadn’t seen them since London over the Summer. They are like the equivalent of Classic Rock in Texas, just perfect for a sunny day in Austin who gave them a hero’s welcome. They played exactly what you would expect in a festival set, right to the hits, no bullshit, and then whipped out Got a Heart, which was a nice surprise.

        After their set I hung out with Mark (drummer) and his wife for a bit catching up and debating if we all wanted to eat or go see the Dirty Projectors. The heat was taking its toll, so food it is (Nourishment 1 – Indie – Trust Fund Rock 0) but the shuttles were so congested we had to wait forever for one (which became the theme of the day,so it made the decision of how bad you wanted something interesting), so we just split up and met back up in the catering tent.
Their merch guy Tony used to be in a Dallas band Hagfish, along with their new bass player Donni Blair and his brother Zach who is now in Rise Against, who joined us for lunch but I don’t know if he was playing that day or not. After eating I took as much juice/soda/water I can carry out to the general population to find Chris and his wife and some other friends of mine to offer them something that no doubt being overcharged for, when I made it about 5 yards in and I literally started to sink. I felt guilty about it but I was getting the fuck out of that mess!
   Now it was time for something I was greatly anticipating, The Dead Weather. To know me is to know my complete and utter devotion to the music of Jack White, and now that would take on yet a different form as he has yet another new band where this time he is playing drums. Another cool thing (and a testament to our friendship) is that although Chris and I haven’t any contact whatsoever is over five years, during that time he had developed a similar obsession, so it was great to share this excitement with him.
Besides Jack White the band is rounded out by Alison Mosshart ( The Kills) , Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) Jack Lawrence who is White’s partner in crime in his other band The Raconteurs.
This is designed to go down in a small, dark, smokey club around 1am but they killed! My fave set all weekend and perhaps one of the best of the year.

    Now this next part requires a little bit of explaining and a backstory if you like. I was prepared to make an effort right after the Dead Weather finished to go to the other side of the festival to see Girl Talk. As a DJ and a fan of music and a marveler of mashups and as someone who is pretty dialed in to popular culture this was something intriguing to me. I’ve heard everyone back in Brooklyn talking about him, I’ve heard and downloaded his stuff and was very impressed, enjoyed the backstory of this guy being some mad scientist who quit his career as a bio-mechanics engineer to rock the house etc.. I bought it, I was in, let’s go.
Now for this space I’m not gonna lead a pretentious type of discussion about what is truly a DJ, should they be looked at as musicians etc…all that crap you have heard before. I have my own ideas about all of that, none probably original so I’ll spare you and just talk about the experience.
The shuttle driver drops me off behind the stage where there is already a mob of people trying to get a glimpse. I had seen pictures of his performances and it looks like New Year’s Eve everytime so I get the hype. He’s got his finger on the pulse of that FIT, NYLON Magazine reading, 18-20 female crowd, that brings dudes of all ages around as well, so he really can’t do no wrong here.
However, what I witnessed was absolute shit. Call me an old curmudgeon who’s lost the plot but this whole thing had no place for me and I can’t help but feel all the better for it.  As so super lame as it sounds and I hate it myself when I hear people say this, but the entire time I was witnessing it I could hear a little voice of reason saying “This is exactly what’s wrong with everything, this is the defining example of where everything went to shit”.
Now having said that, he played, people danced and smiled (a few even got naked) and I’m sure a majority of people left that with a feeling of a good time and that’s great they should. My problem lies not in the absurdity of its popularity but its power. From behind the stage I could hear people chanting stuff in unison but didn’t know what was leading the charge. I learned later it was the screen they were facing (that I was behind) and all of the requests no matter how preposterous (like…”throw money in mud” ..and a few questionable ones)  were fulfilled.
As I watched this from sidestage, all these people were onstage dancing with him to make it a party, and everyone else was trying to get onstage to join them.  And the admittance regardless of credentials was some super lame velvet rope thing a la Studio 54, with some intern in shades (it was 8pm at night) making the selection. “what the fuck am I doing here?” I exclaimed and the problems only begin with the social aspects of this travesty.
Now again, if you go to FIT, read NYLON and you are reading this you will probably say “Dude, relax and dance” and you will probably be right and if you are everyone else you should criticize me for having waaay too much to say on something so insignificant.

      Now another surprise came but this time from some familiar faces. In the early 90’s I got to experience as a very young person, the great boom of new music that came out of Seattle, that everyone still talks about and makes silly claims about its importance or non-importance. Great time to be a young person and I was right in the middle of it, but because of my punk/metal/thrash tastes at the time I had to be a convert. I liked the heaviness of Nirvana and Soundgarden and my age would dictate that I enjoyed belonging to the something from its beginning. You really couldn’t be into just one of these bands, even though they were sold separately, they may as well just bundled them because once you had Nevermind or Badmotorfinger surely you had to buy Ten to complete the set.  Much like growing up in the 80’s you were surely into G.I. Joe , Transformers, and He-Man, but someone had to be number three.
For me, this is where Pearl Jam has always stood. I really enjoyed them, think they are an incredible band, one of the best live bands I still have ever seen to this day (hell I even worked at Stone Gossard‘s label Loosegroove for a period) but the interest somehow didn’t come as natural after somewhere around that third record.  Working in music I was aware of their subsequent releases, and even if you didn’t who could forget their headline-grabbing (and at times…temple-scratching) decisions like battling Ticketmaster and releasing their entire tours live to diffuse the bootleggers of their profit.
Since I was caring less about the music I was caring less about the cause so eventually I tuned out completely. So that’s why although their popularity hasn’t waned, I really had no idea that since 1996 when I last gave a fuck that this band had become this generation’s Grateful Dead.  Seems that everyone I spoke to only came on Sunday and only to see them. Everywhere you looked on Sunday it was the Pearl Jam nation.
So I thought I should check some of this out, and what followed was a two hour + marathon that would make anyone a believer. I knew that this was a high-profile gig and it has that potential of something special happening, but it was so effortless that it gave me the impression that this is what happens at all of their gigs, hence the cult like following.
I saw Perry Farrell backstage shortly before they hit stage, struck by inspiration going on about how he wanted to get up and do his own band’s Mountain Song and how unforgettable it would be.
Here is the setlist and pics from the show: (including a great pic of when Eddie Vedder joined the mud-people)

 

Setlist –
   1.Why Go
2.Corduroy
3.Got Some
4.Not For You
5.Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
6.Given To Fly
7.World Wide Suicide
8.Even Flow
9.Unthought Known
10.Daughter
11.Hail Hail
12.Insignificance
13.Present Tense
14.State Of Love And Trust
15.The Fixer
16.GoEncore:17.Jazz Odyssey
18.Red Mosquito (with Ben Harper)
19.Do The Evolution
20.The Real Me (The Who cover)
21.AliveEncore 2:22.Mountain Song (Jane’s Addiction cover w/ Perry Farrell)
23.Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
   I mean fan or not who could fuck with this?, my goodness. What other band could put an exclamation point on the weekend as being the last band on the last day in this fashion? Now I get it, fucking legendary.
I made my way back to the Lounge to catch the shuttle back to downtown. Chris and his wife had made an early exit to get cleaned up from all of the mud and we had planned to meet up a bit later to go to another party. The next two hours became very social, I don’t because if it was the end but everyone was talking to everybody. I first ran into my good friend Sam from LA (who was working the event and ironically was my assigned shuttle driver) as I was taking the golf cart back to pickup I rode with this couple who were on something of a third date and I turned on the cut-through-the-bullshit mode that I’m known for and started asking questions that clearly they were both afraid to ask each other. An hour later they came to find me to tell me that they had decided to make their relationship official and it was because of what I said and they were thanking me profusely. Good times.
As I was walking out some of the guys in Pearl Jam were coming in namely Jeff Ament, and behind him I see Doug Pinnick (King’s X)  & he came up and we had a nice chat.  I knew that he had some correlation to Jeff Ament as its seems every interview I’ve read over the years Jeff has found someone way to talk about King’s X and I think they are working on a project together, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him hanging with PJ, but as any performer who is not scheduled to play its surprising and exciting to see them.
So after I talked to Doug for awhile, Sam told me the van was ready and it was time to go. So I and a few of the performers climbed into the van, and here is where things come full circle. I was to be the last stop as I was going to the farthest and so I could hang with Sam for a bit, and the last two people were me and this other dude who were both going to the same place (Beauty Bar) and as we are talking its starting to occur to me that this is the Girl Talk dude. Greg I believe his name was, was totally cool and really funny and I kinda felt bad for talking shit earlier (but not really haha). He’s telling me that he wants to do a gig right now at the Beauty Bar since no one knows anything about it. All I can think of is the walls caving in with throngs of girls from American Apparel ads (not such a bad thought) besieging the place as their cool status couldn’t sustain the notion of missing something so hush hush once word got around.
I thought now to have Sam take me somewhere else but this is where I was to meet Chris and his wife and my oldest friends works here too who I hadn’t had the chance to say hello to yet. Girl Talk dude and I go into the Beauty Bar and within minutes I’m hearing that the place is not prepared for the headache of what would happen once word got out, so they put the kibosh on it and I saw him leave shortly after.
Two girls from San Francisco were chatting me up and dancing and as the place was closing they asked if I knew of any other after-parties.
I had heard that something was going on at the Congress Bridge, but those things usually get busted and in a hurry, but these girls were anxious to make their last night continue, so into a cab and off to the bridge we go. As we walk up their is Greg Girl Talk dude…again (someone is following somebody).  I had to admire him for wanting to rawk it here as this was about as real deal as it gets, open and to the public.
As expected, he hadn’t got two bars into the first track and here come the police:

 

Lollapalooza 2009

Sat Aug 8th

  Was gonna be hooking up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs today, as they were asked last minute to replace the Beastie Boys who were forced to cancel because of Adam Yauch’s cancer scare. Then the mini-gig between acts on Perry Farrell’s stage. This city has this whole thing so perfectly organized. I was at this (since its been a destination festival in Chicago) once before when I was touring with Ween in 2006.
Got checked in and wrist-banded and all that and in time to catch the last half of Atmosphere who were awesome as always, and headed to my little between act mini-gig I was doing for Sony Playstation.
Insanely hot, and more crowded than I expected it being so early. Farrell had just done a little something on this stage so people were still around checking it out. Massive amounts of people.

  Thankfully my go-cart driver was savvy but I still had to fight to get to the stage to Santigold. The love for her was off the charts and got some of this biggest reaction all weekend. She was so freaking awesome, and probably the most fun I had of all the bands I saw. I saw her at the Moveon.org Pre-Inaugural Ball in D.C. earlier this year and this was no less fantastic. Did her portion of Jay-Z’s “Brooklyn (Go Hard)” and covered The Cure’s “Killing an Arab”. Astounding.

  I opted out of seeing Lyyke Li again for TV on the Radio, whom I can’t recall ever seeing in spite of the fact that they live down the street from me. I’m sure I have I just couldn’t remember because if they were this good last time I would have remembered, wow. They are one of those bands that I’m so sick and tired of hearing people heap praise upon, but it’s pretty undeniable, they rule. One of the most original bands in recent memory, and I have no one to compare them to.

   Now it was time to get the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s stage. One of the big moments of this band’s shows is the anticipation of what singer Karen O will be wearing this time. It’s literally just as much as part of the package as anything the band will play. It usually an original piece she has pulled together and its always over the top and never fails to steal the spotlight. When I saw her putting it on backstage, the look of glee on her face in a “wait till they get a load of me” smirk, let me know this more than a gimmick to her as she was visibly nervous as the stakes had been raised since they were filling in for the Beastie Boys. Acknowledging this by just doing the first couple bars of “Sabotage” was classy and subtle.

So after they got going I had to eat something as I hadn’t most of the day. Now one thing at these things (and you wonder why artists act like spoiled brats) is that they really take care of you. Golf carts to the stage of your choice, full catered meals and all the booze you can handle. So I had my driver take me to catering to see what was left of dinner. After I ate, I went to the Artists Lounge for a drink, and met these two really fun local girls. One of them, Chasity, I found to be a kindred spirit and this girl made me laugh from the second she said hello. We were behind the stage that Tool was playing at and I haven’t seen or cared about this band since I was in High School. One of the great things about this kind of festival is that it makes it easy to see things you would normally never patronize. If the circus was in your backyard, you might bend your neck to have a look right? Same principal here.  So we decided to walk down and check out the end of their set. I could hear the singer but I couldn’t spot him anywhere, and it wasn’t because of lack of perspective, it was like he was literally hiding. So the jokes of him phoning in his performance were abound.

Here are some tweets from the day:
“Tool are decent players but they are stuck in a really lame image and their fans are the worst.”
“Tv on the Radio are so freaking good. #Lollapalooza2009 ”
“Santigold is doing the Cure’s “Killing an Arab”
“the love for Santigold is off the charts! my goodness”
“just saw Atmosphere tear shit apart. #Lollapalooza09 “
 So I met back up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were headed to the Spin Magazine Party, and it was then I was so thankful that my hotel was right across the street as I had time to change clothes, take a 10 min nap and make it there by midnight. Of course when I got there, there was this whole scene outside trying to get in, but we were ushered right in through a side door. I was excited about the lineup of Santigold with the GZA, followed by Passion Pit. This kind of music really thrives in this late-night kind of environment.

    Free booze and the like were flowing when I met two more locals that made the trip memorable. A really charming girl was chatting me up while holding her boyfriend’s camera equipment while he was shooting in the next room. One of the best conversations on the whole tour, I found out she’s a writer and all around bad ass. Her boyfriend was (obviously a photographer) and equally as cool. Ended up hanging with them for the rest of the evening. They insisted on taking a pic with me despite the fact that due to the events of the day I looked eerily similar to a member of Lynard Skynard.

Said goodbye to the Yeahs and my new friends after Passion Pit finished and made the walk back down Michigan Ave to my hotel before the sun came up. Knew tomorrow was gonna be more of the same. Good times.

Sun Aug 9th

I go have dinner where I met back up with Chasity. She was even more lovely than the day before and such fun that one, as who else could have talked me into going to see Snoop Dogg while in a food coma?

  He was fun like you would expect (as I’ve seen before) and this time he even had a full band with him to round out the sound. However, performance wise, it was as disposable as his image. A series of cookie-cutter call and response routines that made no difference, no impact and will not be remembered.
Chasity and I parted and promised to meet back up for Jane’s Addiction later, as I returned to my comfort seat in the south end to catch a bit of Lou Reed. Now no one can take away this man’s legend, or underestimate his contributions to the tapestry of Rock and Roll, but none of those also offer him a pass for the shit he pulled on this day. Every interview I’ve read with him as far as I can remember paints him to be a prick of the highest order. That bitter curmudgeon, with little regard for anything outside of his sphere. After living in NYC for awhile I’ve encountered these types in an albeit less famous capacity, but as far as I can tell, they walk around with a sense of entitlement that may be afforded to them, but they seem to think it makes them exempt from everything.
I will refer to Lou Reed’s “appearance” as more of a tantrum as compared to an actual performance. He bitched and moaned about technical specs, stopped more songs than he started and didn’t seem to care about momentum. Even more in bad taste was that if he seemed like he was reading instead of actually  singing its because he was. Get a load of the lyric monitors:

 He also went over his time delaying Band of Horses from starting on time by almost a half an hour. Dude just stay home next time.
Now it was time for the big buildup for the final band of the festival. Fittingly the weekend should end with Lollapalooza’s founder and the headliner of its original year: Jane’s Addiction. One thing that does annoy me at these events that the last band always pulls some ego thing where suddenly everyone’s credentials are deemed worthless during their set and you have to have these sudden new ones only distributed by the band. How fucking velvet rope horseshit can you get? And yet I’ve seen ALOT of bands do it. This time Jane’s pulled that shit, but coming from them, it wasn’t like a big shocker. I could really care less anyway, they meant literally NOTHING to me in the 90’s and I saw them earlier this year at the Playboy Party in Austin in a small intimate setting. The only thing is that I was already backstage and it made it difficult to get through the traffic to go out into the field to find Chasity and some other friends. So I ended up watching by myself and really I was so tired at that point they could have been joined by The Police and I couldn’t have cared less. However the show did yield a special guest in the form of Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry (I guess just looking for something to do while Steven Tyler is recuperating) on Jane Says.

  I was also trying to reserve my energy to catch a second wind, because this may have been the festival’s last act but I was ending my weekend in Chicago with one more band. The unthinkable collaboration that had been rumored for months was finally going to be a reality. Under a shroud of mystery, who given the weight of the players was totally justified, the trio of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones, collectively known (as we learned just days before) as Them Crooked Vultures, were making an historic live debut at historic venue the Metro tonight.
The band had no album, no single, not so much as a snippet, with given the climate of today is nothing short of a miracle, making it truly a debut, as NO ONE had heard ANYTHING. But again given the people onstage, expectations were extremely high, and were met and exceeded. We didn’t even know what to call the band as we learned later with their “official” name was. When you entered that night, instead of a ticket you just received a wristband that had the date/venue name, and 3 symbols (a la Led Zeppelin IV) with the Foo Fighters logo, the Q from the Queens of the Stone Age logo, and naturally John Paul Jones’s symbol from Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album.

Monday Aug 10th

So to illustrate how awesome Chicago is, I was staying across the street from Millennium Park and since today was my last day in Chicago I wanted to check it out and it being so close why not. I really wanted to do some John Hughes stuff but the weather in the early part of the day didn’t really permit it.
So I grab some food and after eating I cross the street to check out the park when I stumble upon a FREE Shellac show about to start! Holy freaking awesome!
The park is gorgeous and it looks like a place where a symphony would get down as compared to a weird punk band, but it had that same feel of like Fugazi in D.C., when a band is just embedded in the DNA of a city like that.

Right as I sit down in the seats up front, another staple of Chicago sits down with his family right in front of me. I didn’t want to bother him but like a loser I had to try to sneak a photo.  Can you spot Jeff Tweedy in this pic?

My gosh who’s next Barack Obama? Al Capone? This was very Chicago. Shellac bring some uncomfortable and unsettling to the table. Like you know this isn’t gonna be the verse-chorus-verse/fake ending/3 song encore thing. This was gonna be unpredictable and vulnerable, and it totally was. The bassist would answer questions while the band tuned, to much hilarity. The drummer was running all over the place with his drums. Their was definitely an indie/political vibe but the performance certainly didn’t suffer.