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Every year since 2005, Lollapalooza (a three day music festival) has taken place in Grant Park here in Chicago (Denuo’s base of operations). Every year since 2005, I’ve gone to Grant Park to listen to bands, eat rib sandwiches, and spend more time outside than anyone with Irish ancestry should. Every year since 2005, I’ve written a recap of the bands I saw and the overall experience. The first couple years I would just e-mail the reviews and anecdotes of 20 hours worth of music to some friends, none of which are music fans. Last year, on an old blog, I took my reviews public.

This year, lucky denuology fan (go sign up for fan club), you get to read the recap here. Same gimmicks as last year, just a new home.

In all the years I have gone to Lollapalooza I was never as unexcited by a lineup. In 2007 I was underwhelmed and only bought a one day pass for Saturday. I lived to regret that as I had a blast and forgot how much fun Lollapalooza is. The 2008 lineup was unbelievably strong. 2009 was… well… not good. The headliners say it all: Kings of Leon, Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys (replaced by Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Tool, Jane’s Addiction, and the Killers. No offense to anyone on this list, but these are all acts that I would expect to hold down a 7pm slot before Radiohead, Kanye West, or Pearl Jam takes the stage

I was not optimistic going into the fest this year.

To explain my rating system. I don’t use the cryptic star system employed by Mr Dan Buczaczar, but rather a school grading system. Translated as follows:
A: Loved the show. Tracking them down to see them live again. Buying all their CD’s. Describing them as “dreamy” in conversation.
B: They were good. Probably buy a CD or two. Keep tabs on them. Recommend to friends I think would like them
C: M’eh.
D: Not a fan. Will never be a fan. Borderline hate them.
F: Restraining the urge to punch someone in the throat to unleash the rage that has built up in me since they are so awful and if you ask me to go see them live I will terminate whatever relationship we have immediately… Except a business relationship.

NOW TO THE BANDS!!!!!

Friday Aug 7, 2009
I am going to file this date away as the Day of Durbin Blunders. It was raining in Chitown and there were no bands I really wanted to see until 3pm. However, I decided why not try to get to the fest and see random bands I have a mediocre interest in starting at 11:30am? Terrible, terrible decision. I missed Hockey. A band I never heard of and got to the stages at 12:15 for…

Manchester Orchestra 12:15pm (Grade: B-)
These guys were pretty entertaining. They sounded great. They were a little heavier than I expected at first and then got more anthemic (full disclosure: I don’t think I used that word correctly). They believed in what they were doing which is all you can really ask from a midday band playing in the rain.

I couldn’t believe how crowded the stages were this early. I am 100% the “things were better then” guy and I will say it for the one millionth time; Lollapalooza was better when it was significantly smaller like it was in year one or even year two. Last year when I got there around the same time for Rogue Wave there were not nearly the same number of people.

Other fun side note: A few things in my life go a little differently and I think I am the lead singer of Manchester Orchestra. Decide for yourself.

Manchester Orchestra sez: “You used anthemic correctly… We think.”

The Knux 1pm (B+)
I’m glad the aforementioned Dan Buczaczer recommended these guys. I had nothing I wanted to see until 2pm so they filled the void nicely. These guys are a hip hop group that does a great job using traditional rock instruments to lay the foundation of their songs. They had a lot of energy and managed to get a lot of energy out of an afternoon crowd that was covered in rain and not quite awake yet (read: sober).

The Gaslight Anthem 2pm (B+)
Don’t worry, I’m not gonna Mel Kiper this thing and give everyone some variation of a B. I listened to some of their songs on Myspace and they sounded pretty good. They were fun to watch live. They sound like Bright Eyes, The Weakerthans, Counting Crows and The Getup Kids all got together and formed a country indie punk pop band. I think I just invented a new genre.

Side Note 2:45pm (F)
To be clear, side note isn’t a band. This just seemed an appropriate time to take a Zack Morris style timeout to note that this was the point in the day when the wheels started flying off the John Durbin Happiness Bus. It was a heavy rain, I was soaked, I was tired, I had too many 20oz Bud Lights (more on that in a second) and most of all, I was just kinda bored. I decided to rally and fight through it but thought we should mention it so I don’t have to note it in Bon Iver’s rating.

Another aside. I’m shocked that more people don’t know the weather. You should have seen some of the outfits people were wearing in the rain. Nice classy sandals, shorts with tank tops. More people need to watch the Weather Channel in the morning.

Side Note sez: “It’s your fault for showing up so early.”

Bon Iver 3pm (A-)
He sounded great. The music was awesome. The downfall was it is not exactly the kind of music you want to hear while being rained on and getting more and more grumpy at your day. As mentioned, Lollapalooza decided to sell 20oz beers this year. Yikes. Bad idea. Typically you have a beer per set. Now, subconsciously, you’re cranking down almost twice as much beer in the same amount of time. Thankfully they ran out on the first day.

I watched a little Ben Folds then left. I was too wet to hang out anymore. As I am sure you guessed, soon after I left, the rain stopped. My phone died because it got too wet. Which doesn’t make any sense considering water has been around almost forever. Shouldn’t that be the first objective when building an electronic device? Make it waterproof?

Saturday August 8
For anyone rolling their eyes thinking “Oh dear God, it’s paper football recap all over again”, don’t worry. I paid a lot less attention to the rest of the fest and am going to do this lightning round style with a few exceptions.

Los Campesinos 2:30pm (B+)
This day started as the opposite of Friday. It was sunny, hot, and more like the fest I fell in love with. Los Campesinos epitomized that by being dancey, fun, and overall a really entertaining show. Perfect for a festival. Perfect for the afternoon.

TV on the Radio 6:30pm (B)
TV on the Radio came on my radar when Adult Swim released an album called Warm and Scratchy. It featured a bunch of songs by indie alternative acts. The biggest name on the album was Broken Social Scene. The CD was free for download at their website. I am mentioning this because Adult Swim might be the best marketing people out there. They’re constantly offering freebies, putting fun/unique games on their site, and really just doing clever thing after clever thing to make you feel like they want to have fun with you rather than sell you their shows. We can all take a lesson from them. My favorite promo probably was the Venture Bros. T Shirt of the Week. After each episode in season 3 they released a t-shirt. You could only order it until the next episode premiered. They only made as many as were ordered. Brilliant. I ordered a few. So did Eric Bee.

Tool 8:30pm (C+)
I give Tool a C only because I never really got into Tool and they used the video screens to show videos. I prefer to watch the band play. Just me.

Dan Deacon 3:30pm (A)
When you are finished reading this, please immediately go to another part of the internet to find out when Dan Deacon will be performing near you. After you find out, try to go see him. The music is good, but it’s more about feeling like you are at a ridiculous friend’s house and he decided that you should be doing nothing but having fun. He interacts with the crowd, has you do fun things like make a human tunnel. Hands down the funnest show of the fest.

Vampire Weekend: B-. I heard very little of them, this grade is based on what peeps I know had said.
Neko Case: B+. What an incredible voice. A little mellow for a fest, but she sounded fantastic.
Dan Auerbach: C. I was expecting something different. He was far more traditionally bluesy than Iron and Wine or Bon Iver (what I thought he would be). My expectations are why this got the lower rating. If you like him, you would probably like his show.

Snoop Dog 6:30pm (B+)
Snoop knows how to do a show. It’s that simple. He was funny, ran the gamut of his career in his set list. Had special guests. There was also an incredibly large amount of suburban young kids there cheering when Snoop said “Fuck Da Police”.

Snoop Dogg sez: “Put your middle finger in the air”

John sez: “I can’t. I’m at work.”

Deerhunter: B+. I caught half a song while walking across the fest. Immediately added them to the list of bands to look into.

Lou Reed: F. I am gonna get more into this in the next band down.

Band of Horses 7:30pm (A+)
For those not familiar with the layout of Lollapalooza, essentially there are two main concert areas. Each area has two stages. The stages will rotate use so that there is constantly a show going on in the area. One of the rules is that if one band is playing, the other one cannot. What does this mean? It means regardless of when Lou Reed decided to start his set, he is responsible to stop playing at 7:30pm when his set ends.

Well, Lou Reed decided to be “Rock and Roll” and play until 7:50. Cutting into 20 minutes of Band of Horses set. Not cool, bro. The two things that made me so angry and resulted in Mr. Reed getting an F are 1) He ended his set 3 times. As in, bands usually do that thing where they jam out, then stop and bow and stuff. Yeah, did that 3 times. It was awful. 2) I forgot the second one.

Band of Horses took it in stride. they came on at 7:50, never addressed the fact that they were forced to start late, and played. They sounded awesome. You could tell this is a band that is starting to figure out how to play festivals. They took typically slower songs and played a bit up tempo. They actually countrified one of their songs to pick up the pace which was a cool variation. I was pleased.

Then things got awesome….

On the other stage at 8:30, Jane’s Addiction was supposed to start playing. Ya know, the band that Lollapalooza boss Perry Farrell is the frontman for. Well, at around 8:32pm, Band of Horses decided they would do one more song. The crowd for them went nuts. A minute later Jane’s Addiction started their show on the opposite stage. A helicopter started flying low and circling the stages, shining it’s light on the crowds. After the song, Band of Horses kept playing. Everyone got closer to the stage. Ben Bridwell (lead singer) shouted “We’re gonna blow this s#!^ out!” Then his guitar stopped working. At which point he took it off, handed it to the roadie and jumped down to get as close to the crowd as possible. They played until 8:50, which means they basically did their set, but it felt like they went over completely. It didn’t seem to affect Jane’s Addiction, which is good.

1) A friend pointed out that they are basically Stillwater, the band from “Almost Famous”. The comparison is eerie in it’s accuracy.

2) This seemed like a show where the band turned a corner from being an great album/studio band to being equally great live.

3) Going into the last couple bands I was going to see, I was really disappointed that there hadn’t been a “did you see that!” show to this point. You could argue Dan Deacon was it, but it still seemed to pale in comparison to Daft Punk a couple years ago, or the powerful headliners of last year’s fest. I am slotting Band of Horses into that hallowed territory. Even Esquire wrote about it.

Band of Horses sez: “We love Yo Gabba Gabba too.”

The Killers 8:30pm (D+)
I’m totally gonna Lou Reed this thing and instead of capping it with the awesome Band of Horses set, I am gonna keep going and write about The Killers. In 2005, The Killers had just released “Hot Fuss”, gained a lot of national attention, and were slated for an afternoon slot at the first Lollapalooza in Chicago. I saw them and enjoyed it. My official review at the time was “they were given an hour of time to play but only have one 45 minute CD released at this point. That seems a little mean of the organizers.” Brandon Flowers attempted to banter with the crowd between songs, be charming, buy time. He did a fair job but it was clear that these guys were pretty new to the fest scene. They played one new song they were working on and no covers, which can be a best friend to someone trying to fill out a timeslot.

Fast forward 4 years and The Killers are back with several albums worth of material, a lot more fame, and a headlining slot. The between song banter now includes boring stories about flying from Las Vegas to Chicago which really only entails listing out the places they flew over. They have weirder outfits and some lights. But outside of that they are still the same band that I saw 4 years ago in almost the exact same place in Grant Park. Sound good, but the show just isn’t anything to write home about.

It was a strangely appropriate way to close out the off year for what has historically been a great music festival. Clearly Lollapalooza is one of the better music events of the year. It seems like Lollapalooza is continuing to evolve and I get the feeling in 2010 we will see some changes in the way they approach it. Just a hunch. Also, please note that none of these quotes are actually from any band and are things I 100% made up.