Day One of Lollapalooza... and I'm satisfied. Dehydrated, but satisfied nonetheless.

Radiohead was everything I wanted them to be. Despite the sweltering heat and sun beating down for several hours (my face is not satisfied to say the least), it was all worth it from my perfect viewpoint of the stage and a wonderful setlist that gave me no complaints, even if it was heavy on In Rainbows (they played literally all of it). Sure, i would've happily exchanged one of those for "Talk Show Host" but the odds of that were low to begin with, and I'm not sure I could choose which song to omit (okay, "House of Cards" it is). Anyway, it was beautiful.

I danced like I was out of my mind, made normal by the fact that I was simply mirroring Thom Yorke's goofy/awesome set of moves that might be best described as "interpretive belly dance" or "modified snoopy dance". I sang along silently (until the second encore, when everyone let rip on "2+2=5" and "Idioteque", the latter of which was my personal highlight). I was mesmerized by their light/video/color show and I have a new appreciation for "Dollars and Cents" and "The Gloaming".

The crowd was 75,000 large, and judging from the crowd feedback, we were all somewhere between completely scorched and completely reverent. At one point Thom commented on our collective quietness, which of course was met with a deafening roar from all of us who wanted to make sure we got that second encore. Maybe I'm a fanboy, but I'd like to think that our volume level between songs was one-part tired and two-parts savoring every note, waiting expectantly to see where they took us next.

Radiohead isn't your average 75,000-crowd band. Like my friend Matt said, it's a bit surprising that they grabbed a worldwide audience. The soaring melodies certainly put them on the mega-band stage, but they've mostly created music that a mainstream audience is willing to put the time in for, wading through layers of thoughtful, challenging work to get to the pop-center.

Anyway, other highlights included the fireworks show going on behind "Everything in Its Right Place" that bled into "Fake Plastic Trees". Apparently it was from Soldier Field, but I'm not clear on if it was Lollapalooza-centric.

I could go on and on (obviously), but that's good enough for now.

The rest of the day was also great - Bloc Party was good (not 6:00 good, but the Silent Alarm songs were fun to hear, even if they kind of all sound the same), Gogol Bordello was a pleasant surprise. I missed the Black Keys in the name of having a good spot for Radiohead. I don't regret that, but apparently they put on a killer show, as did the Raconteurs. Next time the Keys come through town, I'm in, I promise. Finally, the Kills were fun, but their live show doesn't really add anything to their sound.

Tomorrow looks like another (slightly-cooler) scorcher, so I need to pace myself, stay hydrated and stretch a lot. It's also my bouncing back and forth from the north-end to the south-end day. I begin with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's at 12:15, and I get DeVotchKa, Jamie Lidell, Broken Social Scene, Toadies & Rage Against the Machine, and hopefully a couple side stage surprises. It'll be easier though since I won't be worried about holding down my spot all day (and with the exception of Broken Social Scene & Margot, I mostly just want to catch a few songs from all of these sets). Good stuff.

Labels: music