Lollapalooza, day 2

Well, Lollapalooza's second day has ended and again I am exhausted, but I enjoyed getting that way. I arrived at noon to see Rainer Maria whose music I really like. I was not disappointed by their live show. Caitlin is very cute and very gracious of the audience and Kyle is a very energetic guitar player. I would really like to see them again. I then walked across the part to catch Nada Surf. They became popular about 10 years ago with the song "I'm Popular". I was aware that they were still around and still putting out albums, I had even heard and liked a few songs, I just didn't know many of them. They opened with I'm Popular and their set included Happy Birthday because it was their lead singers birthday. They had a good set but it wasn't outstanding (that would come later). Feist followed and then Built to Spill and I liked both of their sets. Having said that, I was rather annoyed that the organizers had decided to schedule a metal band (Peeping Tom) during Feist's set. While I was not aware that Peeping Tom is Mike Patton (of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More) and while I like Mike Patton, it wasn't right to put him against Feist (Feist does some really soft music and the bass really interfered. I then saw partial sets of Calexico and Wolfmother. I really like Calexico but I wanted to be across the park to acatch a partial set of Gnarls Barkley so I was only able to catch a partial set of Calexico and caught the end of Wolmother. I had thought after hearing a few of Wolfmother's songs that they sounded like Robert Plant singing Black Sabbath, after hearing the end of their set, I would add Deep Purple to the mix. Anyway, I saw the beginning of Gnarls Barkley's set and have to say that these guys are going to be huge. I didn't even hear their first single Crazy. They are definitely not going to be a one hit wonder. I started my work at 5 PM on the other side of the park and got to catch the end of Sonic Youth's set. The Dresden Dolls played next and they were very good. I had heard of them before but had never heard them, after what I saw of their set, I will have to check them out more. The next artist was why I requested the north side of the park, The Flaming Lips. I had seen part of a set of theirs during Lollapalooza 1994 and I liked them, but since then I had heard that their shows were as much visual as auditory and I really didn't remember this. I had heard sightings on this tour of aliens and Santa Clauses and needed to check this out. As was stated, the stage had aliens on one side and Santa Clauses on the other, the band was dressed in superhero costumes and their were a giant alien, astronaut and Sant Clause behind the band. Wayne, the lead singer came out to ask people to have fun and participate. He then got into a plastic bubble and walked off the stage. He rolled around in his ball on top of the crowd for a few minutes while the band played and then returned to the stage to start. During the first song, he liberally used a confetti gun and released a bunch of giant purple balloons which bounced around during the entire show. This set was the highlight of the day. After the Lips, Thievery Corporation played next and while I liked what I heard, I was unable to see them because I was busy working. I finished working in time to run and catch the end of the New Pornographers before I left. Kanye West and Manu Chao were headlining at their respective main stages but I wasn't really interested in seeing either so I left.

It was a great although very tiring day and I will do it again tomorrow. I probably won't post until Monday because I will need sleep for work on Monday.