Whoa…what a hangover today. I better write this down before I forget what I experienced. Well, my first ever Lollapalooza was one hell of a ride thanks to Swifty and his connections on the inside. Lucky for us he knows someone who knows someone who knows someone else in Billy Idols band who got us on the guest list. I was skeptical that it would work (which has happened before) and that we would would have to buy tickets instead which was fine with me. Or if it did work out we would have at least a free ticket. Well, I was wrong on both counts! BOOOYAAAAA Backstage passes were handed to us. There is no better way to experience a music festival like this, I’ve been spoiled. Better views, no huge crowds, free food and booze, and best of all, hang out with rock stars. YEAAAAAAAHHHH!Needless to say, we were jazzed (Swifty especially being the music nut he is.). So here’s the recap of what we did:
We arrived at around 2:30, the show actually opened at 11 am but we didn’t care much about the first couple of bands. We walked over to see the Kaiser Chiefs who were in full swing. Great set and I like their style of music. The best was the finale when they had two people from the crowd sing the whole song of “Oh My God”. They were pretty good too!Then we wandered over to one of Eriks favs, The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The lead singer kept yelling at the other stage where Dashboard Confessional was playing. “Don’t quit your dayjobs!” He seemed like he was in a bad mood, but I think thats how he is all the time from what I understand. So after this set we decided to use the power of our passes and find a nicer bathroom and score some free food and drink.Erik wanted to go talk to the guys from Brian Jonestown sitting there behind the stage but I advised him not too. He looked like he didn’t want to be bothered. So we moved on, walking past Perry Farrell, the guy who founded this whole thing years ago, in the process. Cool! Janes Addiction was my first ever CD that I bought. We tried getting into the VIP area, but were kicked out as we didn’t have the proper credentials, high rollers only I guess. Oh, we will have our revenge later.

Somehow we found our way onto backstage where Cake was playing. We inched our way closer and helped ourselves to some beer. Cake was playing awesome, and we had some great views of the band and the crowd from our vantage point. As a bonus, who should walk up and stand next to us was none other than Mr. Les Claypool. Hell yeah, the Primus frontman and bass master himself. At first I wasn’t sure as he has a huge beard now, but my hunches were confirmed later.

A couple more beers later, it was time to pay homage to our host, Billy Idol. The security staff at that stage were complete dicks, and would not let us on any part of the sidestage, or in front either. Erik managed to sneak past them and snapped a few great shots of Billy right up front. We were kicked out and forced onto the main field with the ‘commoners’. Hey, we were royalty there right? It started to rain a bit, but it soon subsided. Billy was friggin great, performing all his big hits and he rocked the crowd. Oh yeah, we also started talking with the bass player Collin from Brian Jonestown Massacre and his woman. Erik talked his ear off and I just told him “Great f’ing set”. We were then invited to come to the afterparty at the Double Door. Sweet!

So, next up was the band I wanted to see most, Primus. We ran up to the viewing platform with no problems and looked down from above. Les was in great form as he rocked the crowd standing in front of two huge inflatable ducks. His setlist included some of my favorites like Jerry Was A Racecar Driver and Here Come The Bastards. Everyone went nuts and huge mosh pit formed in front of the stage. I shot some video using my camera and took plenty of photos. Afterwards, we came down and Les was talking to a few folks. Hey what the hell lets go say hi! So we did. I shook his hand told him I loved his music and Erik posed with him for a photo op. Cool guy. Of course I had to razz Zeisler a bit afterwards

So then we headed back over to the same stage with the prick security guards to catch another favorite of mine, The Pixies. They recently came back together again after a being on hiatus for a few years. Damn, they sounded good. Erik and I pounded some more beers during this show and man I was starting to swim.

Since we were standing next to the VIP section again, and only a weak hedgerow seperated us from them, Erik pushed his way through to get himself a T-Shirt. Afterwards I too went to get mine. Two of his buddies from back east were also at the show, and this was where they were at so since it was getting dark we mingled with the crowd so security couldn’t see that we weren’t supposed to be in there. As we watched the final act, Weezer, we pounded more beers. I was pretty much in the tank at this point.

So the show ended and we made our way to Michigan Avenue to grab a cab and go to the Double Door. Apparently we had some new found friends who also tagged along, thats fine because they paid for the cab fare . I was done drinking for the evening, somehow I had to make it home. So we hung out with some industry types and there was this band playing that was kickass. Which I just figured out was somebody called Ben Kweller. So, midnight came and I had to return my glass slippers. Hopped a cab and made the last train out of Chicago.

See the photos here