It's been a few days but I'm finally getting caught
up with home stuff, road stuff and now blog stuff. I think the last
check in was Oh No Town; since then we made our way through Nashville
and another day off (thanks to Glen for the boat ride to Johnny-town
and Sharon for the secret corn pasta), a steamy show at the Municipal
Auditorium, St. Louis crypt-style ( I hear it was really hot and gross
there, but we never saw the light of day) and last but not least, the
Lollapalooza- Chi-Town edition, day one. It took place in Grant Park by
the lake with a stage in all four corners of the main field and other
assorted satellites nearby.
Having been to a few as a fan and working on the
last of the original touring Lollas ('97), I've decided that the word
Lollapalooza translates to "I can get away with wearing the most truly
stupid clothes I own." Saturday was nearly 100 degrees and ranged from
about 97% humidity to 100%... which meant it rained for a while. To add
to the challenge put in front of us, the band was closing so that meant
we loaded in a 8am, line checked, packed it all up and wrapped it in
plastic. Then I had agreed to help out the folks from Liz Phair who
were second on our stage. Coming in blind with a group in a festival
situation without a soundcheck can be fun. There were a lot of guitar
stings to change and detective work to be done to get it all working.
Minor chaos ensued but the show went off like most festival shows, it
started and before you knew it, it was over. I found myself around 4pm
done with that and realized I had done the last eight hours on one cup
of bad coffee and a large dose of spite. It was time to find some food.
That done, I returned to the stage to prepare for
our show and enjoy the set by Primus; an acquired taste, it did the
trick to put both Bobby and I over the top. Excellent use of inflatable
ducks and single-string-wang-bar-percussive devices by the way... By
the end of their set, it became clear (pun already underway) that we
could forget about further rain but could enjoy copious amounts of
personal moisture.
Our boys came to play; as the Pixies ended their
set, Weezer put on one of their most animated performances ever. The
backdrop of the Chicago skyline, the cooling effects of the sun
going down and some serious shape throwing from the guitar wearing guys
insured this one for the record books. In the end, the audience was
delivered a truly solid set and one bass was killed. It all went in the
boxes and we'll reconviene in Osaka, Japan in a few weeks for our
Asian-Euro-Commando-Rental-fest 2005.
Feels good when they give you the closing spot and your boys bring their " A" game...
3:23:09 PM 
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