Remembering the Encores

Who: Lollapalooza Day 3 When: August 4, 2013 Where: Grant Park/ Chicago, IL With: Dude-Bros, "Water Guy", Dancing Girls #22 & 35, some actual grown-ups Of Note: Day 3 is a hard day to be your most packed Want to skip around? Emotional Horseshit Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Jake Bugg, Alex Clare, The Mowgli's, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix Jake Bugg is totally a thing - he's been blowing up all over England and starting to catch on here. The best description I've heard, from a guy standing next to me, was, "He's like Britain's answer to country music." Live, he was great - all strong stage presence and classic rock/ rockabilly inspired sound, but clearly from the UK, if that makes sense. The set closing 'Lightning Bolt' was a highlight, as was the crowd, who were there to get down - even given the early set time and bright sunshine. My favorite guy in the crowd was "Water Guy", who had

Who: Lollapalooza Day 2 When: August 3, 2013 Where: Grant Park/ Chicago, IL With: Drunk Frat Boys from Iowa & Medical Assistants from Illinois Of Note: Jennifer, you are not 22 any more but you can totally still hang! Want to skip around? Emotional Horseshit Day 1 Day 3 Day 2 Ben Howard, GRiZ, a hot minute of Matt & Kim, Ellie Goulding, The National, Mumford & Sons So, after a bit of a rough start to Day 1, I started Day 2 in more comfortable shoes, a belly full of screwdrivers (more effective than mimosas!), and a much more positive outlook. It paid off. Ben Howard is still the dreamiest dreamboat ever to dreamboat. I'd seen him in April in SF (which I haven't written about yet, oops) and the Lolla set was an abbreviated version of that. It didn't really matter - he's one of those guys who I would listen to sing a microwave oven manual. I adore the contrast of his voice - soft and storytelling, as compared with louder and more forceful

Who: Lollapalooza Day 1 When: August 2, 2013 Where: Grant Park/ Chicago, IL With: A Random Cast of Festival-Going Characters Of Note: Denim diapers are not attractive, btw Okay, so we've discussed my feelings. Let's get on to the music - same format as usual, highlights only, with some special emphasis on the cast of characters I encountered. Want to skip around? Emotional Horseshit Day 2 Day 3 Day 1 Emeli Sande, Icona Pop, Smith Westerns, Atlas Genius, Imagine Dragons, New Order, The Killers I caught the tail end of Emeli Sande and homegirl definitely has a voice. Icona Pop was super fun - somehow I ended up next to a million high school kids in some sort of dance off, which was hilarious. Halfway through, the sky opened up and poured for a hot minute, rendering the entire park muddy for the rest of the day. It was also really funny that everyone just kept saying, "Play the song! When are they going to play the song?!" They closed with

Apparently, music festivals make me reflective. And give me feelings. And make me want to talk about those feelings. (This sat in draft for more than a month now.  I've decided to publish it because, I'm not 100% mortified by it like I thought I would be.) (Shut up Jen, nobody cares about your feelings. Get on with objectifying bass players and talking about drunk frat boys.) Want to skip ahead to the music? Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 So, I went to Lollapalooza this past week-end. I was in Chicago for work and figured I'd stay the extra couple of days to hit the festival. You see, I knew some folks were going and figured it would be a fun chance to see some old friends and some great music. Plus, who doesn't love a good festival? The festival was amazing - a mix of interesting people, douchey children in high-waisted jean shorts, performances from old favorites, new bands to be enamored with, sunshine, mud, Bud Light, and a really sweet tan line on my wrist

Who: The Features with Great American Cities and Joey from From Indian Lakes When: September 18, 2013 Where: Bottom of the Hill/ San Francisco, CA With: Like nobody. Seriously, SF, get your shit together. Of Note: Squee! We'll go with squee! Okay, so how pumped was I when I saw that The Features were going to be in SF? And tickets were only $10? Sign me up, yo! As you'll recall, I saw The Features at Austin City Limits and loved them. The first band was called Great American Cities, and according to their facebook page, this was their last gig for a while. They had a perfectly serviceable indie rock/pop sound and were a lot of fun to visually watch - mostly because the guitar player had incredible hair. He also used some super cool guitar effects throughout the show, causing me to look around for the presence of an accordion, or perhaps several more guitar players. Neither were present, of course - it was just some sick pedal work. There was a song that repea

Avicii/ Wake Me Up John Newman/ Love Me Again Bastille/ Pompeii Atlas Genius/ If So Still stuck in my head, three weeks after Lolla! The Wanted/ We Own The Night The Wanted > One Direction.  There, I said it. Bastille/ No Angels Mash-up of TLC's 'No Scrubs' and the xx's 'Angels'.  Amaaaaaaaazing. Goo Goo Dolls/ Come to Me