July 23 - Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island
Styx - Grade: B
I saw them last year when they opened for Def Leppard. It was essentially the same show. Pretty good, but nothing overly exceptional.
Boston - Grade: A-
As Bohmann will tell you, at some point in high school I defiantly declared Boston to be the greatest rock and roll band of all-time. I don't recall this, but I don't doubt that it happened. While System of a Down has since changed my mind, I still enjoy a good Boston song -- which is ALL OF THEM. Anyway, singer Brad Delp committed suicide last year, and Boston managed to find a vocal doppelganger who works at Home Depot to take over lead singing duties, as well as Michael Sweet, former lead singer of Christian hair band Stryper. To hell with the devil! Anyway, the show was excellent, even if Tom Scholz is the only remaining original member.
August 1 - Lollapalooza, Grant Park
The Enemy UK - Grade: B+
Brit-pop punk. I have no pictures.
Louis XIV - Grade: A
These guys are awesome. At least this time I didn't call the drummer the wrong name after he bummed me a cigarette. Then again, I didn't bum a cigarette from Matt, I mean Mark, this time around.
Black Keys - Grade: B+Having seen them in smaller venues, its difficult for me to gush over their performance. Of course, I was pretty far away from the stage, which never helps.
Your Vegas - Grade: BI caught three or four songs of their set, and they were pretty good. Brit pop/rock, some of which was obviously inspired by U2. It may have been more enjoyable had their not been a very intoxicated/hopped up shirtless gay Asian man who looked like a mini Chong Li in front of me jumping around like a banshee, pausing occasionally to get molested by his much older American lover. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The Raconteurs - Grade: AAs with their performance a few years ago at Lolla, The Raconteurs brought the pain, playing a nice mix of stuff from their first and second albums.
CSS - Grade: B+
I only caught the last song of Brazilian dance-rockers CSS's set. It had enough energy to tide me over.
Radiohead - Grade: B-Their lightshow and stage was cool, but I'm not a huge Radiohead fan. From what I could tell on the jumbotrons, Thom Yorke is not the most energetic front man. I'm just pissed they don't ever play "Creep."
August 2 - Lollapalooza, Grant Park
Dr. Dog - Grade: B
These guys were pretty good. They seemed to be influenced heavily by '60s pop and psychedelic rock, so that's always a good thing.
Foals - Grade: A-Having never heard of these guys before, I checked them out, and they were great. They kind of sound like Franz Ferdinand on speed. Moreover, they were one of the few bands who had the presence of mind to wear shorts on stage.
MGMT - Grade: CFor some reason, there was a buzz about these guys, but I found them to be mediocre. Plus, there were rumors of a certain top-hatted guitarist who might be making an appearance as the "special guest" in the "Perry & Special Guest" that was to be happening at the same time.
Perry Ferrell & Slash - Grade: IncompletePerry was playing on the "Perry's" stage, which was one of the smaller (if not the smallest) of the eight stages at Lolla. His special guest was Slash, which was obviously awesome, except for the fact that the audio went out right about the time Slash came on stage. Thus, no one really got to hear anything, which sucks because they were playing "Jane Says." Perry was obviously frustrated, so he turned the mic to the crowd and the crowd sung the song a capella with the faint sounds of Slash's unmic'd guitar amp in the background. Due to the lack of audio, they left after that one song. While that was a bit of a disappointment, after the show, Perry and his wife and kids were being shuttled around in a golf cart, and I was able to slap five with the man who makes this all possible, so that was pretty cool.
Explosions in the Sky - Grade: C-The program described this instrumental group (who apparently did the Friday Night Lights soundtrack and have music featured in various movies, TV shows, and commercials) as "widescreen, thundering soundscapes of gargantuan beauty." I found that to be an accurate description, but as far as I could tell they only played one song for their hour-long set. While the music may be a nice backdrop for film and television, it didn't translate well into a live show.
Lupe Fiasco - Grade: B+Last year Lupe saved the sweat-drenched, tired crowd waiting for Pearl Jam from boredom, and he brought the energy again this year. Can you really find any faults in a man wearing a white suit? No, Kevin, the answer is no.
Toadies - Grade: B+They treated me well, my sweet an-gel, so help me Jesus. Je-sus.
Rage Against the Machine - Grade: AI've never seen Rage before, and they kicked ass. I was close, but thankfully not too close, where people were getting injured and such close to the stage. After the second song, Zack de la Rocha had to ask the entire crowd (bear in mind, there were probably 40,000-45,000 people there) to take 5-10 step back because people up front were getting injured. He implored us to "take it easy" so that no one got hurt. Then they kicked into "Bullet in the Head." This was as effective at calming everybody down as giving a hyperactive five-year-old a liter of Mountain Dew to get him to fall asleep. Needless to say, de la Rocha had to ask people to back up a few more times, each time playing one of their soothing bubble gum pop ballads to bring the energy level down. Also, bassist Tim Commerford has an awesomely large, Red Dragon esque black tattoo covering his entire back, upper arms, and chest.
August 3 - Lollapalooza, Grant ParkJohn Butler Trio - Grade: A-
Despite my best intentions, I didn't make it back in time to see all of their set. From what I did hear, though, they were pretty awesome.
Black Kids - Grade: BThe kids love the dance-rock these days.
Flogging Molly - Grade: AI didn't know much about these guys, other than that they play punky Irish rock. I will tell you this: these guys put on a hell of a show. There are 7 of them, and they're jumping all over the place, playing various rock and non-rock instruments (accordion and banjo, included).
Gnarls Barkley - Grade: ABohmann described Cee-Lo's voice as "velvety," and I have no reason to disagree.
The National - Grade: CThis was another one that came highly recommended that didn't live up the hype. It came across as average indie-pop. Hell, you can barely even see them.
Nine Inch Nails - Grade: A-I chose to see NIN over Kayne West because I saw Kanye a few years ago at Lolla. NIN puts on a pretty good show. Like Radiohead, they had a solid lightshow going on. Unlike Radiohead, there was some energy to their show. Most importantly, some chick standing next to us had the same Lollapalooza '94 t-shirt I once owned and that Tron also once owned. Both of us at some point foolishly got rid of said t-shirts, and were extremely excited to see one again. Here it is.
August 9 - Carol's Pub, Clark & Leland, ChicagoDiamondback - Grade: B+
Gsell is moving to Cali and chose to have his going away party at Carol's, a classic (if not infamous) country and western dive bar in Uptown. As far as I know, Diamondback is the best country cover band that plays until five a.m. that I have ever seen.
August 10 - Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island
The leather (or possibly pleather) pants were out in full force and with good reason.
Ratt - Grade: B
I was pretty excited to see Ratt, especially because lead singer Stephen Pearcy is back with the band. Other original members included drummer Bobby Blotzer (real name) and guitarist Warren DeMartini (real Chicagoan). Also in the band are one-time Motley Crue replacement lead singer John Corabi (on guitar) and some dude named Robbie Crane (on bass). Noticeably absent was guitarist Robbin Crosby. Too soon? Tragic AIDS-related deaths aside, Ratt put on a good show. Good, not great. Pearcy had a habit of cheesily calling out every single song before it was played. For instance, before "Lack of Communication," he asked the crowd how they were doing and, after the obligatory cheers, he said something along the lines of "there's definitely no lack of communication goin' on here." Or before "Way Cool, Jr." when he said, "This is way cool."
The Scorpions - Grade: A
I was more excited to see Ratt than The Scorpions, but the Scorp's ended up blowing Ratt out of the water (or should I say, out of the cellar? Zing!). Sixty-year-old lead singer Klaus Meine can still belt it out like he's 30. Guitarist Rudolf Schenker seems to have a different Flying V for every song, including the rarely seen acoustic electric Flying V. The drummer, James Kottak (the only non-European in the band), had one of the better drum solos I've seen in a while. The remaining members of the band left the stage, and Kottak pounded away for about 10-15 minutes. You can't handle that shit on strong acid. He successfully whipped the crowd into a frenzy, then one-by-one asked his bandmates to come back out. How often do you have the opportunity to hear someone ask, "Is there a Klaus in the house?" and the answer is "yes"? For me, it was a first, but hopefully not a last. Bottom line is that The Scorpions put on one hell of a show.
I was pretty excited to see Ratt, especially because lead singer Stephen Pearcy is back with the band. Other original members included drummer Bobby Blotzer (real name) and guitarist Warren DeMartini (real Chicagoan). Also in the band are one-time Motley Crue replacement lead singer John Corabi (on guitar) and some dude named Robbie Crane (on bass). Noticeably absent was guitarist Robbin Crosby. Too soon? Tragic AIDS-related deaths aside, Ratt put on a good show. Good, not great. Pearcy had a habit of cheesily calling out every single song before it was played. For instance, before "Lack of Communication," he asked the crowd how they were doing and, after the obligatory cheers, he said something along the lines of "there's definitely no lack of communication goin' on here." Or before "Way Cool, Jr." when he said, "This is way cool."
The Scorpions - Grade: A
I was more excited to see Ratt than The Scorpions, but the Scorp's ended up blowing Ratt out of the water (or should I say, out of the cellar? Zing!). Sixty-year-old lead singer Klaus Meine can still belt it out like he's 30. Guitarist Rudolf Schenker seems to have a different Flying V for every song, including the rarely seen acoustic electric Flying V. The drummer, James Kottak (the only non-European in the band), had one of the better drum solos I've seen in a while. The remaining members of the band left the stage, and Kottak pounded away for about 10-15 minutes. You can't handle that shit on strong acid. He successfully whipped the crowd into a frenzy, then one-by-one asked his bandmates to come back out. How often do you have the opportunity to hear someone ask, "Is there a Klaus in the house?" and the answer is "yes"? For me, it was a first, but hopefully not a last. Bottom line is that The Scorpions put on one hell of a show.
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