Blogapalooza: Do you realize I have the most beautiful Blog?

08.06.2006:I can't believe that I am being forced to work weekends. I mean this is ridiculous. On Saturdays most people would probably go to a park or see a concert or something. Not me though. I am always on the job. I almost wore my legs out running around from stage to stage, band to band, all so I could come back here to tell you what has been happening at Lollapalooza. Oh well, it is a tough life but someone has to do it.\nSaturday could have possibly been the best collective day of music I have ever seen. Blackalicious, the Flaming Lips, Lyrics Born, Gnarls Barkley, I did not see a bad show yesterday... unless you count that HBO special I watched last night where a porn star had sex while juggling (just because you can doesn't mean you should).\nBlackalicious put on a great show, with special guest R.V. Salters from General Elektriks. Blackalicious front-man Gift of Gab was rapping with such lightning fast speed that it seemed almost impossible that the syllables he was spewing were even words. To say it was impressive is an understatement, try jaw dropping. Plus with R.V. Salters on keyboard and Chief Xcel on the turntables the entire crowd was jumping. After seeing that show I think it is almost insulting that they were relegated to one of the secondary stages as opposed to getting a slot on one of the main ones. The same thing with Lyrics Born who put on an entertaining show in his own right. I guess there is just no love for underground hip hop at Lollapalooza.\nGnarls Barkley put on a crowd pleasing show on the main stage about midday. It was probably the most highly attended show of the festival thus far, eclipsing even Kanye West, who even gave an homage to Gnarls Barkley by briefly playing their seemingly omnipresent pop anthem "Crazy." Adding Gnarls Barkley's own version and the Raconteurs cover yesterday, that was the third time that the song has been played on the same stage in just over 24 hours.\nEveryone was great yesterday even people I wasn't expecting greatness from, like Kanye West and Built to Spill. Still, by far the best concert was Flaming Lips. True, the did play all of their hits which could be seen as pandering, but they packed more entertainment into an hour long concert than one would think possible. After having seen the recent documentary about the Flaming Lips, "Fearless Freaks," I was familiar with a lot of their onstage antics, but there is still something almost awe inspiring about seeing Wayne Coyne run atop the crowd inside a giant balloon that is essentially the human version of those big plastic balls I would put my gerbil in as a kid. Really it is quite unfortunate that they only had an hour to play because I definitely would have enjoyed a second set.\nI think the one hour sets at Lollapalooza are a mixed blessing. On one hand, it is great to get the opportunity to see a lot of new bands and expand my horizons. On the other hand, it seems like just when I am getting into a concert, it abruptly ends. Luckily it looks like they are going to be letting the Red Hot Chili Peppers play to their hearts' content.