Blogapalooza: "Let's make traffic stop on Lake Shore Drive"

08.06.2006:When we realized we could go in the front row for every act to take pictures, things got ridiculously better. There were setbacks, like being dragged from the press area at a legendary Flaming Lips show, but front row access for dynamic hip hop acts Gnarls Barkley, Blackalicious, and Kanye West made Saturday an unforgettable day and night of music. Not to mention the free food, drinks, and hanging out with artists backstage.\nThe themes of the day were that everybody still likes "Makin me Crazy" and artists don't like George Bush. The only late night artist we saw that didn't talk shit about our president was Kanye, who has voiced his opinion pretty famously already.\nThis festival gets better every hour. We started Saturday off with a band we'd only heard of, but never heard, "Built to Spill." What a great surprise. They rocked with three lead guitarists' inventive style using slide, looping, and playing off each other beautifully with a great voice carrying them through the set. Definitely worth picking up an album or two of these guys. They were briefly over-shadowed by Wayne Coyne from "The Flaming Lips" signing a girls tush in the VIP area behind the stage, which was hilarious. Even as "Built to Spill" was rocking, Wayne just being Wayne got more attention.\nLyrics Born was another unexpected good show. Rocking a small stage, he got the crowd to sing along, urging the crowd to stop complaining and watching tv and get out and do something. The show was fun, had some call and response, like "Fuck George Bush" and kept us entertained until we headed over to "Gnarls Barkley."\nAll of "Gnarls Barkley" came onstage decked out in tennis clothes, headbands, and a couple racquets, playing "We are the Champions," with a massive crowd pumping their fists like a Queen show. Danger Mouse sampled and played keyboard, with a string section really filling out their sound.\nIt's official. "Makin me Crazy" is the song of the summer. The Raconteurs, "Gnarls Barkley," and Kanye all played it on the same stage within 26 hours of each other, all kicking ass.\nBarkley put on a solid show, but were not as great as I'd hoped.\nBlackalicious on the other hand, was unbelievable. Led by the fantastic MC Gift of Gab with a special appearance by RV Salters on a funky keyboard, they made a rap fan out of me. Gab would bust off freestyle's so fluid and quick I had to close my eyes to hear every word. Sometimes I'd get off and it would just sound like a stream of beautiful consonants, until I heard a word that stuck out, like hysterectomy. Rob was pumped about the keyboardist when they announced him and I soon found out why. When he wasn't dancing slyly between his machines, he complimented the DJ and Gab perfectly. I never thought I would really love a rap show, but I would pay good money to see that again. At one point they broke the crowd in half having one half yell to the other "Party over here, fuck y'all over there!" getting louder and louder building into another delicious offering of Blackalicious.\nAs we walked to "The Flaming Lips," I told Rob it would be hard to top "Blackalicious," but The Flaming Lips put on an incredible audio and visual display. We got right up to the press picture area and took pictures inches from their lead singer as he prepared for the incredible intro. He was blown up in a plastic balloon (think bubble boy in Seinfeld) and launched into the crowd, riding on people's hands like body surfing without the chance of getting hurt. \nHere's where I almost get kicked out of the festival:\nI handed the camera to Rob to get pics with his 6'4" frame and forgot about Journalism for a minute to try to touch the bubble. In the haste I was pushed from behind into a 400 pound security guy. He saw me without a camera in a place I wasn't supposed to be and took it as a personal insult. He grabbed me by the wrist and viciously dragged me out of the photo area. I reached down for my backpack and that got him even madder. He turned my palm face up and grabbed at my wristbands, trying to rip off my ticket for the rest of the festival. I flung my arm back behind me into another 400 pound security guard who put me in a headlock. The two of them are shoving me out, trying to get on their walkie-talkies and ruin my weekend, but I just turned and deftly escaped through the crowd and found a decent spot a few rows back and watched the amazing show. \nAs always, the Lips had the stage filled with dancers in costumes. This time it was aliens, Santa Clauses and super heroes. And Coyne loves toys. Confetti machines, monstrous balloons that bounce 15 feet in the air before coming back to the crowd, and streamers poured into the stands as the sun set over Grant Park and the gorgeous Chicago sky line. \n"Let's stop traffic on Lake Shore Drive," lead singer Wayne Coyne yelled to the loving crowd. They played a perfect set, with "fanatical" and "The yeah yeah yeah song" off their new album sounding a million times better in person than on the album.\nCoyne fell in love with singalongs, having the crowd scream "fanatical, fuck!" and singing along the chorus to "Yoshimi battles the pink robots."\nCoyne got political saying, "Everybody needs to speak their minds. If they did, maybe George Bush wouldn't be in office."\nThey played "Race for the Prize," and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" to great response, before closing with "Do you Realize."\nBefore playing their first hit "She Don't Use Jelly," Coyne said that Chicago radio was the place where the single took off, and they played their 12 times that year.\n"We love you, we'll continue to love you and we'll see you again," he said.\nClosing out the night was Chicago's own Kanye West who came out to massive "Kanye, Kanye" chants. He lived up to his headliner status, playing his hits (All falls down, Jesus Walks, and covering a couple other monster songs. He somehow maneuvered from Workout Plan to the "Eurythmics'" 80s hit "Sweet Dreams." At this point after Rob went front row to take pictures, I met him in the artist lounge and chilled with Lyrics Born and yet again, Joel from Umphreys.\nWe kicked back in the lounge, listening to Kanye, but not really watching, reflecting on having the best job in the world. If you have to work on Saturday night, I highly suggest it be at what is becoming the coolest festival of the year with backstage passes.\nSorry it's so long. Rob is getting annoyed. We should really head out for the last day of shows. Check back tomorrow for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco, Matisyahu, and Ben Kweller and more!