Lollapalooza

1) I couldn't escape the feeling that I was running through a special designed maze with the end goal being to completely suck my wallet dry. Water was $4, three tiny chicken strips and some fries cost $8, a t-shirt is $30, blankets are $40. You cannot bring any of your own water, food, blankets, or chairs, and the event lasts for ten hours so you really must buy. All I could think of was a mouse running through a maze trying to get the cheese at the end, but somehow the mouse's wallet is getting empty on the way to the cheese.

2) After looking around at all the vendors and shit they were selling, and the people there trying to get you to join certain political/social groups, I got the distinct feeling that the festival is catering towards people who are "alternative" and different and always trying to stay one step ahead of the mainstream... I saw so many people walking around dressed like they were trying to be a rock star or express just how different and unique and special they are, but when you are surrounded by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people like that and they are all starting to get really drunk, all I could think of was how silly and self-absorbed so many of them seemed. They weren't all like that. I met some really nice people there who were friendly. But man, some people just seemed like they needed to spend a little less time kissing the mirror and more time reading a book.

3) I definately enjoyed the music. I think I liked Jurassic Five the best, followed by Audioslave. Queens of the Stone Age was excellent, I enjoyed the Donnas a great deal too. Incubus was alright... I don't dig them as much as I used to. I thought SCIENCE was a great album, but since then they've been doing stuff that just doesn't grab my ear like the older songs. They played well, however. As for Jane's Addiction, I'm pretty mixed. I lived with this girl who listened to Jane's constantly, and now I kind of twitch when I hear Perry Farrell's voice. They did play some very good songs though, but also a couple off the new album which just didn't do it for me at all. Perry was nice enough to put some really lovely asian strippers on the stage to keep my attention during Jane's set. So many people left while Jane's was playing that I wondered if that was part of Perry Farrell's ploy to keep people there a little longer. It was also interesting to hear people start to get excited when Perry would start to describe the next song they were going to play, but then the crowd also seemed disappointed when they realized he wasn't going to do "Jane Says". They played that song last.

Well that's my report. I had an excellent time, I got sunburnt as fuck, and it was very educational experience. I wish that the set were longer than 30 minutes, and it would have been nice to have bands that were well-recieved at least give an encore.