Lollapalooza Part 2

Saturday (remember that bit about almost not surviving? Yeah...)
Following the crazy bliss of Friday night's Radiohead show (and the 2 a.m. arrival back at my place, having missed the proper train back) my friends and I slept in Saturday. Ben and I were to be the only ones heading back that day - a ticket mix-up left me with both a three-day pass and a Saturday pass, so I gave him the Saturday pass - and we decided to head downtown later in the day, meet up with some other friends, and tour the city a bit.

Ben and I eventually made our way into Lollapalooza on Saturday around 4:30 in the afternoon. We were both pumped - Rage Against the Machine was scheduled to hit the stage at 8:30 that night, and we were both anxious to experience that show (because we're huge fans and because we didn't know what to expect, considering they are a bit, well, heavy.)

The afternoon and evening preceding RATM was a blast (and again, these are not my pictures, just some I borrowed from Lollapalooza reviews on the web.)

Explosions in the Sky - The first band we saw Saturday. These atmospheric prog-rockers are one of my favorite bands; their instrumental tunes are absolutely beautiful, ranging from gentle melodies to heavy riffs. When I think of the term 'soundtrack to my life' literally, these guys come up - their songs often seem to be the perfect musical accompaniment to life's simple moments (and of course, they actually have done a soundtrack, the gorgeous one for 'Friday Night Lights.') Their live show translates their sounds well, which means a lot of head-bobbing and swaying - then the occasional head-bang when they burst into a heavy jam. The great thing about this band, I believe, is that they are universal; they're simple yet complex, and their music can impact literally anybody.

Following Explosions in the Sky, Ben and I sprinted to the other end of the park (maybe 2 miles?) to try to catch Brand New, but apparently they had wrapped their set 20 minutes early. So we ended up trekking back to the North end to catch Okkervil River.

Okkervil River - I really don't have a ton to say about these guys. I have some of their material, and I'm guessing I'd like it better if I gave it more attention, because they're what I would describe as literature-indie-folk-rock. They're live show was good, but nothing ground-breaking. I bet if I saw them in a bar they would really rock.

Battles - We hauled it back to the other side after Okkervil River to catch Battles, a band that many describe as 'math-rock.' I guess that's pretty appropriate; they combine complex rhythms and synthetic beats to create a sort of rock-techno amalgamation. I got their record last year when it came out because critics went gaga over them - and it's pretty good stuff. Some more stuff to bob your head to. These dudes are some kind of talented though. Those rhythms and beats are way over my head.


Following Battles, the only other act Ben and I really cared to see was Rage Against the Machine. So we wandered around during sets by rapper Lupe Fiasco and old Texan rockers The Toadies. We wanted prime position for RATM - somewhere close to the exit so we could make it to our train, away from the mosh pits, but still fairly close - so we about an hour before the set we hit up the porta-potties in preparation for the show. And we waited. And we waited. Ever waited 20 minutes in line to pee? I have now. It ain't fun.
After we relieved ourselves, we managed to get the perfect spot for Rage: about 100 yards from the stage, stage right, away from the mosh pits, with a decent view if we stood on our tip-toes. The people around us seemed chill, too, which is a huge factor for me at a concert, so my neighbors won't distract me.
I should preface with my relationship with Rage Against the Machine, the rap-rock foursome who ruled politico-airwaves in the 90s before breaking up in 2000 (seriously, if only they had been a band for the Bush administration...bad timing I guess.) I had heard their stuff and knew what they were all about back in high school (I even wrote a paper about them in 9th grade), but didn't really ever get into them. Then I started listening to their song 'Guerilla Radio' for whatever reason, and it became my 'pump-up song.' As in, play it and I go wild, adrenaline pumping, air-guitar in full glory. My friends all know this; sometimes they play it just to mess with me. Anyway, I started getting more of their stuff, and they became my go-to band when I really needed some energy. Plus, because of their crazy-awesome ways, I declared them a 'must-see' live band.
And I got to see them!

Rage Against the Machine: The show started with the wail of a siren, which relayed into their bombastic opener 'Testify.' As soon as that electric guitar kicked in (guitarist Tom Morello is quite literally one of the best at what he does) the crowd went nuts, jumping up and down and shouting. I expected it; like I said, they're really heavy, and fans have been waiting years to see them play live again (they're on a reunion tour.) Since folks around me were pretty chill, I didn't realize just how crazy the crowd really got, but at the end of the second song, singer Zach de la Rocha cut it short, and pleaded with fans to step back because people up front were literally getting crushed. This was the first of three times he made the plea; apparently it was some pretty serious stuff down front. Throughout the show streams of people were passing us as they made their way towards the back, and it was kind of creepy to look at them - a distant look in their eyes suggested it was truly wild up front (or they just had a concussion.)
Funny thing is, as the show went on, Ben and I were probably going the craziest amongst the people around us (given the circle they formed around us). Like I said, RATM pump me up, so I my adrenaline was really kicking (especially during 'Guerilla Radio.')
Rage's set was awesome, and considering I was in the comfort of a fairly laid-back section of the crowd, I was able to appreciate just how rocking it was to be there. But alas, Ben and I had a train to catch, so we decided to leave a little early.
Problem was, when we left just so happened to be the end of Rage's regular set. So thousands of other fans decided to leave too. And when we reached the exit, we discovered that hundreds of people were blocking it. So push came to shove.
Remember the bit about not knowing if I was going to survive? This is where that came into play; it wasn't from some dangerous mosh pit. It was from exiting the show. Basically, you had thousands of people pushing on one side, and hundreds - maybe thousands - pushing back on the other, waiting for the encore. And what's worse, we were going up steps. And Ben and I were in the middle. I kid you not when I say I wondered if I would make it out alive. I was crushed between people, couldn't budge. I felt claustrophobic. And I kept wondering what would happen if this mass became panicked.
In the end, my side pushed harder. Ben and I came out the other end alive, and as soon as we tasted free air, we bolted, hardly stopping before we reached the train station (on time, I might add.)
So the show was a crazy experience. And I had a scary moment, but when I read the news reports the next day, maybe not as scary as others had. The dangerous Lollapalooza crowd at the Rage show made national headlines, with many reports of people going to the hospital, as well as reports of boneheaded fans making the show a hostile environment. Even the bottleneck I got caught up in is in some of the reports. Click here to get a report and pictures of the insanity.

Overall, my experience at the Rage Against the Machine Lollapalooza performance was exhilarating, and the scariness of the end didn't ruin it at all - just gave me an interesting story I survived to tell my kids some day.

Also, here is some video of the night. The first is of the beginning of the show, the second an idea of what the streets of Chicago became after each night (this particular night being after the Rage show.)