Lollapalooza recap thoughts and observations.
Posted by
pmb (aka pmb)
Aug 7 '17, 08:33
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Positives - The facilities were upgraded in almost every respect this year and it was really nice. Flushable toilets with virtually no lines, main stages with video screens that were 3 times the size of the old ones, better grounds keeping to avoid becoming a mud pit despite some rain. Best act of the weekend by far was Cage the Elephant. I liked but didn't love them before seeing them, but that was top 5 all time Lolla sets I've seen (and I've been going for 8 years). Other top sets were Tegan and Sara, the Shins, Chance the Rapper, the Head and the Heart, Rag N' Bone Man, Foster the People and London Grammar. The crowd for Chance the Rapper was the largest I've ever seen. Probably 80,000. When he first came out the crowd started jumping up and down to his first song and I could literally feel the earth shaking under my feet from it. I've never experienced that before. As always, the food was very good and the price everything pretty reasonably inside the park so you don't feel ripped off. And the people watching never fails to be fantastic. It does amaze me how little clothes the women wear at these things. I swear when I was that age it seemed like the girls wore turtlenecks and long pants in 90 degree. Now it's like a competition to see who can wear the least.
Negatives - It's getting younger and younger. It was already the major fest with the youngest demographics and they seem to be pushing it even more. Fewer older appealing acts, more hip hop and rap and less rock and alternative rock. And this year even among the younger set it seemed like they skewed younger. Like more 15-21 year olds and less 21-25 year olds. And they were more drunk than high and seemed way more entitled and obnoxious. I always found Lolla crowds to be really pleasant and mellow. I always wound up in conversations with young people who were into the music and just having fun. This year I had way more people just pushing past you (the worst being long chains of kids holding hands just plowing through a tight crowd of people to push to the front) with no "excuse me's" or "sorry's". And less interest in the music than the party. It was really ashame. Also the headliner sets were just way too short. None was longer thatn 1.5 hours and most were only 1.25 hours. The Killers, who were probably my personal favorite band among the entire list got 1.25 hours (though they stretched it past curfew to an hour and a half), but filled that short set with too few of their hits. If you're doing a short set at a festival you concentrate on your hits and play only 2 or 3 new songs or deep tracks. They didn't (though I did enjoy that because Muse got rained out they played "Starlight" for the Muse fans and did a good job with it). They also changed up some of the traffic patterns for after show and it was a complete disaster for me. They closed the exit of the garage where I park (which lets out onto Michigan Ave.) for the first time without warning and I got stuck without being able to leave for an hour and a half on Saturday (though at least I could go hang out in my office while I waited).
Overall, if they don't improve some on the negatives I may shift down to only attending a day or 2. I'll try the full weekend again next year, but I felt like it started trending the wrong way this year. I hope the fix it.
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