JULY 23-24, 2005
LOLLAPALOOZA
Grant Park, Chicago

It was too damn hot, but the festival still turned out to be a hoot. See Pioneer Press for my review. My photos are below:

DAY ONE

The Redwalls

M83

 
The Warlocks

 
And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

Ambulance LTD

Billy Idol press conference

Liz Phair
 

Kaiser Chiefs

The Brian Jonestown Massacre

The Bravery

Blonde Redhead

The Black Keys

The Pixies

The Walkmen

Digable Planets

DAY TWO

The Ponys

Kasabian

Dinosaur Jr.

Tegan and Sara

The Drive-By Truckers

The Arcade Fire

The Dandy Warhols

Death Cab For Cutie

JULY 17, 2005
INTONATION MUSIC FESTIVAL
Union Park, Chicago

I missed all of Day 1... Decided I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Van Cliburn last night at Ravinia, and didn't want to deal with the hassle of trying to do both in one day. I'm certainly not the best judge of classical piano performances, but I can say Van a rivetingly peculiar presence onstage...

I thought I would see all of the Intonation Fest today, but after getting an early start, the heat and long lines got to me, so I bailed out after Andrew Bird.

Lines were actually quite short for most of the day, but after 5 p.m., the lines for food, beer and water all got humongous and I didn't feel like standing around in line to get those essentials.

I enjoyed everything I saw, to some extent: Thunderbirds Are Now! seemed pretty good, but I need to hear more of their music to say how much I'd recommend it.

I like bands that sing in their native tongues, so I was keen of the Swedes in Dungen... who even trotted out a flute for some Jethro Tull-like moments. I was expecing '60s-style garage rock, but it sounded more '70s to me. Good,
in any case.

Xiu Xiu were slightly abrasive, but made nice use of autoharp (?) ... I'd like to hear more of their stuff. I liked the sound, though I don't know if the songs were all that strong.

Out Hud's dance music wouldn't normally be my kind of thing, but I liked the funkiness of it. Seemed more "live" than a lot of electronic concerts.

The Hold Steady were great. I was a little skeptical about these guys a year ago, but they've grown on me a lot. The lyrics are smart enough that the songs work as more than jokes. Is this band in a genre by itself? Who else is like them? It's sort of like a mutant strain of white-guy rap that bears almost no similarity to hip-hop rap.

Andrew Bird was as brilliant as always. I love this guy ... and I overheard a lot of comments from impressed concertgoers who'd never seen him before.

I was hoping to stick around for the Wrens and Les Savy Fav (not the Decemberists, though — I still don't care for that band), but five hours of enduring that heat was enough... I don't know anything about the other band that was playing, Deerhoof.

In any case, I hope the Intonation Music Festival is back again next year.