Lollapalooza 2012

We finally made it back to Lollapalooza this year!  It's the third time we've gone together (I can't recall if Dan has been to any back in the 90's).  We seem to go every other year and thank goodness for that!  A three day concert can wear on a person, and we're not the youngsters we used to be...  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Swartz, we were able to head to the city by ourselves for three days while they looked after Sophie.  (Note: click on red words in this post for interesting links further detailing our weekend)

We took the Metra into the downtown station and hoped on the "L" to get up to our hotel in Lincoln Park.  It was sooo great to be back in Chicago, we absolutely love that city!  Of course, when we visit in the summer time, it is always hotter in the Midwest than it is in Orlando.  Our first day of concerts was no exception.  It was in the upper 90's for the first few days, and thanks to an end-of-the-world storm, the third day cooled of drastically and was quite pleasant.

Dan and I met up with our good friends from Orlando, Scott and Jen.  Some of the acts we saw on the first day were The Black Angels, The Afghan Whigs, Die Antwoord, Band of Skulls (twice!), Passion Pit, Dawes and Black Sabbath.  Thanks to social media, we got insider info that Band of Skulls were playing an acoustic set in a tent, so we headed over there and saw an awesome show!  Die Antwoord, a South African group, was the most entertaining that day, but Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath was a very close second (that man is old!).  Here is a link to a Die Antwoord video (click on the name of the band), warning: explicit language follows (in English and Afrikaans), they are "different", but there is no other way to describe this group without you seeing for yourself. =) Enjoy the mayhem...

Getting ready to see Band of Skulls

Band of Skulls...acoustic...intimate...love!

Official Lolla wristbands

Afghan Whigs

Die Antwoord

Ozzy plays the harmonica?  Who knew?

In years past, after the shows were over and we had been at concerts from noon til 10pm, we would usually head back to our hotel to shower then head out on the town.  That did not happen this time around.  We were so beat and sore by the end of every day, when we finally made it back to our room, we crashed!

The second day, after peeling ourselves out of our bed for a shower, we headed to Grant Park.  This day we saw the following shows:  JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (great show!), GIVERS, and a little bit of Neon Indian.  The lead singer of Neon Indian announced halfway through his show that he would be singing one more tune then they were kicking them off the stage to evacuate the park.  Whaaaaaattttt!?  Come to find out, a massive storm was headed our way and Lollapalooza was being evacuated.  Somehow in the chaotic cell phone service (hard to get a message out or a call in a condensed group of hundreds of thousands of people all trying to do the exact same thing) we started getting texts from my family in the suburbs warning us to take shelter as a giant black cloud was headed our way to open up and drown us.  We were even getting text from friends in other states warning us of the impending weather.  As far as we could see at that moment, it was merely overcast (a blessing since we were frying in the sun all day), and we were waiting it out, a little rain never hurt anyone.  Side note:  Since I was still breastfeeding Sophie during this time, I was continuing to pump my milk while away from her for three days for more reasons than I think you want to know (sorry if this is too much info for some of you).  So, I was doing so while at the concerts.  I found my spot in the medical tents and did my business.  While we decided to wait out the "rain", and since no one was playing their shows, I decided to knock out a pumping session.  Only then did we realize how serious these Lolla officials were in evacuating the park.  The people in the medical tent informed me that all power was being shut off to the Grant Park grid because of the storm, so I was not able to plug my pump in.  At that point we decided to follow the masses and find a bar downtown to hide in, in hopes that the storm would pass and the festival would open back up.  After walking past many bars that were no longer letting people in because they were at capacity (where else would thousands of festival goers hide out?), the skies turned black, the wind gusted and we proceeded to get dumped on.  After standing in the rain for a few minutes, we noticed a bar letting people in again and took shelter.  Needless to say, the storm passed, and the park opened up for a few more hours for the final shows.

JC Brooks

Jen, Dan and Scott



Waiting to get back in after the storm



We bought ponchos after it rained...smart

Day three was beautiful!  We took our time in the morning to grab a delicious breakfast with our friends Shana and Eric before heading to the park.  The rain had taken away the humidity and the 90 degree weather.  Sunday we saw White Rabbits, Of Monsters and Men, Miike Snow, and Jack White.  In the end, Dan and I were tired and sore.  We were looking forward to getting back to the 'burbs to see our Sophie.  Lollapalooza delivered a great concert series this year.  Not sure if we will make it back to another Lolla any time soon.  Dare I say it??  I think were getting too old for this stuff!

Much Love,

Rock on!

Jess and Dan