Lollapalooza 2012 - Day Three or Jack White

Lollapalooza 2012 was one for the books ... the books of most excellent times ever, bar none. I can't say enough great about it, and I as I heard Perry Farrell (our host and my friend) say in an interview, "My friends got high and happy and healthy, and that's what it's all about." When he says "my friends", he's not just referring to us who rolled deep in his posse all weekend, but all 100,000 people per day that saw so much good music, it didn't even seem real.

That doesn't go for me on Day Three/Sunday, however, as when you are rolling deep in the Farrell posse, there's a whole bunch of other things going on apart from the music, so the last day was for me much more of an all day fiesta, with a few musical highlights on the side. The heat mercifully broke, and the bright sunshine and perfect blue skies made the already buoyant mood even more so.

Because the night before we went out big at the Jane's after party show after party (!), it was a later start to Day 3, with lunch in the Farrell's room, tagging along to some of Perry's interview's, the discovery of both Goji berry mimosas and Coca Cafe miracle coconut water with espresso in it (!!),  and then meeting up with the rest of the crew of friends at the fun compound at the Lollapalooza site. This meant I missed Gary Clark Jr. (who a friend told me was so good it was nearly painful. I can't wait to catch one of that guy's gigs some other time ...). Trampled By Turtles. Sigur Ros, and a bunch of others. I'm not proud, but had you been having the fun I was having with the people I was with, you might be more understanding. Though I'm still kicking myself a bit...

We got out into the mix (and heat) again, which soon led to a split of the party, as some wanted to go see Florence and The Machine (I did not at all) and some wanted to catch At The Drive In. That was me, but now I'm not sure I made the right choice. I like them a lot, but the live sound and performance was tougher to translate from their recordings as being awesome. I'm just saying. 

A little more compound time, and then a huge gang of us went to see what I'd been waiting for all weekend ... Mr. Jack White. He's a phenom, he really is - with an all-girl band too! He was scorchingly good from the opening note to the last, and I wish I had more detail to share, but by this point in the evening the pen was down and I had to just participate in the moment fully. From the sound board. And both sides of the stage. And from Cloud Nine.

People were losing their collective minds out in that crowd, and every other vantage point, perhaps even Mars (as NASA made that landing happen all while we were rocking and had no idea!).

Jack White and his ladies were tight as you could be, and his guitar did not gently weep, it seared through you like a white hot light saber ... I don't even know what that means exactly, but that came to mind. He just rules it, and seems entirely from another planet, where everyone is cool and smart and talented and here to live out LOUD. Again, maybe Mars.

I love "Love Interruption" and that's one of the songs I know Jack White played off of his new Blunderbuss must own album. I should have snagged a set list off of the stage, but it was all a bit hectic - and superfun. SUPER fun.

I kept thinking back to the first Lollapalooza in 1991, where I literally had to go deep within and cure myself from partying too much and heat exhaustion to get in the pit and see my favorite band of the time, Jane's Addiction. To now be standing next to Perry Farrell on the side of the stage, watching Jack White blow minds that reached all the way back across Grant Park to the Chicago skyline, was not only surreal in the best possible way, but such a blessed gift.

To be in that kind of moment, and fully aware of the greatness of it, is what I think life might just be about. Perry and I nudged each other at one point and grinned, not needing to say anything ... but I did. I said, "Look out there at all those happy faces ... You made this." He smiled and kind of shrugged, but accepted the thanks - from me and everyone else he ran into all weekend long.

Perry has always been ahead of the game, in my opinion. He started Lollapalooza, for goodness sakes!  He started Perry's dance music tent years ago, to sparse attendance and indifference. Well, this year Perry's stage was as packed as any of them, and you had bands like Flo and her Machine adding dance beats to their regular hits just to try and freshen them up and get the folks going. (It worked - every time). Now they've just announced Lollapalooza Israel for 2013! Perry explained in a different interview that it's his belief that musicians playing music around the world are being Good Will Ambassadors for the world, and he continues to exemplify that in all of his creative endeavors.

More fun and more after parties (where I was hoping to ask Jack White about his Lolla experience, but we passed like ships in the night ... aka I have no idea where that dude went after) and Lollapalooza 2012 is done (and a raging success).

I would be sad about that except for the fact that I'm continuing on with Jane's Addiction for their Summer tour - on the bus. People keep calling me Cameron Crowe, but I'm CJ Gronner, and I hope you'll enjoy the stories I'll bring you from what thus far has been an epic rock adventure for someone that just can't get enough of it, and the feeling of people coming together for the common cause of music, fun and joy.

EnJOY!

Lollapalooza 2012 - Day Two, Part One

Day Two of Lollapalooza 2012 dawned hotter than the day before, if possible. We woke up feeling surprisingly awesome after a late night wound up at Giordano's Pizza. Coffee down the hatch (and some Advils to help with the headbanging to Black Sabbath side effects from the night before), I had the goal of getting to the Lolla site in time for one of my favorites, Delta Spirit. Who I'd never seen live before! That always excites me extra.

It was so hot you could see those heat wave things rising up off the pavement as we made our way inside. The only good news about being so sweltering hot and sweaty is that everyone else is in the same boat, which makes you all kind of bros, surviving together for the sake of the music.

As we strolled on into the festival grounds, Jeff The Brotherhood was playing immediately to our right at the Playstation stage. They stopped us in our tracks - and we were thirsty, on a mission. That's saying something. They rocked it hard, as my friend Steph said, "Nugent on his knees style". "There's a lot more of you here than we're used to, " remarked their singer. Jake Orrall. I think they'd better get used to it based on those jams. I'll go see them again as soon as possible. Whoa. Dug it.

Still being thirsty, but now running late, a plan had to be made. After our dope time watching Sabbath the night before from the soundboard, and seeing the boiling hot crowd squashed in together now, the new plan was to view Delta Spirit from right there. Magic wristband, no problem.

We downed that Water In A Box (smart idea), and watched the throngs heading towards us from the other end to get to the Bud Light stage in time. Pretty soon, Delta Spirit took the stage to happy shouts, and I felt that great rock thrill arise within. I first heard them on KCRW one morning, and immediately noted their name, went online, and ordered up everything they had out at that point. Their records were my constant friends in Summer 2010 - which was a really good one. And now here we were!

Instead of a lengthy gushing, which would be real easy for me to do, I'll instead share with you lines from Delta Spirit's singer, Matt Vasquez or the lyrics he sang, that all summed up the feeling and the day ... so far. {with little interjections to give you the vibes}

"C'mon, Let's do it here, come ON!"
{Beach balls bouncing and floating bubbles blown}
"Man, it's so cold out I need a parka and a hot chocolate!"
{Sweat rolling down faces and soaking through clothes}
"Just TEAR IT UP!"
{In the running for Theme of The Weekend}
"Happiness comes at the strangest times ..."

{Like exactly then, openly, tangibly, gratefully}"If you're feeling what I'm feeling, come on! All you soul searching people come on!"
{People ALL clapping along, and singing every word they knew, in spite of the raging heat}
"I'll make my own stand!"

 {Singer Vasquez breaking free of Security barriers to dowse the crowd with buckets of cold water relief and solidarity}

"Well, if God is on our side, then that's all we really need ..."

... When as soon as Delta Spirit was ruling on its last song, the clouds rolled in, you felt the temperature drop, and the skies turned dark.  Delta Spirit had given their all, and the whole place was kind of spent as they left the stage.

We got drinks, lolled about in the Artist area, and when it was time for a refill, we were denied "due to weather". ??? Then all of a sudden it got very dramatic. "Get in the trailer now and stay there!" kind of dramatic.  Everyone remained calm, understanding,  and 100,000 Lollapalooza goers were evacuated smoothly and safely in no time flat.With a little crowd surfing thrown in, just to keep it rock. As we were hoofing it back to the trailer area since the golf carts were suspended too (!), the Delta Spirit guys rode by on their lucky - and full or I woulda jumped on - golf cart, we all exchanged rock finger salutes. Bad to the bone.

Children and women were evacuated first out of our area, and it was surreal to see the whole festival evacuation unfold from a distance. Better safe than sorry, I guess, but I hated to miss seeing Alabama Shakes for the first time right after that (among many others). We hitched a ride back to the hotel and that's where I'm filling you in from now. The brief shower has subsided, a mottled sunset is shaping up, and word is the gates have now reopened at the festival.

The silver lining in all those clouds was a little break from that crazy freaky heat, a regroup, and now we'll see what goes down next ...

"The Midwest loves Rock and Roll!!!"  Exactly.

Lollapalooza Day Two - Afterparty with Jane's Addiction!

Ooooohlala! Palooza. Day Two was very dramatic with the evacuation of the Lalapalooza site due to serious weather rolling in. The officials erred on the side of caution ... because all was clear in a few hours, and the park re-opened for the remaining bands and people. Not for us though, as by then, all the way back at the hotel, and the heat having made us lazy ... we decided to chill until the big after party that evening at the Aragon Ballroom. Starring Jane's Addiction!

Sad to miss a bunch of bands, but the Aragon show wound up being so good that it was fine. Better than fine. We rode over to the venue in the truck with the Farrells, and I could see Perry gearing up to throw down. A remarkable feat, considering he'd been dealing with the evacuation of the entire festival and cancelling bands and phone ringing every second ... but now it was showtime, and he is a true showman. In a Pimp hat.

The Aragon Ballroom is a big Moroccan looking room, and on this night it was JAM packed with adoring fans, sweltering in a place so hot I thought it was going to rain in there. Costumed actors walked around among the crowd, feeling each other up, taking a bath, climbing chairs, checking themselves out in mirrors ... generally creating a trippy, Fellini-esque vibe. Perfect.

Franz Ferdinand was already on when we arrived and I wound up liking them more than I thought I did. They played all the hits ... plus a bunch of better ones. I have to admit, I was a bit preoccupied, as we were doing laps around and rounding up posse members to watch the Jane's set together. It was getting more exciting in there by the minute, even as conversations had to continually be interrupted by mopping of brows and breaks in front of giant turbine fans just to not pass out mid-sentence.

I was just grateful we were up in a balcony near a fan vs. squeezed in down below so tight you couldn't fall down faint if you wanted to. People were losing water weight in front of our eyes!

Pink Floyd set the tone and the shouting grew for Jane's, and when they took the stage ... well, my ears are still ringing. They blew right into "Underground" ... "Mountain Song" (I want to say a crowd favorite, but they all seemed to be!) ... "Just Because" ... (a shout out to Billy Corgan from Perry, and a bigger one to Chicago at large, which sent the place more bezerk) ... "Been Caught Stealing" ... (I'm throwing basically just a set list at you now, because I gotta hit it and get out to Day Three any minute) ... "Ain't No Right" ...

Sexy videos were playing on the screens and Etty Farrell and Stephanie Spanski were suspended above the stage on trapezes in gigantic white hoop skirts, that must have been suffocating to operate in that green house terrarium of a hall. Holy God, was it hot. Stephen Perkins told me later that his feet were actually slipping off of his drum pedals every time from being so hot and sweaty! Bubba Carr was lurking around in full mud man costume, but I couldn't really see him from our side balcony and it was too hot to traverse the packed house to go anywhere else. I admire these performers greatly, because that was WORK. Same goes for the fans, because it was sweltering - but once the jams kick in, nobody cares. We're all in together. Rock and Roll.

Everybody, Everybody .... so began Perry singing "Nothing Shocking", and absolutely everybody was singing along and freaking out. "Have fun, get laid, Rock and Roll is all about fucking, right?" Perry just breaks it down.

OK, for real, I gotta run, but "Jane Says" was perfect as ever, and Peter DiStefano ("One of my favorite people on Earth" - Perry Farrell) came out and played a Porno For Pyros song but I was at the bar for that one - bummer. "Splash A Little Water On It" was so good, I love it, and would have loved real water on me right then, and then "Ocean Size" made everyone crazy. So did "Stop".

But then, and I've never heard it live before, and it's tied for "May This Be Love" as my favorite song of all time, was SUMMERTIME ROLLS!!! It was sublimely beautiful and heavy and I just feel complete. But there's so much more kicking off right now, that I am bursting with gratitude, and still not complete. The place went insane, we all carried on into the night, and now here we go again.

Summertime Rolls ... Wow.

*Pics by me and Stephanie Hobgood

Lollapalooza - Day One Of The Best Time Ever

I have arrived in Chicago for Lollapalooza 2012, and it's already exceeded all expectations. I'm fortunate (and mind blown) to be the guest of the Farrells/Founders, and as you can imagine, it makes it a rather unique and perfect situation to see all the world's greatest bands perform at what I truly believe is the best festival of all time. Check out just Day One alone!

It is oppressively hot in Chicago, but bright blue skies, and bright spirits (really, every single person I encountered was in the very best mood - all day and night) made you not mind a bit. We had a fun night before, arriving to town late and heading straight to Prosecco in downtown Chicago to join the Farrells for a homemade limoncello Lolla kick-off toast. Yum.

We got to beautiful, impressive Grant Park just in time to see Michael Kiwanuka on the Play Station stage. I had just read an article on him the night before, and just as I walked up, the talented guitarist and singer strummed the opening notes to my all time favorite song ever (and that's a hard decision, but I have come back to it time and again) of any genre, "May This Be Love" by Jimi Hendrix. What a wonderful omen and way to start off an incredible three days of music. Kiwanuka and his band (featuring two drummers on two drum sets) ruled it - not easy. I was impressed. And stoked.

Good omen number two, and even better, was when we were standing there waiting for a golf cart to take us to the Artist area to meet up with all my friends, and no volunteers really seemed to know where to send us. RIGHT then, up pulls a cart driven by my friend, Smitty, from years of Rage fun. We hopped right in, had some laughs with him, and he dropped us off right where we wanted to be - the back stage of the back stage area, Farrell compound.

We had some champagne to toast all the fun we were about to get into, and lapped up the chilly AC before heading back out to explore. We may have lagged longer than necessary, and missed a good chunk of afternoon bands, but it was hard to leave the bubbles and the cool. But we did.

And glad we did, because the golf cart ride - driven with confidence and hilarity through the throngs by Etty Farrell (in a highly covetous frock by Rodarte for Opening Ceremony) - was quite an experience. We finally gave up on following the Perry driven cart because he would be stopped every few feet by adoring and grateful fans wanting a high five or a photo, and we wanted to get to Die Antwoord. They were awesomely awesome.

The crowd didn't seem to mind the heat a bit, and were all squeezed in, shoulder to shoulder, loving every super fast beat. I Fink U Freaky! Ruling.

Their energy was infectious and pumped us up to keep the carts going on to the next good time.

We sped over to see thenewno2, Dhani Harrison's band at the BMI Stage. He had some die-hard fans wearing some Eyes Wide Shut kind of masks (that must have been uncomfortable, so they must be really loyal people) to enjoy his lighter, poppier jams.

That didn't last very long for us, as people were hungry, and Perry had been raving about the lobster corn dogs. Yes, lobster.

 He was right, and thus fortified, we all carted up and headed on out again to do fly-bys of M83, Band of Skulls, and then all the way over to catch Passion Pit, who had a huge crowd, all extra into it.

The same goes for Nero, playing Perry's Stage, who I think had the most exciting crowd jumping, energetic scene of the day so far. I felt instantly rowdier.

We had a little break to cool off again, drink up, and gather the posse to hit the big Bud Light stage to see ... BLACK SABBATH!!!

One of my favorite memories - of the day and probably up there with ever - was when we walked down the center aisle to head to the sound board to watch, following Perry. Every single person screamed and held out their hands for Perry to slap, and you could hear them all yelling THANK YOU above the din. Rightly so, as this festival is well thought out, so well planned and executed, so FUN, that everyone should be thanking Perry for all time. It's his vision, and the people know it.

I was just happy to be there, but even more so to see it all so up front and special. Black Sabbath from the sound board!!

Everyone was wondering how Ozzy would do these days, and I'm here to tell you that the guy KILLED it. Like eat a bat's head off killed it (figuratively, these days, of course).

The band was so tight, the crowd was so into it, and the respect for this band was palpable. (To the extent that we all skipped The Black Keys, who I also love. But C'mon - it's Sabbath!!) They played all the classics, from War Pigs to Iron Man, and then we walked back through the crowd to watch from the stage. Black Sabbath from the stage!!!

There's not much I can say to follow that tough act, so suffice it to know that we ALL had a complete blast. By we, I mean everyone in remote ear-shot of that fantastic first day of this fantastic festival. I gotta go now, as it's all about to start all over again.

Wish you were here, if you're not! Finger horns held high, my people!