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LOLLAPALOOZA
2003 First the absolute WORST thing about Lollapalooza is evident in the names of the amphitheaters its playing in. SPONSERSHIP ABOUNDS! Frankly it's a little annoying for a tour that started as an alternative to everything popular to be "presented by" anyone…ESPECIALLY the Microsoft owned Xbox! I wont even go into how STUPID it is to have THE U.S MARINES THERE PUTTING ON A PULL UP CONTEST !!!!!!!! to EMINEM ( right next to a booth selling "Cronic Candy") …its pretty sad that the US military is attending what was the nations foremost anti establishment tour. BUT is it enough to make you not have a good time? NAW… The Xbox booth is air conditioned, and let's face it, there's like 100 console booths to play a shit load of free games. There's the usual suspects of shirt booths, and activism with special attention going to Tom Morello's ( Audioslave ) Axis of Justice, and alternative fuel solutions. There's also 10 dollar burritos…that honestly ARE SO WORTH THE PRICE! But how were the bands you wordy bastard?! Ok…There's a lot...so hold on. I missed The Distillers at PNC, but saw them at Jones Beach. They are pretty damned GOOD! Very Courtney Love'ish vocals with very Rancid 'esque songs. A nice 25 minute opening set. Nice. Next are The Donnas. You know em you love em, both shows saw them kick serious ass for 35 minutes or so. Both sets were also highlighted by the Kiss cover Strutter. Jurassic 5 was cool, but its dangerous business when there live hop on stage, but it was energetic and well…another band in the day doesn't hurt. Cave In was playing the second stage at PNC and well they kicked ass. It was weird to hear lost of new less evil Cave In, but they DID pull out an old song that showed why they were one of the best metal core bands ever...the new stuff is good, but DIFFERENT ! The thing about Lollapalooza is the have TOO much going on I saw like 15 minutes of Boy Sets Fire on the "Blender" ( ugh ) second stage and well its sounded heavy and screamy but…I cant make a real opinion. I liked what I heard though. Around 5 is when you REALLY need to get to your seats. Because if you miss Queens of the Stone Age, your fucking idiot. Queen's is by far THE best live band to come around in a while. It's about the best hour of tunes ever and I can't say enough good things about them. I decided to miss Incubus at PNC to see Steve O staple his nuts to his leg and cut his tongue with broken light bulb bits. My lollapalooza hi-light may have been seeing Steve O comes out bashing beer cans into his head to the beat of Slayer's Raining Blood, until the burst. Fucking SWEET! When I did see Incubus at Jones Beach I gotta admit they KINDA won me over. They pulled out the hits and the girls went moist for the lead singer. Extra points for a Cover of Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Shutter to Think's " X French T-Shirt ". They are WAY tight and you can't deny they aren't talented at what they do. I wasn't expecting to LOVE Audioslave, but damn it if I didn't get a copy of their album AFTER I saw them at PNC. WOW First off Tom Morello IS the craziest most talented guitarist around today…and EVERY song was heavy and played to the max !!! They also pulled out a full on cover of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes…pretty damn cool. Very impressed. FINALLY at 10 to 10 Jane's Addiction hits the stage, granted I'm a fan but damnit if this band STILL doesn't really put on a killer live show. Both shows I saw had a good mix of new and old songs, and both had the Lolla girls ( hottest girls on Earth ) bump and grind. They ended the day with the sing along classic ( take a guess ) and all was good in the world. WHEW… I missed tons of side stage bands, and didn't go into the roaming freakshow of dancers and furry outfitted girl in hoolahoops Some final musings: The Jones beach show DIDN'T sell beer, and the crowd was GREATLY pissed off about this…My friend almost faked needed an insulin shot to leave and get beer, but alas, there was no re-entry. Security was INSANE tight in NY, but in Jersey it was a total joke. Basically 15 years olds eaving you in. The crowd itself was weird 12 year olds w/ Mom and Dad to 50 years, with a bunch of hipsters and 20-30 something mixed inbetween. Was weird to see big jocks making fun of tiny weird punks…but I guess that's life … PNC had a roofed in Amphitheater, which was REALLY sweet. Jones Beach made me look like a red neck and as I type this my arms are burning. There were TONS of really hot girls as well. xoxo, Matt
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