Rain & fire: Weather extremes suit Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza concertgoers on Friday could have borrowed a chant from the original Woodstock outdoor rock festival 40 years ago: "No rain!"
Yet, even though the tickets should have warned, "Obstructed view - umbrellas," most seemed to take it in stride as a steady drizzle and sometimes more fell on Chicago's Grant Park throughout the first day of the three-day alternative-rock fest.
In fact, Jessica Navarrete, of Glendale Heights, bought her ticket the day of the show despite the forecast when a friend's dad insisted they get out and enjoy themselves.
"It's fun. I love it," she said standing in the rain between sets. "It feels more hard core, more rock 'n' roll to still be here anyway and endure the weather."
Paige Frey and Jenna Roesler, of Minneapolis, bought their tickets well in advance, but likewise didn't mind it raining on their Lollapalooza.
"I actually like the rain rather than when it's 95, so I'm kind of glad," Roesler said.
"Yeah, I don't do well in the heat," Frey added.
Frey and Roesler drove down to stay with Frey's mother, Amy Macin, in Gurnee and took the Metra into town. They only had tickets for Friday and were looking forward to seeing Ben Folds. They said they were going to miss seeing TV on the Radio, for one, later in the weekend, but it was perhaps just as well, as temperatures forecast in the 90s figured to bake the muddy Grant Park fields dry - and concertgoers as well - today and Sunday.
Even so, that was all part of the experience as the annual Lollapalooza festival enjoyed its fifth year settled in Chicago. Organizers were still expecting a near sellout of its 225,000 tickets over the three days, and with a chance to see well over 100 bands on eight stages it was a bargain for music aficionados, even at $80 a day and $205 for a three-day pass, with the sheer variety part of the attraction.
Navarrete said she was looking forward to Of Montreal Friday evening. "I really don't know many of the bands," she said. "But I really loved the White Lies. I was watching them for a while even though I'd never heard of them."
Darcie Deneal, of St. Louis, flew up with her husband for their second Chicago Lollapalooza simply as a chance to see so many groups at one location for one fixed price. "It's much more reasonable to do," she said. She looked like a typical tourist in her sundress and sandals - but for the umbrella with a Day-Glo pattern of skull and crossbones.
Some came from farther away than that to enjoy the experience. Luke Edmunds, of Hobart - not Indiana, but on the island of Tasmania in Australia - found himself in Chicago on a monthlong trip to North America just as Lollapalooza came to town. He thought about getting a one-day ticket, then sprung for the three-day pass.
"If you're going to come all this way, you might as well shell out the money," he said. "I'm really impressed with it, actually. It's much more organized than the ones we have."
He was sporting a T-shirt from the gourmet Chicago hot-dog stand Hot Doug's, so his trip was already a raging success before Lollapalooza even began.
Music cranked up at 11, and Rockford rockers Hey Champ kicked things off on the main south stage at midday, not far from where Barack Obama claimed victory in last year's presidential election. Bands playing today and Sunday included Northwest-suburban products Rise Against, as well as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Neko Case and Lou Reed, all of whom figured to be performing in 90-degree heat.
As for Friday, the smartest fashion choice was multicolored Wellingtons, and the top accessory was a resealable plastic sandwich bag to protect your iPod from the rain.