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• Lollapalooza 2009: Day two
• Preparing for Lollapalooza 2009
• Lollapalooza 2009: Day three

Michell: Saturday for me was all about the ladies. Of all the performances I saw today, those with female lead singers stood out to me as the best. They were the most energetic, most engaging and therefore the most fun. I had previously written off Saturday as the slowest of the three days. However, I left the hordes of people feeling as though the exhaustion and extreme sunburns were worth my time.

Amanda: I had an entirely different schedule in mind when I first arrived at Grant Park on Saturday than what I actually ended up seeing. I was going to spend most of my time at the Budweiser stage, and like Michell, I had a whole lot of female rock in mind. At the end of the day, however, I fell back into tried and true artists and to be honest, I’m okay with that. The blistering heat wasn’t so bad when surrounded by others who also seemingly felt no pain.

Maggie: My Saturday, similarly to Michell’s, was filled with the ladies as well. Only in more aspects than just music. I started off the second day of Lolla rather non-traditionally by visiting the Playboy Rockstar Brunch at the Hilton across from Grant Park. Upon entrance was a glass statue of a bunny right next to which martinis were being made. The place was completed with a “7 Minutes in Heaven” Make out room and playmates playing twister. Overall a good time, but after stuffing my face with free food, it was time to check out some music.

Michell: I started off with Ida Maria, the Norwegian pop-punk singer. I’d heard she was a rather rambunctious performer, but I thought she’d be slightly subdued with the blistering heat. I was wrong. Maria was loud, fast, wild and probably drunk out of her mind, all of which translated to a fun and entertaining set. She brought the somewhat tame crowed to it’s feet with her songs “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked” and “Oh My God.” At times, I was a little concerned she wouldn’t make it through, which added a bit of suspense, yet I left feeling like I’d seen a great performance. I’d love to see her again, though in a much smaller setting.

Amanda: Like Michell, I found myself making a stop to catch Ida Maria, the raspy-voiced wonder behind radio favorites “Oh My God,” and “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked.” I had actually been passing by on my way to Los Campesinos!, but couldn’t help but stop for the first half-hour of the set. There is something about Maria’s voice that really gets to me—in a good way that is. Always right on the edge of breaking, it’s far more endearing than perfect pitch and sing-song melodies. Though I left halfway through the set, I had a hard time tearing myself away as admittedly, Ida Maria is ridiculously catchy from start-to-finish. I do wish I had stuck around to watch the crowd go crazy for the “hits.”

From there, I had a chance to catch the entirety of Los Campesinos! set. Though it was my first time catching the Welsh act live, listening to their albums I had a vision of what I hoped they would be like: raucous and energetic and terribly hard to understand…and they fit all of the above. Overall, I left pleased by the performance from the seven-piece, but not with my place in the crowd. I have come to find that I somehow always pick the area of the audience where people want to sit, attempt to sleep (!), or generally forget that they are at a concert and no one is forcing them to do anything. For how much energy the group brings live, the audience (at least where I was standing) didn’t reciprocate in a proper fashion.

Maggie: I got in the park just in time to catch Atmosphere. Not knowing much of his newer music but being a huge fan of the old, I had a great time. It all sounded great and the crowd’s response was great. The opposite can be said about Chairlift. They were completely unenthusiastic and it seemed as though no one in the audience was really having a good time.

I then headed over to Santigold with high expectation that were surpassed. She put on a fantastic high energy show. Everyone was at their feet; you can tell she was having a great time and in return the audience was having an even better time. My favorite part was probably her backup dancers who would be stone faced for most of a song until they broke it down for certain parts. And you have to love a band who brings fans up on stage for a dance party.

Michell: Next up for me was Santigold. I was borderline about seeing her. I’d seen her before as an opening act for Coldplay, thought at the time I’d never heard of her. Since the same could probably be said for the majority of the crowd at that Coldplay concert, seeing her perform for a crowd familiar with her was what made me decide to go. I was really glad I did as it turned out to be one of my favorite performances so far. Santigold brought in a huge, and probably unexpected crowd and got everybody moving with her music. The performance made me want to take a closer listen to her recent album.

Amanda: So here is where I began to run “off schedule.” I love Coheed and Cambria. I have absolutely no qualms about this. One of the best shows I’ve ever been to was a duel set by the band at Metro in which they opened with an acoustic set and closed with a ridiculous, cacophony of a guitar solo. With that, I had intended to skip their set as a case of the “ehh, I’ve seen them before so I should probably check out new acts,” however, I failed at that epically. Moral of the story being, I still love Coheed and Cambria. Amidst a heavily, heavily male populated crowd (also heavily populated by Tool t-shirts), I made a complete fool of myself and went absolutely nuts as they ripped through a well-rounded set of tracks spanning the group’s discography. I would still rather see them in their own setting, but man did I have a good time.

After regaining my sanity, I ran over to check the end of a set from noise-rockers No Age. Though by the time I reached the stage, I was only able to hear three complete tracks, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the sounds of Nouns translated to an open-air live setting. I can’t say much more than I would really like to catch them again someday for a full set in a smaller, packed venue.

Maggie: I headed over to Animal Collective soon after. Unlike Michell, I love the band. Yet I hated the set. First of all, the choice of songs wasn’t great. When you have the crown as big as the one on Saturday, you should play the crowd pleasers, the high energy, and the more popular songs. Animal Collective decided against this, causing the show to suffer and the majority of the audience to get bored and distracted. I walked away early and disappointed as well.

Michell: Then came my first big scheduling conflict: TV on the Radio or Lykki Li. TV on the Radio’s most recent album, Dear Science, is one of my very favorites, but the massive crowds put me way in the back. On the other hand, I knew Lykki Li’s setting would be much more personal, but I just don’t respond to her music in the same way I do TV on the Radio. Since I’m terrible at making decisions, I decided I’d try to split my time between the two. Bad decision. I should have just stuck with Lykki Li, if only for her cover of Lil Wayne’s “A Milli.”

Animal Collective was up next. Why do I want so bad to like these guys? I don’t understand. I really want to love their album Merriweather Post Pavilion. I do, but for some reason I just don’t. I thought perhaps seeing them live would help me figure out why these guys are lauded by music critics and lovers alike, or maybe help me get in to that album. Alas, neither was achieved. Animal Collective spent 50 minutes of their hour-long set mixing slow, pop-synth noises. I could tell the crowd was on edge, anxious for a song like “My Girls” or “Summertime Clothes” to get the party going, but it never came. The entire set was a build-up to nothing. I left early, feeling extremely disappointed.

Amanda: My lack of wanting to walk entirely across the park and being super-geeked out with my previous decisions led me to chill back at the Chicago 2016 stage for Rise Against. Yeah, I love TV on the Radio, but at the end of the day, I tend to stick with what I know….and, I’m not sure that was a great idea this time. Without getting into a whiny diatribe that would make me sound like an asshole, I just don’t like the idea of Rise Against as a stadium band. They took to the large crowd with ease, and went through all the motions of “let me see you pump your fists” and mentions of punk, but it just felt like something was missing. It was by absolutely no means a lackluster performance, I just didn’t personally enjoy their set the way I had hoped.

Michell: I closed out with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the last minute replacement for the Beastie Boys. Can I just say I’m in love with Karen O? I’d heard about her phenomenal stage presence before, but I had no idea just how phenomenal. Thanks to Animal Collective, I was what seemed like miles from the stage, yet I could still feel her energy in the crowd. Even after hours of standing in the blistering heat, all I wanted to do was dance, jump and sing. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played a mix of songs from all of their albums, giving everyone a little something to enjoy. I didn’t even care that Karen O. forgot some of the words to “Maps.” The rest of the performance more than made up for the glitch.

Maggie: I finished off with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and had the blast. Best show this far, and although it may be early to call, but love for the band will probably keep it that way. I agree with everything Michell had to say.

Amanda: Ditto to all of the above about Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Thank you Karen O. I had been looking forward to Beastie Boys, but you certainly came in and saved the day.

Once again, check back tomorrow for a final wrap-up of Sunday at Lollapalooza.