Lollapalooza 2009: A Big Ass Mess of Fucking People

That's a direct quote from a festivalgoer, and trust me when I say it was no exaggeration. The first three pictures tell the whole story: a sweaty, dusty sea of humanity and scorching heat. In the midst of a summer that hasn't felt like summer, Mother Nature decided to save the two hottest days of the year for the Saturday and Sunday of this year's Lollapalooza festival. It's probably a good thing that I didn't know there was a heat advisory in effect for most of the day. That certainly wouldn't have helped my heat coma or my dehydration headache. It was one of those sticky hot days where everything that blows on you stays on you - all day long. About 4 hours into the festivities, I started dreaming about when I'd be able to take a shower.

That said, my friends and I still had fun. The best part of the day for me was seeing Danish rockers The Raveonettes at the PlayStation stage. They rocked as hard as they had the night before at the Empty Bottle. I managed to get a couple of photos (#3 and #4 below).

Inexplicably, it began to get windy and cool in the interval between Snoop Dogg's set and The Killers' show-closing performance (The crowd for Snoop Dogg and The Killers was INSANE. I don't remember it being as crowded last year for Kanye West's performance - and he's a native Chicagoan.) The sun was replaced by dark clouds and I felt a couple of rain drops. Though I would have welcomed some rain, my cloth bag and blanket would not. In any event, the rain never materialized and I ended up leaving half an hour into The Killers' performance. Not that it wasn't good, but by that point, my heat headache was overpowering.

Anyhoo, if you want more in depth info on this year's Lolla, check out Consequence of Sound, which had great Lolla coverage all weekend along.