(photo courtesy of David Donald Evans, of My Old Kentucky Blog)
I left yesterday morning for the adventure that is Lollapalooza. The festival has gone through many changes since its beginnings way back in 1991. As many of you remember, it was a traveling festival for years, hitting up several cities and setting the pace for festivals here in the US. Now, it is one of many festivals that happen each summer, but probably still stands above the rest for several reasons.

One is the use of Grant Park in Chicago, which in width stretches more than a mile and allows organizer Perry Farrel to use every bit of 8 stages for Lollapalooza these days. Chicago is a kind host as well, who despite the massive heat and possible problems that come with a fest of this magnitude, seem to have things down to a science.

Now, on to Day 1 of Lolla 2008. My day started with doubt that I can still do these things. After all, I was mostly spent just upon entering the gates after a 5 hour trip north, mixed with an extra hour of traffic and a credential line that was another hour in the direct sun. I did however get a breath of fresh air as I walked in and heard Yeasayer belting out “2080″ in the distance. I had to make that my first stop of the day. After catching the tail end of that set I headed over to the Kidz stage, which is a great setup for parents and kids alike. Most of it is in the shade, there are coloring areas set up, and several kid related booths all around.

I was not there for the coloring though, as Jeff Tweedy was playing a solo set and I knew if nothing else, that would energize me to get through the rest of the day. Jeff played some great Wilco stuff, and of course included the Uncle Tupelo gem, “New Madrid” as well. Then I made a beeline to see Cat Power, who was an act on the bill I had not seen before and therefore wanted to make a point to catch. Despite the mostly lackluster material that made up Jukebox, the set was great, and it is amazing to see the frontwoman Chan is now after being plauged by years of stage fright and downright wackiness.

Fully exhausted at this point, food and water took top priority, and I walked full across the grounds again, which I am thinking I have to keep to a minimum on Saturday. Going from side to side here is a pretty large undertaking in the 90 degree heat.

Grizzly Bear played to my left as I made the jaunt, and I stopped long enough to hear a great rendition of “Knife” while I munched on a piece of pizza. From there is was all about getting ready for Radiohead, who were the reason I made the decision to take on the Lollapalooza beast with little preparation. With the masses already congregated in front of the stage Radiohead would play on (with still about 3 hours until their set) I opted for the shaded press area to enjoy Bloc Party, who played just before them.

(photo courtesy of David Donald Evans, of My Old Kentucky Blog)

The spot ended up being fairly lucky in that I could see the stage pretty well and the sea of people too. By the time Thom & the boys took the stage promptly at 8:01, I was more than ready for whatever they had to offer. What ensued was a brilliant 2 hour performance that plucked gems from every Radiohead album (save Pablo Honey) and included favorites of mine like “Airbag”, “The Bends”, “Everything In It’s Right Place”, “Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi”, “15 Step” “I Might Be Wrong” and more that I lost track of quickly. (full setlist here)

To top things off, about halfway through the set a crazy cool fireworks show began to go off, at first I was not sure how planned it was, but it was a nice companion to the set. And man, did anyone see that huge fast moving cloud that went by during the last encore? It brought in a nice breeze and the timing could not have been better.

Time to gear up for day 2 now, high on the list today are Foals, Explosions In The Sky, Jamie Lidell, Broken Social Scene and of course, Wilco. Check back for more tomorrow, and keep checking me out on Twitter for constant updates.