Lollapalooza day three was HOT. In Chicago it doesn’t get hot like Florida but with humidity and direct sunlight it was enough to wipe out most of the crowd. The guy in the upper left had a lot of gas left in his tank, though. On the upper right, a view looking north with the Lolla icon. Lower left, a view of Wolfmother, which played to an emptied-out south half, and Cypress Hill, who had the whole crowd engulfed in a cloud of smoke of the non-traditional variety.
But for me the whole show was about SOUNDGARDEN. I never saw them while they were in their prime during the grunge days but they re-united for Lollapalooza and frankly the pre-concert vibes from critics weren’t that great. But Soundgarden silenced the critics – Chris Cornell’s voice was absolutely awesome – and they bludgeoned the crowd with a hammering set of their classics.
Upper left – I got up front and to the right of the stage (conveniently near liquor, to boot) and this is from later in the night before it got pitch black. Upper right – the view looking north with spotlights in the background. Lower left – a view of the show early on. Middle right – as the night ended, the inevitable ambulance rides off. Lower right – the crowd cheering early on for Soundgarden.
Cross posted at LITGM
Like my hat?
em>Like my hat?
Ha ha ha!
– Madhu
PS: In keeping with my other comments on the blog today, Soundgarden and the hat, also retro 90s.
My most 90s memory is seeing Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins open up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I think it was Pearl Jam’s first national tour. This kid in front of me – with a shaved head except for a tuft of bright blue hair on top – ripped out his auditorium seat.
Oof, stupid html.
– Madhu
I was at the show in Chicago when the Pumpkins and Pearl Jam opened for the Red Hots.
The entire place at the Aragon was a big mosh pit; I was off to the side. Eddie Vedder did a huge stage dive out to the crowd – it was a LONG jump. Then when the Red Hots came out they were lowered from the rafters by their feet.
These girls were next to us pushing and since I was on the edge of the mosh pit but didn’t want to get sucked in because I didn’t want a big shiner at my consulting gig finally I just let them in and they disappeared. Crazy.
Eddie Vedder climbed the wall at our show (Iowa State campus.) Literally. There were these cement walls with grooves in them on the side of the stage and he sort of “free-climbed” the wall. Pearl Jam really were an amazing live show back then but haven’t seen them since.
– Madhu