RAY

LOLLAPALOOZA 2013

Summer music festivals, let me tell you, they are the best thing in the entire universe. My bro's and I went to Lollapalooza on Sunday and saw Jake Bugg, Two Door Cinema Club, Vampire Weekend and PHOENIX HERE ALL THE WAY FROM FRANCE. Also, everyone talks about Lollapalooza like it's the best thing and this was my first year going and I will be the first to tell you it's not overrated in the slightest. There is a reason why so many people go - because it's the most overwhelmingly massive, incredibly fun festival that's right in the heart of downtown and if you're not planning on going next year you should be because it's flawless.

TDCC was like the greatest, biggest dance party I'd ever been apart of. When that riff started for Something Good Can Work the crowd went so wild and endless people were crowd surfing. There was this beautiful moment when this dude in a wheelchair was lifted above the crowd, I saw the thousands of people behind me on the big screen and in that moment I could have cried it was so beautiful. Festivals teach you the wisdom of feeling the music, letting loose and dancing till you're neck is sore from head banging and your arms kill from pumping your hands to the beat. BUT YOU DON'T EVEN CARE. You don't even care about the guy smoking so much weed next to you or the dad in front of you who shouldn't even be there because he's such a jerk. Because it's a music festival and it's the best thing in the world. 

Vampire Weekend was so good it's hard to find words. They opened with Cousins and the crowd went SO CRAZY. And I was right there with them. Everyone was jumping and dancing and singing at the top of their lungs the whole show and when we all joined together hoarsely screaming BLAKE'S GOT A NEW FACE with Ezra it sounded terrible but it was beautiful because 100,000 people were together dancing and singing as one and the sun was setting softly below the skyline. Ezra told the crowd it was the best summer show of the year for them and just being there, seeing and hearing my favorite band playing the greatest songs, with such a massive crowd all there for the same reason, I was so indescribably happy. Shows like that make you so ecstatic to be alive and apart of something so incredible.

BUT PHOENIX. It's hard to even begin. The guys came on the stage and immediately started with Entertainment and bam! My heart was racing, every single person was jumping (the countless thousands of us) and dancing, full of a completely new energy forgetting that we were hot and sweaty and thirsty as heck. Nothing else mattered but to DANCE and SING to every single song at the top of our lungs into the darkening city night. Halfway through the show Thomas Mars told us "On Sunday nights most people are usually tired and at home....you guys are proving that entirely wrong." 1901 was unreal - that low end bass literally SHOOK my bones and two of my friends in a rush of elation crowd surfed. We were all on cloud nine. The show was a truly transcending experience, larger than life, MIND BOGGLING, one of the best shows I will ever see. Their iconic sound just broke my heart with its potency. At the closing song, Thomas crowd surfed and the crowd gathered toward him like a MAGNETIC FORCE. It was unbelievably beautiful. There was something about them playing Chloroform with everyone's hands in the air pulsing in sync to the beat the entire song that gave me goosebumps and a smile that stayed on my face the entire show. Time stood still in Chicago that evening and it was the best night of my life.

-RAY