[RECAP] Tonedeff’s Lollapalooza 2006 Written Blog
Ok… So, I’m back home. Back to reality.
I’ve been here in my crib now for about an hour…and as I’m here checking my emails, I’m slowly coming back down to earth after the tremendous high that was my weekend @ Lollapalooza in Chicago.
Ya know, if there’s anything I’ve realized this weekend, it’s that when you make it in the big time…things are good. You’re treated with respect. You’re given a ton of free shit (ie. Food, Hotels, Schwag). Man… it’s really fuckin easy to get used to that lifestyle.
Reality can suck my dick.
While I was in Chicago, I won a national band competition, saw 17+ of my favorite artists performing full sets, met a bunch of musicians that I respect and whose work I admire, performed on the largest stage I’ve ever been on, with the best sound I’ve ever had, at the biggest festival you can possibly play at, did my first Virgin Megastore In-Store interview & performance, stayed at a fine hotel, caught many a panty-flash, ordered Italian food @ 3 AM two times, refused to sleep and drank more water than I can possibly fathom.
That’s a lot in the span of 6 days.
DAY 1 – The Set Off
The sunshine in Chicago that day was truly oppressive.
We show up to see Sound Team kick off the festival. I’m actually a newer fan of their music, since I picked up a copy of their latest shit, Movie Monster that has this song called “Your Eyes Are Liars” that I’ve been bumping for the past couple weeks nonstop. They did the damn thing… a good way to kick off the weekend.
I rolled with Mrs. Deff & my niece Vanessa (aka Daisy), and Pack…who disappeared for a moment only to return with one of those nifty handheld mist-fans that spray cool water on you. Needless to say, I hauled ass to the AT&T Digital Oasis tent and grabbed a couple, which definitely came in handy as the weekend went on.
From there I had to ditch the festival and head over to Virgin Megastore Chicago with Pack. Unfortunately, in order to do so, I had to miss a set by Aqualung which I’m still pissed about. Anyway, we show up and the store is bustling with its usual clientele. A cat named Damon held it down on the interview tip and he asked really great questions. As the interview went on, he played a few tracks off Archetype here and there and I began to notice a couple of people gathering by the DJ Booth window and staring. I did a little impromptu performance of “Case Closed” and “Velocity” (complete with crowd participation – which is ALWAYS fun in a retail setting). At one point I was about to have the DJ play “Pervert” but Pack sounded off by saying “NoOOooOOoo” and that was pretty much a wrap for that. Afterward, it was hella flattering when a couple people stuck around for autographs and such. Let me tell you, I’ve been dying to do an instore @ Virgin Mega for years, and it was gratifying to finally do it up after all the wait.
We head back to Lolla just in time for me to catch the end of the Panic! At The Disco set. Admittedly, I’ve never heard anything from them… but the second the launched into covers of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” and Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” I was hooked. They were glammed the fuck out, complete with costumes, cabaret dancers, full string section, you name it. I’ll definitely be picking up their album tomorrow.
Next up, we rolled to check out The Editors on the gigantic Q101 stage (which I would eventually play the next day). I own their album, The Back Room and it gets regular rotation on my iPod. We had artist badges, so we were able to watch the gig on the actual stage, which is an incredible experience. I’m now 100% completely spoiled when it comes to concerts. How can I ever go back to nosebleed seats? Hahah. Anyway, The Editors took it for best set of the day in my opinion. The music was upbeat, the energy was palpable, and the crowd was frenetic with energy. Props to those cats for real.
Next up, I went to peep Mates of State on the smaller AMD stage. I really love their latest album and the fact that all of it is done with only 2 people makes it even better. I felt bad for the drummer, because they were unfortunate enough to play their set right as the sun was beaming directly onto the stage. Dude had on a black-checkered long-sleeve shirt on…the fuck was he thinking? He looked like he’d been swimming with the dolphins by the end of his set…that must have been a true endurance test – cause I was in the shade and even I was sweating…let alone drumming. “Fraud In The 80s” is the bomb-diggy.
I peeped The Raconteurs next from the Artists lounge…. Apparently Lolla was sponsored by Budweiser and Smart water…cause that’s all there was to drink (that wasn’t hard liquor). Can’t a brother get a pepsi or some shit? They did this really kick-ass rendition of “Bang Bang” from Nancy Sinatra (ie. The Kill Bill credit theme). They also did a version of “Crazy” from Gnarls Barkley which in my opinion, completely butchered the song – fuck whatcha heard. There was a funny moment in the artist lounge when some dude motioned to the big HDTVs broadcasting a feed of the shows, and says “How the fuck do these guys stay so pale?”. Jack White was indeed that – WHITE as a cadaver.
While hangin around the lounge, I caught Matt Hale from Aqualung coming out of the interview trailer, so I called him out by name which kinda weirded him out (Hey, it was better than going… ‘Hey Aqualung!’). Dude walked over, I introduced myself and he was cordial – Hella British, but cordial. I hit him with a CD and told him that the UK version of the “Brighter Than Sunshine” video was 100X better than the US version. He agreed with me. Maybe he’ll dig the album, but regardless it was a cool experience.
I stuck around for Death Cab For Cutie, which was essentially a 1.5 hour sing-a-long with thousands of college chicks. If those dudes ain’t getting pussy… I don’t know who is. The sun finally went down and people were finally able to move around without fainting. They closed with “Transatlanticism” which made me very happy, cause that’s pretty much the only song I know from them by heart. Definitely a great way to close out the day.
Mind you, Grant Park is fucking GIGANTIC and my feet were killing me because of all the walking we had to do between stages. By the end of the day, I had several blisters on both feet. Ouch. We all head back to our rooms… and I order Italian food cause it’s the only shit open in Downtown Chicago after 10 PM. Proof-positive that NYC spoils you.
Evil Haitian Cabbie
I was invited to an after-party that night, so Pack & I hopped in a cab and headed for the spot…10 minutes into the ride the Haitian driver asks us “Sheridan?”… to which I respond… “No…Fareview” to which the driver responds…“I do not know where that is.”
At this point, I tell the dude to pull over, something he does 2 minutes too slow as if trying to keep us in the car. I start knocking the window and Pack unlocks the door, we hop out. I toss dude $5 for getting us lost. He wants $8.50 and starts haggling! Dude starts barking about how he wants his money for the ride. I told him to go fuck himself. He starts following us in his car as we walk “You will pay me my money!” this dude says. So, I grab my wallet… pull out a few bills and ask:
Me: “You want your money?” Evil Haitian Cabbie: “Yes” Me: “You really want your money?” Evil Haitian Cabbie: “Yes I do” Me: “How bad do you want your money?” Evil Haitian Cabbie: “I want my money” Me: “Beg for it” Evil Haitian Cabbie: “I will have my money” Me: “Ok. Here’s your money you fuckin bitch!” (and I throw it in his face)
He drives off. What a prick. I know that’s prolly a few negative karma-points for the kid…but I mean, damn.
After returning from the party, I slept for about 3 hours and mentally readied myself for the next day.
Day 2 – The Gig & The Glee
Today is the big day…I get up around 7 am, shave/shower, and head off to the park for sound check and shit. We test the CD to see if everything’s kosher, and Mike the Sound Guy ran the shit off the main stage speakers – FUCKING WOW. I’ve never heard my shit that loud before and I was really impressed at how pro the mix sounded over the loud speakers. Whoever says you can’t mix a record on your PC can suck my dick, cause my shit banged as hard as any other commercial release done on SSL boards in $350/hr mastering studios. (Pats self on back).
After sound check, we get directed to our trailer. Now this was pretty pimped out, we had coolers full of soda/beer, etc, snacks, air conditioning, etc. Pretty fuckin sweet If you ask me. I went over my set a bit in my head. I really wanted to make a good impression on all the strangers who’d be walking by as my set kicked off.
The bittersweet thing about the whole Lolla experience was that the slot I was given was tough – 11:20 AM… my music literally started the minute the gates opened, so there was little fanfare for the beginning of my set. I walked out to a crowd of about 20 kids…3 of which seemed to be Auralarians, the rest apparently were there to get a good view of punk band, Be Your Own Pet, who was immediately following my set. I was a little worried at first, cause as “Let’s Go” rattled on I could tell these people had never seen anything even remotely close to a hip-hop show. Their confused faces were proof enough. But as the set rolled on, and “Spanish Song” kicked in… suddenly, their faces lit up when they realized I wasn’t at all enforcing any of the stereotypes of “rap” that they’d been harboring. “Pervert” really lit the bitch up… I could hear plenty of laughs in the crowd, and people singing along. My “Heavyweight” V2 acapella really knocked them on their ass a little further and by the time “Velocity” rolled around the crowd had grown from 20 confused faces to over 400 people throwing their hands up. Not bad for the earliest slot of the day.
The sun was murdering me…I’m used to murky ass clubs at 2 AM… sunny days aren’t very Hip-Hop in my opinion…but I had to do what I had to do. The soundman let the CD roll, and I had burned Pack’s “Stomp” instrumental at the end in case we had extra time (which we really didn’t)… but they let it roll so Pack & I looked at eachother with “They asked for it” faces and launched into an impromptu rendition of this crowd favorite. The audience totally lost their shit and the entire thing was punctuated with Pack crowd surfing. Once again proof positive that QN5 tears shit down no matter who we play in front of.
After my set, I headed off to get some water and chill for a minute before I got back into the festivities. Etc. When it was time for Feist, I realized that the artists had special “go-cart transportation” called the Fest Express. WHAT A FUCKING LIFESAVER! Not only was the shit fun to whip around the park in, but it saved our asses countless times from missing our favorite acts. I feel bad for all the people with regular admission tickets, having to walk the length of Grant Park to get to the next act. Meanwhile, we’re over here chillin, riding around in go-carts to all the stages and watching the shows.
We hit up Feist’s set and that shit was packed to the gills out there. We could barely even go backstage, cause the security dude was being a douchebag. What is it about security dudes that make them so fucking annoying? They’re piece of shit people that get 1 shred of authority and suddenly they react like Hitler for every little infraction to their self-set rules.
Anyway, Feist rocked a fresh set of stuff off her first two albums, as well as a healthy dose of new material off the upcoming record. As soon as her set was done…. We snuck past the guard to the stage basement, where I had my big encounter with Feist herself! She was incredibly cool and didn’t seem like she wanted to get away (like most celebrities do when approached), and even posed for this neat picture:
I gave her a copy of Archetype and she examined the packaging and said “Oh nice! There’s a DVD in here!”. So, hey, ya never know…yours truly might be working with this talented lady soon! Hooray for good connects!
Next on my agenda was a set by Australia’s Wolfmother. I did NOT expect to see what I did. These motherfuckers are on some Black-Sabbath throwback shit. HARD riffs…drum rolls and yelling. I saw a 17 year old boy in the front row crying and bodies literally being thrown around in the mosh pit. It was a beautiful thing to see such chaos brung forth from music. That’s the kinda shit I aspire to do with Hip-Hop. Easily the best rock set of the day, in my opinion.
I went to get some grub in the artists catering tent, and I met Dangermouse hangin’ around the trailers. I introduced myself as Kno’s friend, (they went to the same University), and dude was like…“Oh word?” hahah. He was like…“I gotta get up with that kid. Hey, is this Kno’s number still?” and he whips out his celly to show me Kno’s years-old college phone number from Atlanta. I gave him the updated digits and kept it moving. Cool cat.
Ironically, Gnarls Barkley was up next as I was in the artists lounge trying to make connections. But when I heard “Go Go Gadget Gospel” I lost my shit and had to peep the show in person. These dudes came out in white prepped out tennis-outfits…complete with neck-tied sweaters, headbands and tennis shorts. Pretty fly. It was certainly an entertaining set, even though Cee-Lo lost his voice midway through and was killin himself to hit the high notes on “Crazy”. Not that it really mattered at that point, cause a) 5 other bands covered the song at the festival anyway and b) the crowd sang the shit for him. Haha. “Smiling Faces” is such a great song.
Common was up next, and y’all know I’m a disciple of dude’s school of emceeing…so of course I had to be there to support my one of my biggest musical inspirations. Com did the damn thing brilliantly. It was really a proud moment for him, I could tell…and for me as well. I remember seeing Common rock when I was 16 years old at a club in Miami that had no power in front of 30 people with no A/C. They were literally running lights and sound off a generator in the club. And to see this dude rocking a stage to over 40,000 people in his hometown was seriously something I know he’ll never forget – nor will I. Seeing his career progress the way it has gives me hope that my career is really just getting started. If he can do it… then so can I. He gave an excellent set, despite sticking to shit off the Be album and the occasional song from Like Water For Chocolate (ie. “The Light”). What about us old Com-Sense fans, playa?!?!? 
I tried getting up with Com around the trailers, but dude was literally being swamped and had 4 security guards in suits holding him down. It’s really tough to get through to a cat when they’re surrounded by an entourage of over 40 people and security for a pic…so y’all are just gonna have to settle for a description of his set. Hah One day, dude will remember me.
Kanye West was next on Deck, and I was anticipating this set a lot, cause I haven’t seen dude rock live yet (Pack has). This muffucka was a straight up phantom the entire time. You heard about Kanye… but you never saw him until he showed up on stage. The crowd for this dude was pure-insanity. It was like someone was giving away free money in that muffucka there was so many people crammed into that audience – people as far as you could see. What a fuckin site. When you’re in a position like I am… and you see something like that… you really wonder “Man, will I ever get to that fuckin level?” It was a very humbling experience.
I think the soundman was some dude he pissed off when he was comin up in Chicago, cause the beginning of his set was completely butchered by low-vocals, lack of bass and overly loud strings. It just didn’t sound right and dude was hella agitated – he started barking on the sound crew sayin shit like, “There’s gonna be some changes made tonight. Somebody ain’t gonna be working tomorrow.” I found it kinda funny. As the set progressed, he did a lot of hits and brought out the calvary (ie. Common, Lupe Fiasco, Twista, GLC, etc) and ended the night off on a high note with “Jesus Walks” and “Touch The Sky”. People dug it… and overall the night ended nicely.
We got back to the hotel room and once again, I ordered Italian food. This time…I got lasagna and cheesecake. Afterwhich, I passed the fuck out.
Day 3 – ENDURANCE
For Day 3…we just slept the fuck in. Pack broke out to NYC, and Mrs. Deff & I got to the festival 2 hours late, but just in time to catch an amazing set by The Frames. It was like an Irish National Parade out there…muffuckas with Irish flags, shouting along at the top of their lungs. I’m not incredibly familiar with their music, (I know “Headlong” and that’s about it), but their live show was really ill in the fact that their jokey-behavior totally juxtaposed their somber-music and made for a very entertaining set.
There was a very funny moment when, after a drink or two, Mrs. Deff throws her hands up and shouts “SOUND TEAM FUCKIN RULES!!” during their set. I saw a couple heads turn, as I clarified to her that it was indeed The Frames on stage and not Sound Team. She blushed…I laughed…. Women…gotta love ‘em.
Next we hit the Playstation stage to catch one of my favorite new groups, Hot Chip. It’s nuts, cause their last album, Coming On Strong was mostly downtempo trippy-electro-fare, and damn near all the new shit they played off of The Warning is upbeat hard-house. Mrs. Deff & I shook our tailfeathers backstage cause we really couldn’t help ourselves. Hell, even the fuckin gate security guard was dancing cause the music was killin em. Hot Chip is REALLY FUCKING GREAT LIVE. I highly recommend catching them live when they roll through to your town. What’s the most impressive is that they play all the electronic parts by hand…so it gives everything a real natural swing, but retains the edge that only synths can bring to the table.
After their show, I rolled backstage and met up with Joe (the tall cat from the group who kinda looks like the big guy from Shawn of the Dead). I told them that I was a fan of their last album and that even though I was a Hip-Hop artist, I really appreciated what they did. I handed dude an album and he was mad appreciative to have something for the plane ride. Maybe that was a good connect. Regardless, dude was mad cool and I think they’re gonna be big in the states in the next couple years at this pace.
We bolted to the other side of the park, where Nickel Creek was playing and we caught the very tail end of their set. All I can say is Chris Thile is a beast and the chick in the band kinda looks like PretendGirl from the forums in the face. (j/k). They did a cover of Radiohead’s “Nice Dream” (one of my personal favs) and absolutely BODIED it when they busted out with a bluegrass version of “Toxic” by Britney Spears – complete with Violin and stand up bass renditions of the breakbeat. Fuckin slick as hell. If you haven’t picked up Why Should The Fire Die?, do yourself a favor and do so while you still have the chance to say you listened to them before they exploded.
Next up was my biggest disappointment of the weekend – The Shins on the Bud Light stage. Now, I’m a GIGANTIC fan of this band… both of their albums seriously ended up warping my mind for months on end when I discovered them. James Mercer is a brilliant songwriter and I really do enjoy their work as a recorded band. Sadly, I was incredibly let down by their set….none of the songs sounded right, key melodic elements/instruments were missing on several parts, the sound was low, the vocals were slightly off and NO HARMONIES! How you gonna have The Shins with no harmonies? WTF? That’s like a Beach Boys record without singing on it. It’s just not right. Now, to their credit, I’ve heard from several showgoers that have seen them before that it was an off day and that they regularly kill it…but from what I saw – I don’t believe I’ll be paying to see them live anytime soon. Especially considering the amount of incredible performances I was watching all weekend. We ended up skipping out after they played a muddled version of “New Slang” and “Gone For Good”. Dah well.
We rolled over to the Q101 stage to see She Wants Revenge. I really dig their retro-new-wave sound and Mrs. Deff is a VERY big fan of theirs. She was there early to make sure she got a good spot on the side of the stage. We got some great pics. These cats really impressed me. I’ve seen them on TV a few times, but I wasn’t seeing the energy I saw that night. The lead singer, Justin, was clearly on his gangsta on stage and performed the living shit out of those songs. Upbeat, sparse, moody…their music is like a more disenchanted version of Interpol and far more electronically based. There was a gaggle of straight up groupie-bitches on stage for this one, dancing around uncontrollably. Who says Goth cats don’t pull any tang? Hahah Anyway, the showmanship was on point, for shizzle (I appreciate that kinda shit). Excellent show overall. We’ll prolly see them again live.
Unfortunately, my body called for food during Queens of the Stone Age, but I did hear them and they sounded amazing live. Lullabyes To Paralyze is an excellent album, so make sure y’all check it out.
Next up, was an incredible performance by Broken Social Scene – complete with Feist & Emily Haines (of Metric) in tow. Daisy and I hauled ass to catch “7/4 Shoreline” at the beginning of their set…but the Fest Express was backed up a bit due to a flat somewhere. We managed to make it mid-set and it was packed to the gills up there. I’ve never seen so many musicians layering sound simultaneously. Seriously…there must have been at least 30 cats up there playing. It was a fucking WALL OF SOUND like nothing I’ve heard before, and it sucks that I only caught the end. The crowd was absolutely apeshit for them to play an encore, but the Chili Peppers were up next, and I’m pretty sure the call was made to nix the encore and get into the RHCP set. God forbid a newer band stall the legends from starting exactly at 8:30 PM on the nose.
Now….I’ve seen RHCP on TV many times…and every time I’ve seen them they’ve absolutely destroyed it. Probably one of the best live-bands ever. But honestly… that night, I was kinda bored. I’m not sure if it was from the pure exhaustion I suffered from a weekend of walking, standing, performing and not-sleeping or if it was because they crammed a bunch of non-descript filler tunes from Stadium Arcadium and didn’t do enough of their hits. I mean, what’s a RHCP set without “Under The Bridge”? I mean… come the fuck on. They turned 3 minute songs into 8 minute jam-sessions. Granted, their fans loved it and showed their appreciation with hella moshpits and such…but everything from the pit on looked pretty chilled out. They closed with “Give It Away” and that was fun, but overral, it wasn’t the level-11 shit I’m accustomed to seeing them deliver regularly. I guess every band has it’s day.
IN CLOSING…
I had an absolutely incredible time @ Lollapalooza this year. Being a performing member of the lineup really altered my experience drastically. I really hope I can make it back next year as an invited performer and not have to “WIN” my spot again. Maybe next time, I’ll get to play to a bigger crowd and do more damage. But that was just a small part of my experience…I play to sold out clubs around the country, and for me…playing Lollapalooza was a rite of passage that was long overdue and I’m simply happy with the opportunity to be heard.
But if anything, this past weekend really sparked the fire under me that will inevitably drive me to do what I have to do in order to get back there. I refuse to be a flash in the pan…and Lollapalooza – or any other music festival for that matter – hasn’t seen the last of Tonedeff yet. Mark my words.
Hollerate.
Tone.
RECAP: Bands that I saw:
1. Wolfmother
2. The Editors
3. The Frames
4. She Wants Revenge
5. Hot Chip
6. Feist
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. Common
9. Panic! At The Disco
10. Kanye West
11. Nickel Creek
12. Broken Social Scene
13. Death Cab For Cutie
14. Mates of State
15. Sound Team
16. Gnarls Barkley
17. The Shins
Category: General
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