After yesterday’s love-fest anniversary celebration I’m ready to get back to business. The announcement of the lineup of this years Lollapalooza festival has drawn some criticism, mostly directed at the weak headliners. I tend to agree with that. The only headliner I would pay to see is Jack White, and he’s not worth $230 unless Meg shows up and they play the entire White Stripes catalog start to finish. Red Hot Chili Peppers would have been a great number one headliner ten years or so ago. Even today, if they still had Frusciante. Now it’s just weird. They haven’t put out a decent album since Californication, and for a great record you have to go all the way back to Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Black Sabbath? Really? Admittedly, they’ve never been great in my mind, but at this point Ozzy can barely stand up, Iommi is coming off chemo treatments, and they haven’t put out anything worth listening to since the 70’s.
I could complain more about some issues with the level of EDM near the top of the list, but whatever. The reason I love Lolla has very little to do with what happens at Grant Park. Rather, it’s the after shows that occur around the city that really get me going. For $20 you generally get to see two really great bands in a more intimate setting. If you prefer being surrounded by 60,000 drunk morons, more power to you. I feel more comfortable when the drunk moron populace can’t get over a few hundred. Last year we went to Schubas two nights and saw Tennis, Smith Westerns, The Vaccines, and Bare Mutants (well three outta four ain’t bad).
The actual announcement for after shows doesn’t happen for another couple months, I think. That doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to speculate and dream. These listings are in now way a reflection of what will actually happen, just what I would like to see.
I think Schubas after shows would look something like this:
First Aid Kit/Tallest Man On Earth
Over at Lincoln Hall
Aloe Blacc/JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound
The War On Drugs/Sharon Van Etten
The Empty Bottle would get
Trampled By Turtles/Milo Greene
Band Of Skulls/The Black Angels
Subterannean
Bombay Bicycle Club/Michael Kiwanuka
Double Door
J. Cole/Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Amadou & Mariam (featuring Santigold)/Alabama Shakes
The Head And The Heart/The Gaslight Anthem
Metro
Florence and the Machine/The Temper Trap
House Of Blues
Congress Theater
I grant you, some of these don’t make much sense. They’re just things that I would like to see. Not so much the untz music that I listed here, but most of the rock shows would be in my wheelhouse. Hopefully no more than three of these actually happen. If I have to choose between any of them I might go insane.
What do you think? Any pairings you’d like to see happen? We have plenty of time to talk about it, so feel free to comment below.
tune-yards/ washed out are a for sure
also doubt that avicii will play an aftershow
Your Metro and House of Blues are flip-flopped
And the Big Pink plays at Lincoln Hall after tUnE-YaRdS
The fact that you don’t have Sigur Ros, recently off a 4 year hiatus and possibly the most innovative band playing Lolla this year, listed anywhere on a wish list that includes avicii…pretty much discredits this entire article.
Thanks for reading, Brandon. There’s just one thing I said in the article that I’d like to point out “They’re just things that I would like to see. Not so much the untz music that I listed here, but most of the rock shows would be in my wheelhouse.” I based my list for Congress theater on the type of music they generally have at the venue. Though I would never go see Avicii myself, I could easily see that being a booked after show. So maybe the term “Wish list” is misleading.
And I agree that Sigur Ros is a unbelievably talented band that could/should have an after show, but I don’t think it’s happening. I could see them playing at Metro like Foo Fighters did last year, but who do you pair them with?
You’re an idiot. Stadium Arcadium is one of the greatest albums of all time. The lineup this year is awesome
Kevin, we may not agree, but you felt strongly enough to say something and I respect that. Thanks for reading.
Big Gigantic should be on your list. They put on the best show of anyone. Period.