Well we’re just a week away from another Lollapalooza festival coming to town here in Chicago. It can be a dizzying time for first-timers and veterans alike. Being the hottest summer in the city’s history certainly isn’t going to help matters. To help guide you along your way, I’ve put together a custom schedule to make sure you don’t miss any great sets that you may have otherwise. Obviously your tastes may not mesh with mine (for example if you’re really into the “untz,” you probably don’t want to check out some of what I’m offering up here. The schedule I made goes all the way from opening on Friday until the closing moments of Sunday night. If you like what I have here, please do check these bands out. If not, have a good time regardless. Be safe, don’t drink so much beer that you forget where/who you are.

FRIDAY

The opening day has the least amount of overlap, which means you should be able to see everyone you want without missing anything. I’ve never understood people who just camp out in the front of one stage so that they have good seats for whoever the headliner is (guess what, for half the price of a one-day pass you probably could have bought a ticket to see whoever it is and not have to sit outside for 9 hours to get a good seat).

12:00-12:45 First Aid Kit-These Swedish sisters do folk music about as well as anyone else right now. I’ve seen their live set, and it’s fantastic.

1:30-2:15 Yellow Ostrich-I know a lot of people are gonna say “Whoa whoa whoa! Michael Kiwanuka is playing during this slot.” That’s true. If you’re really into him, I suppose you could go check it out. For me, he’s the kind of guy that I see in an intimate venue, not outside at a festival. Yellow Ostrich, on the other hand, plays great music for a fest. They toured with Okkervil River for a while last year, if that gives you an idea of what they’re like.

2:15-3:15 Dr. Dog-I’ve been unapologetic in my enjoyment of Dr. Dog. Some people consider them to be kind of lazy because they tend to play a lot of similar sounding stuff. That may be true, but it’s good stuff. And, I think they made some leaps forward on their newest record Be The Void.

4:00-5:00 Metric-I’ve had a real change of heart since Metric’s new record Synthetica came out. I’ve never seen them live, but I hear good things. They’ve been a group for a long time now, so I have no doubt that they have a tight stage show.

5:15-6:15 The Head And The Heart-Everybody’s favorite indie folk band from the northwest. I must admit I’m a little torn here because Passion Pit starts at 6:00 all the way across the park, and that show could go down as one of the biggest trainwrecks in history.

6:15-7:30 The Shins-As much as I didn’t like the latest offering from James Mercer and company, I do still enjoy the first three records The Shins released, and for that alone I recommend seeing The Shins over Dawes.

7:30-8:30 M83-There isn’t really anything else going on at this hour, and it seems like they put on a pretty exciting set from the videos I’ve seen.

That leaves a closing set by The Black Keys. Honestly I would probably just take off early so I could hit one of the after shows. Friday night means Frank Ocean at Metro among other great acts.

Continue reading “Who To See At Lollapalooza 2012”