August 5, 2007, 8:00 pm : Lollapalooza - Day Three - Sunday

Started the morning around 10am with a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, which was a chunk of my art education when I was going to school in Minneapolis, making frequent trips for guest lectures and to check out the permanent collection. After visiting old pals René Magritte and the grarly Cy Twomblys’, I spent an hour or so in the Jeff Wall exhibition. Jeff Wall first knocked me out when I saw a small exhibition of his in Germany years back. This was a great, really moving show – I can never get over the amount of detail and emotion packed into these really large, densely populated images. This was a great break from the heat and sun. The Sunday bands were never going to get me jumping up and down – Amy Winehouse was OK, but came on late and had the stage manner of a bored flight attendant waiting for everyone to leave the plane sothey can get off their feet and go drink and have some fun - which is what was surely going through Mrs. Winehouses’ mind. I struggled for the next hour or so (Los Campesinos and the Annuals will hopefully not gain a following and take over the world…), until it was time to get ready for Iggy and The Stooges. Absolutely great fun – Iggy was funny one minute, scary the next. You would expect Scott Ashland behind the drums to be able to keep time by now – no such luck. The highlight was Iggy inviting about 100 fans from the audience to come up and dance during ‘No Fun’, which was great fun, especially since only the most hammered, horrible singers made it up onto the stage. I did a side trip to see a surprise mini-gig by Satellite Party (flog that horse, Mr. Farrell), then had a few beers before the double-header of Modest Mouse (modestly talented and modestly OK) and My Morning Jacket, who despite bringing the Chicago Youth Symphony and wearing matching tuxedos….they still sucked as bad as they did at Coachella.
Near the end of the day, I spotted a guy with a Lollapalooza t-shirt from 1992. The line-up on the back was Ministry, Ice Cube and the Peppers at the headlining spots and Pearl Jam second from bottom, just above Lush. I took this as a sign that it was a good time to split the show: cheese-balls like the Peppers still walk the Earth, Ice Cube is now ‘AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted’ cornball kiddie movie actor, Ministry is off the radar and Pearl Jam is headlining Lollapalooza, 15 years later. I look up to the skyline of Chicago and the clouds behind the Sears tower have the outlined look of the women in the de Chirico painting I saw the the Art Institute this morning. I depart with a quick blast of TV on the Radio, who not only sound great but have the sort of vibe that sends me off on just the right note – all all good.

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