Covalent Bond and Negative Creep's Excellent Adventure

I finally have recovered from my Lollapalooza adventure to jot down a few comments about last week's festival. First of all, it was magnificent, all the great bands and a view of Chicago's awesome skyline. Second, it was hot, especially Sunday, when it was 102 degrees. Now, back to the important stuff, the music. There were many great bands and I didn't get a chance to see them all, with competing schedules and not lasting the whole day in the heat. However, here are the highlights:

Day One

Kaiser Chiefs - Definitely the best show for me. I along with The Negative Creep were very close to the stage and enjoyed an awesome show. It was one of the first shows of the festival and the first one where the audience was really getting excited. The lead vocalist Ricky Wilson was obviously suffering from strained vocal cords, but he put on a great show. At one point, he called up some audience members to sing "Oh My God" and they did an excellent job and the crowd loved it.

M83 - We were right up front for this show against the barricade. The sound was intense, probably louder than most of the bands at the show. Their second song I believe was * and it ripped. The lead guitarist put his guitar down and started playing it with a slide, though I heard someone say it was a screwdriver. Whatever he used, it was great.

The Dead 60's - We had to leave M83 to catch a little bit of The Dead 60's. We passed The Warlocks on the way and caught a song or two. They sounded very good, but there wasn't much time. The Dead 60's were across the street and when we got there, it was still possible to get right to the front of the stage. I loved their Gang of Four influenced sound. We left this concert to catch a few minutes of And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead.

Bravery - The crowds had grown around the stage by the time we got to the Bravery's stage, which prevented us from getting real close to the stage, but we were only about 50 feet away. I guess I was getting spoiled by my previous experiences. There was definitely a lot of posing by the band, but the music was good. When the Bravery was finished, we hustled over to see Billy Idol. Billy didn't hold my attention, so we got a bite to eat. The next stop The Black Keys.

Black Keys - I didn't see a lot of it, but what I saw was great. One of the best sets of the festival. I am sure they gained a lot of fans that day.

Primus - They had two large inflatable ducks on stage. Negative Creep is a much bigger fan than I. No complaints. The real reason I was there, was to position myself for the Pixies concert, as they were to play on an adjacent stage.

The Pixies - We were probably only about 100 feet from the stage, but the crowds were huge and the Negative Creep could not see. We actually moved a little farther away from the stage to get a better view. They opened with "Bone Machine." Oh! It was awesome.

That was day one, I actually had to catch a train to get home, so we ended up missing Weezer, which I regret, but it was a true musical adventure. Stay tuned for day two.

Click here to listen.

1. Oh My God - Kaiser Chiefs
2. * - M83
3. Game Over - The Dead 60s
4. Hurricane Heart Attack - The Warlocks
5. Will You Smile Again Fro Me - And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
6. Unconditional - The Bravery
7. Thickfreakness - The Black Keys
8. Jerry Was A Race Car Driver - Primus
9. Bone Machine - Pixies
10. Hashpipe - Weezer