Primavera Sound Los Angeles, September 17, 2022 at L.A. Historic State Park

 I don’t remember how I got on the DoLA mailing list (especially after we moved away from L.A.), but I was, and it wasn’t too long until they went from widely promoting events to flogging a service for concert tickets. At $5 a month I could be curious just to see what it was, and maybe it could even score us some tickets if it was any good. The initial offerings weren’t great, but I stuck around just to see what would happen. Suddenly on a day there were tickets to Primavera Sound Los Angeles (if you need the whole name) that came up, for a festival in L.A., which might have already been enough for cheap tickets to become available to be too good to be true. Festivals aren't cheap, but maybe there's something to be said for less demand from the oversaturation of them that had been happening, especially in L.A. (but after FYF went away). The service might have seemed like it was legit, and DoLA at least sent enough e-mails that they might not have an angle for such a short scam that would have little pay-off, especially when I, for one, was only giving them five bucks. So I decided to jump in and claim some tickets. There was an offer for individual days of the festival, and I could have picked the days for Arctic Monkeys or Lorde headlining, but there was also Nine Inch Nails, and, more, Saturday worked best for us (though looking back, Lorde might have been the better choice, only because I hadn't seen her the hundred times before like I’d seen NIN). It could have been a scam -- and we were fully aware of that fact -- but we still decided to go in, just in case it could work. Not only could it have been a ruse, but there could also have been an issue with the tickets, something else I had to do but didn’t know my first time using it, and even an extra fee at the ticket window would have turned us away. But free (relatively, but at least real cheap) tickets for a festival was within risk enough to see if it worked. We had an alternate plan (likely not much more than dinner in L.A. before heading back to Orange County, but that was enough to not be too irritated by it not working out). Even up to the ticket window we were holding our breath… then the tickets worked out. And we were in. Yeah, turns out it was legit. And we could get in to a music fetival practically for free. We were already years away from our Coachella days, and we’d maybe consider a festival if our friends were going, but we couldn’t be too interested in shelling out an egregious amount of money for bands we'd already seen, with the ones we hadn't seen playing such a short set that it might not be worth the effort. But for (almost) free, on an open day -- sure, we’d give that a shot. We knew about the Primavera line-up but weren't overly interested, being just another festival, especially of the horde -- just in L.A. -- with a requisite headliner we knew, supported by buzzy bands, but nothing beyond that to get us too interested. We would have given this a pass, except for free. It helped us make the effort that it was a slightly different flavor for a festival, something more like European sensibility, even if the original Primavera in Spain looked like the homogenous American festival that America (though those buzzy bands being closer to mainstream over there), and those particularly obscure bands could turn out to be the better ones for earning a place on the roster outside of mainstream appeal. Getting there in the afternoon gave us time to check out some of the other bands, though as usual we willingly stuck to the familiar ones. Kim Gordon we knew, of course, from Sonic Youth (and Carla even read her book). It could be assumed that Gordon was going forward on the Sonic Youth name and the goodwill toward her indie legend, more for something to do rather than needing to do it, but she also got the most notoriety after the SY implosion, even more than Thurston Moore (which was fair, seeing how crudely he let the band end). As it was, it might have been more noise that Gordon produced, even just musical wanderings that might have owed more to her collaborators than real, personal inspiration, but she earned a place on the stage. She wouldn't be a headliner on her own -- her stuff is still too out-there to have such wide appeal -- but a new effort (presumably At Issue) joined with her legend was enough to be relevant, at least in a way that could be edgy enough for a crowd that didn’t need as much mainstream sensibility. We also got to see Andrew & Mary, then Max & Poonam and Karen, who would normally have been part of the post for hanging out together all day, but any more we only see each other briefly at these things, going in with our plans and people, but good to make contact even for only a moment; we also got to see Fontaines D.C., who were definitely an edgy band for the time, but breaking through to America on a strong record (Skinty Fia). Singing/yelling in something that was at least a variation on English gave them an edge to be included in the European mix, but the transfer to breaking big in the U.S. could be a challenge, but some propulsive musical rumblings to guide along without needing to parse the words helps to stay on the edge and cool in whatever case. The frontman was energetic on stage and they kept it moving, explosively enough to leave a vacuum when they were done. Of their American appearances on this tour this was a minor one, for a band that deserved greater explosure, but it showed the willingness to keep working the markets, especially L.A. where some notice can go a long way, and put on a great performance even when they deserved a higher place on the bill; festivals have also come to press their food options, that they’ve gone beyond the low-class junk like pizza and burgers, providing a varied menu for meals, and exposure for higher-end eateries whether local or beyond, but it also means they’re more expensive, and can only be fuel for the day if well planned, but also usually for splitting to save on costs (and for the plan to hold out for cheap fast food on the way home). We opted for an overpriced something to share, but also a chance to sit and relax while waiting for the headliner, the reason we were there, but also checking in with Warpaint. We might not have seen Low in the time-slot they were replacing, but it had been a minute since we saw our local band, and they sounded in the fine form we’d known them for. Half the set of was new and unfamiliar, showing how much we’d fallen out with them (playing Radiate Like This), but it was a tight groove, and just sedate enough for us to enjoy our late snack and get ready for what was next; Khruangbin had enough of a name that they could sub-headline the main stage, though we’d never heard of them. Certainly something outside of the mainstream but with cache enough to pull a crowd, maybe even foreign enough to be cool, except they’re from Houston. They had gotten recognition from somewhere, though anymore that can be earned outside of radio and MTV airplay, and maybe they had just built a name by putting in the time and work and playing the shows, building up to this appearance (and beyond). They had more of a world vibe, which worked for a dancing crowd, but a bit too obtuse to get us moving besides to a good spot for the main band. It was an easy name to remember, though (especially when you figure out how to pronounce it), even if the time we had with them that night was less than saying we’d truly seen them; Nine Inch Nails finally came on (though we didn't mind waiting, for all the rest we got to see that day), almost as an obligation, being the chief reason we were there (other than free tickets), and it would have only been anti-climatic for us. They weren't as much a musical/lifestyle experience for Carla, while they were, of course, fundamental to my formative college years and beyond, but I’d also seen them before, particularly last time at FYF Fest, when they reignited my devotion through the driving sound I forgot I remembered, when I actually hadn't been checking my nostalgia or seeing if I could regain exactly how or why I loved them in the first place years ago. I had already reconciled the fact that I didn’t need them to focus my rage like I did in my early 20s, and now over 20 years on I had to come back to them through the music, not the emotion. Luckily, it still held up on that level, though Reznor has grown up with us too. Though there was now a new generation that had discovered them, if not from the sound (and all of their successors boldly ripping them off in the decades since), but also the representation of the 90s asthetic, whether it was misplaced wistfulness for young people or my old contemporaries who were there -- and both crowds were represented, enough to fill a festival, with a band that could be considered mainstream, though even still confoundingly so, and enough of a concession for a non-mainstream festival to be the main draw. So Reznor (not having put out anything new in a while) trotted out the hits, tunes recognizable after so many years, despite the challenges to their mainstream appeal (so many F-bombs, even in the chorus), but that's also been part of their provocative allure. It was enough of a show for us that we had already seen, as solid as it was and has ever been, as much as Reznor is now just simulating the fury he once had (he's doing well enough now to not complain as much or as believably), and as enough as it gave a warm but fleeting memory of times past, but more for us, we had no desire to fight the crowd to get out. It was enough for the free tickets, and even almost all of the headliner (the last tracks being the ones we’d already heard plenty in concert, and easily being able to skip “Hurt”), but it was good to see Reznor keeping up the call, even if obligated to roll out some of the same show he’d built his name on by playing it thousands of times but might have been trapped by. Maybe enough older fans that were still fans enough to have some mature tolerance for anything new, as long as it fit, and the younger ones who might not know the difference (if there wasn’t enough comparably great new stuff for them to claim as their own in their discovery), but they were savvy enough to stick to the stuff the crowd would like best. NIN were a solid choice for a music festival seeking to make their own name without the usual bands making the circuit from weekend fest to weekend fest, taking a side to give this thing an identity if willfully obscure bands won’t do, but it was enough. Maybe not enough that they didn't have to give away tickets from an overstock service (presumably being what DoMore is), but it worked for us and our schedule, and curiosity to see if the whole thing (ticket service and new festival) worked.

Nine Inch Nails’ set-list:

“Somewhat Damaged“

“Wish“

“Heresy“

“March of the Pigs“

“Sanctified“ (alternate version)

“The Lovers“

“Less Than“

“Reptile“

“Closer“ (with "The Only Time" interpolation)

“God Break Down the Door“

“The Perfect Drug“

“Copy of A“

“Gave Up“

“The Hand That Feeds“

“Head Like a Hole“

“Hurt“

Warpaints’ set-list:

"Champion"

"Intro"

"Keep It Healthy"

"Hips"

"Hard to Tell You"

"Love Is to Die"

"Krimson"

"Stevie"

"Bees"

"New Song"

"Disco//Very"

"Beetles"

Fontaines D.C. set-list:

“A Lucid Dream“

“Hurricane Laughter“

“Sha Sha Sha“

“Roman Holiday“

“Chequeless Reckless“

“Televised Mind“

“Nabokov“

“How Cold Love Is“

“Jackie Down the Line“

“A Hero's Death“

“Skinty Fia“

“Boys in the Better Land“

“I Love You“

Kim Gordon’s set-list:

“Sketch Artist“

“Air BnB“

“Paprika Pony“

“Murdered Out“

“Don't Play It“

“Cookie Butter“

“Get Yr Life Back“

“Hungry Baby“

“Grass Jeans“

FYF Fest, July 21 - 23, 2017 at Exposition Park

 I always assumed we would be a lock for every FYF Fest forever more. We had hit the last few, even I had gone to the last one before it seemed to hit the big time (and when they were still at the Historic Park, which should have been big enough), and it was a weekend with our friends. So it had become just a regular weekend event, though one we always looked forward to, as possibly our last big summer weekend with everyone (though we had plenty of events in the cooler months, even if they didn't always have anything to do with music festivals), and even more out-sized when FYF went to a three-day format. As such and as usual, we spent a lot of the time drinking together, and many of the bands we saw were just picked up as we were meeting and traversing beer gardens, though that could be as good as any casual sampling could be. This year, I had just gotten back from the San Diego comic con the night before, and Carla had worked the early half of the first day, so it was akin to a local show for us, though with a line-up that could get world-wide attention. We would have done the thing anyway, but the line-up, even with fewer rock acts than we were used to, was exceptional, with plenty of new bands and acts we had never seen, and were fortunate to be here. Even better, we had no problem ever getting in, which we could chalk up to them getting their act together or us just being early or lucky enough to slip in between the cracks. We also got to have Jenn ride over with us, adding to the spirit of all of us together and having a good weekend among the great music and lots of beer.

Friday was the usual day of easing in, if only because we got there later, to beat the early crowd, because of being a weekday and traffic, though it was still a shorter day. Yet we took our time, with Angel Olsen being our warm-up as we were walking in. She’s one of the acts that seems to always make it to the fest, being a local, so we knew she’d be around anyway if we one day got into her stuff, so we didn’t push it and made our way past; Björk had headlined Coachella and plenty of other festivals around the world, as well as being a figure for alternative culture (not always for music, though some reputations can fall away when other elements outlast them). Oddly she got stuck mid-bill for the slowest day, perhaps her own concession just to come over for the show and be done with it, or whatever negotiations we’re not privy to. Even if I haven’t sat purposely through one of her whole shows, I knew enough that a small chunk of her set could be background music for standing in line for beer. Though the joke was on me: Dave said she did “Hyperballad,” which would have been worth it to have sat for the rest of the show; we got the middle half of Survive, which was probably as much Stranger Things synths as we needed (and more than anyone needed a live performance for, besides the fandom for the show, if they anyone would survive the entire fest just for them), while meeting up with Tana; Slowdive were a fantastic get for the fest but being there for the same thing again didn’t have the thrill of their coming out of hibernation and feeling we had something particularly special, as well as the risk that they could just do the same show again. So it became meeting up with everyone in the field for a drink in the early evening (though a chance conversation with Lingo became the seed of a plan that would pay off at the next fest); Missy Elliott was the main draw of the day/night, for as much as we saw as we moseyed over just to check out the headliner. She came up in the ‘90s when I had little to do with pop music and she’s earned her place as a surviving legend in the time since, and it was a big deal that they got her, especially for what was once an alt-music/punk fest, but she could pull as large a crowd as she wanted. There was too much talking between songs, which might be the style, and maybe they were actually saying something, but it wasn’t enough music to keep us dancing for too long. We checked in, could say we were there, then we started to head out; we got Osees (or whatever variation of their name they were using) on the way to the exit -- finally a full-on rock band with plenty of guitars and volume. They sounded heavy and great and probably would have been as good for a full set as the sliver we caught, but it was the plan to leave early so we made our way to go.

Missed: Flying Lotus (apparently a big deal but for us still only a Thom Yorke connection (and now not worth the chance of seeing if Yorke showed up)); Hannibal Buress (a comedian at a festival could be a welcome novelty but we weren’t there for laughs (even for as much as we became fans later on)); Royal Headache (a sampling on Alexa’s Spotify that might have been a good find but we didn't get over there, being too busy casually picking up minimal bits of the other bands).

Saturday was much the same deal, but the comfort of familiarity can be nice when you have a schedule to keep and bands to see. We were there in time to see Big Thief, who we were excited about, but they went on 15 minutes late (deadly at a festival, especially early in the day and for a band trying to break out when they need every advantage they can get), then had sound problems, and were too delicate to make much of an impact anyway. That threatened to be as far as they would go; Mitski deserved more excitement but we barely knew her at the time. Luckily we had foresight enough to be near her set and caught a bit of it, even if it was just a passing distraction while we had an early beer. As it was, we should have paid more attention; we thought Thundercat could be great, for as much hype as he was getting, but it was just a lot of jazz which wasn’t enough to grab the rock fans of us; then Cap’N Jazz weren’t jazz at all, being as much a punk thing as the fest got that year, and pretty good. If we knew they were going to rock that hard, we would have given them more than 10 minutes (which isn’t much more time than their set got in the first place); it was almost a trick to have seen King Krule, as we only heard him because we were passing by, but this was another Spotify scout and he did not grab me in advance and didn’t win me over in person; A Tribe Called Quest were another rap act I missed in the golden age of hip-hop in the early-’90s, but luckily I was saved by Carla’s encouragement later on and I had another rich discovery (if not also an entry into a version of jazz). I got on that boat about as late as possible, and would have missed it completely a day later, but I was able to get their monumental last-ever L.A. show (and without founding member Fife Dawg they might actually make that stick, to say nothing of coming back together to do anything they did, including this, without him). I didn’t have the breadth of fandom to appreciate the entire set, but I knew I was seeing something special and it sounded great, with boundless energy. At least everyone was with me and them on those counts since they pulled an enormous, excited crowd. Maybe it was just for scheduling, but this was a coup over Coachella or any other festival in the world to get them, especially across the country from their hometown, so we could be even more proud of our local festival.

Missed; Frank Ocean (the headliner for the day but that didn’t mean we had to give him time. I had some albums of his but just didn’t connect. He might have been worth the time to get into but there didn’t seem much point after passing this rare crossing of our worlds); Sleep (Rollins-recommended and sounded great at home, but we left early); The Faint (a scratchy, techno, Mid-West band, maybe robots, but I could not get myself to be a fan for as much as I made the effort some years before. Could have checked them out live but would have taken nearly anyone else over them); The Drums (made a comeback years after I took their album out of rotation. Couldn’t bring me back); Built To Spill (who are probably important and maybe I’d love them, but missed again); MGMT (never got my interest beyond those first few singles, and had no interest in making the effort to test it again. Though Dave was a fan, and we could have ridden along on that, but there was probably beer elsewhere); the Black Madonna (Jenn-recommended and  sounded good at home, but one of those last-on late acts that we just didn’t do anymore)

And back on Sunday, same deal. We got most of Chicano Batman, a rock band that went beyond a Latino affiliation, but they were just in the background while we were meeting up with Vanessa (which also meant drinks); you’d know Ty Segall from ever listening to Rollins’ radio show and he’s a local guy who would be there anyway, so we still probably would have checked him out even if Heather’s boyfriend wasn’t in the band. As it was, he sounded great; our biggest excitement for the weekend was seeing Iggy Pop, the man, the legend, and he didn’t disappoint. It’s shameful to have missed him through the years, save for a snippet or two of passing by at a festival, which could have been taken for disrespect or stupidity (or both), so this could just be a limp attempt at a reparation, a bit late but also showing appreciation for his putting out solid, new material (American Valhalla; enough to open with "Dog," flipping one of the greatest closers of all time). We had also watched Gimme Danger not long before, just to twist the knife a bit more, then probably shoved it in the rest of the way to realize that I could have seen that legendary performance at Coachella with the Stooges (who barely knowing at the time became no excuse to willingly leave early). But the only way to live with a concert regret is to at least see the new thing, and Iggy doesn’t age anyway. He was out there writhing and wriggling and screaming and living as much as he ever has, and we got the full effect, as much as anyone could without traveling back through time. It’s hard to even count off a tinge of disappointment when it wasn’t QOTSA backing him, but missing that Greek show is just another to add to the list. If Iggy was another name to bring cred to the festival, he was also an act to show that he lived up to it and that it was a world-class fest to have him (though maybe not such a task to get him since he keeps working); Blonde Redhead, a band I decided I didn’t need to have anything to do with years before, were just our soundtrack while making plans for Vanessa for the evening; Run The Jewels were going to be there anyway, as if there was a festival or show they would turn down, and they still kept turning out albums and getting good placement on fest bills. They turned out to be not my flavor of aggressive hip-hop but seeing a high-energy performance was just the right place for that evening. As it was, I got to enjoy them alone when the girls headed out, and I could get warmed-up for the main event; I admit to not having much expectation for Nine Inch Nails. As much of a fan as I will eternally ever be, and still picking up the new stuff and showing up for the shows (at a festival (most of the time) at least), they were just another good headliner for a fest, and one I’d seen before, at small shows up to other festivals. My level of fandom couldn’t be disputed, but there could be a limit. They were still turning out new stuff that had its moments (if not as angry as it once was or what I wanted from it at one time), and the live stuff still would have the high-points of ages past, but it almost felt like an obligation to see them, and even to stay behind when my lady wanted to go home. The Bakersfield set just before was only okay, most of the pieces of an obligatory run through a show I’d seen before. But still I installed myself in the crowd, closer than I’d gotten for any other act, and got as ready as I was going to be (and assuming the lady next to me wasn’t going to yammer through the whole thing (but she did anyway)). They went on and it could have been any other NIN show with the same set-list he’d been playing for a while, but then he pulled out the rug by ripping into “Wish” as the second song. That was usually in the encore, a blast of rage to send off the good people (or to leave everything on the field before bringing it down with “Hurt”), and that explosion of surprise seemed to state the band was there to tear it up like they hadn’t before, even if the audience didn’t catch it, But I did. From there the set was up in the air, even though they still ran through most of the standards (though with playing "Something I Can Never Have" for the first time on this tour, and a latter Bowie cover), since a festival audience wouldn't react well to deep cuts. But changing up the list early on, for whatever reason they did it besides a whim, set a wild pace that maybe anything could happen. Even though it’s rock n’ roll, there are even still limits, and some of these folks, like the biggest fans and including Reznor, are over 50, so it could only go so far, but the set had more energy than they’d shown in a while, and some excitement if you knew where to look for it. I waited out the entire set, more to meet up with Jenn afterward, but I’m glad I got to catch the whole thing -- it would have been hard to leave with that much energy then not know if I might miss something great. As it was, it was just another NIN show with a hint at some minor surprises, but to say it was a little afield from the usual, and still good, meant that it was exceptionally great. Also learning that it paid well to leave early the nights before, as that place became depressingly desolate at night after the last band.

Missed: Solange (discovering interest in seeing her would be as befuddling as why she was there in the first place), Mac Demarco (headed over to see him but got distracted by beers on the way); Whitney (some interest since they used to be Smith-Westerns but couldn’t get in to the new version as much), Cherry Glazerr (could have been a strong chance but got in too late).

A Tribe Called Quest's set-list:
"The Space Program"
"Oh My God"
"Common Ground (Get It Goin' On)"
"Busta's Lament"
"Let's Ride"
"Dis Generation"
"Mobius"
"Excursions"
"Find a Way"
"Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" (Busta Rhymes cover) (snippet)
"Whateva Will Be"
"Luck of Lucien" (snippet)
"Butter" (Phife's first verse a capella)
"Spaceship" (Kanye West cover) (Consequence solo on stage)
"Movin Backwards" (Jarobi solo on stage)
"Sucka Nigga"
"Phony Rappers"
"Black Spasmodic"
"Steve Biko (Stir It Up)"
"Buggin' Out" (with Raphael Saadiq)
"Bonita Applebum"
"Electric Relaxation"
"Vivrant Thing"
"Check the Rhime"
"Can I Kick It?"
"Award Tour"
"We the People...."

Nine Inch Nails' set-list:
"Fireman (Angelo Badalamenti song) (intro)
"Branches/Bones"
"Wish"
"Less Than"
"March of the Pigs"
"Something I Can Never Have"
"The Frail"
"The Wretched"
"Closer" (with "The Only Time" snippet)
"Copy of A"
"Gave Up"
"I Can't Give Everything Away" (David Bowie cover) (Farewell Mix)
"The Lovers"
"Reptile"
"The Great Destroyer"
"Burning Bright (Field on Fire)"
"The Hand That Feeds"
"Head Like a Hole"
"Hurt"

Iggy Pop's set-list:
"I Wanna Be Your Dog"
"Gimme Danger"
"The Passenger"
"Lust for Life"
"Skull Ring"
"I'm Sick of You"
"Some Weird Sin"
"Repo Man"
"Search and Destroy"
"Gardenia"
"T.V. Eye"
"Mass Production"

Slowdive's set-list:
"Slowdive"
"Slomo"
"Catch the Breeze"
"Crazy for You"
"Star Roving"
"Machine Gun"
"Souvlaki Space Station"
"Sugar for the Pill"
"When the Sun Hits"
"Alison"
"No Longer Making Time"
"Golden Hair" (Syd Barrett cover)

Mitski's set-list:
"Francis Forever"
"Townie"
"Your Best American Girl"
"Dan the Dancer"
"First Love/Late Spring"
"Happy"
"Drunk Walk Home"
"I Will"
"Thursday Girl"
"My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars"

Ty Segall's set-list:
"Break a Guitar"
"Freedom"
"Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)"
"Finger"
"Orange Color Queen"
"Oh Mary"
"Squealer"
"Candy Sam"
"Love Fuzz"
"Sleeper"
"The Crawler"
"Feel"

Big Thief's set-list:
"Shark Smile"
"Shoulders"
"Great White Shark"
"Mary"
"Magic Dealer"
"Masterpiece"
"Real Love
"Paul"

Nine Inch Nails/Soundgarden/Cold Cave, August 21, 2014 at Sleep Train Amphitheater

On March 8, 1994, I bought The Downward Spiral, not Superunknown. Back then, my allegiance was definitely with Nine Inch Nails. I (with Brian) even drove to Mad Platter in Riverside that day and I paid full price for it. I later became something of a Soundgarden fan -- though mostly just for one album (not Superunknown, which I later got through Columbia House or something, and ditched not long after that) and a few singles -- but mostly because they got lumped in with a lot of my other favorite bands. Back then not much stood up to my deep love for NIN.  Though well after college and nearing something nearing middle age, I still considered myself a fan and would pick up whatever they put out but I couldn’t get too excited about seeing them in concert again. I’d already seen them at Lollapalooza the summer before and they were challenging bordering on disappointing; we could have seen them at Outside Lands but passed on it easily enough. But seeing a show with Corey is a singular experience, especially in going back to seeing NIN like we did back in the day (maybe the fourth concert I’ve ever been to, when they were still playing clubs).  And it would be a day out with Corey. He got the tickets fairly late and might have even intended to take a chick with him, but when he offered me the ticket, I took it.  So it was an easy drive to San Diego and a trip to the corporately-titled Sleep Train Amphitheater. As a call-back to arriving at shows by the time it says on the ticket (hopefully less than paranoia of missing anything -- as if Trent Reznor has performed during the day in 23 years) we got there early, among maybe the first few dozen through the door. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a concert venue early enough that it was empty.  We killed some time waiting it out (which had to have been excruciating for Corey since he doesn't drink).  But we had pretty good seats, the front of the section about halfway up. It wouldn’t be the Palace but I didn’t need to be so close up again (and I wouldn’t mind keeping my hearing for the next few days after). There were tickets for the show on Groupon, showing that even putting two once-gigantic bands on the same bill together wasn’t the same kind of draw they once were (who could have easily filled that venue or bigger by themselves back in the day), but we can say that it’s due to their most die-hard fans aging out and the music industry moving past them rather than no longer being able to put out worthwhile, relevant music. Count them down however you like for relying on the nostalgia factor, but this show had an extra gravity for anyone knowing their shared history, especially that of that day (and caring, which is where the trick is). Or it was just these two bands playing together, whether you were a fan of either or both, from the '90s or more recently. Finally we had something to watch, though it was only Cold Cave, who were making some mildly abrasive noise-pop but didn’t move much and the background visuals were a nice touch but couldn't completely save them. (Death Grips opening the show was what got me originally excited about going, if nothing else, but they bailed on it.)  Soundgarden did their thing and it was a fine performance. Nothing like the early-cycle celebration of their return at Lollapalooza '10, as this was just another tour stop, and there were no surprises or fireworks, except that they’re still doing it, as loud as they’ve ever been, and Cornell’s voice has stood up for so long. I didn’t recognize the deeper cuts, and I might have thrown in a few different tracks (“Pretty Noose," "Birth Ritual"), but what they did was satisfying. At last it was time for NIN. I had read that they had switched up the set since I had seen them last, toward the beginning of the tour to one of the last stops, and I was looking forward to seeing something different.  With the house-lights still up, Reznor swiftly stomped across the stage, grabbed the mic, then jumped into the first song before most of the crowd knew what was going on. Then the band blew through the rest of the set and it was a Nine Inch Nails show. Unfortunately, it was the same I’d seen before -- if they had changed their set after the initial run of festivals, they had changed it back, or there were changes I just couldn’t notice -- but this time had the benefit of me lowering my expectations, increasingly more as the night went on and I realized that it wasn’t so different. But if that’s what Reznor wanted to do, he could have let it be it worse. The effort was appreciated even if he wasn't destroying as many instruments, and the new stuff at times sounded better than the old material, as it had a little more electricity than the well-worn tunes we’d already heard and that the band were dragging out yet again. It was also an unofficial celebration of 20 years of The Downward Spiral -- even if the exact-same anniversary for Superunknown didn’t have the same recognition -- so those songs had a little extra poignancy. Reznor even addressed the crowd toward the end of the set, expressing his appreciation of his fans sticking around for so many years and noting that it might be a while before he came back with more NIN but it would indeed happen at some point -- that much talking, above explosively-furious complaints of equipment not working, was nowhere near any earlier NIN show, but it was warm, honest, and appreciated. The set was a little too well-lived-in to provide the kind of spark they had in the early days but it was a good enough show.  Put the two performances together and it was a pretty good deal. Thanks to Corey for the ticket.

Nine Inch Nails' set-list:
"Copy of A"
"Sanctified"
"Came Back Haunted"
"1,000,000"
"March of the Pigs"
"Piggy"
"Terrible Lie"
"Closer" (with "The Only Time" snippet)
"Gave Up"
"Disappointed"
"Find My Way"
"The Great Destroyer"
"Eraser"
"Wish"
"The Hand That Feeds"
"Head Like a Hole"

"Hurt"

Soundgarden's set-list:
"The Telephantasm" (introduction)
"Searching With My Good Eye Closed"
"Spoonman"
"Flower"
"Outshined"
"Jesus Christ Pose"
"Black Hole Sun"
"The Day I Tried to Live"
"My Wave"
"Blow Up the Outside World"
"Fell on Black Days"
"A Thousand Days Before"
"Rusty Cage"
"Beyond the Wheel"

Lollapalooza, August 2 & 4 at Grant Park

Jones, Bart, and I were on the fence about doing another Lollapalooza but we all knew that if it were the right line-up, and for one band in particular, then we'd probably do it. They announced the bands and there they were, and we said we'd do it, so we were in. We made arrangements, which then, after doing a few of those trips, we knew what we needed to do and were only booking flights there, and Jones took care of the hotel(s, as we switched halfway through) and we were set. We all got there Thursday night, Jones there on business, and we settled in, with drinks, getting our spirits and livers ready for the rest of the weekend.  As for the festival, as it was a dudes' weekend, there was no end to drinking.  Figure probably 1.5 Miller Lites for each of us for every band noted here, including, and often especially, and probably another one for each use of the word "wander".  We might have gotten a (relatively) early start but our earliest act was The Neighbourhood and we got there in time and they were a good way to start the day.  I'm not particularly a fan but the other two were, and I didn't find much beyond that song about the sweater, which is fairly atypical of the rest of their material.  Also another time that I've gone to another city to see a band from L.A.; between acts was wandering to peek at some other bands: Emeil Sande was one but I don't remember a thing about them. Atlas Genius was another wander, and I recall seeing them on a line-up for a KROQ show but the only thing notable about them at that show is that there was an unreasonably large crowd for them in relation to the fairly small stage they were playing. And hard to find Jones and Bart among so many people. Brick + Mortar were okay, another two-piece though I can't see why anyone could get signed on the backs of DFA1979 10 years later; Ghost B.C. should have been in the line-up of every festival that summer (and nearly were).  They had it all: old-fashioned, Satan-worshiping heavy metal, with a great flair for theatrics -- they have something even for festivals that don't have music.  They play the kind of stuff that hasn't been around for a while, or at least stuff that isn't usually worth much paying attention to.  We can look at it ironically now, especially with an aging alt-rock crowd, but that's some great head-banger stuff.  Even better that they have a show for the stage, with the band dressed in priestly robes and the singer, all in full make-up, blessing the audience at some point.  That he got around in a Pope hat is notable enough, though it made it easier that he could be immobile and sing preacher-chanting-like and not have to move very much.  The visuals were enough, he didn't have to be active.  It was a great show to see.  I don't remember much of the music but that was almost beside the point; I wouldn't have thought Jones and Bart would be fans of Crystal Castles so it was probably me who wanted to check them out, even though they hadn't blown me away when I'd seen them before.  There wasn't any reason to think they were extraordinary when they started, until Alice appeared and, looking like the biggest, highest/most-drunken mess I've ever seen, fairly literally dragged herself across the stage, up the microphone, arriving just an instant before she started singing/screaming.  From there she was swept up by her own fury, shrieking and bounding about the stage with the blips and boops around her from the backing track (no telling if anyone was playing anything live) and eventually re-igniting something resembling a human being, if more a whirlwind than a person.  One of the most frenzied performances of the weekend, if not the year.  If I wasn't particularly a fan before I was then, if not for the music but for the performance, even though it couldn't be the same show they put on every time (at least not in that state, since she couldn't possibly survive long); Imagine Dragons were another band we had no interest in but we probably brushed by them.  They probably played that "Radioactive" song that I always thought was "Ready to rock you"; then the main event: Queens of he Stone Age.  The band we said would get us to go to the festival if they played.  And they did not let us down.  They tore into the set with a cool ferocity, just detached enough that they weren't seeking approval from the crowd but were glad to set them on fire.  They could have played Like Clockwork... and that would have been fine, one of the rare albums that breeds more anticipation for new stuff than old stuff (which we'd seen numerous times already anyway), but they trotted out some old songs, even starting with one of their bigger songs, to ignite the crowd right off and to make the most of an unfairly abbreviated set time.  At this point in their touring cycle they had played enough shows that they had worked out any rust but they weren't exhausted, so we got them at just the right time.  They really burned it down, and made any effort from that weekend worth it, even for that one performance.  Smashing, as always. As if they would ever let us down; all of us are Nine Inch Nails fan but they weren't the main attraction for us that time.  We've already lived with them for so long and we just wanted them to continue the momentum that QOTSA had ignited.  Trent started off with an empty stage and some new songs, building up to a set that was sparse but visually innovative and songs that we knew, but at that point it was rote.  Not bad but we kept waiting for something explosive.  The abbreviated time meant a condensed set, which was understandable, but a soggy middle of slower, atmospheric material that just made us bored and sleepy.  It kept going, one dirge after another, and we kept waiting for the next song to pick it up, but it dragged on.  He even did some stuff off The Fragile, so it wasn't like he was under an obligation to do all the slow songs off the new album.  After a full day of great acts and the fury of QOTSA, we were let down.  We kept edging toward the exit with each slow ramble until, just as we were almost gone, he broke out "Wish" and raced with rage toward a more fitting end.  He almost redeemed himself but those songs mid-way were really a drag.  We wouldn't expect the entire set to be like the last few songs but he could have paced it better.  Trent might not have been phoning in but he could have used more advisement about the material to include (though he liked the performance enough to include some of the songs on a live EP).  We officially moved on once he started in on "Hurt" and it was satisfying enough.  But for the day, it really was about QOTSA and most anything but NIN.  Then, in the evening, it was back to the hotel and, of course, more drinking.

We had planned in advance to skip Saturday. As far as the acts went it was the weakest day, and we wanted to give ourselves a day to do other stuff around the city. That included a Cubs game (or trying to get in, since we did not, as we were victims of fake tickets) and the most substantial drinking we'd done for the weekend (and that's saying something, compared to how much we drank at the festival) and the deep-dish pizza I get every time I'm in the city. At the show we didn't see Matt & Kim, Local Natives, the National, Haim (though I wasn't familiar with them at the time), the Postal Service (thank goodness), and Mumford & Sons, but those are all bands we already know, and I don't think we missed much.

I took my time getting in on Sunday (he hotel being across the street gave me the ability to move freely) but Jones and Bart headed in to see Jake Bugg, who they said was boring; we heard a bit of Alex Clare while we were waiting but there was no reason to pursue his stuff beyond that day; for us the big act of the day was Baroness.  I admit I didn't have much interest, after not getting much out of them a few years before, but Jones and Bart were excited to see them, probably because they were the heaviest act on the bill for the day, maybe the only heavy act, and they seemed like a good aftermath to QOTSA from the other night, though in the middle of the blazing Sunday afternoon sun.  And they were heavy, and loud, and more heavy.  With a good, early buzz on, we banged our heads and rocked out.  We might have been roasting in the sun and on the verge of sloppily drunk but they were the best act of the day, up there with what we saw on Friday.  It was a shame that anyone had to follow them, and that was pretty much all of the acts for that day; after Baroness it was a come-down and a bit of a let-down, a lot of wandering, but more drinking and good times hanging out.  Two Door Cinema probably had something to do with something, and Alt-J didn't sound as great as I'd been led to believe they were (though could be an acquired taste), but Vampire Weekend picked it up again.  I can't say I ever got into their sound (a little too poppy for me, and their claim to African rhythms by critics always kind of perplexed me) but it was a breezy, sunny set that had a lot of people -- a lot of people, maybe more than there should have been -- on their feet, including us.  Though we might have spent a lot of that time playing frisbee; I forgot that Beach House were there and that apparently we or I watched them for some amount of time.  That probably sums up their set up; Jones and Bart are not Cure fans.  I can understand that, though I can't relate, in probably the same way some can't relate to their music.  They're not for everybody, especially for those two.  But I always look forward to seeing Robert Smith & co., even if I forgot it at the time.  I'm a fan, of course, but I'd seen them a good deal by that point.  I felt like I'd already experienced their range of songs on CDs and live, as they play a whole lot of songs in their shows, which are usually upwards of three hours, and they're one of the better live bands around, if you're a fan.  But even though I discovered them relatively late in their lifespan, I’d been to a number of their shows, with a lot of songs packed into each, and I figured I’d seen pretty much all there would be to see.  This wasn’t planned to be a special show for obsessive fans, just another festival slot, and not even for new material (as if anyone would want any of that).  I was just going along with the momentum because I was a fan and I was there.  For them to impress me, they would have to take it a bit farther and it didn’t even occur to me what that could be.  Little did I realize but the year was somewhere around the 20th anniversary of Wish, probably their most underrated album, if not one of the most underrated albums by anyone ever, and one that means a lot to me personally.  That album was the start of me as a Cure fan.  I pretty much knew only their radio singles by the end of high school but I needed CDs to fill out my first big stereo, my graduation gift, and I jumped in with that album, assuming it would be the thing to have since it was new, and since Rolling Stone gave it 4 stars.  “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea” was the first song played by a stereo that got a whole lot of use throughout a lot of years.  And from there I've always been close to that album, and from there I went forward to the crappy new stuff and backward to the stuff that is probably better but Wish always will have a place in my heart.  It would be too much to ask that they would play the whole album at a festival but they did the next best thing, leaning toward tracks from it throughout their set.  The casual fans might not realize they were favoring that album and the obsessive fans might have been poo-pooing it, but they still played surely enough singles and less-popular numbers from their catalog to satisfy the people in the crowd.  Considering they only had a set-time of two hours, they had a lot of songs to pack in and every one would count.  Maybe I’m making a lot out of a half-dozen songs played from Wish out of 26 total, but I’d like to think they were doing it on purpose.  (They also played about as many as from Disintegration but that's expected.)  Most of the main set was mid-career, the encore mostly early hits, and they eschewed anything from the last 20 years but for a few of the best tracks.  That was fine with me.  I was expecting just another Cure show and it turned out to be probably the best I’ve seen, based on the set-list but also just overall.  It’s a shame Jones and Bart aren’t fans because they missed out.  But the rest of the weekend made up for it.  And they were probably drinking during the last set, for which I shortly joined them after I crossed the street from the park, back to the hotel, and down for another beer.

missed: On Friday it was Smith Westerns (conflict with Ghost), New Order (conflict with Queens -- easy choice, and they didn't play anything I haven't seen them do before), Frightened Rabbit (barely overlapped with Queens, and we were just waiting for NIN and they were just across the field but we still didn't bother), the Killers (because they're the Killers, so it would have been about any other act instead), and Lana Del Rey (who I didn't really know but she was hot stuff at the time.  I would have been curious to see how hot); on Sunday it was Tegan and Sara (conflict with the end of Baroness), the Vaccines (conflict with us wandering around), Grizzly Bear (conflict with us half-watching Vampire Weekend), Phoenix (conflict with the Cure), Cat Power (ditto).

Queens of the Stone Age set-list:
"You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire"
"No One Knows"
"My God Is the Sun"
"Burn the Witch" (with drum solo)
"Sick, Sick, Sick"
"First It Giveth"
"The Vampyre of Time and Memory"
"If I Had a Tail"
"Little Sister"
"Make It Wit Chu"
"Smooth Sailing"
"I Sat by the Ocean"
"I Think I Lost My Headache"
"Go With the Flow"
"A Song for the Dead"

Nine Inch Nails set-list:
"Copy of A"
"Sanctified" (reworked version)
"Came Back Haunted"
"1,000,000"
"March of the Pigs"
"Piggy"
"The Frail"
"The Wretched"
"Terrible Lie"
"Closer" (w/ "The Only Time" breakdown)
"Gave Up"
"Help Me I Am in Hell"
"Me, I'm Not"
"Find My Way"
"What If We Could?"
"The Way Out Is Through"
"Wish"
"Survivalism"
"Only"
"The Hand That Feeds"
"Head Like a Hole"
"Hurt"

The Cure set-list:
"Plainsong"
"Pictures of You"
"Lullaby"
"High"
"The End of the World"
"Lovesong"
"In Between Days"
"Just Like Heaven"
"From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea"
"The Walk"
"Mint Car"
"Friday I'm in Love"
"Doing the Unstuck"
"Trust"
"Want"
"Fascination Street"
"The Hungry Ghost"
"Wrong Number"
"One Hundred Years"
"Disintegration"

"The Lovecats"
"The Caterpillar"
"Close to Me"
"Let's Go to Bed"
"Why Can't I Be You?"
"Boys Don't Cry"

Vampire Weekend set-list:
"Cousins"
"White Sky"
"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
"Diane Young"
"Step"
"Holiday"
"Unbelievers"
"Horchata"
"Everlasting Arms"
"A-Punk"
"Boston (Ladies of Cambridge)"
"Ya Hey"
"Campus"
"Oxford Comma"
"Giving Up the Gun"
"Hannah Hunt"
"One (Blake's Got a New Face)"
"Walcott"

Crystal Castles set-list:
"Love And Caring"/"Plague"
"Baptism"
"Suffocation"
"Wrath of God"
"Crimewave"
"Telepath"
"Alice Practice"
"Black Panther"
"Celestica"
"Vanished"/"Transgender"/"Untrust Us"/"Cryptocracy"
"Reckless"
"Not in Love" (Platinum Blonde cover)

Ghost B.C. set-list:
intro: "Masked Ball" (Jocelyn Pook song)
"Infestissumam"
"Per Aspera ad Inferi"
"Con Clavi Con Dio"
"Prime Mover"
"Secular Haze"
"Stand by Him"
"Satan Prayer"
"Year Zero"
"Ritual"

"Ghuleh"/"Zombie Queen"
"Monstrance Clock"

Baroness set-list:
"Take My Bones Away"
"March to the Sea"
"A Horse Called Golgotha"
"Green Theme"
"Swollen and Halo"
"Board Up the House"
"The Line Between"

The Neighborhood set-list:
"How"
"Female Robbery"
"Everybody's Watching Me (Uh Oh)"
"Wires"
"Flawless"
"Let It Go"
"W.D.Y.W.F.M.?"
"Alleyways"
"A Little Death"
"Afraid"
"Sweater Weather"
"Float"