Who To REALLY See At Lollapalooza 2014, Day By Day: Friday, August 1!

Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES

What does it say about a music festival that most of the tickets are sold before the line-up is even announced?  Kinda makes an article like this seem pointless.  Fuck, I could go smoke a blunt in the garage, or I could still go through the fucking motions for the two or three people who read this.

Friday, August 1 is, for me, the only day of the festival you really need.  So if some terrorists kidnap your family and force you to give up two days of Lollapalooza as ransom, give up Saturday and Sunday and be the better for it.

At the opening bell, with just a hit of that morning chill still in the air, you've got three great Brooklyn bands who are doing it right, although they couldn't be further apart musically: San Fermin, Lucius, and the So So Glo's.



After that, we're heading over to see the ethereal bombast of Bombay Bicycle Club because any band ace enough to call their first album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose deserves that much.  Think of them as a more listenable, less annoying Coldplay.  It'll be nice not having to wonder if every cool song is about Gwyneth Paltrow.



Warpaint will attack the Lake Shore stage immediately after BBC wrap up their set.  In case you didn't get the memo, this all-female L.A. band are THE SHIT.  I'm still trying to explain their greatness in words, just know that you'll initially wonder "can these gals even play their instruments?" and then you realize you've been bopping along in aural heaven for the past ten minutes.  The rhythm section of Jenny Lee Lindberg and Stella Mozgawa is the real treat here, tying the whole musical stew together.



2007 Lollapalooza headliners Interpol return from a lengthy hiatus to unleash.  They'll be debuting material from their first album in four years, El Pintor, on the Bud Light stage.  We're going because Brandon Curtis from Secret Machines plays for them and you always know what you're gonna get at an Interpol show.

The only worrisome concern is whether we'll have to tear ourselves away to catch the CHVRCHES set at 5:45 because, let's face it, Lauren Mayberry is a star with a capital "V".

After that, it becomes a bit of a crapshoot: do we see Lorde or Broken Bells?  We're leaning heavily in favor of the Bells at this point because, by then, we'll probably be hungry, sweaty and low on tolerance of the usual knuckleheads that will surely populate the Lorde crowd.

Arctic Monkeys vs Eminem at 8:30?  Monkeys for the win and then it's off to see how many people we can jam into every bus and train in the city.