GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Day 1

I took the 9:45 metra train downtown to avoid any crowds and arrived at my destination 30 minutes later. I power walked to Grant Park only to be greeted with a line that looked a mile long. Baking in the sun for about 45 minutes as I jealously watched certain people zoom past everyone else in these little golf cart type deals. When the line finally did move they checked to see if I had any water bottles and I was finally in. I was there to promote the band ?Sounteam? who for a new band really gave a good performance. After that, I snuck over to The Subways stage they too did a very good job and then got my journal signed by the very good looking Matt Hales of Aqualung. The third band Cursive I saw were awesome, they played a bunch of songs off their album The Ugly Organ which was released in 2005. After that I bought some overpriced 3$ water and waited around 3 hours and unfortunately caught the last of the Secret Machines set. The band up next; the infamous Violent Femmes gave an amazing performance and made my wait worth the while. For three guys who don't use many effects they make the crowd go crazy. In order to have all this fun I made a very tough choice, I had to miss Sleater Kinneys 3rd to last show ever because both bands were placed in the same timeslot.

Day 2

The metra was packed this day, we were squeezed together so tight I heard what everyone in my section was thinking at the moment. I kinda panicked that id arrive too late and have to wait in excruciatingly long lines again but when I got there people were smoothly going in, proof that the festival had finally started going at full speed. I walked to what I thought was the bud light stage and was wrong so I had to walk a mile all the way back to the other soundstage. I had carefully planned out my day so that I could see both legendary bands Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips FRONT ROW; I was ready to knock people over. After 30 minutes of saying ?excuse me!? to a bunch of concert goers I got somewhat close to front row. I thought that after this band whose name I still don't know stopped playing a mass of people would leave but I was wrong, I wasn't the only sonic youth fan in the crowd as id hoped. Trying to inch my way to the front I had to stand for 2 straight ours in the hot sun and still didn't manage to get my desired spot but I was way closer than when I'd started'I accepted my place in the crowd and prepared to have an awesome time as the Sonic Youth sound check stared. Ever since I bought the Sonic Youth album Dirty its been a dream of mine to see Thurston Moore play live and my dream was about to come true in approximately five minutes. They were absolutely smashing and haven't lost a thing in all the years they've been together. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moores chemistry heated the set and they even played ?Erics Trip? a song they rarely play because the guitar used to make a certain effect was stolen in 1999 from the band. After they were gone I waited another hour for The Flaming Lips. I didn't have to wait very long to get sight of the band, Wayne Coyne the lead singer came out early to say hi and unlike a great majority of the bands there do his own soundcheck and set up his own instruments. You didn't have to be a Lips fan to enjoy this if you didn't enjoy the music (impossible), you'd enjoy the vast array of colors everywhere on the set

Day 3

I didn't get to go to last day due to exhaustion, however I heard the highlights of the day were Chicago band Wilco and of course the almighty Red Hot Chili Peppers

Overall the festival was a blast, according to legendary concert go'er Beatle Bob who I got to speak too, (the man who danced on a lot of the sets and opened then up) the festival sold out. There were many downs such as the water issue, the crowd, and the heat but those were expected and once the bands you love got upon that stage it didn't matter anymore.