Lollapalooza 2008 – Not Just Music
Being an avid concert goer I was very excited to journey into the three day bender of musical acts known as Lollapalooza. I was especially excited being that my two favorite bands were headlining—Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. Before Radiohead were announced to be headlining they had not booked any Chicago dates so my friends and I journeyed to St. Louis to see them headline their own show which was amazing!
The three days were filled with more than just musical acts. Throughout the weekend I was receiving text message alerts for special events and contests to win VIP day passes. One contest was for best air guitar performance. I decided that since I had seen the documentary Air Guitar Nation that I would have a leg-up on the other contestants. Air guitar is taken quite seriously in some parts of the world. One belief states if everyone was holding air guitars they wouldn’t be able to hold a weapon and the world would be a more peaceful place. It’s true. My friends thought I was crazy to go and try to compete for this but I went anyway. The text message gave me instructions to meet at a specific place and time. I was there with 5 minutes to spare. After waiting there for about 15 minutes I realized the contest had been going on behind me aways and was very low key. No signs or speakers or music. Just a woman in a bright colored shirt with a couple of passes for whoever she declared champion. This was mildly upsetting, especially considering that there were only 8 or so people competing, but I gained the knowledge that for future contests I would just have to look for her.
On day three I received another special alert that another contest would be taking place and the meeting place was Buckingham Fountain. This contest sounded a little bizarre. The passes were to be awarded to whoever performed the best ballerina dance. OK, the air guitar was one thing but this time my friends really thought I was crazy for going. Who can blame them? Of course I went and made sure to be there with plenty of time and scoured the area for the woman who told me to look for her. After lapping the fountain twice I found her. To my surprise I was the first person to show. I thought for sure there wouldn’t be many more showing up for this and that I would have a real chance at winning these VIP passes. After welcoming me the woman asked that I hold her large parasol in the air as high as I could so that she could run around and direct people toward me for the contest. I agreed thinking this could perhaps score me some points and increase my chances of winning. Within minutes there was a crowd of people 50+ large in front of me asking me all sorts of questions about the contest as if I had the answers. I had been turned into the meet and greet for the contest.
The woman returned and instructed everyone to follow her around while doing their best ballerina moves. For the next 10 minutes or so anyone walking past the fountain would have seen a spectacle sure to make them say, “What the heck!?” Imagine, a group of 50+ people prancing around and twirling about with no music whatsoever. I mentioned this on Monday while we were swapping stories and came to learn that Chris Sculles and family had seen this happening and took it to be just a bizarre group of people dancing for no apparent reason. When the contest was over the passes were awarded to two men who’d been holding each other in the air and swinging around. They did a good job, no doubt. But really? Had I been turned into this meet and greet without even receiving a door prize? This was unfortunate, but still fun.
It was a great weekend and I am definitely looking forward to next year!