*bitter defeat*: Studies in Procrastination: LOLLAPALOOZA 2007 RECAP... One Week Later

Next year I'm bringing the laptop to Chicago. Let's face it, the fluorescent lights and conditioned air of cubicle land is not the most inspiring setting for a post-vacation music festival recap. It is, however, the ideal setting for ritual suicide. And so it is with great force of will that I finally get around to...

Jason and Kim at LOLLAPALOOZA 2007, or "Three Days of Ugly Sandals."

DAY ONE, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2

Our Chicago adventure begins with a train ride to historic Wrigley Field for a Chicago Cubs v. Philadelphia Phillies day game. The Cubbies manage to give up the game, but a day of hot dogs with poppyseed buns and draft Old Style more than makes up for the final score. After some late-afternoon refreshment, we eventually make our way to Wicker Park and Bucktown for the soon-to-be-standard one-two punch of Flash Taco and the Rainbo Club. $2 PBR drafts, a beanbag-toss video game, and a great photo booth were among the Rainbo's many charms. (Interesting trivia: apparently the photo booth shots on Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville album were taken right here.) And as we are leaving, who should show up but James Murphy and drummer Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem! This proved to be something of a sign.

DAY TWO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 3

We arrive at the MySpace stage (by far the best-sounding stage at the festival) a few minutes before Ted Leo & The Pharmacists take the stage, and the tone is set for the rest of the day. The sound is impeccable and the band's set is blistering fun from start to finish. Señor Leo is dancing so hard he takes a nasty fall and opens up an impressive gash. As he puts it, it's not one of their shows unless he gets hurt. (Mr. Leo and company wowed us again at yesterday's McCarren Pool show in Brooklyn... with The Thermals!!) We then split up (the only time we will do so the whole time) so Kim can catch Viva Voce while I run to catch The Polyphonic Spree. The first half of their set is good, but the second half provides my number one favorite moment of the fest: The Spree abandon the black jumpsuits for the encore, marching through the crowd in their trademark white robes and then leading a massive sing-along of Nirvana's "Lithium." The crowd goes completely batshit.

After catching a few Sparklehorse songs, we settle into some delicious vittles (the food was insanely good) on a nice patch of grass. Unfortunately, we are sitting nearest the musical stylings of Slightly Stoopid, a profoundly embarassing douchebag band in the Sublime/311 mold. Their name is a bit of a misnomer, as the band should be called Completely Fucking Moronic. Lowlight of the fest: "This next song is called 'Open Up that Pussy and Get that Shit Wet!'" I swear to god this happened. The ensuing exodus of women from the surrounding area was a thing to behold. Luckily Silversun Pickups quickly restored our faith in humanity with a typically solid set. Frontman Brian Aubert gives some of the best stage banter I've seen. Blonde Redhead's ethereal drone, which is completely engrossing in a dark club, proves ill-suited to the outdoors... it's a snooze, basically. But they do sound fantastic.

While we jockey for perfect position at the LCD Soundsystem stage, Perry Farrel's Satellite Party take the mainstage and proceed to stomp through several Jane's Addiction hits (including opener "Stop!") and even the PfP hit "Pets." Sigh. Without Dave Navarro, it's just not the same. Finally LCD Soundsystem goes on... and they proceed to play The Set of the Festival. The band has gotten so tight it's almost hard to fathom. Also, the sight of James Murphy belting out "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" while facing the stage where Daft Punk is setting up? Priceless. Finally the five-note alien music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind signals the beginning of Daft Punk's eyeball-melting multimedia holy-shit-fest. The sound is too low and the show doesn't hold a candle to their Coachella 2006 performance (or their show at Keyspan Park this past Thursday), but it still blows the minds of many of the uninitiated.

TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS