Marianna: Man oh man. I have been muddied, soaked to the skin, and complimented in French. It was a day. Started off with the tail end of Manchester Orchestra’s set. It was, as usual, great, and it was really exciting to see them on the second largest stage at Lolla with a huge crowd and remember their show at Great Scott in Allston just a couple of years ago.

Manchester Orchestra on the Budweiser Stage

Korzec: Good call: umbrella. Bad call: T-shirt. Manchester’s set was great, a nice balance of new and old. As Monroe mentioned, they’re certainly moving up in the world, playing a much bigger stage than last year. The crowd they drew served as a nice reminder: everything is bigger and better at Lolla.

After some Chicago deep-dish (leftovers later mutilated in backpack, will probably still be eaten), I was heading over to Bon Iver when something caught my ear from Perry’s, the DJ stage: a little bit of Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Daft Punk, Nine Inch Nails, and MGMT, artfully mixed together into throbbing dance beats. Who did I have to thank for the first dance party in the rain of the day? Dark Wave Disco, so far my “pleasant surprise” band of the festival.

Bon Iver offered a dynamic percussion section and favorites like “Skinny Love” and “Blood Bank.” The large festival setup wasn’t the most appropriate atmosphere for the music, but the rain certainly helped set the mood.
Marianna: I also got to see indie darlings Crystal Castles, who really lived up to the hype. Alice Glass looked both as fragile as her namesake and like a comic book super-heroine shot full of LIGHTNING BOLTS! A huge stage presence plus sick synth beats made the sizable crowd at the Vitamin Water stage literally bounce. At this show I also saw the first of many mudslide-dancefests.

Crystal Castles onstage

Korzec: After a good but slightly underwhelming STS9 set, Crystal Castles was exactly the pick me up I needed. Everything Monroe says about Alice is completely accurate, plus cuteness factor she earned for bashfully saying, “I didn’t think anyone would show” to one of the most energetic and into-it crowds of the day.

Marianna: Next up was a pizza break and a return to the media area where I tried to avoid the rain and spotted Peter Bjorn and John, whom I later saw on the Citi stage. They were stylin: Peter in seersucker shorts and a blazer, Bjorn clad in rockstar black, and John in a straw hat. They played an energetic and fun set which I would have loved to have stayed for more of. However, I had to get a move on to the Budweiser stage to have a chance of seeing Kings of Leon.

Korzec: Well I had plans too – pass on PB & J, see the Decemberists instead, and camp out at that stage afterwards for a band you may have heard of. The Decemberists sounded great and looked even better, guys in collared shirts and jackets, girls in wedding dresses and some crazy black thing with sparkles. Highlight: at one point, five band members were each playing in unison on their own percussion sets. The wait for the final headliner for the day was torturous, my feet and knees begging me to sit down, but it was all well worth it, as Marianna will agree.

Marianna: Oh yes I would agree. The stage for Kings of Leon was packed over an hour before the show was slated to start, and even getting there with 45 minutes to spare I couldn’t get close. But when the Followills took the stage, it didn’t matter that I couldn’t see them. Those boys can play. Balancing newer hits of “Only by the Night” with deep cuts like “Holy Roller Novocaine,” they completely won over the huge crowd that had gathered. And they may have even had some fun themselves. To paraphrase something Caleb said: “We’ve had a great time tonight. I always say that, and I’m usually lying, but I’m actually having a great time.” As the crowd dispersed (or rather took over the streets of Chicago), the prevailing sentiment was that all, despite rain and cold and confusion, had a pretty good time.

Korzec: I don’t think you can find a more down-to-earth, grateful rock star than Caleb. Paraphrasing again, “Don’t think we don’t know what we’ve got. There are a million other bands out there who deserve to be up here, but somehow we’re here.”

Marianna: All in all, a wonderful close to a crazy day. More updates to come soon!