Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza 8/12/97

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This summer was pretty uneventful with the exception of taking full advantage of our party place. There was a plentiful source of alcohol, marijuana, and girls. I didn’t take advantage of the female part because for some stupid reason I was convinced to try to do the long distance thing with Rose. This show was definitely one of the highest points of not only the summer but also my life. At the time of this writing it is my #1 favorite concert of all time and I don’t expect that to ever be surpassed. This was to be our third Lollapalooza in a row and another chance to visit the beautiful Gorge Amphitheater. It also ended up being the last Lollapalooza until 2003. The reasons we wanted to go were simple: Korn and Tool. I was lucky enough to find out about Korn right after their first album came out and we played the shit out of that album. I remember Korn played really small venues in Seattle for about $10 to support both their self-titled album and Life Is Peachy but nobody was yet old enough to drive. The curse of Korn concerts carried on as they were not at this Lollapalooza show due to a case of meningitis in Munky. My friends and I pretty much just took it easy all day on the lawn in anticipation of Tool. By a random stroke of fate we ran into Brian, a guy we had known by association of a few other people we knew. He asked us if we wanted some acid and without hesitation said “hell yes.” Normally I cannot be around anyone else that is not on acid with me so this was to be quite the experiment but I couldn’t think of any more perfect circumstances to drop. Concerts are a place where anything goes and you are in like-minded company. Snoop Dogg performed right before Tool came on and I took the acid when he first came out. The acid came on quickly and before Snoop left the stage I was laughing my ass off. He was one funny guy that night and I don’t think my acid ingestion was the only reason. Immediately after Snoop left the stage my friends and I ventured down to the floor section to stake out a spot for Tool. The acid was kicking in hard now and it was difficult to act normal in the crowd with nobody on stage to divert their attention. After what seemed like an eternity Tool finally made it to the stage and launched into “Hooker With A Penis.” Maynard came out in a woman’s wig, bra, and had his face painted white. Tool came on when it was still light outside and brought us completely into the darkness. It was a very clear night and the stars were beautiful out there in Central Washington. At one point in the show Maynard said, “Is anyone out there trippin’?” and he hit an effect to make the word “trippin’” echo. We went nuts. Were they trippin’ that night? Only they would know the answer to that. I also came away from that concert with the greatest concert souvenir anyone could ask for. My friend Ross is about six foot six and skinny as a sign post but made it to the front of the floor section. He was snapping pictures and at one point Maynard turned to him and said, “please stop, the flash is hurting my eyes.” Ross snapped a picture at that very moment and somehow managed to escape the wrath of the whole security force that was after that camera. That picture has since been blown up and resides on my wall to this very day. This was the last time I would ever see Tool with Maynard performing front and center. Sometime after this he retired to the back of the stage and though their shows have progressively got more elaborate through the years, nothing will ever compare to that moment in time at the Gorge.

M3

 

Lollapalooza 7/30/96

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My uncle Darryl informed me one week before graduation that I would have to move out. I ended up moving in with Jack, my best friend at the time, because he was also in a situation with nowhere to live. I started working full time at Super Lube and he got a job at the local car wash. We moved in and quickly realized we didn’t have any furnishings. With a little help from a lot of people we were set up. A lot of debauchery went down at that townhouse because for the first time our group of friends had somewhere proper to party. Before this we partied a lot of at different outdoor locations or house parties, but those weren’t the norm. That summer was the first time I ever took LSD and I took it frequently. I was curious about it long before I did it and read everything I could get my hands on pertaining to it. It didn’t help that my friend Ross lived with a drug dealer and gave me about 100 hits to sell. I’m no drug dealer so what ended up happening was my friends and I would get bored with nothing to do so we did it. I never took more than 2 hits at a time because I had heard about people who took too much and thought they were an orange and everyone was trying to peel them, etc. That summer was also the only time I have ever smoked Opium, the first time I had Hash and there were plenty of Mushroom trips as well. I know this sounds really bad but I never strayed so far from myself that I couldn’t come back and I always made it to work and paid my bills as well. I viewed these experiences as mind expanding and still do. I learned many important life lessons that summer.

Anyways Lollapalooza’s lineup this year included Devo, The Ramones, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and the almighty Metallica, all of whom I had never seen. I am not really a Devo fan but it was comical to see them all dressed in yellow pleather with silly hats. I am also not a big Ramones fan but I do appreciate their place in Rock N’ Roll and feel lucky to have seen them one week before their last performance ever. The real draws for me were Soundgarden and Metallica. I became a Soundgarden fan after hearing “Outshined.” I borrowed the Badmotorfinger album from my friend Claude and must have played it about a thousand times. I remember they opened with “Spoonman.” They had just released Down on the Upside a couple months before this show but aside from “Pretty Noose” and “Ty Cobb” their setlist was compiled from Badmotorfinger and Superunknown, with the exception of a cover of “Waiting for the Sun” by the Doors as the sun was setting behind them. Amazing. Chris Cornell played “Black Hole Sun” by himself acoustically, which was also pretty amazing. Ben looked pretty pissed off the whole time. The set came to a close with a fierce version of “Jesus Christ Pose.” This is another band I feel very lucky to have seen because they broke up less than a year later. I was blown away and I still had Metallica to look forward to. I had been turned onto them with the album …And Justice for All by my friend John. That is still my favorite Metallica album. After getting into that one I bought every Metallica album in existence. On this tour they were promoting Load, which had just come out less than a few months prior. I don’t remember them playing much if anything from this album. I do remember them rocking my ass off with all the classics.

Lollapalooza 7/4/95

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The nights were very long that summer and I smoked a lot of pot. I was looking for something in my dad’s closet and came across a brick of weed. This was more than I had ever seen and I could not resist but pinch a little something off of it. Once I got it back to my bedroom and broke it up, it turned into a quarter of an ounce! This kept our stoner appetites alive for a few months. At this point in my life I had started seeing a fiery redhead named Daisy who I had met through my friend Jackie. She was the first girl that I ever really cared about. I was smitten. She was a few years younger but seemed much wiser than her years. She was a prototypical rock chick who happened to play the piano since an early age. She was probably a big reason Marvin and I decided to attend Lollapalooza 95’. There were bands playing that we wanted to see and we had missed the year before because it occurred on the first day of school. Ironically 94’ was the year Nirvana was supposed to headline. We had also missed the magical 93’ lineup that showcased Alice In Chains, Tool, and Rage Against the Machine. Jackie, Daisy, and their friend J.R. had decided to go up the night before and camp. I later found out that on that night Daisy had fooled around with someone at the campground, which is what eventually broke us up. The temperature on the 4th of July was particularly hot that year. Beck was the first band to perform that I really cared about. This is about the time he had broke into the mainstream with “Loser.” The next band that I wanted to see was Cypress Hill. They came out on stage with a 15 foot bong and they were also the first band I had ever seen toke up on stage. The next band I wanted to see was Hole. Courtney Love was a mess because of Kurt’s death and acted appropriately. She kept taking her top off and berating the crowd but overall put on a decent show. The headliner that year was Sonic Youth. I was not and still am not that big of a fan but they definitely impressed me that night.