Now nestled in the beautiful Grant Park in downtown Chicago, the once traveling Lollapalooza showcases countless bands and draws in fans from around the world.  While the festival has lost a bit of its independent integrity since anchoring and gaining the support of corporate sponsors, it has stayed true to many of its roots, especially founder Perry Farrell, who performs not only with his band, Jane’s Addiction, but also goes solo on the Kidzapalooza stage and hosts his own stage, Perry’s where DJ’s perform all kinds of techno and house music.

Lollapalooza has also expanded its offerings, becoming more than just a festival for music lovers. Kidzapalooza is a section of the park featuring children’s music that is anything but what you’d hear from Barney or The Wiggles. From pop punk acts like Care Bears on Fire to 9-year old Japanese guitar wunderkind Yuto Miyazawa, there was plenty of diversity in the acts to keep even a 6-year old’s attention. The “Green” movement was everywhere, from volunteers picking up trash to a rolling bag of paper bags which instantly reminded me of the game “Katamari Damacy,” where players roll around a giant ball of trash, to Honda showing off new eco-friendly models.

Of course, music is the festival’s meat and potatoes, and there is plenty of meat and potatoes to go around. With over 130 bands, there was no shortage of sound in Grant Park. Sadly, I was only able to go on Saturday, but I definitely got my money’s worth, or not, because it was free!

On Michigan avenue, a man with a megaphone stood near the gate shouting about the horrors of the devil’s music being played inside and that we should all turn to Jesus immediately. It was all too appropriate that at that time, a few kids briskly jumped both fences and bolted into Grant Park, with everyone in line cheering them on. My friends and I arrived, legally (well actually with some help from a scalper) around 2:30 and we didn’t really have anything planned for that time, so we decided to check out Atmosphere. I knew maybe two of their songs heading in, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed their set. Slug’s lyrics and the laid back grooves played on actual instruments by his band blended together well and fit in with the scenery as I lay on a hill listening and looking at the Chicago skyline.

After Atmosphere, we had about an hour to kill before the next band we wanted to see, so we took a stroll and checked out some of the attractions, including a “Hammock Haven” set up by local rock station Q101. A stretch of the park was set aside for “Green Street,” a strip of green demonstrators and vendors selling various hippie goods. We returned to the Chicago 2016 stage, (a bid for the Olypmics) to see Coheed and Cambria. As we passed the VitaminWater stage, I caught glimpses of Gomez, which is a band I definitely want to hear more of now. But by then, it was time for the almighty Heed. Claudio Sanchez and co. came on stage and opened with No World For Tomorrow off their newest album but quickly got into some early material like Everything Evil and even a cover of Under The Milky Way by The Church. Although he didn’t talk to the crowd much, Claudio did pull out the moves, like playing guitar behind his head and with his teeth and pointing it at the crowd like a gun and spraying us with prog rock bullets. The set did feel a bit short, but it was a festival and not nearly over so I couldn’t complain.

Once again, we had an hour to kill before the next band, so after an overpriced hotdog and Gatorade, we caught a bit of No Age, who from a distance, made us hope the Arctic Monkeys had a longer set and we didn’t miss them after all. Once I got a view I realized it was a duo playing upbeat rock in the style of The Strokes and The Fratellis. I felt sorry for one of the guys, who had to play sitting down with a hurt shoulder.

Back at the Chicago 2016 stage, it was time for Rise Against to play. Their set at Lollapalooza was a grand homecoming for the punks from Chi-town and they paid homage to the history of the park, referencing the 1968 Democratic convention in which “cops beat the shit out of hippies,” according to frontman Tim McIlrath, as well as President Barack Obama’s campaign victory speech last November. They dedicated their breakthrough hit Give It All to the city and their fans and played an excellent, balls-out show. Tim is a great frontman who when free from his guitar, worked the stage almost like a circus ringleader. He even took the time to thank the woman sitting on stage for each band, re-interpreting the lyrics as sign language for those hard of hearing. Rise Against still is relatively young as far as their time spent in the mainstream, and I sincerely hope they don’t suffer the same fate as another Chicago punk band: Alkaline Trio.

One of the bands I was really looking forward to this year was Animal Collective. One of the biggest disappointments at Lollapalooza this year was Animal Collective. It’s really a shame, considering how much praise their album, Merriweather Post Pavillion received by critics and how much I liked it. To walk over to the stage and listen to incoherent babbling and repetitive electronic beats really sucked. They did have pretty lights though. This wasn’t enough to keep me however, so we soon walked over to see Ben Harper and the Relentless 7. Harper’s raunchy slide guitar work on their cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Red House was like mashed potato comfort food compared to the exotic fusion cuisine delivered by Animal Collective. The warm and fuzzy sentiment didn’t last, however, even as the band dedicated the song Fly One Time to basketball great Michael Jordan, which just felt mediocre.

A few minutes later I was listening to Ben Harper with the crowd at the Budweiser stage, waiting for him to wrap it up so the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could start. And how much that wait paid off. The sky was finally dark when guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase took the stage, but the question on everybody’s mind was where Karen O was and, like Joan Rivers on the red carpet would want to know, what was she wearing? Her outfit didn’t disappoint, as she walked onstage wearing a dress and Native American style headdress made up of hands. The band then launched into Runaway, the first song of a set that contained pretty much every song I hoped they’d play. Lots of rappers these days like to talk about their swagger and style, but none of them has anything on Karen O. Her bravado and attitude on Phenomena and Gold Lion were larger than life and her childish running in place during Pin shows the true level of joy she has for performing. She spoke to the crowd, acknowledging that they weren’t even supposed to be playing and that the Beastie Boys left them with huge shoes to fill. Karen O even went as far as calling us the “best crowd ever.” Most of the tender moments during the show came from It’s Blitz, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s release from earlier this year, but crowd favorite Maps was played even though Karen O unbelievably forgot the words to the second verse. The crowd was forgiving and filled in as the band continued. Unfortunately, I had a train to catch so I had to listen to Y Control as I shuffled through the crowds and found out later that I completely missed Date With The Night, which was a bummer.

As huge as it was, I was surprised at how well organized Lollapalooza was. From the sign language lady, to food vendors, almost everything was taken care of. I didn’t encounter any problems of staging or scheduling conflicts, and every band started relatively on time. If you’ve got the money to come down to Chicago and see Lollapalooza yourself, I recommend you do it. Next time I’ll definitely be getting a three-day pass.