My father and I arrived for day one of Lolla 2006 at about 11:30. In a rush to not miss Sound Team I got separated from him. I didn't see him for the rest of the day. Sorry pop! (BTW, on the way to the Sound Team I passed the stage where the runner up to Last Band Standing was playing. The band was Chicago's the Cankles and they actually sounded pretty good despite their awful name and the fact that they beat my friend's band, Dearborn.)

Sound Team started the day off amazingly. I wasn't too familiar with their music other than clips I've heard, but they sounded wonderful, had very catchy music and pleased the audience. St. Louis' Beatle Bob started his Lolla day with this band too! I can't think of a better start to the day... this got me excited to hear some new music and made me want to race home and buy their CD!

As I was heading to my next band I heard the Subways start and they sounded REALLY good. But alas, I was off to get a prime spot for Anathallo. I got a wonderful spot right up front. While waiting for the band to start I could hear the band Blue October playing loudly from a nearby stage. They sounded good (if not a bit Phil Collinsish.) Sadly it didn't stop once Anathallo started. Their music blared over Anathallo's pretty consistently, especially in the more mellow parts. Despite this, Anathallo put on one hell of a show. They were the most humble band of the day, repeatedly mentioning how big of an honor it was to be playing the festival and thanking listeners. They didn't even complain about the other music drowning out theirs...they just said "wow, those guys rock...sometimes I wish we rocked that hard." That is class. Anathallo brought the same exuberence they had at their recent club show to the (HOT) festival stage and gave the most enthusiasm and energy I saw throughout the day, jumping from instrument to instrument, clapping and banging the drums, playing pots like instruments and theatrically interpreting the songs. They told the story of the fable that inspired one of their songs... a man has a dog that can sniff out gold and dig it up so the guy's neighbor asks to borrow the dog, but in his yard the dog only digs up gross stuff (slugs and bugs, etc.) so the neighbor gets pissed off, shoots the dog, burns the body and buries the ashes. But then the ashes come back in the form of a tornado and kills the neighbor. Um, hell yeah. The highlight of the show (one of the highlights of the whole day) was during one song the band members started blowing up balloons during the moments they weren't singing. In the crowd I noticed a lot of people were blowing up balloons too. Then, at a certain point, everyone let go of their balloons together and they flew through the air before falling back empty to the ground. It was beautiful and something I had never seen at a concert before. Bravo. If the Sound Team had been the perfect start to the day, Anathallo drove home how monumental of a day of music it was going to be.

Next we moved on to Aqualung. I was blown away by the number of people camped out for the Aqualung show... holy crap. We managed to sneak up the side and get a pretty good view. The new songs sounded wonderful, the old songs were perfect (Another Little Hole in My Heart was that sad bastard fix I had been craving!) and the crowd banter, as always, was adorable. I'm so proud of these guys...they've come along way since the first time I saw them at Martyrs.

After Aqualung left we moved to the front of the stage to wait for Stars, the next band to take that stage. In the interim we could still hear the eels from the next stage over and see them on the video monitor. They sounded pretty good, but I didn't hear much that reminded me of my favorite eels song (and really one of the only songs I really know well by them), Railroad Man. It sounded like they were playing a good selection for an outdoor show. I wish I could have seen them more, but I wanted to be front and center(ish) for Stars.

There is not much I can say about Stars other than I love them. Love love love. They are one of those bands that I just don't want to quit playing until they've exhausted their entire catalogue. The violin was beautiful and my favorite song (One More Night) was sultry hot. This was one of my favorite performances of the day, probably because I was so close to the stage and because I am so familiar with their music. But also because their music just about begs you to have fun.

Next up was Ryan Adams. I had never seen Ryan before and was really looking forward to it. I was excpecting he would play a lot more upbeat rock numbers for the show since it was an outdoor festival, but he went more along the country/western route. It still sounded really good (and the version of Dear Chicago he played was out of this world) but the set seemed better suited for the Ryman then an outdoor setting. Also, he was talking to a helicopter in the sky which was odd. I would love to see him sometime again, but I think up close in an indoor venue would be a better bet.

I left during his set and went to catch some of Mates of State. They were FANTASTIC. I would say they were better than when I saw them at the Metro. They controlled the crowd and I think were the only band I saw who got the crowd dancing and jumping in the heat. Fantastic.

After they finished I went to catch the last half of the Iron & Wine set. I was worried about Iron & Wine at a festival because they can be more mellow (at least my favorite tracks by them) but they were playing some more catchy stuff (and stuff I was less familiar with). We were hoping Ben Gibbard would come out and sing with Sam on Such Great Heights, but they didn't play that song in the part of the set I saw, so maybe that was before we got there. They ended there set though with the Trapeze Swinger, which was perfect timing with the sun dipping down low behing the stage as dusk approached. It was a pretty magical moment.

After that I went to get some food and listened to My Morning Jacket while doing it because they had THE LOUDEST SPEAKERS EVER. They started with a song I didn't know was their's but LOVED, "Off the Record." The next song was very familiar too, but it was off across the field to see some of the Raconteurs.

They had already played Steady As She Goes, but I did get to see them play Hands, which I enjoy and a rockin' cover "Crazy" so now I guess I don't have to see Gnarles Barkley at all! I thought the set was pretty ok, although Brendan Benson looks more tore up each time I see him. Where's the pretty(ish) guy from the cover of The Alternative to Love?

Next I made the ardous journey back to the stage where Sleater-Kinney was playing their last Chicago show (and I think next to last show of all time). I dug it! My boss has been playing them in the office a lot so I was familiar with the music and it definitely was a neat experience getting to see one of their last shows ever. I'm glad to say I saw them.

As much as I would have liked to have seen Ween (at the suggestion of a couple of friends), who were playing back across the park, the Sleater-Kinney stage was right next to the stage Death Cab for Cutie were headlining on...and I know I love them so I just decided to stick around. After a bit we decided that we needed to find a better spot to stand so I was enlisted to lead the way. I wove through the crowd to a pretty close distance (you could discern the people on the stage). I was pretty much a bad ass... it went something like this:

The music was great and they made a joke about covering "Crazy," which apparently Mates of State had ALSO done during their set. They dedicated a song to Stars, who they had toured with previously and Sleater-Kinnety who they said they were fans of and were sad that they were disbanding. I also noticed at one point that there was a fireworks show going on behind us (from the direction of the Ween stage) and it was beautiful to watch those along with the Death Cab music. During the Sound of Settling, the last non-encore song of their set, I noticed the crowd had thinned a bit around the edges so I decided to see if I could get closer (I could tell they needed me so much closer). So I started up and made it about twice as close to the stage as I already was. Then, after the band left the stage a huge mass of people started to leave the front and I rode the wave of departing people up to right in front of the stage for the two encore songs: "Follow You Into the Dark" (which was my best song of the year for 2005) and Transatlanticism (during which Stars emerged to sing and dance along. It was my favorite set I've seen from Death Cab (third time seeing them) and I couldn't think of a better way to end a day of AMAZING music.

Top 5 Songs of the Day:

1. Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie
2. One More Night - Stars
3. Dokkoise House (with face covered) - Anathallo
4. The Trapeze Swinger - Iron & Wine
5. Another Little Hole In My Heart - Aqualung