Gogol Bordello Lolla After Show

Unlike The Awesome Sauce I was unable to attend the Lollapalooza festivities this weekend...

Ok that's a lie, you see, Lolla, despite the wonderful music, means giant masses of humanity, combined with excessive heat, two things I really despise, so I chose not to go, but I'm going to full admit that I kinda regret that now. Having seen Rage's show on Saturday, TAS is cooler than I could ever hope to be. It was one of those once in a lifetime experiences and I wasn't there for it. I could walk on the moon, cure cancer, make a 3 pointer to win the NBA title, never again slam my head on the skylight in TAS's apartment AND beat John William's Sudoku times in the redeye for a month straight and I'd still NEVER be able to reach the same level of coolness as those who saw rage, like TAS.

I DID however see Gogol Bordello play at The Metro on friday night just a few hours after they played Lolla, and that was pretty special in its own right.

Doors for the show were at 10 pm, the openers, VHS or Beta (the most average Electronica act EVER) went on at 11, and Gogol didn't take the stage till a few minutes after midnight.

Gogol's one of those bands that you can't really explain to anyone. "Gypsy Punk" is what they dub it, I usually tell people to imagine Flogging Molly, but take away all the Celtic influence and replace it with a Gypsy influence, and if you can't really hear Gypsy music in your head, just think Fiddler on the Roof minus the roof part.



^ that's probably the best Gogol video on youtube, as far as conveying what it actually feels like at a show.

They played pretty much everything you'd want to hear: Wanderlust King, 60 revolutions, Not A Crime, Start Wearin Purple, Think Locally, Fuck Globally, American Wedding, Mishto, Never Young and a handful of others in the main set. The encore consisted of Hutz solo for the first part of Alcohol with the band slowly coming back on stage and finishing the song with him, transitioning into Immigrant Punk, and then an absolutely insane room shattering, 20 minute rendition of Baro Foro/Undestructable.

This was the 5th Gogol show I've been to, and the last three had each been awesome, but less amazing than the previous show, none better than when they opened for Flogging Molly. This time, however, I can say with confidence that this was the best Gogol show I've ever been to. I was disappointed at the lack of drum surfing, and I'd really like to hear them play Though The Roof N' Underground again, but neither really mattered this time, the energy was just that amazing.

Maybe it was cause I was closer, maybe I was just that into it, maybe being a 21 and over show helped, maybe the band was just on a high after playing Lolla, but this show just felt more intense than usual. It was an invigorating experience, and I cannot wait to see them again.

Good evening, we're Rage Against the Machine from Los Angeles, California

Those were the words spoken immediately before one of the greatest shows I've ever seen in my entire life. It was everything you could have wanted. They played all their hits, people almost died, Zack ranted about politics. I truly pity the people who went to go see Wilco instead of RATM. Somewhere between 60-70 thousand people made the same decision I made night two of Lollapalooza. I wonder if it was the last time they play in the states. I hope not.

The second best show I saw at Lollapalooza? Nine Inch Nails. Trent was great. There was so much going on during that show. All the visuals and technology, it was truly amazing. It wasn't just rock music, it was art.









Radiohead was ok. I appreciate how good they are at what they do, but I don't know/enjoy enough music from them to truly understand how good, or not good, that set was. To me, I liked it, even if it was a little boring.





Lupe Fiasco was really really great. I missed the very beginning of his set, which I'm told was "Kick, Push." I bet it was great, because everything else he did was. There was a choir, a horn section, Matthew Santos; it was solid.



Gogol Bordello was....











Gogol Bordello. They're always awesome. And I heard they played a really solid after party at Metro Friday night.


I was late to Saul Williams (I got to see him thank the crowd, and walk off stage). However, Saul can do no wrong, so I'm going to say he was great.



Love and Rockets was boring.

I heard part of the Toadies, they sounded better than I thought they would. Glad they played Possum Kingdom, for it is the only Toadies song I know.

The National just sounded like bad screaming, but honestly, I wasn't really paying much attention to it.

Jamie Lidell sounded awesome from the gates, but I didn't actually see him.

I think thats all I've got. Did I mention Rage Against the Machine was there?

Feel the funk blast.

EDIT: Thanks to my baby for getting me tickets, and Lolla lounge passes, and for generally being awesome.