After two mind blowing days and two nights of official aftershows, including a marathon set from Broken Social Scene at the Metro the night before (recap coming tomorrow), Ben and I were tired that Sunday morning.  To say the least.  But Day 3 held one band in particular that I was ultra excited to see: The National.  But first up, What Made Milwaukee Famous is after the jump. 

I have heard decently good buzz about these guys and I’m sure they are fine enough in their own right.  Problem is we only watched them for about two songs.  It was super sunny, super humid, and the stage was on a big slab of concrete, which combined to make it about 58 degrees hotter than standing on the grass, so we bounced to what we thought was the Weakerthans but was actually Office:

We walked up expecting The Weakerthans, but after a few songs we pieced together that it was Office instead.  I have given these guys’ last album a brief listen and I liked what I heard on the album as well as at the show.  Another band on a huge slab of white-hot-melt-you-like-in-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark-concrete, so another show we voluntarily cut short to go someplace cooler.  It was so, so hot on concrete that day, you guys; at least until the clouds rolled in, which arrived later and saved me from dying in a huge fireball of self combustion.  Next up, John Butler Trio:

John Butler Trio reminded me of a more chill Robert Randolph and the Family Band, or maybe a mix of them and Ben Harper?  More chill, lots of slide guitar, pretty cool, nothing revolutionary.  One weird note is that on his picking hand, John Butler had these really gross long fingernails.  I’m talking, it was like Bram Stoker’s Dracula or something (each one cut into a kind of point as well).  Verrry creepy, but we ultimately couldn’t decide if they were in fact his real fingernails or something like Lee Press On Nails.  Either way: gross.  Good music, though.  After JB3, Brazillian Girls:

This chick was an ultra weirdo.  The crowd seemed to really be enjoying the music, and I was as well, but BOY is this chick weird.  Dressed in some kind of bizarro wedding dress, she kept talking to us in various languages until during the chorus of one particular song, during the chorus she said, “Now your turn!” and the crowd repeated whatever phrase she had been saying.  Then she says, “Now in French!”  Crowd: silence.  Then she says, “Now in Spanish!”  Crowd: silence.  Very strange, but not as strange as when she started ranting about “pussypussypussypussy.”  Next was Chromeo:

I had heard a little of these guys, and I think their recorded stuff is ok, but put them in front of a crowd and they are a blast.  My favorite part about this act was that in almost every song, they either said their names, the band name, or both multiple times.  So for example, in the first song “We are Chromeo/we are in control!” was part of the entire song.  Maybe I like it so much because it reminds me of Jay-Z or something, but these guys were totally awesome.  I highly recommend finding them and seeing them.  Despite them being Canadian.  Black Kids next:

I have listened to their EP, The Wizard of Ahhhhs, which, in my opinion is ok I suppose, but not great.  I sort of felt like what they needed on the EP was a little more polish and production value, but the songs were solid.  I also feel like the vocals of the lead guy are the worst part of the EP, and that maybe some extra production would help out a little.  After seeing them live, I’m not sure if there is some kind of a magic microphone that makes a terrible voice sound bad ass during a live performance, but if there is, he needs one.  Mosey over to G Love and the Special Sauce.

We were more just relaxing on the ground than watching G Love, but there were these two girls next to us who were doing this exceptionally goofy dancing (like really clutzy, uncoordinated, and ungraceful) while spilling their beers all over and just giggling the entire time.  I have to think that they were on something more than just weed, because they were acting all kinds of bizarre.  But they loved them some G Love.  Going so far as to repeatedly tell each other “I love you! I’m so glad you’re seeing this with meee!!!!”  Anyways, the crowd (made of 99% hippies on that side at that time) seemed to really dig it when G Love sang the song that the verse is just “Who got the weeeeeeeeeed?”  All I can say is G Love is G Love.  If you like him, I’m relatively certain you’d like him in whatever setting.  Anyways, on to Saul Williams:

Funny outfits but they sucked.  Next – Gnarls Barkley:

I really wish we could have seen more of these guys because I really dug Gnarls Barkley’s first album, St. Elsewhere.  I do admit that their popularity kind of got out of control with the success of Crazy, which is a great song, but the album is pretty great all around, and most people have no idea what one song aside from Crazy on that record sounds like.  We only saw them play three songs, and they were all great – they had a full horns section backing Cee Lo, who also sounded awesome.  Next: Girl Talk.

Girl Talk consisted of Gregg Ellis, his laptop, and hyped fans.  Before anything got underway, he approaches the mic, says, “Hello. My name is Gregg Ellis.  My band is called Girl Talk,” then he brought about 20 ultra hyped kids up onstage to dance behind him the whole show, and he just rolled out the hits – and occasionally strolled into the crowd himself.  If you have heard any Girl Talk, you know exactly what this show was, but he mixed it up some, busting out some different samples.  Not much use describing the sound, but I can tell you that the show was awesome and I was pissed we had to leave early to go check out The National…bottom line, go see Girl Talk.  Next up, The National:

The National Rules.  Their set was 100% made up of tracks from Alligator and Boxer, and their show was really, really tight, and really solid throughout.  My inclination would be to think that a band with the National’s sound would be a little dull live, but their songs are all on a completely different and awesome level live that is somewhat impossible to describe.  Just…extra.  Extra awesome.  Extra everything.  This was my first time to see The National, and they hit pretty much everything I could have asked for in a one hour set, playing Mistaken For Strangers, Brainy, Squalor Victoria, Apartment Story, Start a War, Racing Like A Pro, Ada, Secret Meeting, Baby We’ll Be Fine, and Abel.  After they had completed all these songs, Matt approaches the mic and says, “This next song is dedicated….  Well.  I’m sure John McCain is a nice enough guy, but this song is not dedicated to John McCain,” then they launched into a completely awesome Mr. November.  Great, great set.  My favorite of the day.  Finally, Kanye West:

Kanye was really good.  Lucky for Kanye, he didn’t come onstage like 8 hours late to a seething crowd of angry hippies.  Instead, he came on at the right time, put on a great show, and the people were pleased.  He talked about his mother, his band covered Journey, and the people were pleased.  Overall, Kanye is a superb showman and I am amazed that he is so good live since it is literally just him out there.  His band is way in the back in the shadows, and the front of the stage is lights, smoke, and Kanye West.  He really pulls it off really well, though, carrying the whole show on his back and delivering.  Nice job.

Well, Lollapalooza 2008 was a ton of fun, and completely exhausting.  My legs hurt for days afterward and I was extremely tired at work on Tuesday, but it was totally worth it.  My personal favorites were MGMT and The National, but I think Radiohead wins best in show for my money.  Regardless, I think the only bad act I saw was Saul Williams, and aside from them, everything was pretty enjoyable to downright bad ass.  Nicely done, Chicago.

[BV Note: Check out all of our great photos from the final day of Lollapalooza '08 here in our gallery]