Cool Hunting

Cool Hunting traveled to Chicago this past weekend for Lollapalooza. Here's a highlight band from each day:

Friday, 3 August: Daft Punk
An incredible performance by Daft Punk (pictured above) topped off the first day of the festival. While the hippies were "chilling" to Ben Harper on the opposite side of the park, the rest of us were getting crazy with Daft Punk. When the two robot men appeared atop their LCD pyramid, complete with lazer light show and alien space suits, the place exploded in a frenzy of what can only be called dance moshing. They didn't let up, keeping the energy pumping the entire time while people did a mixture of dancing, tripping out and crowd surfing. Daft Punk live definitely makes the list of my top five concerts of all time. Word on the street is they've got a movie coming out that looks almost as insane as their live show, check out the trailer here.

Saturday, 4 August: Regina Spektor
I think I'm in love with her. When Regina Spektor (pictured right) came out on stage that afternoon, looking so cute with her rosy red cheeks, she appeared to be in awe. It was as if she was totally unfazed by her newfound fame, like she had no idea this many people would show up to her show. The smile on her face must have touched the crowd because as soon as she hit her first note the entire. audience was absolutely enthralled. Then, to top it off, during her second or third song she stopped midway through after having noticed someone towards the front of the crowd appeared to be sick. Normally, this could be annoying, but as she sweetly and calmly requested some assistance for that person in the front, it was as if she took all of our drunk, stoned selves into her arms as she sat right back down and continued playing without skipping a beat. As for the music, her voice and skills on the piano sound even better in person, and who can't love a girl who sings so beautifully while drumming on a chair.

Sunday, 5 August: TV on the Radio
This was my fourth time seeing TV on the Radio (pictured above) live, and I must say, these dudes just get better and better. After experiencing the festival for two days we knew to save up our energy for our favorite bands later in the day. We had planned well and were fully energized for TV on the Radio, who rocked, hummed, and harmonized seemingly harder than anyone ever has in the history of music. The crowd went absolutely wild for "Wolf Like Me" and the energy was bouncing back and forth from band to audience. Unfortunately, they had been scheduled to play right before the big headliners of the weekend, Pearl Jam, so their set was cut off short. But they gave the crowd what they wanted, finishing with "Staring at the Sun" whipping everyone into a frenzy that ended with the most relentless, unrewarding encore applause I've ever been a part of. Let's just say some lost their voices yelling "Fuck Pearl Jam!" I couldn't agree more. (Images via Pitchfork.)