Gaga for Lolla

This past weekend was one of the best weekends of my life. Let me explain.

Have you ever wanted to do something so bad for years and years and finally decide that you have enough time and money and want for it that you actually take the plunge and do it? This is what Lollapalooza 2011 was for me. Ever since I was in high school, I have wanted to make the trek to Chicago for this music festival. I’ve been enamored by music festivals for a long time [read: Coachella, SXSW, Bonnaroo] but have coveted Lollapalooza most. It has never quite worked out though—until now.

On Friday I left my house at 4:30am (I was half hour late, dang!) to round up the troops and make the drive to Chicago. (Yes, I slept for most of it. I just can’t stand car rides!) We arrived a little too late to see the Naked and Famous but still had time to decompress before seeing Foster the People. The rest of the lineup that I saw that weekend included: Cults, A Perfect Circle, OK GO, Coldplay, Grouplove, Maps & Atlases, Fitz & The Tantrums, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Local Natives, Cee Lo, Atmosphere, Beirut, Noah & The Whale, City and Colour, The Cars, Cage The Elephant, Foo Fighters, Kid Cudi, Cold War Kids and Deadmau5.

I also saw "Show me your tips" and "Just the tip" and many more.

Cults!

Coldplay and the famous balloons.

Grouplove was definitely one of my favorites.

We left the festival to get a real drink, since they only served Budweiser, Bud Lite and Bud Lite with Lime. (Oh, and wine in sports bottles).

Light up the night.

It was like my iTunes came to life. I missed some bands I wanted to see and went to some bands I only half-cared for, but I was just lucky to be there so it didn’t even matter. The best part of it all was that on the last day of what had so far been a scorching-dehydration-festival, the clouds shifted, the winds started and the rain poured. And poured. We decided to go back to our hotel for a bit to reenergize, but not before hearing Cage the Elephant sing, "Even on a cloudy day...even on a cloudy day..." 

When we came back for the headliners, we stepped into a huge mud puddle because it was empty space no one else wanted to stand in. And then it started to pour, and pour, and pour. And we danced, and danced, and danced.

Since I didn’t face any nasty repercussions of playing in the foul-smelling mud, that carefree night is one I will always have fond memories of. Now I can’t wait to go back next year. Ladies and Gentlemen, mark your calendars for August 3-5!