Saturday

Today is the rock fan's day at the festival. Friday was a lot of the dance-rock bands, but today was a pure rock day. Starting the afternoon off was Pete Yorn. I've tried to see him the past three or four tours, but something always comes up to ruin it for me. Today, I nearly miss my stop on the courtesy trolley, almost causing me to miss his set. But I manage to make my way to the stage and get in close to catch about half a dozen songs. Pete had his familiar backing band, Minibar, supporting him and played a large selection of his older stuff toward the beginning of the set. As his set wore on, some rarities off his older albums, including "Just Another Girl" and "On Your Side," were mixed in with newer offerings, such as "The Man" from his latest album. The best moment of his set was when he tried to describe—or, rather, not describe—what "Closet" meant. "I'm not sure what this next song means, but that's why I like it." OK, Pete. I just assume it means what any song about a closet would mean. Overall, it was the performance that you would expect from Pete Yorn: solid but not spectacular.

I left Yorn and hopped back on my shuttle to catch the last half of another set. On my approach, I could already hear the familiar sounds of Tapes N Tapes. Still touring on the back of their debut album The Loon, they had a large crowd gathered, and they made the most of it. By the time I made it closer to the stage, they were toward the last bit of their set, which was oddly the same as when I saw them play over a year ago. They finished up with "Insistor" and a drawn-out "Crazy Eights" before calling it a day.

So instead of checking out any of the bands scheduled next, I sat in the air-conditioned tent and listened to the soothing sounds of Silverchair coming from the nearest stage. Yes, I said Silverchair, those Aussie Nirvana wannabes. From where I sat, they didn't sound so bad. But I did get reports of their hardcore fan base being really annoying. They should meet the hardcore Pearl Jam fan base. Riots would ensue.

Time rolled on and I again made use of that courtesy shuttle, having it drop me off at the stage where Cold War Kids would be playing. For the record, last year I made note of this band's Lolla set and said something to the effect that they need to learn how to utilize the size of the stage because they'll be playing on bigger ones soon. Fast-forward to today where they've sold out nearly all of their own headlining shows and are about to open for both Muse and the White Stripes, and the lovely festival organizers stuff them on a super-small side stage. People couldn't get from the north side to the south side of the park without having to wade through the massive crowd gathered to see CWK perform. Easily this was one of the biggest complaints I heard the whole weekend.

Anyway, the show. Some guy in a Missouri shirt (represent!) introduced them; sonically, the band was a bit slow to come out of the gates. But you can't entirely fault them, as the crowd was just as groggy. Once "In the Morning" hit, the pace of the show picked up as did the crowd enthusiasm. The harmonies between the lead singer Nathan Willett and lead guitarist Jonnie Russell were exceptionally good and took the songs to new levels of intensity. Easily their best moment was when they performed "Saint John." Singer Willett was soulfully singing the plight of Saint John while gesturing the sing along as if conducting the orchestra at Carnegie Hall. It was partially one of those moments you had to be there to understand the intensity, but there's always YouTube. The two new songs went down pretty well with the crowd. I booked it out to meet a friend right after "Hang Me Up to Dry" was finished, but I made sure to stay long enough to enjoy both of the vocals on that particular song. The Cold War Kids have definitely upped the ante with this performance.

After meeting a friend, we popped up to the north stage to see one of the more memorable shows of the weekend, Regina Spektor. To the delight of the crowd, Spektor sang her first song a cappella, the only accompaniment being the tapping of her finger on the microphone. After finishing the song, you could see the astonishment in her face, as she never expected the size crowd that she had staring back at her. It was a massive crowd. I didn't think that many people had ever heard of her, but I was wrong and I fully learned just how big that crowd was when trying to weave out of it later on in the show. During "The Flowers," Spektor stopped mid-song to come to the aid to a sick crowd member and inadvertently humor the crowd, as well. A group of people were trying to get the attention of the security people, but instead caught the eye of the performer, who immediately stopped her song to quiet the crowd and to get medical attention. After pleading for "Security" and the "Lollapalooza people" to come to the concertgoer's aid, she then helped part the crowd so the victim could be reached. Of course, she did this in a massively adorable fashion, which elicited some laughs (again, it's on YouTube). Once the fairly embarrassed and probably dehydrated person was attended to, Regina kicked right back into the song without missing a beat. Spektor is a very talented and engaging performer; team that with witty lyrics and a fusion of piano and guitar with Russian musical elements, and her set was a refreshing change from what many were exposed to at the festival. There's something about the stage she performed on, as last year I it was where I discovered Andrew Bird.

As much as I wanted to stay for the entirety of Spektor's set, my friend and I were informed that spaces were filling up fast for the main stage, and if we were going to see any of the performers for the rest of the evening, we best head out. My friend is a huge Snow Patrol fan, but she decided that she could see them anytime, so we dashed down to the south stage to catch the Yeah Yeah Yeahs instead. A good decision on our parts, that's for sure.

Admittedly, I have a very, very hard time enjoying bands that have female members, especially as frontwomen. I know it sounds sexist, and even weird coming from me, a female, but for the most part, they just bother me. I had just come from Spektor's show and I was very impressed and I'm thinking lightning can't strike twice, but how I was wrong.

My main issue is that female frontwomen don't quite know how to work a stage or a crowd without having to rely on sex appeal to engage them. Karen O comes waltzing on stage in this huge black and white cape with her dark eye makeup on and forehead covered in blue paint. She immediately caught the crowd's attention...and kept it. She's running from side to side on the stage, she's writhing around on the ground, she's all over the place. She's also wearing some crazy outfit made out of vinyl that probably didn't agree with the heat—or the rain, for that matter. At this point, the rain is coming down fairly steadily, but Karen O doesn't seem to mind and she continues to roam all over the place. And you know she's having fun, because she'll look very serious and then pull these rock star faces, but she'll always deliver a sly smile at the right time to let you know she's having just as much fun as you are. The YYYs wind down their set with a great live version of "Maps" (dedicated to summer love everywhere), "Date With the Night," and lastly "Y Control." I've been wanting to see this band live for so long and by the time it was over, I wanted to see more.

Right after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs finished, we managed to get even closer for the headliners, as people were exiting either because they wanted to see Interpol play or they just wanted to get out of the way of some seriously hardcore Muse fans. Either way, we got to get much closer and see a lot better. Now this is Muse's first official U.S. festival headlining show and it's also Perry Farrell's most anticipated set of the weekend, so we got to endure a yellow jumpsuit-clad Ferrell for an introduction. Farrell insists they're moving up here in the States and that soon they'll be a household name, while I laugh at his attempt to sound like he didn't just jump on the Muse bandwagon. Farrell exits and so begins a recording of a JFK speech that conspiracy theorists claims is evidence that JFK knew he was to be assassinated; words appear on the screens above the stage.

The recording finishes and Muse take the stage and begin the show with the opening song of their latest album, "Take a Bow." The song perfectly revs up a crowd that is largely familiar with current release Black Holes and Revelations and previous album Absolution. Much like Daft Punk, Muse brings a stunning visual and light show to accentuate the music. Soon into the set, singer/guitarist/pianist Matt Bellamy's classical piano training is best displayed in a piano solo during "Butterflies and Hurricanes," which is then followed by "Apocalypse Please," "Sunburn," and a cover of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good." Muse finish off their set with a stunning performance of "Stockholm Syndrome" before returning to complete it with an encore of "Plug in Baby" and crowd-pleaser "Knights of Cydonia."

Afterward, chatter around the park echoes similar sentiments of that being one of the best rock shows they've seen in a long time. But if you asked the band, it was the worst show they had ever done. According to XM radio, the guitar and vocal monitors were the only monitors working, so they were performing unable to hear what anyone else was doing. Now, really, if that's what they call their worst show ever, I would love to see the best show they've ever done, because what they gave the crowd in an hour and a half was ridiculously intense and out of control. You would have never have known they couldn't hear themselves. Well done, lads; well done.