I’m not exactly sure whose idea it was, my daughter’s or mine. She had recently gone to a Radiohead concert in Charlotte and had proceeded to go out and buy all their music and I had noticed that Wilco, one of my favorites, was scheduled to appear at Lollapalooza this year. We were definitely going to the Midwest to visit family in Michigan and Chicagoland and one of us suggested taking in Lollapalooza while in Chicago.

My wife and other daughter had little interest but did not object to Dad and daughter attending the festival together. We went online and bought two three- day passes and then convinced a couple other friends with daughters to meet up with us. The result was three Dads in their mid-fifties with their teenage daughters spending three great days visiting and listening to music in one of the world’s great cities. I wasn’t a stranger to music festivals but had never been to anything on the scale on this year’s Lollapalooza.

The papers reported that the festival sold-out for the first time ever with over 225,000 tickets sold. The last time I had tried to see music in Grant Park was in high school when I found myself in the middle of a small riot when Sly and the Family Stone decided not to perform for a widely publicized free concert. This resulted in my first and only taste of tear gas.

The vibes this year were completely different with the police seeming to enjoy the festivities as much as the attendees. The only problem with the first day was the heat – mid-90’s and humid. We arrived at one in the afternoon and stayed until after 10:00 that evening. Despite the heat we all remained in good spirits. We explored the grounds and caught sets by Rogue Wave, Yeasayer, Duffy, Gogol Bordello, Cat Power, Bloc Party, and a spectacular set with three encores by Radiohead to cap off the day. I thought my daughter was going to burst when Thom Yorke came out on stage. We raced to catch a train back to the suburbs and collapsed into bed.

The second day we arrived at the festival mid-afternoon instead of when the gates opened. The Dads needed to see the end of the Cubs game before heading downtown. The weather was much more comfortable hovering in the low 80’s. The performers we saw were Explosions in the Sky, Jamie Lidell, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and Chicago favorite’s Lupe Fiasco and Wilco. Rage Against the Machine were playing at the same time as Wilco and attracted a much bigger audience than Wilco. This was fine with the Wilco fans and made watching the performance more pleasant. Jeff Tweedy and friends gave one of the best performances I’ve seen them do – another wonderful end to the day. I thought my daughter might want to wander to the Rage stage but once the Wilco set began she didn’t want to leave.

Another late start on day three. We are definitely in the energy conservation mode. After visiting with family we headed back downtown. My daughter is now telling me she would like to attend college in Chicago (she is about to start her senior year in high school) . She really enjoys being in a big city. The first performance we saw was Iron & Wine, a nice mellow start to the day. We then watched Flogging Molly, Girl Talk, Gnarls Barkley, The National, Mark Ronson, and chose to see Kanye West instead of Nine Inch Nails.

The best tee shirt I saw said “Sex, Drugs, and Christian Rock”. On the train home my daughter asks if we can come back next year. Her souvenirs are a Lollapalooza tee shirt and an Obama tee shirt. I am sure both items of clothing will be worn often back in North Carolina this fall. She doesn’t want to take her wristband off before she can show it off to her friends at home. Despite a brutally hot first day the festival was thoroughly enjoyable. My only suggestion would be to not sell so many tickets next year. The music was excellent and the crowd well-behaved. Despite being one of the oldest attendees I had a wonderful time. Who knows ….we may have started a family tradition.