"I can't find you, and everyone looks like Warpaint."

Bill and I had muddy, musical adventures at Lollapalooza and now we're going to share them with you! Aren't you lucky? The Gaslight Anthem were easily a highlight for me. Handwritten has been in constant rotation since it's release (everyone who has seen me driving down the road has almost certainly been exposed to me singing along to this album). There is nothing forced about their music, and this is only more evident in a live setting. Standing under the trees of Grant Park with the Chicago skyline as a perfect backdrop, everyone in the crowd singing along: this is what music is about to me. Just taking it all in and being taken by a moment.

This show kicked total ass from the moment the band walked on the stage to Fugazi's Waiting Room until the last notes of The Backseat (with a nice U2 snippet thrown in). I can't even single out anything, it was just one big ball of beautiful, heartfelt music.

I also wanted to post two of my favorite songs (Gaslight or otherwise) that have been released this year (or in several), Teenage Rebellion and National Anthem. The songwriting and awareness in these songs is truly beautiful. Enjoy. (Sorry the YouTube video for Teenage Rebellion looks like some big spammy advertisement. It's the only one I could find. Deal with it.)

And this performance had to be included. I like so much about the things this chooses to be.