Lollapalooza 2007

I just got home this morning from Chicago, where Lollapalooza was taking place. The Roots had a late afternoon set time so I was there a little early setting up and making sure things would go smoothly for our show. I was lucky enough by chance to see the first act on our stage perform. I in no way was prepared for what I experienced! The group was called " I'm from Barcelona," and they were by far the most incredible band/group/circus/choir/entertainment I have seen in several YEARS!!! I can only do my best to describe to you what I saw and I'm sure I will not do them much justice, but trust me on this one, I still to this very hour am amazed at what I witnessed! When they first ran onto the stage I didn't quite know what was going on and thought maybe some fans had actually rushed the stage cause there were what seemed like at least 30 people running around. The only thing I could compare their entrance onto the stage to is something similar to the greatest pop bands fourth and final encore. I mean every single one of the 29 members attacked the stage and began to engage the crowd as if they had already been playing for 45 minutes. The leader and front man was an extremely awkward looking individual carrying an inflatable pool raft. He said a few words about how excited they all were to be there because their flight had been canceled and so aparently they had just barely made their show time. Then they began their first song titled "Tree House," and everyone was dancing around on stage doing hand motions to an incredibly catchy chorus. Now you have to understand, at first glance I thought these guys are a joke, but then after seeing how the audience was reacting to them and hearing how simple but hooky the song was, I started to pay more attention. Then at the climax of the song the front man jumped out into the audience and began crowd surfing with the raft he had brought out onto the stage. And so I was hooked! The rest of their set was amazing with no lapse of energy or any hint of slowing down they turned heads and managed one of the biggest audiences of the day as an opening act! It was shear genius. The simplicity and catchiness of their songs made it so that every person in earshot of the stage was sining along, including myself! You have to check some of these guys' videos out on youtube. Make sure you go and support this amazing group from Sweden!