Lollapalooza Trip with Manchester Orchestra, Day 2

 

by Dan Hannon

Jeremiah (MO’s drummer) and I started off Day 2 by heading to a local favorite greasy-spoon-breakfast-joint called Jack and Benny’s.  Jeremiah had the ‘Eggs Benny’ with a potato pancake and a Nantucket Nectar OJ. I had the ‘Max Meat’ omelet.  I had recently given up sodas and drinks with caffeine in them, but a roadtrip like this calls for cruddy, greasy, fatty, trans-fatty grub with an ice cold ‘pop’. So, I had a Pepsi and savored the freedom of a guiltless meal.

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on West Lane in downtown Columbus, which happens to be located about 100 yards from the Lane Avenue Bridge. The Lane Avenue Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge over the  Olentangy River and it’s actually quite a marvel of engineering.  Jeremiah and I snapped some pictures of the bridge and headed back to the room to wake the rest of the bunch.

 

We loaded-in to a club called The Basement at 4 pm and the venue was already sold out with a line of dedicated fans sitting along the wall starting at the door and stretching out into the open concrete common  area.

 

Manchester Orchestra soundchecked with 4 new songs that they’ve written for the upcoming release tentatively titled “Mean Everything To Nothing”.  Let me just say that the new material is unbelievable  and will represent a landmark shift in the band’s maturity as a musical brotherhood and as a serious ROCK band. A lot of the material is based on REALLY memorable melodic guitar riffs and finely-penned  lyrical intensity.  I can’t wait for the world to hear this new and improved Manchester. The 5 people on staff at the club were riveted during the rehearsal and clapped and whistled after each song.

 

The crowd was amazingly engaged (even throughout the frayed performances of the new material) and the band treated them to an energetic, indie romp that would make a Kid Rock concert look like Wii Fitness at a nursing home in Russell, Kansas.

 

Lollapalooza Friday at 1:45 pm. We have to leave Columbus after the show and drive overnight to Chicago.

 

I miss my kids. I miss my wife.

Lollapalooza Trip with Manchester Orchestra, Day One

By Dan Hannon

Yesterday started in Atlanta with the band (Manchester Orchestra) and me meeting at 11am at Vision Rehearsal studios, loading the trailer and hitting the road!  Well, we hit the road to QuickTrip for some Rooster Booster Icees, 20 oz. Red Bulls, the current issue of Us and Star magazines, and some waters. THEN we hit the road!!

Well, after discovering that the GPS no longer worked, we hit the road to WalMart in Chamblee  (which is surprisingly short on van and trailer parking) to purchase a new unit. While Robert circled the parking lot, the rest of the guys sauntered into Walmart and I hurried into Smoothie King to get a 32 oz. Power Punch Plus to give me the ‘healthy boost’ that I expected to need for the first band road trip that I’ve embarked on in several years (not counting the short run in April for which I flew to Newport News, VA, hopped in the band van and rode with them back down to Atlanta after 2 shows).  So after acquiring the new Garmin GPS unit,  complete with a handy dash-mounting kit, and a selectable vehicle icon–either an arrow, car, or Monster truck–we were HITTING THE ROAD!! The road that led from Walmart to Suntrust Bank!!

Jeremiah needed to pull out some cash for per diems and other travel necessities. This would be the third trip up or down Peachtree Industrial Blvd. for me on this exciting first day of tour with world-traveling indie rock sensation Manchester Orchestra.  FINALLY, we have the money, we have the GPS, we have snacks and rivetingly-entertaining-celebrity-gossip-periodicals…we’re ready to HIT THE ROAD to Columbus, OH–our final destination on this exhilirating first day of the tour!!! YES!! Except that we have not yet redeposited any of our crisp $10 bills that we all received as per diem money (yes, even little ole me!!) at the  prestigious Bank of Chik-Fil-A, an establishment that has welcomed many a $10 bill from us throughout our many roadtrips! How could we pass up such an opportunity to invest in our nutritional futures?!  SO, once again we were journeying up Peachtree for another arduous two-tenths of a mile.

After we finished eating at Chik-fil-a (I chose just to finish my Smoothie), we headed back up Peachtree to Vision Rehearsal Studios to complete a sort of round-trip-supply-gathering-test-run-tour. ‘Why back to Vision Studios’, you ask? Well, I had forgotten my sunglasses, of course.

We arrived in Columbus, OH at about 11:30 pm est at the Holiday Inn.  We ordered 3 medium 3-topping-pizzas from Papa John’s and retired to bed with full bellies.

Over.

A whole lotta palooza.

ONE Atlanta’s own Dan Hannon will be tour managing Manchester Orchestra this week as they head to Chicago to play at Lollapalooza ‘08.  Check back here starting Thursday for his blogs from the road.

 

This year’s fest includes: Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, The Raconteurs, Wilco, Nine Inch Nails, Love and Rockets, Gnarls Barkley, Dierks Bentley, Manchester Orchestra, Iron & Wine, Toadies, and many many others.  Check out the Lollapalooza web site for the complete list.

 

Who do you wish you were going to be there to see?  Or will you be there?