I awoke on a rainy Saturday morning to a hearty breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs and fresh zucchini pie patties provided by our hosts for the weekend – my cousin and her fiancée. Having gotten a terrible sunburn the day before, the meal definitely started me off on a much better foot then when I first arose from my slumber.

We left around 11:30 and took the blue-line subway towards Grant Park.

Once we got there, Brian and I started trying different foods from the Chow Town section of the festival grounds and doing interviews for the food article, available here.

From watermelon-jalapeño popsicles to gourmet burgers, Lollapalooza had much more to offer then just the usual concert junk food.

After we were done sampling some of Lollapalooza’s finest culinary offerings, we saw the Australian indie-rock duo An Horse perform to kick off the day. I’d heard of the band before, but never actually listened to their material.

Unfortunately, we only saw the last part of the show, but it was pretty good. Kate Cooper, lead singer of the band, has good pipes and can really shred.

With Brian wanting to see Friendly Fires perform on the Bud Light stage, I went to the Music Unlimited stage over on the opposite side of the festival grounds to watch the indie-soul band Fitz and the Tantrums.

Overall, Fitz and the Tantrums had, in my opinion, one of the best performances all festival. With soul interpretations of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” and the Raconteurs  “Steady As She Goes,” the five-piece band from Los Angeles really rocked the crowd with their retro sound that has a modern pop feel.

It’s refreshing and different to hear a band that doesn’t have  a guitarist in their band but does has a horn section. It adds a different dimension to their music that isn’t too common in this day and age.

After the Fitz show, Brian and I met back up in the media tent to conduct an interview with Zach and Ryan of Portugal the Man and then went to check out former Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump.

We only needed to hear two songs before realizing that his new solo act was nothing special, and decided to instead get a good spot for Cee Lo Green on the main stage.

Donning a black dress and shoulder pads covered in spikes, Cee Lo and his band of bondage- and goth-clad outfits tore through a set featuring Gnarls Barkley hits as well as songs from his solo releases like “Smiley Faces” and “Crazy”.

Ending with the popular “Fuck You,” Cee Lo’s onstage antics and presentation made him one of more entertaining and interesting acts of the weekend.

One of the general problems with a mainstream festival like this is that you have to make difficult decisions of who to see, because the times for a lot of acts often clashed with each other

A prime example of this was the conflict that closed out day two of the festival – My Morning Jacket, Beirut and Eminem all played at the same time. With his always-limited tour schedule, Brian and I decided that Eminem was the best choice.

Opening with “Won’t Back Down,” Detroit’s hometown act maximized his set list to include a fair majority of his extensive catalogue by playing only half of songs.

With guests like Bruno Mars, Skylar Grey and the other half of Bad Meets Evil, Royce Da 5’9”, Eminem brought the energy to one of the largest crowds all weekend.

Although Saturday was considered by some to be the weak link of the festival, acts like Fitz and the Tantrums, Cee Lo Green, and Eminem truly made it memorable.

To check out photos from Lollapalooza, click here