I just took a look at the schedule again. I will likely be seen running rampant around the festival going to various stages. I also have some hard decisions to make on who I see when there are multiple awesome bands playing at the same time.

Sunday is the worst. Too many bands to choose between: Gnarls Barkely or Girl Talk? The Black Kids or Lupe Fiasco or the Raconteurs? NIN or Kanye West?

I’ve already decided that I will be saying goodbye to the festival with NIN on Sunday night instead of Mr. Kanye West. It will be the biggest bummer to miss Obama if the rumors reign true and he introduces Kanye. If people know what NIN has in store for them, I’m sure I won’t be alone in shunning Kanye on Sunday.

Kanye tells you (and Entertainment Weekly) that his show is amazing, spectacular, etc. But … NIN have been giving people their money’s worth for a lot longer than Kanye.

You R Here user swick is going to Lollapalooza. Are you? Send us photos of yourself, the bands, the scene, and we’ll put the best stuff right here on the blog or even on MTV! Get registered now at YouRHere.MTV.com.

Rock ‘n’ roll is all about release.

Leonard Cohen calls it “the minor fall and major lift.” Bono says it’s “when God enters the building.”

Call it what you will; it’s all about transcendence. And it’s difficult to come by, even when you try.

I’m not entirely sure Aimee Mann was shooting for any sort of transcendence at last night’s Highline Ballroom show. Her defiant avoidance of it, in fact, may have been a fairly radical choice. Or it may have just been a bad call. I’m not sure.

Of course, Mann’s solo career has been stridently independent and largely random from the start. There was no shortage of sing-a-long hits after ‘Til Tuesday (”That’s Just What You Are,” “Long Shot”), still, she wrestled with floundering major labels for years. It wasn’t until PT Anderson’s “Magnolia” soundtrack and her Grammy showdown with Phil Collins that her solo — and completely DIY (Mann helms her own label) — career took off.

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You R Here user chrystal6880 recently attended an intimate performance by the boy … er, man band, and interviewed her fellow New Kids fans afterward. Be sure and stick around till the end for one of the scariest tattoos you’ll ever see!

- “All I can say is WOW. I have seen Journey three times now, and this new lineup with singer Arnel Pineda is most definitely something special. The band (in particular Pineda) had the most energy that I have seen in years. Being a former musician myself, I am pretty tough on live performance critiques … but wowza, these guys tore it up. Not a wrong note from anyone, and so much energy throughout the band. They looked like they were back in their heyday.” (Lens Flare)

- “So I got to check out the Weird Al concert and the Police concert this past weekend. Both shows were pretty awesome. I saw Weird Al on Saturday with my boyfriend. There were a lot of costume changes, but they were able to keep us distracted with little mock interviews on the screen above the stage. … Sting and the Police with opening band Elvis Costello and the Impostors was Monday night, with my family. The bands played a lot of the classics as well as a few little-known songs. We had lawn seats, so I had a good old time jumping up and down and dancing with my sister.” (My Favorite Song (For Now))

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As MTV News’ own James Montgomery explained in this week’s Bigger Than the Sound column, Lollapalloza (and other festivals of its size) is at once exhilarating and exhausting:

“Really, when you think about it, summer festivals are awful. The sun is merciless, the lines are long and the port-a-potties are ripe. The tickets are expensive, the sound is terrible, and the sets are short. I can’t really understand why anyone — aside from those with a death wish or a thing for sunstroke — would go to, say, Lolla or All Points West. And yet, they do. In overwhelmingly large numbers.”

And why do they go? Well just check out this year’s lineup! It’s the music, stupid. Still, by the time day three of last year’s festival rolled around, even our intrepid news team couldn’t help but gripe a little bit. Witness this posting from August 5, 2007:

“The third and final day of Lollapalooza is off and running, and the once-pristine grounds here at Grant Park are soaked and muddy from the heavy rains that pummeled the Windy City for much of last night and all of this morning. The scattered vomit isn’t helping matters, either.

There are puddles everywhere, which are attracting flocks of thirsty Canadian geese, and each step one takes makes a disturbing squishy sound. The good news is the sun’s out. The bad news is this is by far the hottest day of the entire weekend. It’s not even 1 p.m. and I’m dripping with sweat.”

Ahh, memories.

Are you a big enough music fan to endure the festival atmosphere this weekend? Tell us about your experience and upload your photos at YouRHere.MTV.com!

Giants Stadium. Dusk. The house lights flicker, then fade. Carnival music wafts from the PA.

The E Street Band emerges: Little Steven, Patti, Clarence. A spotlight burns a white-hot line through the summer haze. A figure ascends: rounded shoulders, unruly mane. A cheer rises up.

“Bruuuuuuce!!!”

Springsteen returns the greeting.

“New Jersey!” he yells into the microphone. “New Jersey!! Newww Jerseyyy!!!”

And then it happens, the countdown that’s launched a million songs.

“1, 2, 3, 4!!!”

The band catapults into “Out In The Street,” accelerating from zero to sixty in less than two measures.

Springsteen is smiling from the word go. He’s sweating by the second chorus, jabbing at his Fender, strutting and posturing and posing.

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I’ve been to many concerts over the years, and you can usually tell right away whether or not the musicians onstage love what they’re doing. Saturday night was no exception. Within seconds of taking the stage, it was clear that New York’s Lights Resolve love every aspect of playing music, and that didn’t falter throughout their entire set. Whether it was guitarists Matt and Sherman jumping around the stage while playing, or drummer Neal smiling while hammering at the drum kit, Lights Resolve’s passion and exhilaration definitely had fans clapping and singing along during most of their performance.

I caught Lights Resolve’s show last Saturday at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and afterward they gave away tickets to their concert this past Saturday at the Blender Theater in New York. From jumping into the crowd while playing guitar in the middle of their set to bringing fans onstage to help out with a song, Lights Resolve kept Maxwell’s enthused throughout their nearly one-hour, intimate set. Obviously, I couldn’t help but see them again and brought along a few more friends this time.

Though their set in Hoboken was a bit longer, the Blender show didn’t disappoint. Starting out the night with guitar-driven song “The Hills and Michael Jackson” off of their most recent EP, Currency, Lights Resolve brought their soaring energy and prowess to the bigger stage. At times, bass guitarist Sherman played his red guitar high in the air with more enthusiasm than any bass guitarist I’ve ever encountered.

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Lollapalooza is back, and if it’s anything like last year’s festival, it’s sure to be a blast. Just check out these ‘07 Lolla fans dancing in the dirt and climbing trees to get a better view of the bands:

Don’t forget to bring your camera or cell phone, and capture all the craziness of Perry Farrell’s musical Mecca. Register now at You R Here and send us what you see!

Gnarls Barkley, the critically praised odd couple consisting of rapper Cee-Lo and producer Danger Mouse, had just finished a soulful version of their song “Blind Mary” when a full-scale orgy broke out in the aisle next to my wooden bench seat. Two blond females, one brunette female, one frat boy and one very gay male with horrible rhythm thrusted, groped, slapped, spanked, sucked, twisted, rubbed, licked, dry-humped and slithered amongst each other in a drunken state of lust as a thick marine layer rolled in over the Hollywood Hills.

With no regard for the organic berries and broken bottles of wine that had lost their battle with gravity earlier in the evening, these young Hollywood types turned the aisle in section T of the Hollywood Bowl into their own cheap East Hollywood hourly motel, not that anyone but myself seemed to notice. After all, the near-capacity crowd was too busy stuffing its Botox-filled faces with various organic goods, taking pictures of them selves to post on their MySpace page or discussing how “cultured” California is over those evil red states.

For those outside of the City of Angels, the Hollywood Bowl is the summer venue for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. While the Philharmonic might not play every night, they produce various events in coordination with the Hollywood Bowl. Local public radio station KCRW is now in its 10th year of putting on its World Music Festival at the Bowl. This is a chance for white people to experience music from various cultures in a beautiful outdoor setting.

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“Are you ready to f—ing rock and roll?” Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo asked fans as he took the Hollywood Bowl stage Sunday night.

Their response might as well have been, “Eh.”

The beyond-categorization duo, including producer Danger Mouse, gave their all in a frenetic performance for their super-fans — the ones who were there, anyway. The crowd could barely muster up a fraction of the energy the pair were giving them, except to yell at the stage, “Play ‘Crazy’!”

Ah, yes, the band’s radio mega-hit. The “Crazy” screams were finally quelled a dozen songs in when Cee-Lo introduced the overplayed (but still great) tune by saying, “I’m contractually obligated to play this song.” Despite the lackluster introduction, people lost their minds when the song started, shouting every word and bopping to the rhythm. Cee glanced at his watch toward the end of the song, longing for it to be over.

The fans must have been checking their watches too, because as soon as the song ended, half the Bowl cleared out. Seriously? Oh well — we got a better view of the stage and half a bottle of wine out of the early exodus, so it all worked out.

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