The end is upon us here on the final day of Lollapalooza. I haven’t looked at the actual temperature, but my body is telling me today is the hottest day. This doesn’t bode well for me since today is my earliest day, because I had to catch Austin, Texas’ awesome instrumental band the Octopus Project.

The Octopus Project’s music consists of rockin’ jams with a background of some “Mario Bros.”-esque synthesizer action. I first thought I had walked onto the comedy act of Dane Cook when the first thing the group said is that shouting is not an appropriate answer to “How you doin’ today?” Instead, they wanted us to answer, “Fantastic, thanks for asking!” I was excited to see everyone really enjoying their set, because they won over a lot of fans.

During the first song, they passed out around a hundred balloons and asked everyone to blow them up (and not tie them off) and then release them during a certain part of the song. All the balloons were the long, skinny kind with stripes on them. During the climax, the crowd released them and it was actually a fun, new sight to see.

The Go! Team are a more well-known group, yet the crowd was much more receptive to the Octopus Project’s demands. At one point the crowd was divided in two and asked to clap at opposing times. I had little faith in the crowd to pull this off, because clapping almost always gets off beat. The crowd pulled it off; furthermore, they carried it throughout the entire set.

Also like the Go! Team, the bandmembers continually exchanged instruments with each other. I would love to know if there is a plan for who plays what instrument during which song. They changed it up even more than Go! did. The highlight was the Theremin played by the sole female member of the group.

The Theremin is super-retro and straight out of the ’60s (and it looks it too). A hush fell on the crowd when she started playing it, because no one could figure out what it was. It reacts to motion so she played it with her hands in the air, waving them about like a wizard. Everyone loved the retro toy.

I was so stoked to see them again and see the crowd enjoying every second of it. You could tell they were really digging playing Lollapalooza and surprised by the crowd’s awesome reaction.

Day three is busting with good bands: Girl Talk, Gnarls Barkley, the Black Kids, Iron & Wine, NIN, Kanye. It’s ridiculously awesome. Although, the most unfortunate part is Girl Talk is playing one of the smaller stages, the reason for which is beyond me. I would have to get to the stage at least two hours early to secure a good spot, which I doubt I will do in this heat. Nonetheless, I will be there for every second rockin’ out with Greg Gillis.

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