As rock festivals go they are usually prejudged by the line up of headliners. And leading up to this year's Lollapalooza the stakes were set very high.  Headliners included recluse bands like Rage Against the Machine and Nine Inch Nails plus a nod to Chicago's hometown heroes Wilco and Second City homey Kayne West. And a rare sighting by Radiohead. None of them disappointed.

In fact, Wilco's performance was legendary as they turned in one of their gutsiest performances ever. Perhaps it was the hometown setting or perhaps they appreciated the head on battle they faced with competing stage heavy hitters Rage Against the Machine.  Whatever it was Jeff Tweedy and company turned in a performance for the ages. Not to say Rage was too shabby either.  Their performance garnered much of the media attention mostly for the action going on outside the venue walls where listeners attempted to crash the gate. But that was all Saturday evening. The stage was set on Friday with a transformational set by RadioHead and closed Sunday evening with an inspired Trent Reznor's NIN going head to head against Kayne West.  Lets just say Kayne really likes Kayne. And well Trent is just cool.

And although everyone wants to know how the big boys played, what tends to set this festivals apart are the bands in between. The great park like setting allows for some great moments during sun drenched days. The festival runs right on schedule and allows you to take in back to back to back performances without moving a muscle. With absolutely no time lost between sets one can hear Duffy, The Black Keys, Cat Power and the Rancontuers. And since sets are an hour and most bands are playing in front of larger crowds then they are used to, you tend to get great shows.

So who were this year's breakouts?  Katie White of The Ting Tings definitely gave one of the more inspired performances and Dr Dogg with their Beatles inspired sound showed they belong in the big leagues. Austin Texas' Okkervil River methodically performed their version of Americana and Devotchka proved you can rock with a tuba. The National lived up to their hype and you will probably be hearing more from Yeasayer if I have anything to do with the programming at KZYR!

In the end its three days of great people watching, short bathroom lines (if you know where to go) and reasonable priced beer and water ($2). and oh yeah the music rocks!