Summer Music Festival Wrap-up

It's always a sad day when the weather starts to cool off and the sun goes away at 5pm. Here in Chicago, the only thing that can prepare me for winter is to put on my snow suit and stand in front of a max speed fan for a few hours. But what better way to pay homage to summer more than sharing some of the highlights of the summer concert festival that was? From Pitchfork to Coachella to Lollapalooza, I have compiled a playlist of some of the best performances of the summer, spanning the country. Enjoy, you uncivilized heathens:

It's a Sunday morning, that means we all need to get ourselves out of bed and actually do something with ourselves today. My plan? Maybe go to the driving range or something. Grammy Award winning artists, Arcade Fire got everyone's attention at Coachella this year with their closing number "Wake Up". Even though I'm not entirely sure that Win Butler isn't actually Two Face, he and his band sure can rock. Who would have ever thought that a band comprised mostly of strings could sound this b? 

Just because I like my readers, I thought that I would give you a double shot of Wiz Khalifa. Maybe I'm biased because Wiz hails from my home state, but he's still one of the best new rappers in the game. Personally, Wiz should have probably been slated to play at night just so we could see the mushroom cloud of  smoke hovering over the crowd. Regardless of how inebriated the crowd and/or Wiz were when this show went down, it's a shame that I couldn't get to Cali for this show.

Delta Spirit is a band that really should just release new material in time for summer. In this video, they play the summer anthem, "Trash Can" at this year's Lollapalooza festival. Some of the talent at Lollapalooza has dipped slightly, but Delta Spirit has to be considered a pure speculation pick. Having them play at a festival like Lolla is kind of like taking an undrafted rookie running back in the late rounds of a draft, then having him blow up and lead the league in rushing (see Arian Foster). Most people aren't quite sure of what they're going to get, but as soon as you put them in the lineup, they make your team (festival) miles better. Here's looking at you, Delta Spirit--you just rushed for 1,600 yards.

Last but certainly not least, my favorite performance of the entire summer festival series--"Wide Eyes" by Local Natives. I may be a little biased here too, as I've seen these guys on a few occasions and let me tell you, they can blow the roof off the place. Somewhere, David Crosby is crying tears of joy that another Laurel Canyon band is proudly carrying the torch of the great LA bands that came before them. Let's not forget that Taylor Rice has maybe the coolest moustache in the business.

I'm sure that I missed some great performances. If you see a glaring weakness in any of my favorites, let me know.