Thunderstorms and heatstroke could never stop the Midwest’s largest music festival as hundreds of thousands filled Grant Park for the fifth annual Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. The festival, which showcased over one hundred and thirty bands, went on for three days. Read on for a recap of five standout performances (as well as related videos).

5. Dan Deaon and Ensemble

Deacon, who generally performs his electronic circus act alone, was accompanied by a 12-piece band that could barely even fit on the stage. In an hour of what seemed like Terry Riley on acid, Deacon had the audience encircling and bowing to a giant phallic balloon in the crowd and even dancing through man made tunnels all across the festival grounds. In the last few songs, an entire marching band joined the Dan Deacon Ensemble to which Deacon said, “we’ve only done this once and that was a few months ago”. The sound that followed was huge.  This was easily one of the most original acts at Lollapalooza and quite possibly the loudest as well.

4. Portugal. The Man

After the sound guys woke up nearly 15 minutes into the set and the overwhelming bass sound was turned down, a very tight band shined through the rough.  Portugal opened with the track “Church Mouth” but half way through, the song dove into Three Dog Night’s “One is the Loneliest Number”.  This sporadic unexpectedness continued through the performance as the group played Frankenstein creations composed of fragments of songs as well as extended jam sessions stemming from them.  The performance was astoundingly technical and took the audience on trips through rapidly changing meters.

3. Band of Horses

When Jane’s Addiction started their set promptly at 8:30 right across the field, Band of Horses was not nearly ready to be done.  Lead singer Ben Birdwell simply pointed at their stage and yelled “we’ve gotta blast that shit out!” The band not only played one more song but three more going over their allotted time by a half hour. After the stage crew took Birdwell’s guitar away during a trip into the audience to sing “Ode To The LRC” he simply grabbed a tambourine from the drummer and continued playing. The show was amazing but unfortunately declaring sonic warfare on Perry Farrell’s band at his own festival is a sure fire way to ruin your chances of returning.

2. The Decemberists

Colin Meloy’s 5-piece performed their album Hazards of Love from front to back. Just as the songs appear on the album, there was no break in their set and due to some very well planned transitions the music flowed seamlessly for the entire hour. Having featured Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond and Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond on the album, both made guest appearances in the performance.

1. Delta Spirit

This one took even Delta Spirit by surprise. When frontman Matt Vasquez walked on stage he was welcomed by a mob of fans that stretched beyond visibility. The band has only recorded one album, 2008’s Ode To Sunshine and did not have a huge fan base in comparison to many of the other acts at the festival but after an amazing and energetic performance on Saturday this will surely change. Few bands perform their songs as purely and accurately as the recorded versions but during the show, Delta Spirit had recreated Ode To Sunshine with such precision and perfection that it was almost better than the album itself.