Playboy.com's Tim Lowery and Antonia Simigis are happy and exhausted, having completed their three-day music marathon. Here are their final thoughts on the fest:

Iron and Wine: Lollapalooza's program warned audiences to keep their mouths shut during this set, so everyone could take in Sam Beam's vocals. That the super-chatty audience didn't ruin this show only highlighted how much this band has changed -- nowadays it's a little more the Sea & Cake than The Sea and the Rhythm. Beam opted for an electric guitar, even using distortion and wah-wah pedals. Teamed with a percussion section, bass and lap steel, Beam's laidback boogies even prompted a few hippie dances. Something tells me that if this had been at night, a few glow sticks would've been tossed, too. --Tim Lowery

Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails and more after the jump.... 

Saul Williams: Considering that Saul Williams was playing only a few hours before Nine Inch Nails, and Trent Reznor was a guiding hand in Williams's recent album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, I was really hoping that Reznor might show up during his friend's set. No such luck. And Williams could have used the help: The songs on NiggyTardust!, which approach hip-hop from both a glam rock and industrial angle, were executed weakly by his sub-par band. I love Williams in concept -- he has a Bowie-esque mystique about him -- but when he launched into a miserable cover of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday," I knew it was time to bail. --Antonia Simigis

Girl Talk: Confession: I've never really liked Girl Talk. Before you start commenting on this post that I therefore don't like having fun -- the general retort from Girl Talk fans -- understand this: There are just things I'd rather listen to than Greg Gillis's saccharine sweet mash-ups of Lil Wayne's "A Milli" and Weezer's "Say It Ain't So." But I also must confess that I had never seen the man live. My verdict? With all confetti, people in costumes dancing onstage, toilet paper dispensing mechanisms and general nuttiness, I actually had a good time. Then, while it took forever to get leave the insanely packed crowd (they should have just made Gillis a headliner), some guy pushed me and I almost fell over. Pissed and a little embarrassed, I muttered, "God, I hate Girl Talk." --TL

Mark Ronson: Music producers may not always be the best musicians, but when the marquee has their name on it you can bet it's going to be a good show. Why? Because they know a lot of the best musicians. Mark Ronson openly admitted he could only play one guitar riff (which happened to be Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine," giving the crowd a good laugh). But he was a fearless bandleader to a killer horn section, a sexy all-girl string section and a revolving door of guests (Rhymefest, Kenna, Plastic Little, Candi Payne) that popped on and offstage, variety show-style, for an assortment of covers from Ronson's recent album Version, including Ryan Adams's "Amy" and "Stop Me" by the Smiths. But the college-age crowd seemed most thrilled when Ronson welcomed  Phantom Planet onstage for a rendition of  "California." As they launched in, I heard multiple squeals of "Ohmigod, he's covering the theme song from The OC!" from the college-age crowd. --AS

The National: After I nudged through the heap of young, drunk dancing bodies that is a Girl Talk show, I found a perfect respite with the National. I've had a soft spot with this band for a while, and it's been a pleasure watching them grow from "that band that played with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" to one where much of a fest-sized audience shouted along. Singer Matt Berninger, with his typical pained expression and closed eyes, is a different kind of frontman; he seemed so focused on whichever song they were playing -- whether it was the slow-burning opener "Star a War" or the rousing ending of "Secret Meeting" -- that the show felt less like a spectacle and more like an intimate gathering. --TL

Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails: It was a little cruel for Lollapalooza to make fans choose between Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails, two of the more compelling acts on the weekend's bill. There were rampant rumors that Barack Obama was going to introduce Kanye -- I even heard some police chatting about it -- so I started the night off there. Turns out they were just rumors. Still, Kanye pulled off stellar laser-fueled hometown show that included a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," which he tearfully dedicated to his dearly-departed mom. He hit the stage on time, too, redeeming himself after his much-maligned 4am appearance at Bonnaroo earlier this year. Halfway through I booked it across the field to catch the tail end of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor is a brilliant, passionate musician, but he's looking bizarre these days -- I liked him better when he didn't have 40-inch arms and still had a neck. Still, he played like a trooper, fighting to sing with a very hoarse voice and indulging the crowd with old favorites like "Head Like a Hole" and "Hurt."  He ended his set with a quiet piano chord and a whisper, a subtle coda to the festival. --AS

photos: Maureen Vana and Andrew Fearman