Lollapalooza | 08.07-08.09 | Chicago
By Team JamBase Aug 12, 2009 • 7:30 pm PDT

Lollapalooza :: 08.07.09 – 08.09.09 :: Grant Park :: Chicago, IL
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No other American music festival of this scale is as easily accessible within a major metropolitan area. Krispy Kream also mentioned, “Most festivals are in rural areas that are very hard to access and Lolla is in Chicago, one of the biggest cities in the U.S.” With public transportation all around, top-notch restaurants, clubs and music venues all within earshot of the park and enough history to write an epic about, Lollapalooza truly is a one-of-a-kind, albeit ephemeral, urban utopia. With enough quality bands to please the most fickle of music fans and after hours shows in just about every venue each night, there was little time to sleep this weekend and JamBase was more than happy to sacrifice some shut eye to soak it all in and give our beloved readers a full report. (WH)
Friday, 08.07
The Knux – 1:00-1:45 p.m., Citi Stage
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Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears – 1:00-2:00 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears tried to get booties shaking early on with their generic ’70s funk, but they lacked three key ingredients for success in this field – a singer not blatantly impersonating James Brown, a seriously distinctive guitarist or other instrumentalist, and a cache of standout original songs. I guess they were playing their own songs, but they were in a singles bar cover band zone. (CR)
The Builders And The Butchers – 1:45-2:30 p.m., BMI Stage
I was able to duck out to the north for a bit to catch The Builders And The Butchers, a party band with a much more original sound. They blend rhythm-driven folk styles heavy on the mandolin with hip-hop and punk inflections, sort of like a high-speed urban bluegrass. What I saw was fun and engaging, and I wished I could stay under the shelter of the trees at the BMI Stage all weekend. Friday featured a nagging drizzle that fluctuated through all levels of annoying almost the whole day, and none of the main stages are near any reasonable shelter. (CR)
The Gaslight Anthem – 2:00-3:00 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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Perry’s Dance Area Introduction and Dark Wave Disco – 2:45-3:45 p.m., Perry’s
My crew headed northward towards Bon Iver, but not before making our first stop at Perry’s, an impressive venue entirely devoted to dance music that Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell described to JamBase as “a hybrid area with the ability to accommodate 10,000 people. It’s not a dance tent, we like it under trees. It’s a custom built DJ Tower that has LED screens, new DJ software with fresh capabilities so that the young people that are producing this music and creating their own videos will be able to do all this and work their machinery on stage.”
The party atmosphere was emanating from Perry’s as DJ Trancid managed to encapsulate the entire vibe of Lollapalooza past, present and future in the first three minutes by sampling Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” seamlessly into a slowed down, pitched up twist on MGMT’s “Kids” as a horde of young fans formed a tribal dance circle while passing around a shoe (much like “The Conch” in Lord of the Flies) signifying the leader of the makeshift dance troupe. The realm of dance music has undoubtedly bled into the mainstream as evidenced by such popular artists as Santigold, MGMT and the huge crowds at Perry’s throughout the weekend providing further evidence of the burgeoning acceptance of the medium. (WH)
Bon Iver – 3:00-4:00 p.m., Playstation Stage
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Heartless Bastards – 3:00-4:00 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
Clearly, the Heartless Bastards weren’t about to get the dance party started in earnest; so, for me, this was the most unfortunate scheduling choice of the day. I’ll give singer Erika Wennerstrom some credit for coming off a lot like Chan Marshall, but with actual stage presence. She is the clear focal point of the band, the first of many charismatic, intriguing female artists on this year’s Lolla stages. The other two guys were another story, either confined within the droney constraints of the songs or just not able to assert themselves. In another setting, this could have been an hour of pastoral dirtiness, harnessing the crawling beauty of old My Morning Jacket, but in the middle of an afternoon of mostly uptempo music, amidst a dreary rainstorm, this set just lost me. (CR)
STS9 – 4:00-5:00 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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Ben Folds – 4:00-5:00 p.m., Budweiser Stage
Ivory wunderkind Ben Folds took the Budweiser Stage to a largely sedate crowd and unfortunately had some problems with the sound mix early on. Always the showman, Folds managed to keep the audience engaged with his dazzling flourishes on the piano and unabashedly poppy lyrical hooks running through his staple cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” (always cracks me up to see the sideburned Folds summoning his inner ’90s rapper) and new single “You Don’t Know Me” before closing the set with the always enjoyable “Army,” a song about the soul searching quarter-life period of living. Rain and music festivals are rarely a good mix and their was no end in sight as forecasts called for heavy rain and thunderstorms throughout the evening. (WH)
Crystal Castles – 5:00-6:00 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Fleet Foxes – 5:00-6:00 p.m., Playstation Stage
One of the biggest indie rock success stories of the decade (playing SNL only months after releasing their debut LP on Sub Pop), Fleet Foxes were one of the most anticipated shows of the weekend and the “beard rockers” (see Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket, and Bon Iver for other examples of this growing sub-genre) showered the poncho-wearing audience with their shimmering vocal harmonies and intricately arranged pastoral folk jams. Tunes like “Ragged Wood” had the crowd doing their best to sing-along with the gifted young band. The lighthearted banter between songs was a welcome diversion during tuning as drummer Josh Tillman offered to sublet his beard on Craigslist for the rest of the summer. In perhaps an attempt to part the clouds and end the relentless rainfall, the band opened their set with a pair of tracks off their debut Sun Giant EP, starting with the title cut before playing “Sun It Rises,” a couple of lustrous tunes that couldn’t conjure a break in the clouds. The Foxes’ chills-inducing brand of folk rock reached its apex at the end of the set with the trio of “He Doesn’t Know Why,” the jaw-dropping “Mykonos” and “Blue Ridge Mountains” as the rain shockingly subsided for the remainder of the day, much to the relief of the sold out crowd in Grant Park. (WH)
Thievery Corporation – 6:00-7:00 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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Peter Bjorn & John – 6:30-7:30 p.m., Citi Stage
I was anxious to catch a little bit of Peter Bjorn & John’s set and headed down to the Citi Stage to check out the Swedish indie pop trio. Some far out vocal effects translated well on stage for the live reading of “Objects of My Affection,” then we drifted on down to the vitaminwater Stage for of Montreal. (WH)
of Montreal – 7:00-8:00 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Andrew Bird – 7:00-8:15 p.m., PlayStation Stage
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Kings Of Leon – 8:15-10:00 p.m., Budweiser Stage
I have to say I think Bird topped Kings Of Leon, though. Okay, I confess I was not a huge fan prior to this show, but I went out there with love for at least a couple of their songs and a real desire to be converted by their headlining set. But as usual, the overbearing impression I got from this band, intrusively from singer Caleb Followill in particular, is a suffocating need to be admired – rock star bravado without the substance to back it up. These guys write solid pop music that for some reason sounds like it’s from England, no doubt about it. They also play that music competently on stage. I simply don’t believe these emotions they’re trying to project, the ones that produce the combustible sex. I hoped I’d feel like pumping my fist or banging my head or at least clapping rapturously at some point, but I was just bored.
As a partial concession to KoL, maybe I was just feeling the dance party that day. I caught the tail end of Crookers‘ set and thought it killed, and then Kid Cudi came on quickly and kept Perry’s bumpin’ for another half hour to close out my Friday. It was a welcome pick-me-up; I couldn’t let the first day end in a nosedive. (CR)
Depeche Mode – 8:00-10:00 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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The crowd dynamic was something I had only previously witnessed watching videos of Glastonbury as the entire audience swooned with their hands in the air as DM poured through their vast catalogue with hit songs like “Enjoy the Silence,” “Personal Jesus,” “Policy of Truth” and “A Question of Time” rousing the crowd to their highest levels of euphoria. Gahan’s voice has a commanding power from the lower register that billows out clear as a bell all the way to the back of the field. Industrial strength drum lines and synth-ed out keyboards are Depeche’s modus operandi and seeing it unfold in the flesh is something I would have never imagined if they hadn’t been brought to the Lollapalooza stage. That’s the beauty of an event like Lollapalooza, as Perry Farrell told us the Monday before the fest when asked what his favorite thing was about music festivals, simply offering, “Everyone wins, the musicians win, [the fans] get to hear the music that they’ve been listening to on their iPods or online all year. They get to actually see them perform. Everybody at the festival wins.” (You can read the entire Perry Farrell interview here.) (WH)
Continue reading for Saturday’s coverage of Lollapalooza…
The Low Anthem – 12:00-12:45 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
Living Things – 12:45-1:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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Delta Spirit – 12:30-1:30 p.m., Budweiser Stage
Delta Spirit is no stranger to the road or the festival circuit. Having cut their teeth opening for Cold War Kids, Dr. Dog and currently for The Shins, Matthew Vasquez and his bandmates seem at home on big stages as a result of their experiences traversing the country for 150-200 shows a year since forming in 2005. Vasquez commented on how great it was to play to such a huge early crowd saying, “We usually play for 200 people, so this is amazing.” Delta Spirit’s uplifting jangle soul rock and percussive backbeats were just the thing to get the early birds going as Vasquez beckoned the crowd shouting, “If you’re feelin’ what I’m feelin’ come on/ All you soul-searching people c’mon!” Midway through the set, Vasquez took the mic and explained that it was his brother’s wedding day and that he was supposed to be the best man so he decided to give him a call from the stage and get the crowd to help out with his unique wedding day gift by screaming, “Congratulations, Travis,” into the phone. But seriously, what kind of brother gets married when his little brother is playing at Lollapalooza? No respect. The anthemic “Trashcan” was sandwiched between a short solo cover of Mark Dvorak’s “The Streets of Old Chicago” and a loungy cover of Louis Armstrong’s “St. James Infirmary” before the always rousing ’60s style political plea “People, Turn Around” to close a brilliant set. (WH)
Constantines – 1:00-1:45 p.m., Citi Stage
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Ida Maria – 2:15-3:00 p.m., Citi Stage
Possibly the “it” girl of the weekend, but unfortunately, what comes off as endearingly bratty pop on record becomes a tad obnoxious when she sings it live. It was still kinda fun, especially for the first few songs, but it began to grate pretty quickly. I suddenly realized that I’d become that guy, just waiting to hear the “Naked” song, so I took off. (CR)
Los Campesinos! – 2:30-3:30 p.m., Budweiser Stage
I figured I’d walk by Perry’s en route to Los Campesinos! and see if Animal Collective‘s DJ set grabbed me. It didn’t, but you can’t help but be grabbed by the Welsh band with the Spanish name. These guys are nothing if not in your face. They are like electro-Vaselines; just as cute, but not cuddly. They have a lot of really good songs, but they all strike me as a bit sterile, like a bunch of clever jokes they don’t think the audience gets. Maybe I just haven’t let LC! sink in enough yet, but only “You! Me! Dancing!” really connected with me during this set. Major hipster points for covering Pavement‘s “Box Elder,” though. (CR)
Atmosphere – 2:30-3:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
DJ Kaskade – 1:30-2:30 p.m., Perry’s
Langhorne Slim – 1:45-2:30 p.m., BMI Stage
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Joe Pug – 3:00-3:45 p.m., BMI Stage
I had to catch a bit of Pug’s set, and, as it turned out, it was the solo portion of the show, so the burgeoning Dylan parallels were acutely apparent. Yes, in lyrics, voice and harmonica, Pug is an awful lot like Dylan, but he does have something Bob always lacked – warmth. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be called Chicago’s new Dylan for the 21st century? Pug’s songs, particularly the lyrics, are occasionally that good. (CR)
Gomez – 3:30-4:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Chairlift – 3:30-4:30 p.m., Citi Stage
Like a less dancey, airy version of the Brazilian Girls, Chairlift is an interesting trio that mostly delivers dreamy soundscapes that would fit in perfectly on some tripped-out, foggy sunrise nature video with starlet lead vocalist Caroline Polachek‘s intoxicating voice zoning the listener into the material. My preconceived notions of this band prior to the weekend could not have been any further removed from reality, and I’m thankful at the opportunity to have seen them twice this weekend (I also caught their set at The Apple Store on Thursday with Passion Pit). (WH)
Coheed And Cambria – 4:30-5:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
I finally got to witness the phenomenon that is the Coheed And Cambria music factory. You know, it’s a shame when such talented musicians devote their talents to such derivative, corny pursuits. Some maddeningly cool shit sometimes happened in the proggy interplay between the instruments, but as long as Claudio Sanchez is up there singing and playing his Satriani-on-steroids guitar, there’s no escaping the cheese. And who was clamoring for a power metal makeover of The Church‘s “Under The Milky Way?” I couldn’t help shuddering. (CR)
Arctic Monkeys – 4:30-5:30 p.m., Budweiser Stage
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Santigold – 5:30-6:30 p.m., Playstation Stage
The huge crowd migrated ever so slightly over to the Playstation Stage to catch a glimpse of the ceaselessly protean Brooklynite Santigold, one of the most exciting new artists on the scene in 2009. In full command of the late afternoon crowd, little Ms. White entertained us, delivering “L.E.S. Artistes” and “Say Aha” early on as her robotically syncopated dancer/background singers flanked her. Tough to categorize as she moves from ska-punk to diva pop to electro rock with ease, Santi declared boastfully, “I’ve got to be unstoppable,” amongst the stickiest of beats, and judging by her ever-growing fanbase and affable charm we’ll probably be seeing her around for years to come. Go see Santigold. (WH)
No Age – 5:00-6:00 p.m., Citi Stage
Glasvegas – 5:30-6:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Lykke Li – 6:30-7:30 p.m., Citi Stage It would’ve been tough for anybody to really top Glasvegas, yet Lykke Li somehow pulled it off. She came out almost unassumingly, and the peculiar, immaculate songs began to speak for themselves. I wasn’t really expecting her to have this amazingly tight band behind her, but these guys shifted between hi- and lo-fi textures, from busy to minimal, with precision and grace. And that voice! She’s even more engrossing live, and I couldn’t even see her half the time. It was an hour of perfect, haunting, intoxicating pop music, and I was mesmerized. (CR)
Animal Collective – 7:30-8:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Animal Collective – 7:30-8:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
BEWARE OF RANT: For the second time this summer, I attended an Animal Collective festival set with high expectations and once again, like their Bonnaroo set, I walked away simply not being able to wrap my head around the hype that has been building for years. Likeminded music fans, blogs, and websites can’t seem to get enough of these dudes these days, yet their set of swirling cacophony rarely resembled any kind of coherent melodic thought at any point. I consider myself accepting of all kinds of music and always eager to find new sounds but I just don’t get the appeal about this group as a live band. On record these guys show great potential, but I have found their performances to be aimless and desultory as they meander through languid walls of noise and cacophonous yelping. To wrap up this rant, I want to like this band, and as I said, there are several songs on record that lead me to believe there is hope for a “click” moment; I just haven’t gotten there yet. The only thing I will likely remember from this show were the two kids who passed out cold within twenty feet of me and within three-minutes of each other. Scary. (WH)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – 8:30-10:00 p.m., Budweiser Stage
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Tool – 8:30-10:00 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
Tool once again pulled back the curtain to the theater of the morose and despicable, unleashing their visceral fury on Grant Park to close down night two. Vocalist-frontman Maynard James Keenan commented on the incredible gulf between the two bands headlining Saturday night in the most sarcastic of tones: “The only shame is that we had to miss the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” which was met with a smattering of laughter.
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The crowd for the Tool set was aggressive and anyone with any intention of getting out from the front of the ruckus had to be crowd-surfed out. Intense but respectful, most fans were simply too entrenched in the music to cause a bother. Whether you like them musically or not, these guys bring a certain kind of passion and production to festival main stages that is hard to find anywhere else.
With two days in the book and my brain sufficiently shaken from the horrid imagery of the Tool show, it was now time to head home and then to seek the familiar territory of STS9‘s late night show at House of Blues. (WH)
Continue reading for Sunday’s coverage of Lollapalooza…
Alberta Cross – 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Ra Ra Riot – 12:30-1:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
Hoo-boy, running on four hours of sleep with the heat index surpassing 100 degrees, this should be fun. Wait, it’s like this at every festival come Sunday… Ra Ra Riot is not a bad band at all, but it is a part of this new breed of MOR-indie that’s been made safe for the entire world by Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend. Having violin in your rock band is no longer enough to be considered “eclectic,” and this band just doesn’t have strong enough songs yet to set itself apart. “Too Too Too Fast” came closest with its ’80s synth riff borrowed from Rush‘s “Subdivisions,” but it was the lone oddball of the set. (CR)
Portugal The Man – 1:30-2:30 p.m., Playstation Stage
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Bat For Lashes – 1:30-2:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
Bat For Lashes, the stage name of Natasha Khan, started slow and never really sped up, but she did seem to ease into her comfort zone gradually and ended up in control of the initially hesitant crowd. I’d been thinking that the new Two Suns album had really made 2006’s Fur And Gold seem primitive, but I was impressed at how much stronger the old songs were now; “Trophy” and “Tahiti” seemed much richer, and “Priscilla” was a highlight of the set. She sometimes has a mournfulness that approaches PJ Harvey levels, and her voice can be similarly striking, but this cohesive set was a convincing display of Khan’s emerging talent. (CR)
The Airborne Toxic Event – 2:30-3:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
The “Airborne Toxic Event” might have been a description of the stench that had permeated the south end of the grounds since Saturday morning, but instead it was a band. This band is so oddly, definably Irish-rock-sounding, yet it’s from L.A. I don’t know for sure if this contributes to how contrived the songs seem, but Mikel Jollett reminds me way too much of Caleb Followill in delivery and tone, and whether or not he believes in what his band is selling, I’m not buying it. (CR)
Kaiser Chiefs – 2:30-3:30 p.m., Budweiser Stage
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The Raveonettes – 3:30-4:30 p.m., Playstation Stage & Hollywood Holt – 3:30-4:30 p.m., Perry’s
The Raveonettes offered a stark contrast to the music of the Kaiser Chiefs with their ethereal, droning New Wave-ish space pop coming from the North side of the park. Their sound just didn’t go over well on a big stage at a massive music festival, but it’d be cool to catch them in a smaller club environment. Moving down towards the Southside I caught my second MGMT sample of the weekend (“Time to Pretend”) in my limited time at Perry’s DJ area with Hollywood Holt. Whether you like it or not, MGMT’s music is almost unavoidable these days. Once again, the ritualistic dancing was in effect at Perry’s; this area of the park seemed to have a narcotic effect on people. (WH)
Dan Deacon – 3:30-4:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Neko Case – 4:30-5:30 p.m., Budweiser Stage
Dan Auerbach – 5:30-6:30 p.m., PlayStation Stage
After Dan Deacon’s kind of energy, there was an inevitable lull, and Neko Case couldn’t hope to arouse much excitement at this point. She is an incredibly charming and gracious performer, and while I don’t really care for her singing, I’d thought it was because she was cold and dispassionate. I got a different impression at this set, though, where I believed every word I heard, though I still haven’t heard her quite coax the longing in her words out in her singing. Dan Auerbach also just wasn’t quite there. He can really surprise you sometimes with a hot guitar solo, kind of a Jon Spencer/Jack White style, but this blues rock genre is so limited in its scope that it has been done to death even though it remains vibrant in the right hands. Auerbach can bring it to that next level, but he just seemed lackadaisical here, so it came off a bit like store-brand Southern rock. Blame it on the heat. (CR)
Vampire Weekend – 4:30-5:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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Passion Pit – 5:00-6:00 p.m., Citi Stage
Summer party heroes Passion Pit are not the band of a generation, or even 2009, by any means, but they did create possibly the most fun album this year and for that they should be commended. As a live act they haven’t quite gotten it nailed down yet, as Michael Angelakos often struggled to keep his breath during high-pitched shrills and the band hasn’t quite reached any real telepathy in their playing. Nevertheless, their synth lines and choruses are extremely infectious and their beaming attitude is constantly ecstatic. You can really tell by the smiles and joy on stage that the band is living in a dream world, floating on a cloud. The live version of “Sleepyhead” is every bit as good as it is on record, and even if “The Reeling” sounded a bit cluttered and confused it’s a damn fun song to get down to. (WH)
Cold War Kids – 5:30-6:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
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Lou Reed – 6:30-7:30 p.m., Budweiser Stage
A cranky Lou Reed, inventor of indie rock, came out five or ten minutes late, unwittingly kicking a tiny snowball down a large hill. Yeah, it was probably his fault he came on late, and who knows if he consciously or obliviously went twenty minutes past his scheduled end time. Yeah, he has that be-thankful-I-showed-up haughtiness just like Dylan, and he stumbles over his lyrics like a drunk. But, don’t you have to give some leeway to anybody who’s the ‘Godfather’ of something? Anyway, Reed’s set veered wildly between engaging grooves, screeching sax solos, walls of feedback and Lou gesticulating stubbornly as he spat out his words, but at least you could tell that they still mean something to him. Highlights were a belligerent take on “Dirty Boulevard,” the menacing and unhinged “Mad” and “Paranoia Key Of E,” which ended in an extended knob-twiddle jam before resolving into “I’m Waiting for the Man.” (CR)
Band of Horses – 7:30-8:30 p.m., PlayStation Stage
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Snoop Dogg – 6:30-7:30 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
Snoop Dogg is one cool motherfucker. There, I said it. If for no other cause, the reason he had the biggest crowd of the entire weekend at a festival occurring many years past his prime is because people like to be in the presence of cool. Sampling anything and everything, shouting out to 2Pac and demanding fans to throw up their middle fingers and say, “Fuck tha police,” Mr. Broadus may be pushing 40 but the D.O. Double G still knows how to work a crowd. (WH)
Silversun Pickups – 7:30-8:30 p.m., vitaminwater Stage
Silversun Pickups closed down the vitaminwater Stage for the weekend and seemed very gracious for the opportunity, thanking the crowd numerous times. There sound is straight up 90s alt rock (like the always mentioned Smashing Pumpkins or a kinder, gentler Garbage) and fits right in with the basic ideas this festival was built on. It seemed like an enjoyable show, it was just hard to get into from afar. (WH)
The Killers – 8:30-10:00 p.m., Chicago 2016 Stage
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Opening with “Human,” a newer song that I still don’t really get, I immediately understood that although not my kind of music it is wholly necessary for this arena rock band to exist and prosper for the world to continue spinning on its axis. Their product is custom built for the Everyman rocker without the time to read music blogs or go digging through the record bins at their local music store. Their songs, image and live presentation are so agreeable that you have to wonder if the band even attempts to fight their primal artistic urges to break the boundaries and try to explore new directions. Danceable, hook-driven and mostly PG-rated, The Killers were able to do their duty as festival closers by giving tired fans an enjoyable, uncontroversial note to go out on, and appropriately played “When You Were Young” to close a long and incredible weekend of live music that provided something for everyone, and in the end, the Everyman. (WH)
Jane’s Addiction – 8:30-10:00 p.m., Budweiser Stage
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JA’s set was frustrating, spiked with wonderful moments. Perry, whether you love his raunchy stage persona or hate it, has always been this way. His vocal range showed natural signs of aging but he pulled everything off with flying colors, even if some of it was significantly down-tuned. Dave Navarro is still a hell of a guitar player, even if most of his solos are scripted. There was no real magic early in the set, everybody but Perry seeming a little stiff, and I don’t know if that was really BoH’s fault or not. Even the colossal “Three Days” was a plastic replica of its former self. But with “Whores” they seemed to really lock into a group vibe, marching powerfully through this one. Then “Been Caught Stealing” sort of ruined the mood and “Then She Did…” couldn’t quite recover the energy. But “Ocean Size” suddenly seized on that elusive groove again, and it was like taking a glimpse into a time when this music was new and not so overplayed and imitated. And “Ted, Just Admit It…” sounded revitalized, even though the lyric has almost become a cliché in the post-grunge era. And just like that, the set was over.
Well, yes, there were the encores, though it was kinda silly to have a half hour’s worth of encores after a 50-minute set, but nobody was complaining. “Summertime Rolls” felt as good as the title implies, especially since the temps were tolerable again, and “Stop!” was rousing. And Aerosmith‘s Joe Perry came out to play guitar on the “Jane Says” finale. I was too tired by that point to come up with anything clever to think about this bewildering choice, and still nothing comes to mind now.
As some fans filtered out, Perry Farrell came back for some speechifying, introductions of family, friends, etc., and one marriage proposal by some guy (pretty sure she said “yes”). It’s always a bit disarming to see that character from the stage turn into a real person, and in this case, it cast his gaudy on stage sexuality as a funhouse-mirror reflection. It’s all in service to the rock & roll mystique, that whole production, but at what point does the 50-year-old man undermine the persona? Maybe it’s when he invites the guitarist from Aerosmith to help him close out his alternative music festival. Still, Farrell and friends on stage, radiating gratitude at the end of another fairy tale festival, constitutes an unqualified happy ending. (CR)
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Continue reading for lots more pics of Lollapalooza 2009…
Images by: Chad Smith
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Continue reading for more pics of Lollapalooza 2009…
Images by: Dave Vann
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