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Festival Review By Eric Mitts |
{Chicago, Illinois / August 1st - 3rd}
Midway through Radiohead’s headlining set at last month’s Lollapalooza Thom Yorke kept reminding himself that this was not a dream. Faced with the very real 75,000-person capacity crowd, the frail-framed singer simply couldn’t believe his fortune as his band did its best to give the close of the first of three sold-out nights at Chicago’s Grant Park the feel of a far away dreamland. The icy blue lighting cascading down Radiohead’s elaborate onstage rigging during “House of Cards,” from In Rainbows, the band’s latest, chilled the sweaty concertgoers, and best captured the atmosphere of their two-hour set. The climate couldn’t have changed more by the close of the next night. Despite a slight dip in the 90-plus-degree temperatures throughout the festival on Saturday, Rage Against The Machine’s set brought the crowd to a boil, spilling over into the streets of Chicago, and according to some attendees or passersby, incited a near riot. If Radiohead’s night felt like a calm relaxing dream, Rage’s performance was the sweat-drenched awakening. All too appropriately, Rage vocalist Zach de la Rocha detoured from his band’s blast through its bombastic back catalog on an extended stretch during “Wake Up.” Welcoming the end of “the last eight years,” he challenged Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama to bring troops home from both Iraq and Afghanistan, if elected, and told the thousands in front of him to get ready for what’s next. On the final night, admittedly battling vocal problems, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor took Lolla listeners back to where things all began, telling the story of how his band played the very first Lollapalooza in 1991. The history he brought simply outmatched anything Chicago’s own Kanye West could boast about on the other festival closing stage, but at least he showed up on time.
Here’s a quick recap of the rest for those who couldn’t make it out, or who couldn’t get in.
Ten Most Memorable Moments from Lollapalooza 2008
10. After basking in the ever-radiant sun for three days, the soft, subdued sounds of Iron & Wine suitably sound-tracked a siesta for fading festival goers whose energy was nearly gone by late afternoon on Sunday. Those who partook in the performance felt a reprieve from the heat more welcoming then the occasional Lake Michigan breezes, which received cheers from the enthusiastic crowd on more than one occasion during the festival, as even they could not match the lighter-than-air embrace of Sam Beam’s soothing voice.
9. The National closed out their Sunday set with a rousing rendition of “Mr. November,” with frontman Matt Berninger prefacing the performance by saying “this one’s not dedicated to John McCain.” Even the biggest indie-snob or politically jaded could not help but be moved by Berninger’s surprising passion. It was also one of many direct references to Chicago prodigal son Obama, whose presence was felt – from T-shirt kiosks to volunteers working through the crowd for his campaign – almost as if he were part of the festivities himself.
8. That of course leads to Obama’s no-show during Kanye West’s closing performance. Long rumored on the blog-o-sphere and even buzzed about across the park grounds during the event, despite an already announced and conflicting public appearance elsewhere, Obama’s absence only added to the over-hype that was the Achilles’ heel in West’s strong performance. Apologies, or allusions to future greatness to come in the studio aside, West can’t compare himself onstage to greats like Jimi Hendrix and get away with it yet.
7. The way Battles blasted out their absolutely awesome “Atlas” should become the stuff of some new legend. The math-rock masters built up to the song with drummer John Stanier drenched in sweat by the time he rumbled into the song’s intro. Fired up and frenzied, the insanely energized crowd then shouted back the song’s helium-high gibberish vocals in perhaps the strangest call-and-response pseudo-sing-along ever. Clapping along with Stanier’s seriously staggering stamina behind the kit, the crowd knew this was a moment for the ages.
6. On the same stage that Battles barely left standing, Girl Talk set about concluding the next night by bringing as many of the capacity crowd onstage with him as Chicago codes would allow. His standard stage setup of flimsy folding table, laptop, mic, and party favors galore, left plenty of room, and his mash-up mix left no one standing still. Even those pushing through the fringe of his faithful had to get down as they made their way to other side of the midway.
5. As far as single songs go, no one act at this year’s Lollapalooza had a bigger stand-alone hit than Gnarls Barkley with “Crazy.” Yet during their set, where grandiosity and super-sweet costumes should’ve held sway, but didn’t (gold blazers and bowties, c’mon!) it was their nuanced cover of Radiohead’s “Reckoner” that left the audience amazed. Singer Cee-Lo Green shouldn’t be able to do the waif-ish wailing of Thom Yorke and yet, with Dangermouse aka Brian Burton’s just-right touch on the keys, they nailed it.
4. Radiohead’s set had its own surprise in the form of fireworks during the crescendo of the now classic “Fake Plastic Trees.” The happy accident of some other celebration on the other side of Chicago down by Soldier Field coinciding with Lollapalooza’s location, created an overhead display that took Yorke’s voice up into the heavens. For the first time since the band started playing all eyes left their elaborate, yet energy-efficient lighting to marvel at how Radiohead’s music had magically lit up the entire night sky.
3. Surprised to still be alive and performing at this sold-out Lollapalooza in Chicago – the first time that’s happened since the tour became Chicago’s annual alt-rock festival in 2005 – Renzor battled sickness to bring himself around full circle. If his ailing voice altered his performance it only enhanced the rendition of “Hurt” that nearly concluded the whole event. When he sang the song, all the manic highs and depressive lows of his band’s preceding songs and everything that has led up to Lolla reaching this point just faded.
2. Perhaps because it remains his show, Perry Farrell still holds some pull even amidst this year’s big names. His performance on the Kidzapalooza stage with Paul Green’s School of Rock All Stars shows how far the festival and alternative music have come in the nearly two decades since its debut as Jane’s Addiction farewell tour back in ‘91. How Jane’s went from the bane of the PRMC to the perfect music for kids could only happen in a place with a crowd as loyal and open-minded as Lolla.
1. Nothing can compare to the way Rage Against The Machine and the packed crowd interacted on Saturday night. With ambulances on standby and police on horseback securing the perimeter after gatecrashers stormed through to join the throngs already rushing the stage, de la Rocha had to stop the set on three separate occasions to plead with his fans to move back and take care of each other. Forgetting how all of his band’s songs, and all of his lyrics, are designed to make people do the opposite. Yet they listened. No major injuries resulted from the chaos and multiple mosh pits tens and hundreds of yards away from the stage in all directions moved more with merriment than menace. Forget fireworks, that’s the real magic of music.
Five biggest surprises at Lollapalooza 2008
Since its inception, Lollapalooza has strove to combine some of the biggest acts in alternative music with arts, social action and, yes, bands on the rise. Remember Rage first played the Lollapalooza tour in ‘92 on the side stage before moving up to the main stage the next year, so don’t discount the dozens of daytime gigs that actually made up most of the festival. Sure the top draws pushed ticket sales over the top this time around, but make no mistake some of the lesser known acts made the most of their opportunity to reach tens of thousands of ears. Here’s a handful who likely played the sets of their lives:
Innerpartysystem
Probably put on the bill to balance out the age discrepancy between the aging alt-rockers on the main stages and most of the festival-goers in attendance, the four young guys in Innnerpartysystem reached down deep for all their energy and put it all out there. Frontman Patrick Nissly particularly commanded the crowd on the band’s soon-to-be-huge single “Don’t Stop,” sounding something like Fall Out Boy playing KMFDM covers, but better. Just watching Kris Barman juggle his guitar, keyboard and digital turntable made these guys worth watching.
Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
They played at a little bit past noon on Saturday, so the religious Radiohead fans probably hadn’t recovered in time to make it back into the park for this collective’s performance, but too bad. With two new records coming out this fall they had plenty to prove and for anyone who has watched their rise, they know that they bring it onstage. If nothing else the eight of them brought more instruments than any other band, and made good use of every one of them. From gentle melodica flourishes to marching band-sized bass drum thunder, the band filled their carefully crafted indie rock.
Tally Hall
Hailing from Ann Arbor, Tally Hall hasn’t graduated from the side stage, but they’re clearly taking their final exams with shows like Lolla. Borrowing white-boy rap crib sheets from Beck and quirky songwriting study notes from They Might Be Giants, their older songs like “Banana Man” and the introductory “Welcome To Tally Hall,” proved how they “like to play it all.” But when they launched into a live band cover of Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You,” plenty of people put on their best rendition of the Torrance Community Dance Group’s famous improvisational dance. Priceless.
Gogol Bordello
They’ve played Warped Tour more than a few times now, so they’re definitely not newcomers nor are they stranger to sun-shining set times, but no band could have kick-started the middle of the first afternoon of the festival the way these gypsy punks did. Aging violinist Sergey Ryabtsev clad in ripped Slayer shirt and singing alongside frontman Eugene Hutz with more punk rock power than guys half his age matched the energy of the band’s onstage female dancers/drummers, clad in their own outrageous, neon-green costumes.
CSS
These Brazilians got stuck at the airport last year and missed out on their first Lolla chance. Thankfully Perry Farrell invited them back right away, and with a second album just released this summer the astoundingly guitar-heavy electro band rocked the outdoor dance floor. And forget Gnarls Barkley, frontwoman Lovefoxxx’s layered onstage costume change mid-set claims the title for best band outfit of the fest.
Three biggest disappointments of Lollapalooza 2008
When a festival is peaking the way Lollapalooza did this summer, the stand-outs obviously overshadow what didn’t work so well. Normally the heat would go here as Chicago in August just has a tendency to turn people into toast, complete with sweat like melted butter, but honestly with plenty of water available, either at free filling stations or moderately priced at beverage stands, and the aforementioned breezes bringing some salvation, it really didn’t detract from the experience. Instead, the invasion of corporate sponsorships continues to question the integrity established by the original Lollapalooza. Why have the AT&T Digital Oasis when you’ve got Rage on the lineup playing “Ashes In The Fall” no less (where de la Rocha screams over and over “This is no oasis!”)? Oh well, such are the times. Here’re a few other missteps.
The Weakerthans
Why make these loveable Canadian folkies into the biggest whipping boys for the festival? Well, they were the only ones who didn’t show, and in their absence some of the early stages and set times on Sunday got screwed around without any notice at onsite information areas or posted lists of performers. If a festival as big as Lolla can’t get its act together as well as a two-bit tour stop for the Warped Tour, that’s a problem worth pointing out.
Brand New
The only emo band to play this year, Brand New had an uphill battle from the moment they took the stage on Saturday. Plenty of Rage diehards had already made their way to the front of the stage, prompting frontman Jesse Lacey to introduce one of their songs as “Bombtrack,” only to later repeatedly berate those who actually wanted to see his band for not choosing to watch instrumental indie icons Explosions In The Sky instead who were playing at the same time on the opposite side of the park. In a meltdown matching the melodrama mocked by those who don’t get their genre, Brand New smashed their instruments and walked off stage more than fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to, leaving silence in the park for the first time since early Friday.
Perry’s
Not having a corporate sponsor seize the name of this side-stage was about all it had going for it. A last minute addition and clearly an obvious afterthought from Perry Ferrell, this club-inspired DJ tent just looked sad since it had the hardest time drawing an enthusiastic audience from the thousands walking by it. With celebrity DJs on its list—seriously, DJ Momjeans aka “That ‘70s Show’s” Danny Masterson following tabloid celebrity boyfriend DJ AM?—this side “stage” should just have gotten replaced with another one as Farrell’s surprise, non-DJ performance with “special guest” Slash got the best reaction.
Even an event as jammed packed with amazing artists as Lollapalooza has room for improvement. So with next year’s dates already announced as Aug. 7-9, 2009 and Grant Park remaining the Lolla location through 2011, there’s plenty of time for Farrell and company to take Chicago’s unforgettable festival to the next level.
Click here to see photos of Lolapalooza in the Wide-Eyed photo gallery
