Reflections On Lollapalooza 2009

Published Aug. 13, 2009 at 11:11 a.m.

Hey - it has been a while since I have written. I am glad to see that folks are still visiting this site, despite Summerfest being long gone.

Well, I attended my second Chicago Lollapalooza festival last week. Last summer was heaven on earth for me: the weather was perfect, the acts amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

In fact I have to admit I got misty eyed on the ride home. I enjoyed Lolla 2008 so much I didn't want it to end.

This year? Ummmm...

First off the weather was unbearable. It rained ALL day Friday. Saturday and Sunday was boiling hot. Absolutely miserable. It was as though the gods were looking down upon us and saying "TAKE THAT YOU LOLLALOSERS!!!"

Also half the bands I saw experienced sound mix problems. I don't know who the retards Lolla hired to man the boards but poor sound quality ruined most of the shows I went to. These douchebags should be dismembered.

Having said that I still enjoyed the music. As I have stated before on this site, Summerfest has NOTHING compared to Lolla's lineup. Let's see: Fleet Foxes or Lita Ford? Vampire Weekend or Loverboy? Kings of Leon or Chicago???

Nuff said.

In fact Lolla's superb variety was at times difficult for me to choose who to go see. Many time slots were filled with acts I had to forego to see someone else. Kinda aggravating.

Despite, I'll take Lolla over the classic rock/babyboomer crap Bummerfest has been churning out of late.

So how was the music? Pretty awesome. In no particular order:

•  I checked out White Lies, a British band in the vein of Joy Division and Interpol. I liked them a lot - gloom and doomy post punk for a rainy day. Songs like "Farewell To The Fairgrounds" and "Death" were ominous slices of dread.
• Thievery Corporation DJs Rob Garza and Eric Hilton brought along a dozen-plus musicians to perform their brand of chillout electronica that is globetrotting in scope. Not as good as their Big Gig show last year, but still fun
• Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes put on one of the best shows of the weekend. Her voice is part Sarah McLachlan, part Bjork. Despite complaining of the heat she gave the performance her all, playing note perfect renditions of songs from her critically acclaimed Fur and Gold and Two Suns CDs.
• 2008 success story Vampire Weekend energized the crowd with new tunes and material from their debut like "Oxford Comma," "Walcott," and the pogostick dance-worthy "A Punk"
• Chairlift's set was culled form their hit debut Does You Inspire You. The ultracatchy "Evident Utensil" and "Bruises" got folks dancing.
• NYC's Gang Gang Dance combines world music influences with electronica. Their tribal beats sent limbs flailing.
• Santi White aka Santigold put on one high energy set. She opened with the Major Lazer slammer "Hold The Line" and then hit the crowd with a 1-2-3 punch of the best tracks off her debut CD: "L.E.S. Artistes," "Say Aha," and "Lights Out." She brought folks onsatge to dance, and even threw in a cover of The Cure's "Killing An Arab." (!)
• TV On The Radio's opening was marred by crap sound problems, although I wished to have seen more of them.
• Snoop Dogg fazizzled the gazizzle and mazizzled the bazizzle. Whatever the hell that means. I ABHOR rap, and his set was proof positive as to why I hate it so much. I didn't know the termm "muthafu*k" could be used to describe so many things! Snoop's songs were about sex, beyotches, making' bling, and droppin' it like it's hot. C-rap is more like it.
• My favorite act of the festival was Crystal Castles. Amid billows of fog and strob lights, the duo were a perfect match to a downbeat weather day. Lead yelper Alice Glass was dressed in black, pogosticked to the programmed beats and swigged from a bottle of vodka. She threw herself into the crowd where she slapped around a guy. Intense and entertaining.
• Ida Maria shredded her guitar and voice with tunes about fuc*ed up relationships, and well, getting f**ked up. "Oh My God" was a satndout.
• Miike Snow are three producers who have a truly infectious debut CD. Too bad their sound mix was TOTALLY pissed away. Still, songs like "Animal" and "Silvia" were anthemic.
• I caught the tailend of Passion Pit and danced along to their hit "Sleepyhead."
• Wisconsin's own Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver put on a set of lush, emotionally wrought acoustic songs like "Skinny Love" and "Flume."

The headliners?

I saw Depeche Mode, Tool and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Killers.

• Kings of Leon or Mode? TOUGH decision. KOL ARE the biggest band in the world right now, but being a 40 year old fart, I went with Mode. I have been a fan of Mode since my teens. The band performed a collection of new and old tunes before a backdrop of videoscreens flashing CGI imagery. The excellent new single "Wrong," "It's no Good," "Policy Of Truth," "Enjoy The Silence," "I Feel You," "Never Let Me Down Again," "Personal Jesus," "Precious," "Stripped" all made it into the set. Lead singer David Gahan was energetic throughout, but it felt as though the band was just going thru the motions. Entertaining but nothing spectacular.
• I saw Tool back in 2006 at Summerfest. The sound quality was horrible at that show. No problems at this one. Maynard Keenan's voice was clear thru the earthrumbling bass, guitar and drums. What was mostssive was the band's use of video. The screens displayed some amazing CGI of creepy zombie-like characters, flames and other apocalyptic imagery. Scaaary stuff - and artistic.
• I left Tool to check out Yeah Yeah Yeahs and caught Karen O and Co. perform their new hit "Zero." Fun.
• I saw The Killers at the Rave back when they were just gainig steam. To see them now headlining a huge festival like Lolla is pretty amazing. Lead singer Brandon Flowers has blossomed (pun intended) into quite the frontman. His vocals were crisp and dramatic. Songs in their set included "Human," "Somebody Told Me," "Mr. Brightside," "Joyride," "Read My Mind," "Spaceman," "All The Things I've Done," the Joy Division cover "Shadowplay," and "Smile Like You Mean It." I left before the encore, but I assume they threw in "When You Were Young."

WHEW. Good times, good times. A naked guy dancing around, hula hooping babes, beachballs, ballons, hot women (and I don't just mean because of the temps ) and fine tunes. Lolla can't be beat.

 

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