After a month's spell in Europe I was ready to land stateside. Primary reason-- Lollapalooza. This year's Lolla came prepackaged with a lineup carrying a serious punch. Mainstream enough to sell a mass amount of tickets, indie enough to maintain hipster credibility and Canadian enough to Include the Arcade Fire, Stars, the New Pornographers and Metric.
I landed in the late afternoon August 5th, one day before the start of the festival. Jet lag didn't creep up on me like usual, it greeted me the second I stepped off of the airplane with a concussed blow to the skull. I staggered through the airport to find my friends who (bless their hearts) were still waiting to pick me up in the airport 4 hours after scheduled time. We had planned on going to the city, and they were not going to let my disorientation throw off their game, so I threw my bags in the boot and we metro'd it downtown. In the two days prior to Chicago I took stops in Florence and London, two decent spots to hang out, but I had forgotten just how striking the city of Chicago is. A couple dizzying hours of shopping and dining later, we headed to the suburbs where I was staying with a friend and her parents. They were great and made the weekend comfortable and inexpensive.
Friday
Friday morning came too early and my body was still a little shaky. I boarded the train in the late afternoon, but not in time to catch some of the early shows I had planned on. B.o.B, Wavves, and the Walkmen were sacrificed for some sleep. This is what I saw Friday--
The Big Pink
My Lollapalooza virginity was stolen by the Big Pink and their giant wall of sound. A maelstrom of noise shook the crowd from the opening seconds, and I found myself envying those around me with ear plugs. Without question the show was one of the loudest of the festival chalk full of reverb, static and plenty of feedback. The crowd responded to singles "Velvet", "Tonight", and "Dominoes" with fervor, but also responded well to other songs from their debut A Brief History of Love. Regardless of how much raw sound they were able to feed the audience, the Big Pink suffered from their festival placement. Under the 3'oclock sun many in the crowd were more worried about re-applying sunscreen than the music. Not that they could completely ignore it. Put the Big Pink into a church, night slot or a more intimate venue and without question the audience would be more impressed and not veering off for good spots at Devo or the New Pornographers.
The New Pornographers
I was able to catch about 12 of the New Pornographers 15 song pop run through. Super group is always a label thrown around while discussing the New Pornographers, but onstage they do a good job of staying humble and passing the torch amongst themselves. It is amazing what this band can do with simple catchy chords and lyrics, and harmonies that when on could make any band at the festival envious. The band needed a few songs to really catch on, maybe it was the bright sun on their faces or general nervousness, but for a while in the beginning their harmonies were almost uniformly off-key. This was fixed quick enough and by the time the fourth track "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras" rung, the band was in full swing.
The Dirty Projectors
The New Pornographers mentioned the crowd turning around for the Dirty Projectors set at the opposite stage. They also mentioned they were big fans, a trend that cool bands seem to be following. The Dirty Projector's make music made for musicians. It's complicated, mathematical, and contains enough key changes and time signature shifts to keep anyone who hasn't heard them before guessing. At the same time it is semi-poppy and fairly accessible. Not quite as populated as I thought, the Dirty Projectors played one of my favorite sets of the weekend. With a comfortable slot on the shady Playstation stage the Dirty Projectors played mostly songs from their latest Bitte Orca with a few others thrown in including "Knotty Pine" their song off of the Dark Was the Night charity album (hmmm familiar?). Rumor had it that many of the festival's other musicians were at the show as well as some other celebrities. The three female singers that accompany Dave Longstreth's experimental indie rock band each have platinum-coated jaw flooring scream pipes that harmonize unlike anything I've ever heard. Hearing them recreate the latest Projector's record was something I felt fortunate to see. However, this also turned into annoyance as the people around me tried to replicate the voices and sing along. The Dirty Projector's are not a sing along band.
Hot Chip
The second the Dirty Projector's finished, I strapped my dancing boots on and high-tailed it to Hot Chip at the Parkways stage. Hot Chip was missing one of its founding members Joe Goddard, absent on account of his near bursting pregnant wife (thank god for musical babies). I forgave Joe quickly, but could quickly tell that the band wasn't fully functioning. Goddard is a frequent harmonizer, percussionist and he fumbles around with some synthesizers as well and with his absence, the set sounded a little hollow. Given the circumstances, Hot Chip played a fantastic show feeding the crowd mostly bangers such as "Over and Over" and "Ready for the Floor" that were all received well. Hot Chip benefited from being the last on the Parkways stage before Lady Gaga and found themselves playing to a sea of fans, one of the biggest non-headlining shows of the weekend. The Gaga fans were ready to dance and Hot Chip served up synthy-dance rock with a touch of humanism that many dance groups are missing these days.
The Strokes
Part of the job description for being in the Strokes is being cool. If I could be in a band it would be the Strokes. If I had kids in a band, I would want it to be exactly like the Strokes. Singer and enviable rock-god Julian Casablancas wore sunglasses at night, a studded leather jacket with a sweatshirt underneath (Dude, it is like 90 degrees out!)and can scream and sing exactly like he used to. In their first show in the states in four years the Strokes picked up exactly where they left off. They played a tight set that lasted the better part of an hour running through all the hits and classics of the first two albums while largely ignoring their third. They played a set nearly identical to the one they always have, they didn't change or jam on any of the songs. It was a no frills rock show, exactly what I had expected it to be, and exactly what the fans wanted. What enables the Strokes to act in such a way? Partly because their image is a part of their appeal, but mostly because no one else can quite do it like they can. Just an opinion but the Strokes are a rock band set apart, and they know it. As long as they keep delivering, I'll keep listening, and I won't get too frustrated when they only play an hour when given an hour and a half.
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