About 240,000 people attended Lollapalooza this weekend to see over 125 musical performances. Needless to say, the post hippy/utopian/countercultural vibe of the first few Lollapaloozas is long gone, but it was still an excellent corporate rock show.
Most of the audience came to see the big headliners, Lady Gaga, Green Day, and the reunited Soundgarden. But these acts were often upstaged less popular performers such as Mavis Staples, Gogol Bordello, The National, and Jimmy Cliff,
The 71 year old Chicago native, Mavis Staples delivered Saturday’s most inspirational set. Her raspy voice was used to good effect on a soul searing cover of “The Weight,” and a rocking version of The Staple Singers ‘ ”I’ll Take You There.” Wilco member, Jeff Tweedy joined her onstage for a glorious version of “You Are Not Alone,” the title track on her upcoming CD (Tweedy produced it).
Devo’s gimmicky but enjoyable set included their biggest hit, “Whip it “(they donned nuclear reactor caps for the song), but the best numbers were the eerie Pere Ubu -like “Mongoloid” about an alienated mutant who was born with an extra chromosome, and the aggressive, punky “Uncontrollable Urge.”
Jimmy Cliff’s marvelous set of uplifting reggae classics included “Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” “You Can Get it If You Really Want,” and “Many Rivers to Cross.” Many of the best numbers came from “The Harder they Come” CD, which is arguably the greatest soundtrack in pop music history.
Of course, Lady Gaga‘s show was visually impressive, and her fashion sense was shockingly edgy. It looked as if she raided a dominatrix’s closet for the show, which goes along with the S an M imagery in some of her songs.
Her live performance this year was far superior to her disastrous Lollapalooza debut, and her song writing has improved. It was impossible to resist her shimmering, catchy live versions of “Teeth,” Poker face,” and “the Abba-like “Alejandro. But the performance was diluted by her hokey stage banter, and the show was better at delivering great spectacle than original music.
This year’s Lollapalooza had better punk performances than the 2010 Warped Tour. Gogol Bordello brought the house down with a festive blend of world music, punk and reggae combined with gypsy music.
Also impressive were the Cribs, a new English pop-punk band in the vein of Arctic Monkeys. Their set benefitted from some lively guitar work by ex Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr.
Green Day‘s set included an emotionally effective rendition of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and ferocious versions of “American idiot” and “Basket Case.” But the band did so many audience participation numbers that I had to check that I was not in the Kidzapalooza tent. Also their set seemed inflated and overlong. in contrast at the end of Soundgarden’s set I wanted to hear more.
The National delivered the most atmospheric, intelligent and emotionally resonant set of the whole festival, and many of the best songs came from their latest release, “High Violet,” which might be the album of the year.
In “Bloodbuzz Chicago,” Lead singer, Matt Berninger could have been speaking for his whole generation when he gravely crooned “I still owe money on the money on the money I owe,” and the song also includes the gloriously surreal line “I was carried to Chicago in a swarm of bees.” The live version of “Little Faith,” (about family centered paranoia) sounded like Leonard Cohen fronting Radiohead.
On Saturday dinosaurs walked the earth, as heavy metal bands took over the Parkways Foundation stage for most of the day. The Japanese Goth metal band, X Japan (making their American debut) had rich orchestral flourishes in their music, and they attacked the audience with all the power of a runaway freight train. They somehow made every ‘80s metal cliché seem fresh, but in contrast the Led Zeppelin influenced Australian band, Wolfmother sounded pedestrian and uninspired.
Of the three headliners Soundgarden easily put on the best show, and they made glorious, gut churning racket on many metal influenced grunge songs such as “Outshine,” Fell On Black Days” and my favorite, the mysterious title track from “Superunknown.” The band slowed down for the beatlesque power ballad, “Black Hole Sun,” which inspired many in the audience to dance or sing along.
It was difficult to shake off the raw power of the performance, and it was a perfect ending to the festival.
