I was feeling a little festival-ed out after Pitchfork. Turns out: that must have been a Pitchfork-specific feeling, as today was a GREAT first day at Lollapalooza!!
I saw five full performances, four really great and one really good, as well as two other performances that I missed parts of, one being REALLY great and one being pretty good. Yay!
The Fratellis: Great, great way to start the day. Perfect festival music. Not only did they sound great but the sound was wonderful (cough*unlike Pitchfork!!*cough). The crowd was into it. They seemed like really fun dudes. Good energy and good balance in the set. Totally enjoyable performance. Tracy: The Fratellis were really good, they rocked, sounded awesome.
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: This was the performance I’d have to call “really good” as opposed to “really great” and I think that’s based primarily on the fact that Ted never seemed to get his mike in the right place. The rest of the sound / the entire band / sounded great. But his vocals were a little in & out, sometimes hard to hear, and it seemed like the mike might have been set too high? Liked the variety in the set, really showed off a bunch of different musical styles. Tracy was at Son Volt: They were allright, but not very exciting. Not a performance that was very different than listening to the album at home.
The Polyphonic Spree: Holy crap what an amazing fucking set. THE performance of the festival so far. I was a few minutes late, running the eight miles over from Ted Leo (no I did not really run) and I’m so glad I made the effort to get there. Super super high energy. Crowd interaction, hep, pep, laughing and shouting and SO MUCH FUN. The set was completely energetic and electric. And hello: the Nirvana cover at the end???? BLEW ME AWAY. Never heard “Lithium” like that. They were amazing. I feel like the Arcade Fire’s live show owes the Spree some debt. Tracy: The Polyphonic Spree was out of control. They were awesome, in a weird army slash gospel choir kind of way. I figured out what I want to be when I grow up: a backup singer for the polyphonic spree!!!
The Rapture: I don’t know these guys’ album as well as I know the Fratellis, but M.I.A. (english girl rapper) just wasn’t doing it for me so I wandered over to one of the smaller stages just in time for this set. Um, hello, these guys know how to put on a show. Given that it was at a smaller set, you figure the proportion of the audience that is actually already fans of the band is a bit higher. Uh-huh. The entire crowd was jumping up and down by the end. Pretty much straight rock, but with some interesting touches thrown in (the sax bits were great), two lead singers, pretty great energy for a band that doesn’t have backup singers or trombonists running around on stage.
G. Love & Special Sauce: I missed the first half while I was at the Rapture, but the second half was pretty damn good. He’s got all kinds of sass. It feels like a gimmick when you think about it in the abstract,: scrawny white dude doing this crazy mix of hip-hop, rap, blues, and a little bit of country. But he was great. Put on a show, really knew how to play with the audience. Love his sassy lyrics. Didn’t even realize this dude was still around. Defnitely worth seeing.
LCD Soundsystem: Oh boy, THIS is the set people brought their dancing shoes to. My eyes almost couldn’t believe some of the stuff going on around me (you may not know that I am incredibly calm at concerts for the most part or until I get drunk. I mean unless you are watching my knees, you might not see me move at all). I was a little taken aback by their appearance however. I mean, I guess I just EXPECT cool techno-dance-pop bands to be STYLIN’ do you know what I’m saying? And there was certainly only one person in this band (the girl) who really had any style at all. The rest were scruffy and unkempt, unshaven and sloppy. I found the visuals kind of distracting. But the sounds? They were great. I was impressed. Now go take a shower, shave, and have your girlfriend buy you some new clothes. THEN you will really rock.
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals: Wow. His voice is beautiful. (Hello, his face is beautiful!) One of those dudes who’s been around forever but I’ve only listened to intermittently so I don”t know his stuff very well. (You may remember me obsessing over “Reason to Mourn” last year. I think I would have started crying if he played that last night, so I’m relieved he didn’t!!) But this set was just gorgeous. Just sit down and hug your knees and lose yourself in the loveliness. Really talented musicians in his band (all outshone by him of course, check him out the lap slide guitar. fucking amazing) and a really tight set, including when Eddie Vedder came on stage for a song. Next time Ben’s in town, I am all over it. Wow.
p.s. my other “can barely listen without crying” Ben Harper-written song is actually a performance by Eliza Carthy of “Walk Away.” With so many people to love in my life, why do I worry about one? The lyrics of this song just blow me away.
And now it’s on to day two….