Image by Marzena Abrahamik
Up front at Lollapalooza
M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Muse, and more wow Chicago crowd
By Laura Leebove
Published: August 7th, 2007 | 3:29pm
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2007
2:30 p.m.
After starting my day with kick-ass sets from the Fratellis and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, I speed-walked to the other side of the park to see one of my top priorities for the weekend: the Polyphonic Spree. Even on the hottest day of the weekend, front man Tim DeLaughter and the 20-some members of the Spree were decked out in their new duds — black military uniforms with a heart on one side and a red cross on the other.
The group breezed through tracks from this year’s The Fragile Army (TVT), along with a couple from 2001’s The Beginning Stages Of … (Good), using a harp, guitars, horns, a six-woman choir, and everything in between. Visually it was a lot to take in — singers jumped and head-bopped in unison; the blond, curly-haired trumpet player with huge, white sunglasses was all over the place; and band members were nearly hidden behind instruments. But instead of being overwhelmed, it was fascinating to try to keep track of who was doing what.
Near the end of “The Championship,” the Spree filed offstage one or two at a time, with a chunk of time still left of the group’s hour-long performance slot. All of a sudden the band members — now sporting their trademark white robes — burst through the crowd and high-fived their way back up to the stage to perform Nirvana’s “Lithium” and the epic 10-minute-long “When the Fool Becomes a King” from 2004’s Together We’re Heavy (Hollywood). The performance exceeded my already-high expectations, and an outdoor festival was a perfect setting for a group so huge.
4:30 p.m. M.I.A. shines, even with voice problems
It was surprisingly easy to get a prime spot at the main stages — fans cleared out from the Polyphonic Spree and I made my way down to get close for M.I.A., the first in my string of Friday dance shows. After an hour of waiting, the Sri Lankan singer-MC danced in a colorful short-sleeve top, sparkly purple shorts, glittery silver hi-tops, and huge sunglasses. She said she lost her voice in L.A., but it wasn’t too noticeable. M.I.A. didn’t let throat problems slow her down — she shook her hips, ran down from the stage and almost into the crowd, and scared security by climbing up the side of the stage as she mostly performed tracks from upcoming album Kala and a few from 2005’s Arular (XL/Beggars).
7:30 p.m. LCD Soundsystem is playing at Lolla’s house
A few months ago, I fell in love with a song I heard at a party. The only lyrics I could remember were the words “my house” and I had no idea who it was by, but it always got stuck in my head. Earlier this summer I learned that it was LCD Soundsystem’s “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” and it got me instantly hooked on the genius known as James Murphy. My feet were aching when Murphy and his band of five took the stage, but I was ready to dance.
A cowbell and the full-band chant of “The time has come, the time has come, the time has come today” kicked off “Us V. Them” from 2007’s Sound of Silver (DFA/EMI), followed by a speedy version “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” — the song I was most excited to hear all weekend — on a stage directly across from where Daft Punk would perform an hour later. The set of irresistible, high-energy dance-punk tracks like “North American Scum” and “All My Friends” takes the cake as my favorite of the fest.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2007
11:45 a.m. Blown speakers can’t keep Matt and Kim from pleasing the early crowd
Playing early in the day is tough, especially when you blow out speakers and bust a bass-drum pedal. But with a huge, supportive crowd and some amazing banter with the audience, the adorable duo of Matt and Kim pulled through. The couple is all about simplicity: Kim wore jeans and a black tank top, Matt wore a black T-shirt and black skinny jeans, and their only equipment was Kim’s glittery red drum set and Matt’s synths.
In between the danceable pop tracks from 2006’s self-titled album (IHeartComix), Matt told the crowd about “dipping his pen in the company ink” and Kim’s levels of drunkenness, and Kim made it clear that her boobs on the big screen were “not to size!” It was clearly a change of setting from Matt and Kim’s typical shows — I saw them in June 2007 at a tiny Chicago venue and half the crowd was onstage with them — but the crowd was overwhelming and gave a good enough response that the band was asked to fill in for CSS (who had flight problems) later in the day.
12:30 p.m. Emanuel Lundgren introduces his friends, but they aren’t from Barcelona
After seeing the Polyphonic Spree on Friday, the weekend’s other enormous band — I’m From Barcelona — had a lot to live up to. Emanuel Lundgren’s group of 29 Swedes (though only 20 were in attendance Saturday) had the potential to be insanely cheesy and horrible. Instead, the motley crew — dressed in robes, floral-printed dresses, polka dots, plaid, and plastic glasses — delivered an exciting, high-energy set that surprised the hell out of me.
Bright-colored balloons floated through the crowd as everyone onstage bounced around singing, “I have built a treehouse / I have built a treehouse / Nobody can see us / ‘Cause it’s a you and me house.” Sometimes the group’s 2007 album, Let Me Introduce My Friends, (Mute) can be overwhelmingly bubble-gummy, but seeing tracks like “Treehouse,” “Oversleeping,” and “Rec & Play” onstage is so much better.
2:30 p.m. Cold War Kids rock through the mid-day heat
I got to the stage for Cold War Kids just in time, after running from the stage where Silverchair was playing. I squeezed my way through the crowd, and in a matter of minutes, ended up 20 feet in front of the sound booth, just in time to hear Chicago poet Thax before the Cold War Kids. Aside from a slightly muted sound on the speakers’ part, tracks like “We Used to Vacation,” “Passing the Hat,” and “Robbers” — from 2006’s Robbers & Cowards (Downtown) — translated perfectly to the live show.
6:30 p.m. Karen O. struts her stuff
Karen O. is fearless and ferocious. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs front lady walked onstage with a black, white, and glittery silver cape, which she threw off after about a minute to reveal a black leotard and black striped tights. She jerked, jumped, kicked, and deep-throated her microphone while singing and screaming tracks from 2003’s Fever To Tell, 2006’s Show Your Bones, and this year’s EP, Is Is. It might have been because drizzle turned into rain, but the set flew by and I felt a huge push from behind as fans tried to get closer to the stage for Muse.
8:30 p.m. A little rain never hurt a bunch of Muse fans
It takes a damn good band to make me OK with rain, sore feet, and large men landing on my head, but Muse succeeded. I sang, I danced, and even though everything was a blur because I put my glasses away, I enjoyed the crazy light show that went along with the band’s set. I had forgotten how much I love Muse because I mostly listened to them a couple of years ago, but after an hour and a half of the English trio, I know I’ll be putting them back in my rotation.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2007
1:25 p.m. Ben Harper treats the kiddies to a short acoustic set
My Friday and Saturday schedules were packed, but there were only a few bands I was dying to see on Sunday, so my friends and I slept in a bit and started our day around noon. I got the media area to learn that the press conference I was going to watch was canceled, but there were signs posted that said “Ben Harper, 1:45 p.m. at Kidzapalooza.” I missed Harper for Daft Punk on Friday, so I bolted to the kids’ area, which was packed with tots sporting neon green Mohawks, hot pink pigtails, and CBGB onesies.
I endured 25 minutes of the Candy Band (four mothers from my homeland of Metro Detroit) singing punk versions of the Scooby Doo and Sponge Bob Square Pants theme songs. Closer to 2 p.m., Ben Harper made sure the kids were sitting in the front, then sat down to play an acoustic set of “Steal My Kisses,” “Waiting On an Angel,” and “With My Two Hands.” Afterward I wandered over to see Chicago native Lupe Fiasco, who rapped over Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser” and Gorillaz’s “Feel Good, Inc.”
4 p.m. Peter Bjorn and John keep the young folks waiting
Peter Bjorn and John didn’t go on until 5 p.m. and it was only about 4 p.m., but I planted myself near the stage anyway and watched a chunk of Annuals’ upbeat set. I had never heard the band before, but they were interesting to watch, with front man Adam Baker switching between synths, drums, and guitar, and the other five band members jumping around. I’ll definitely be getting their album.
Half an hour after Annuals finished, Peter Bjorn and John entered to a sitar recording of “Young Folks,” from 2006’s Writer’s Block (Wichita/V2). Guitarist Peter Morén and bassist Björn Yttling wore dark navy suits, Morén with a blue and white striped shirt underneath his jacket. After only two songs, the sound system went out, leaving the crowd clapping. “Be back in five” turned into waiting for 15 minutes, during which the guys came down to sign autographs and crew tried fixing the sound. Since PB&J was the last act on the stage, I figured it wasn’t going to happen so I left to see Modest Mouse, although I wish I had stayed because I heard I missed a great show.
6:15 p.m. Modest Mouse slightly misses the boat
Modest Mouse sounded great — pretty much just like the band’s albums — but unlike most of the performances I saw during the weekend, there was hardly any crowd banter, and nothing too exciting happened onstage. The group mostly played songs from this year’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic) and 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Epic), with the addition of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. But I could be not giving the band enough credit, because my aching feet and the bit of rain that started up again didn’t help.
7:15 p.m. TV on the Radio keeps the energy high as the fest winds down
I made it to the opposite side of the park in record time (it usually takes 15 to 20 minutes, but I did it in about 10) to see TV on the Radio. While normally I would have been with the rest of the crowd, pumping my fists and dancing, I instead plopped down on steps near the stage, and I don’t think there was anything that could’ve made me get up. It was a pretty awesome sight from far away though — especially during crowd favorite (and personal favorite) “Wolf Like Me” from 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain (4AD/Interscope), when all I could see was hundreds of fists in the air, and circles of people dancing away from the main crowd.
Meanwhile, the entire rest of the crowd was making its way to the south side of Grant Park for festival headliner Pearl Jam. After listening to the band for a little while, I realized I knew more of the band’s songs than I thought I did (I was in elementary and middle school in the ’90s, and didn’t listen to them), but not too long into Pearl Jam’s set, my feet told me it was time to go home.
Issue #35
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