Day Three of Lollapalooza 2009: Skin, strings, and stories coalesce, and festivalgoers get re-addicted to Jane
By Genevieve Diesing & Selena Fragassi
Published: August 10th, 2009 | 11:00am
Lollapalooza Day Three was another scorcher, and people were flocking to water fountains and beverage tents, taking the heat wave warnings to heart. “A hospital bill is a lot more than what a bottle of water costs,” cautioned one worker, when a man opted to save his three dollars instead. It was said that the day would reach a temperature of 96 degrees, with a heat index of 104 — but that didn’t stop tons of people from crowding each of the festival stages.
When Ra Ra Riot appeared on the Chicago 2016 Stage, they were the look of a calmer summer sway as violinist Rebecca Zeller and cellist Alexandra Lawn, in flowy dresses, used their bows like arrows to beckon cool breezes from the lake.
The band’s name and look is dripping in New York style and their orchestral pop sound is a geographical match as well. Songs like “St. Peter’s Day Festival,” from last year’s The Rhumb Line (Barsuk) were as colorful and sunny as the band was happy to be playing them. Vocalist Wesley Miles offered lucid vignettes that would have been interesting to hear with female backup, yet the ladies used their strings to add a sensual touch to the well-rounded set.
Bat For Lashes could have easily taken the award for the prettiest set of the day. The Pakistani-born, London-raised siren ponied up behind an entrancing set of material from her two releases, 2009’s Two Suns (Echo) and 2006’s Fur and Gold (Astralwerks). Singer Natasha Khan’s haunting, Björkian vocals spiced with dashes of worldly flavor provided a taste of the Orient for her dark-edged art pop.
Wearing a ‘70s-inspired, light-reflecting, sequined unitard and slinky royal blue leggings, Khan decorated her eyes with geometrical lines of electric blue that hinted at her former art school instruction. Songs like “Glass” and “Horse and I” reveled in heavy-hearted melodies that tearfully hung onto Khan’s longing wails. With silver tinsel decorating her mic stand and lifelike twin dolls and crows adding eerie décor, Khan shook maracas and conjured spirits with chains of bells, her ethereal yodel bouncing off the volume produced by her all-female backing band.
Next up was L.A.’s Airborne Toxic Event, who brought its popular alterna-rock to the Chicago 2016 Stage. Their sound had the voracity of Arcade Fire with the anthemic feel of Bruce Springsteen and swirled through rich lyrics from principal songwriter and sometime novelist Mikel Jollett. Dressed all in black, minus violinist Anna Bulbrook’s white shades, the look was deceptive of the band’s lighter load on songs like “Gasoline” and “This Is Nowhere.” Before ripping into crowd favorite, “Sometime Around Midnight,” Jollett flung fresh water bottles for the people below and asked the crowd to “jump around with us — we’re just a bunch of monkeys.”
Inarguably, the biggest highlight of the day that far was Dan Deacon. The classically trained Baltimore DJ brought at least a 20-person crew with him, which huddled together for a pre-show pow wow. “Hello, I’m Dan Deacon and this is the Dan Deacon Ensemble,” he said. “I guess we should have thought of a better name.”
In a day rather lacking in band-audience comradery, Deacon was a venerable MC who used pre-song warm ups to bring people together. At first he asked the crowd to “raise your hands in the air, bend at your knees, and blow out a low, ominous tone,” before he himself became a blow horn. Later, he appointed leaders to form a human tunnel of festival goers — a feat that, logistically, seemed impossible to pull off. Yet, that is the determination of Deacon. Ever a perfectionist, Deacon stopped after the first song to appropriately tune each section of the stage, which was decked out in various instruments and manpower. “I don’t care how long it takes,” he told the crowd, before yelling toward the sound tech, “the kickdrum, the kickdrum!” Then, rationalizing his pushiness, he said, “I know I may seem like a dickhead right now but I don’t care.”
After asking people to forget the first 10 minutes as he started over with the first song, Deacon put extra effort into his rewind attempt, producing two sweat stains in the shape of angel wings on his back — an appropriate accessory for the lovable crowd pleaser. — Selena Fragassi
In contrast to the oppressing sun on one of the hottest days of the year, Friendly Fires lived up to their name just before 1 p.m. by heating up the crowd in a much more comfortable way: through carefree dance beats that sound like the culmination of several well-known ’80s influences. The group’s straightforward electro-pop dance songs featured undeniable Prince hooks, dominant synthesizers, and the swanky touch of a saxophone. Laced with a funky edge and a disco groove, this U.K.-based pop group’s sound is heavily reminiscent of Erasure, No Order, and the Killers. With their audience practically melting in front of them, Friendly Fires’ effortless, non-cerebral groove was just right.
The Kaiser Chiefs launched their 2:30 set with “Never Miss a Beat,” the hit song off their new record, Off With Their Heads (Universal), which has kept their legacy of defiant rock relevant. Also featured were older hits like “Ruby,” with its catchy, insistent chorus.
“At least it’s not freezing, right?” singer Ricky Wilson joked, making light of the searing heat that kept many fans huddled under trees for relief. Kaiser Chiefs are known for an accessible sound that alternates between murky pop songs and aggressive, punk-fueled anthems. With that in mind, the group sampled evenly from both genres, captivating the audience with raging guitar riffs blended into melodies, thumping beats, and catchy keyboards. Kaiser Chiefs spaced out songs with a merging of rampant cymbals and wailing guitars. Commanding the crowd with a sometimes cooing, sometimes yelping voice, Wilson and his band held the firm attention of all who watched.
As if in a dream, the Raveonettes — a Danish duo whose name is a combination of the Ronettes and Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” — put forth their distorted rush of sensual sound. Their fuzzy, slow notes floated across the crowd and the spans of open grass that many had left in favor of tree-paved shelter.
The band’s loud and booming beats, blended with mysterious, haunting guitar chords, were consuming and beautiful. With a sound clearly influenced by ‘60s pop, brilliantly blurred with elements of noise pop, the Raveonettes drew more heavily from their dark, romantic sound, lulling their audience with numbed, dreamy chords and jolting them awake with arrestingly loud guitars. The group offered up older hits, such as the even-tempoed “That Great Love Sound,” but deviated into more of a commercial dance pop sound with “Last Dance,” a newer song with a lilting, hooting chorus.
Neko Case, a folk singer and former Chicagoan whose fame multiplies exponentially with every album, is still riding the waves of critical acclaim surrounding her most recent work, Middle Cyclone (ANTI-). Lollapalooza was the last stop on her tour to promote the record, and she was met with all the stops of a highly anticipated yet still up-and-coming performer: a pre-performance poem by Thax Douglas and a gushing introduction by WXRT DJ Marty Lennartz.
Case led the set with “Things That Scare Me,” a haunting track from her 2002 country noir album, Blacklisted (Bloodshot), and followed up with “Maybe Sparrow” from the more recent Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (ANTI-). She cast her spell over the herd of listeners with her powerful voice and typically silly stage banter. “Man, I did not expect you guys to feel so frisky on such a hot afternoon — so thank you for your friskiness!” she called to the audience.
Case tended toward slow, yearning songs like “Teenage Feeling” and “Pharaohs” —tracks that would have been riveting in the dark, smaller clubs that she’s used to playing, not a sun-drenched festival stage with hundreds of audience members. But Case’s famous voice prevailed, overpowering an unlikely setting with the sheer beauty of her strong vocals.
Although baby boomers were a minority in the Lollapalooza crowd, one of the most important performers of that generation, Lou Reed, went onstage at the north end of Grant Park around 6:30 p.m. With a career spanning four decades, Reed is evidently still relevant — he shared the same time slot as Snoop Dogg, one of the festivals’ biggest draws this year.
Reed, who has worn many hats in his musical career — first in the Velvet Underground, then a successful solo career followed by a daring foray into experimental and distorted sound — presented the crowd with the fruits from most of his labors. These included the early Velvet Underground hit, “Sweet Jane,” and the classic “Walk On the Wild Side,” from Reed’s second solo album. Instead of relying on the catchy simplicity of the original tune, the song was made fuller, and less intriguing, with the addition of keyboards and synthesizers.
Toward the end of the set, Reed and his band wore still another hat, with about 15 minutes of tripped-out instrumental distortion. The sound slowly evolved into another long, bluesy groove of drums and keyboards. Reed’s performance, though not cohesive, was at least a fair representation of his long and storied career.
Indie rock group Band Of Horses followed shortly after, and they had no problem rousing the audience to clap and stomp in time with their alternative country sound. Tinkling keyboards and singer Ben Bridwell’s melodic vocals kept the audience enraptured — one fan even shimmied up a light pole and pumped his fist to the music in support. The crowd favorite was hit song “The Funeral,” which motivated much of the audience to sing and sway in time.
Chaos ensued near the end of the group’s set when Jane’s Addiction began playing at the Budweiser Stage, adjacent to the PlayStation area where Band Of Horses was still performing due to Reed’s extended set. The noise bled over, and Bridwell asked fans if they should keep going. The answer was a resounding yes; so for about 15 minutes, the two stages’ sounds mixed and confused concertgoers.
Over on the South end of the park, the Killers were whipping up their own brand of chaos at 8:30 as one of the last two headlining bands of this year’s Lollapalooza. Couples danced and friends jumped on their toes to the songs, which were drawn mainly from last year’s record, Day & Age (Island), and broken up here and there with one of the band’s few chart-topping singles.
Vocalist Brandon Flowers told a story about meeting guitarist Dave Keuning for the first time, through a classified ad in a Las Vegas newspaper. “He gave me a cassette tape that had about five of his ideas on it, and this was the first thing on there,” Flowers said, as the band began to play “Mr. Brightside,” the irresistibly catchy single that garnered the Killers so much of their initial success. This, of course, caused the already thrilled crowd to go nuts, and brought the solid, high-energy performance to an emotional climax. — Genevieve Diesing
Before the much-anticipated Jane’s Addiction reunion that would close out the final night of Lollapalooza, Venus Zine was invited backstage. In the band’s trailer, Etty Farrell gave us an exclusive, behind-the-scenes peek at the elaborate costumes she and a handpicked, lookalike dancer would premiere onstage — and insider scoop on the helicopter stunt work that would open the show. Stay tuned for the full story of our time with Etty, later this week on venuszine.com!
As the sun finally set for the night, and eager fans picked their places on the wilted lawn to catch a moment in music history, Band Of Horses had to go and pretty much ruin it. Through no fault of their own, the group’s set ran late due to an extended visit from Lou Reed — but their “one more song” promise couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the 17-years-overdue reunion of Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery was caught right in the web of Horses’ woven melodies — causing a near drown-out of sound.
As a helicopter flew sluggishly overhead with blinding spotlights, it was not exactly what had been expected from the master stuntman that was hired to do the trick. But as soon as the distractions wavered, it was all forgivable and forgettable as the real action had its day center stage. Playing in front of a hallucinogenic, swirled backdrop, it was surreal seeing Perry on stage again, instead of behind the scenes, as the Lollapalooza creator brought his vision full circle (the original ’91 festival was borne as a farewell show for Jane’s Addiction).
“We gave up a lot to be here together again tonight. We swore off women to get in shape, we swore off liquor, and we swore off stealing,” Perry said before thrilling the crowd with the Jane’s classic, “Been Caught Stealing.” Since the band has not produced new music together in decades, the night was merely a celebration of recorded memories and old friends.
Following suit, near the end of the set, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry made a surprise appearance and the group onstage asked that people’s prayers go out to singer Steven Tyler — who had broken his shoulder in a nasty spill in South Dakota that past week. Soon after, Perry and Etty brought their two children onstage as Perry made encouraging comments about the city’s 2016 Olympic bid, saying ”Chicago deserves it!” Finally, Perry’s friend — introduced simply as Barry — gave the last surprise to his girlfriend by proposing to her onstage.
After a long (yet incredible) three-day affair, it was the perfect way to show that, in the end, Lollapalooza is just one big love fest. — Selena Fragassi
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For more photos from Lollapalooza Day 3, visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page
Day One of Lollapalooza 2009: Girls rule the park, and Crystal Castles... showed up
Day Two of Lollapalooza 2009: Ida Maria, Lykke Li, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs heat up Saturday.
Issue #35
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