By: Brady Lavin
Photos by Faraz Chaudry
Like the second movie or book in a trilogy, the middle days in weekend-long music fests can sometimes be disappointing, the novelty of the first day having worn off and the last day euphoria yet to come. Saturday at Lollapalooza 2011 most certainly bucked this trend, though, with dynamic performances from a slew of talented artists.
After Grouplove’s sunny pop melodies and unmatched energy infused the crowd with a bubbling bounce at the Sony stage early on, New York electronic meditative indie pop duo Phantogram took that energy and turned it into something truly powerful. Buzzing synth bass, chiming guitar landscapes, combined drum machine and acoustic drums (OK so they’re a trio live, adding a touring drummer) and dual lead vocals from Josh Carter and the beautiful Sarah Barthel prompted head bobbing and slow grooving from a captive crowd.
Sarah Barthel of Phantogram
A quick jaunt over to the Bud Light stage made for some funky, jungle drumming heavy jams from England’s Friendly Fires, who left a little of their sanity backstage for their 45 minute set. Singer Ed Macfarlane gyrated all over, throwing himself around stage with a wild abandon that, while a bit ridiculous, was incredibly entertaining. Following what seemed to be the theme of the festival, they busted out another half drum set for him to hammer on for a percussion powwow of Lollaian proportions in between hits such as the smiling “Hawaiian Air” and funk electronica “Skeleton Boy.”
Check out our coverage of Lollapalooza Day 1 and Day 3!
The middle of the afternoon was filled with some other great acts, including a soulful Mayer Hawthorne and the County, who added a bit of modern hip hop influenced flair to the melodies and textures of the soul greats, like Smokey Robinson, Barry White and Isaac Hayes. Hawthorne, nee Andrew Mayer Cohen, definitely has the voice to pull off the comparison, hitting stratospheric highs on occasion while maintaining a fat tone in the lower registers.
After escaping the cacophony/mediocre singing of Death From Above 1979, a trip back to the Sony stage made for some rapturous harmonies from upstarts Local Natives, who are exploding onto the scene with their debut album, Gorilla Manor, released just last year. The quartet constantly switched instruments, rotating between guitar, keys and bass (well drummer Matt Frazier stayed put), singing beautiful melodies over sometimes folksy music. There wasn’t much chord strumming, harmonic structure usually coming from interlocking riffs and lines, and of course the three-part harmonies. The crowd, filled with hipster-looking folks swaying along with closed eyes, lit up for their hit “Airplanes,” with even newcomers grabbing onto the monster hook and belting “I want you back, back, back!”
Local Natives serenading at the Sony Stage
A disappointing set from Cee Lo was plagued with malfunctions and miscues, with the backing track cutting out multiple times. Although he was his usual ball of energy with his iconic and ferocious voice, fans were let down by a serious lack of hits.
Lykke Li turned up the heat at the Google+ stage, however. The Swedish songstress had the tree-ringed crowd singing along to her not-so-innocent hits like “Little Bit” and “I’m Good, I’m Gone.” Although I do think she would be better in a more intimate setting, Lykke started a huge dance party with her closer, the upbeat racy hit “Get Some.” It was interesting being amongst a throng of women and girls, all singing, “I’m your prostitute/You gon get some.”
Lykke Li, getting libidos up at the Google+ stage
After all the rock ‘n’ roll throughout the day, even the guys at Guitar International need to get their dance on, so over to Pretty Lights was the plan. Out of all the stages at Lolla, Perry’s (made to simulate a club atmosphere) was consistently the most sardine-packed of them all, and Pretty Lights was no exception. It was difficult dancing to his sample-packed, glitchy electronic music with sweaty, sweaty bodies pressing from all sides, but it was a blast nonetheless.
