Lollapalooza 2011 Highlights and Lowlights

By: Faraz Chaudry

Photos by Faraz Chaudry

With a festival of this size, and over 100 bands, it’s always surprising to see who stands out and who doesn’t stand up. Having this many bands requires a immense amount of planning on the part of the concert-goers, as there is always a point where you must make a decision and sacrifice. Also, in order to take full advantage of the bill, one should research the smaller bands that spatter the stages in the daytime. That way you can be the guy everyone hates saying, “I knew them back when they were playing a 1:45 slot on the BMI stage.”

For obvious reasons, one can assess that Lollapalooza attendees are slightly more musically vested than the average person, so I am sure many will disagree with my takes on some bands’ performances. In fact, many times fellow GI staffer Brady Lavin and I would walk away with completely different views of the same show *Cough*(Mayer Hawthorne is a hack.)*Cough* This list is, arguably, a fair representation of who stole the show at Lollapalooza in Chicago. Results may vary.

Read our alternative take on Mayer Hawthorne’s performance

The weekend started off impressively with Young the Giant at the Bud Light Stage. It’s an incredible shame that this band was scheduled so early, as anyone coming after work missed out on one of the most engaging rock shows I’d seen in a long time. The day continued in similar fashion with the bands A Perfect Circle, Muse and dub-step producer, Skrillex all tearing up their respective stages.

Upon arriving at the Music Unlimited Stage for Muse, I had serious doubts as to whether the rock trio could keep the massive crowd satiated. I thought I could only name a few Muse singles offhand. When 8:00 struck though, the place was transformed and my concerns were quelled. You wouldn’t necessarily call them “Arena Rock” but they rocked the goddamn arena. Playing every song as if it were a hit single, the band’s energy never swayed and even intensified as they would jam out to famous classic rock riffs in between songs, lending a whimsical aspect to the barrage of anthemic hits. Matthew Bellamy even played the Star-Spangled Banner on heavily distorted electric guitar transitioning into the super-hit “Time is Running Out.”

Muse’s Matt Bellamy

Other acts I deem to be in the “Best Of” category include, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Phantogram, Foster the People (despite the sound issues that plagued the stage, like the absence of bass), and Imelda May.

Imelda May’s act stood out so much not simply because of the flawless execution of Rockabilly tunes, but the stark contrast of their sound to everything else at the festival. This was definitely something the fans appreciated, and provided a brief respite on Sunday morning, at a point when they all seem to blend together. Her voice was the most amazing aspect, being strongly showcased during long sections of crowd sing-a-longs as we all tried to match her unsuccessfully. By the end the audience could do nothing but laugh and cheer as she left us in the dust with her riffs. Unfortunately, it seemed due to a short 45-min that her band did not really take very long solos, as it was evident they had the chops to really blow the crowd away. Rather, the guitarist and trumpeter were featured in short 4 or 8-bar fills in which they had to cram riffs. Overall this tight group of seasoned musicians proved to be one of the best of the weekend.

Imelda May

The acts I feel didn’t live up to all of the buzz, their time slot, or their stage were Noah and the Whale, Lykke Li, Los Bunkers, Death From Above 1979 and The Pretty Reckless.

Noah and the Whale, while not bad musicians by any means, still left a lot to be desired, especially after how much I heard people talking them up. Their melodies were catchy yet pedestrian, but had a seemingly intangible quality that I could not figure out, until I heard some iconic tunes masked within their songs. I could sing anything from Tom Petty tunes to MGMT licks over their songs and it would never seem out of place. Brady Lavin and I spent quite some time of their set singing other famous songs over their own less memorable versions. Besides that quirk, I walked away feeling as if I had gained nothing, and lost nothing, which means paying to see Noah and the Whale live is the same as sitting in Grant Park alone on any other weekend.

Lykke Li has a great voice with just the slightest gravely tone that creates a very endearing quality…and that’s pretty much it. It seemed she found herself at the Google+ Stage Saturday night by reading “How to Succeed in Indie Rock without Really Trying.” On paper, it looks good: Cute little girl with a memorable voice, competent auto-harp skills, brooding airy melodies, even a kazoo solo. That’s right. A kazoo solo. Yet so much with her act missed the mark by a long shot. “Sadness is a Blessing” was particularly uninspired, with the lyrics reading like a high school girl’s poetry journal. Further into her set the band broke into what was at least the fifth or sixth bout of “jungle-drumming” by a band over the weekend, and definitely the worst one. For those unfamiliar with this term (which probably isn’t official anyway) the drummer and other band members break the song down into an extended section featuring different percussion instruments and individual beats. It was omnipresent this year, as if all bands were issued a memo requiring them to do so, including but not limited to The Friendly Fires, Local Natives, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Lykke Li and Foster the People. Unfortunately for the later bands to do it, it got old very quickly. “Rich Kid’s Blues” had this sort of interlude, becoming effectively more annoying as Lykke, the auxiliary percussionist and the drummer were all off from each other.

Check out Brady Lavin’s take on Lykke Li’s set.

The Pretty Reckless should have had their purple “artist” wristbands inspected upon entry to make sure they were not counterfeit. Or at least they could have not been placed so close to the Kids-A-Palooza stage, lest some impressionable young’uns see or hear the atrocities Taylor Momsen subjected the rest of us to. Partway through the set, she introduced a song that had become controversial, even though, according to her, it wasn’t supposed to be. She then brought up two girls to strip and dance on stage as she “sang” “I’m Going Down.” It was the type of innocence shedding performance that can only be bred from a manufactured image and inane desire to convince people of her “attitude.” She would be better served to ditch the studio musicians, and spend some time grinding it out in shitty venues actually doing the things other people simply tell her to “sing” about. This “performance” was the single greatest mar on this year’s lineup.

The Best Stage Award must be presented to the Bud Light Stage, who consistently had incredible turnouts, perfect sound and lighting and a slew of awesome artists. The most memorable moment of the weekend came at the very end as a thunderstorm engulfed the thousands gathered to see Deadmau5. The throng of people moved as one to his complex beats. As a new beat was introduced, it would begin in phase but slowly become syncopated off; leaving the listener in a state of tension as the two dominant beats existed side by side, until one would be taken out, breaking the tension. The combination of lights, beats, sheer volume, rain, mud, and the iconic mouse head with an evil grin made this not simply a concert, but an experience.

Deadmau5 at the Bud Light stage

The craziest venue was definitely Perry’s, a large area covered by a tent, recreating a club atmosphere. For the larger artists, fans couldn’t even get inside the tent, and shoving ensued. Some girls I had spoken to had waited four hours at the front to see Skrillex, and were promptly pushed out as his set began. This caused Skrillex to shout “Guys be good to the ladies out there! That shit’s not cool!” but to little avail. You could stand immediately outside the tent and hear perfectly but many felt it was a completely different scene underneath the canopy. People were quite divided on the tent issue, as many favored the club environment, but others would have rather had such large names at an open-air venue.

Despite these simple complaints, no one had any real qualms about the venue or the execution of the entire weekend. It was all run very smoothly, and continually proves to be one of the best values in the concert scene.

Perry’s at Lollapalooza, after opening up a few panels to let the heat out