I am on vacation like so many out there, but I wanted to post this live review written by our own staff writer JEFF ELBEL detailing completely his experience at this year’s Chicago Lollapalooza. It was a killer lineup and I am sure you will enjoy this recap even a few months later. I know I did. Nothing else to say but I was sorry to hear about JAMES BROWN’s passing. 2006 has been a terrible year for deaths of people I admire and I expect that trend to get worse with every year as the multitude of ‘50s and ‘60s greats who founded and perfected rock ‘n’ roll and its myriad R&B offshoots age and wither. But still it hurts, doesn’t it? I know a bunch of people who had tickets for Brown’s New Year’s show here in New York. Instead, we will have to view his body, amazingly lying in state, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem instead. Considering that was the site of one of the greatest live LPs ever made, Brown’s 1962 recording, that’s more than fitting. Thanks to Mr. Brown for that and so many other recordings that we’ll never forget or shake out of our system. He got on the “Good Foot” and made us get there too.
Anyway, here’s Jeff:
Lollapalooza: Day 1, Friday, August 4, 2006, Grant Park, Chicago, IL
(by Jeff Elbel)
Though Lollapalooza’s sophomore installment at Chicago’s Grant Park provided picky critics with ample fuel for grumbling (ubiquitous corporate signage, long walks between stages), the festival provided an impressive line-up for those who simply came to enjoy the music. This year’s event was expanded to three days. On Friday, August 4, the festival launched with THE BON MOTS’ side-stage set and SOUND TEAM’s performance on a stage sponsored by local rock radio station Q101.
Lollapalooza doubled in size for 2006, occupying a total of 69 sprawling acres of Grant Park. Back-to-back start times meant a 15-minute walk and several missed songs if listeners wanted to catch the end of MY MORNING JACKET’s set in the northeast corner of the park before heading to see VIOLENT FEMMES on the opposite side of Buckingham Fountain.
Friday’s highlight was THE EELS’ afternoon set. The band stripped down from 2005’s “Eels with Strings” tour to become a lean trio. The group featured frontman MARK OLIVER EVERETT (AKA) E on guitar, sideman THE CHET on guitar, and drummer KNUCKLES, augmented by dancing security guard KRAZY AL. Sporting a military jumpsuit with vintage helmet and aviator goggles during the day’s scorching heat, E led the band through bittersweet tracks from Blinking Lights and Other Revelations including “A Magic World.”
Apart from signing, E remained mute. The muscular and massively muttonchopped Krazy Al did all the talking between songs. In response to positive crowd reaction, he offered awkward pleasantries such as “Your smile means everything to me.”
“Not Ready Yet” from 1996’s Beautiful Freak was extended into an epic three chord jam. E passed his guitar to Krazy Al and exited stage right, leaving The Chet to unleash a sputtering, bluesy excursion into pure volume.
Afterward, Krazy Al requested that a festival video camera be focused on him. Donning surgical gloves, he jumped the barrier and antiseptically slapped hands with audience members at E’s direction. During other songs, Krazy Al performed karate moves and a dumbbell workout.
Eels finished with a pair of covers. E prowled the stage during SCREAMING JAY HAWKINS’ “I Put a Spell on You”, howling “I love you!” in emotional distress. He then called for one last blast of indie-rock guitar heroism, shrieking, “Do it to me, The Chet!” Rousing music hall favorite “That’s Life” concluded the set, as E invoked and demanded his own spirit of resiliency. Given the desperation and tough breaks that comprise the bulk of E’s material, the ray of hope drew a cautiously optomistic conclusion to Eels’ show.
Other Friday treats included EDITORS, though the band’s JOY DIVISION-heavy blend of clattering subterranean Britpop would seem to favor a dark, crowded club (the band’s previous Chicago visit was as an opening act at the Metro for haplessly overshadowed STELLASTARR) rather than summer sunshine. Stranger still was seeing the band attempt to embrace the alien environment, as beach balls sporting the band’s name bounced over the crowd and in front of black-clad singer TOM SMITH throughout tracks like “Lights” and “All Sparks” from goth-hipster fave “The Back Room.” The set list included at least one new song, kicking off with a ghostly, reverb-drenched lick from guitarist CHRIS URBANOWICZ.
In constrast to Eels, who tailored their sound for a noisy festival environment, SAM BEAM attempted to fit the hushed and delicate folk-pop of songs like “Eyes Wide Open” amid thundering hip-hop beats from neighboring stages. Adding band members as the set progressed, IRON & WINE grew to seven by the time it reached “Woman King.” With skeleton-dance percussion, the song featured a drive and intensity that outstripped its introspective studio version. The new “Japanese Car” engaged the crowd, with Beam’s bluesy guitar lick and a JOHN LEE HOOKER groove. Response to fan favorite laments including the dimly comforting “Upward Over the Mountain” and the lovelorn forget-me-not “Trapeze Swinger” proved that misery does indeed love company, along with a good soundtrack.
The Violent Femmes threatened to shake things up, with a dozen guests (including THE DRESDEN DOLLS) onstage to begin their set. Amid the cacophony of horns, gong, washboard and extra guitars, hammy drummer VICTOR DELORENZO asked, “How do you like our new direction?” The band then kicked the extra players offstage and tore into “I’m Nothing.” As the sun set behind the stage, the Femmes’ direction steered toward reliable crowd pleasers like “Blister in the Sun,” featuring BRIAN RITCHIE’s growling acoustic bass. During “Kiss Off,” clean cut, middle-aged GORDON GANO gamely attempted to channel his teen angst for the umpteenth time, but the crowd simply went berserk. Gano seemed revitalized during Gospel hootenanny “Jesus Walking on the Water,” during which he took a lively fiddle solo. Minor hit “Freak Magnet” was another winner, as Gano gasped and wrestled his way through the song’s self-incriminating chorus. Gano recalled the Femmes’ appearance during the original, touring Lollapalooza before closing the set with a thrashing “Add it Up.”
Following the Femmes, the bulk of the crowd moved as one across Buckingham Fountain into the north side of Grant Park to see DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE. The band, which closed 2005’s festival, now finished night one before a massive audience. Those arriving from the Femmes’ set had to content themselves with seeing DCFC on the jumbotron screen – at a distance that still rendered the band as tiny and remote.
Vocalist BEN GIBBARD led Death Cab through favorites like “Soul Meets Body” from the recent Plans album, as well as more obscure fare including “President of What?” from the band’s 1988 debut LP Something About Airplanes. Resident producer CHRIS WALLA shifted between guitar and keyboards throughout the evening, while drummer JASON MCGERR threw faces at his bandmates and made it all look easy.
Gibbard took the piano for Plans’ gently rolling “What Sarah Said.” Afterward, he dedicated Transatlanticism’s “Expo ‘86” to the retiring SLEATER-KINNEY, who played one of their farewell shows just prior to DCFC’s set (as Violent Femmes were playing on the south end of Grant Park; sorry I missed them!). Gibbard noted the times the band had crossed paths, shared studios, and so on. He mentioned in particular that he would miss the trio’s shows in Portland.
DCFC’s main set ended with a pair of Transatlanticism cuts; Gibbard moved to a cocktail drum set to double McGerr during “We Looked Like Giants,” a tale of young love. Walla crashed gloriously through “The Sound of Settling,” and the band left the stage. Gibbard encored with Plans’ “I Will Follow You into the Dark.” His solo take was ultimately accompanied by an adoring choir of thousands. The band returned for “Transatlanticism,” augmented by the band STARS.
Good Night, and Good Luck: Gibbard and company waved goodbye for good, and left their fans to endure the festival’s lamentable crowd control. Tens of thousands of Lollapalooza attendees were routed not through the many exit gates in Grant Park’s perimeter fence, but rather to one central exit in front of the fountain. With no one providing direction, people moved in flocks and herds along the midway toward exits that were blocked, creating a sort of pedestrian gridlock until the back end of the crowd got the clue and made the proper way toward Columbus Drive. The festival organizers did many things right, but providing more exit locations at night’s end would be a welcome improvement for 2007 and beyond. The festival recently announced that it had secured an arrangement to host Lollapalooza in Grant Park annually through 2011, giving it ample time to take advantage of lessons learned at the 2005 and 2006 events.
