Live from Chicago: Lollapalooza Packs in Great Music

August 6

Recommended Beverage:

water and Gatorade…gotta hydrate in the heat.

Nestled in Chicago’s Grant Park, the river off in the distance on one end, the skyline hovering on the other, and a large fountain in the middle that mercifully spewed a geyser every half hour helping fest goers beat the heat, Lollapalooza 2006 was a success. Chicago hosted it for the second year in a row and ClubD was there on Sunday, racing around to the various stages. [Saturday, she was at Wrigley watching the Cubbies win, but back to the music...]

Let’s start with the “fly-bys”—you know, the bands you hear a bit of as you’re making your way across the field toward the band you’re intending to see. Of these, for me, the winner is: Hot Chip, an eclectic London synthpop band who play a great fusion of alt-pop and acid jazz, what they’ve dubbed “turntablism.” Only heard one song but loved it. The runner up is Of Montreal, who hail from REM’s hometown. Dressed in uber bright colors, they were quite entertaining and stopped me in my tracks. Honorable mention: Pepper, who hopped around different genres nicely: punk, then reggae, but then the hip hop/rock tune didn’t work for me and I pressed onward.

Four main stages on opposite ends of the park pumped out fantastic music all day. Here are my notes in order of appearance:

Nickel Creek: This was perfect music to relax to on a hot, summer day, while stretched out on a blanket. Warm vocals and a fiddle made this folk-band a pleasure to hear and watch…

Matisyahu: Every music fan in the world needs to see this guy live. He’s so talented and it’s pure genius. He’s an Orthodox Jewish guy, living in Brooklyn, who blends reggae and hip hop with Israeli chants, with parts in Hebrew. He took the Fest’s largest stage by storm with his unique rhythms; the crowd was hopping. Given the heat, he dressed down from his usual frock (suit and top hat) but did wear his yarmulke and tzitzit (fringes that typically hang from a prayer shawl that remind one to do good deeds) and he has the full beard. Matisyahu energetically bounced around the stage singing, backed by a tight band. Some in the crowd waved Palestinian flags. He had this to say, which had me beaming with pride to be one of his tribe. With so much happening in the world today, he said, remember to “keep your hearts pure and your hands clean and his Majesty will take care of the rest.” Amen.

The Shins would share the same unfortunate fate as Wilco would later in the day. They played the one main stage with sound troubles. The crowd right in front probably got a decent show, as all of the sound came from the stage, but everyone else suffered as speakers on the field were not working and the vocal mic was barely audible. Further hurting the Shins was the singer’s stiff stage presence, though the guitarist bounced around a bit. They were not very inspiring live. Caught two songs (ya know, the ones from the Garden State soundtrack that made these lads famous here), then bolted to….

The Reverend Horton Heat. I couldn’t help chuckle thinking of the line from (appropriate in Chicago) The Blues Brothers when the woman says “We have both kinds [of music] here: country and western.” Their country rock was fantastic and fun, but when they moved to the hard rock, I was done. As I walked off, they went into an excellent cover of “Folsom Prison,” so I paused, clapped along, then moved onto what would become the performance of the day for me.

She Wants Revenge: Caught the last half of their set and what a great live act, absolutely the surprise of the day. Dressed in black, they emulate the 80s synthpop sound of Depeche Mode and New Order. These California boys had the crowd dancing and clapping. Great stage presence. Excellent vocalist. Loved ‘em. Then, I ran across the field to…

Wilco. I’d looked forward to seeing this band, perhaps more than any other, and was sad to find the stage’s aforementioned sound problems completely kill it for me. Even if the crowd was silent, it was a strain to hear them, particularly the vocalist, so we stood there frustrated and a few began to single along with the band, creating the only audible vocals. They pressed on, unaware, and seemed to recover during the last song, though I took off just after “Heavy Metal Drummer” for….

Blues Traveler. These guys always put on a great show. They sounded tight as ever. John Popper was in great form, energetic, and just conquered the harp. They did a few popular hits, including “But Anyway,” and a few new tunes that all sounded great. Ben Wilson on Hammond/keyboards is an extraordinary talent.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: I hovered way in the back. All other stages fell silent as they headlined, unopposed. Their 75-minute set rocked out with a good mix of old and new and thankfully they did not include the irksome song “Love Rollercoaster” in their set.

ClubD left the Fest tired and happy…