| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Carl |
Posted - 07/27/2005 : 12:58:29
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1506320/20050725/weezer.jhtml?headlines=true
http://www.billboard.com/bb/livereviews/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000991378
Lollapalooza Thrives In Withering Heat With Killers, Weezer, Pixies
07.25.2005 2:46 PM EDT
It was a rough night to be New York's Walkmen, with most of the crowd checking out the sunset gig by alt-rock gods the Pixies. The crowd chanted along to alterna-hits such as "Bone Machine" and "U Mass" and shouted out the choruses to lesser-knowns like "Caribou" and "I Bleed." A surprisingly large contingent also threw up six fingers during "Monkey Gone to Heaven" in conjunction with the line, "And the devil is six." As the sun set behind Sears Tower, profusely sweaty singer Frank Black sang about "big, big love" in "Gigantic," making for a postcard-perfect end to a long peaceful day in the grass.
But not before the day's only main-stage hip-hop act, the reunited Digable Planets trio, lost out attendance-wise to show closers Weezer. Rivers Cuomo and company hit a home run with a mix of classics ("Undone — The Sweater Song") and recent hits ("We Are All on Drugs," "Beverly Hills"). If the Pixies are the unofficial rulers of the aging alternative nation, Lollapalooza's national anthem is "Buddy Holly," which even the weariest 'Paloozers were crooning as the night wound to a close.
July 25, 2005
Lollapalooza / July 23-24 / Chicago (Grant Park)
Saturday headliners the Pixies played opposite the Walkmen, and the band continued to give strong renditions of past favorites (a performance of "In Heaven" was downright hypnotic) and they weren't the only reunited alt-heroes to triumph.
http://www.ccchronicle.com/paper/arts.php?id=1523
Lollapalooza sizzles despite heat and humidity
By Troy Covello
This year's Lollapalooza proved to be a decent comeback for the two-day festival, which was founded in 1991.
Most concert goers seemed to agree that Grant Park's Hutchinson Field was the perfect location and that everything was well planned out. The fest tried its best to be accessible to as many people as possible. It had a separate kids' stage and plenty of good food, provided mainly by vendors and restaurants from Chicago. The second day's extreme heat was helped out by the CTA, who provided a number of "cooling busses" for people to escape from the 100 degree temperatures.
"It's hot as hell," says Megan Garvey, 22, of Chicago while fanning herself in the shade, bottle of water in hand. "The wind feels like a blow dryer, it's really just about unbearable."
The heat on the second day seemed to deter and sour some festival-goers. One artist, Sara Quin, of Tegan and Sara, fell ill in the middle of their set, cutting short their performance. A person being taken away in an emergency vehicle to a cooling center was not an uncommon sight. However, Grant Park's trees and shaded pathways did provide some escape from the sun's blaring rays.
With tickets selling for $100 and beer at $5 a cup, the festival was not what one would consider inexpensive. "I'm not too sure if it was really worth it," says Garvey. "I didn't even come until 5:30 today because it was too hot, so I feel like I missed out on so much music."
Others seemed to not mind the ticket price, or the beer prices for that matter, considering a good amount of people looked pretty intoxicated at the end of each night.
The mix of up-and-coming bands with older bands, popular when some festival-goers were being born, proved to be an exciting mix. The reunited Pixies playing in the same festival as a more underground and newly popular band such as Blonde Redhead, or Liz Phair, or even The Dandy Warhols was worth seeing. Especially in our own back-yard.
Opening day July 23 went smoothly, starting off with the Chicago-native band The Redwalls, and ending with outstanding performances by The Pixies and Weezer. The weather was much more conducive that day, with gray skies and a light shower, concluding with a beautiful summer night that showcased the lights of Chicago's skyline.
As for the performances, some were better than others. Liz Phair seems to have turned into an over-polished soccer-mom meets Sheryl Crow. The Chicago native's audience seemed to be split between older people that only knew her for her pop-release, and younger people that yearned to hear more songs from her 1993 release (when Lollapalooza was in its' third year) "Exile in Guyville", which is held up by some as one of the best indie-rock albums of all time. The audience seemed most pleased when she played "Fuck and Run" and "Divorce Song", both from her first album.
One of the highlights of the first day had to be the New York based trio Blonde Redhead. Composed of two brothers, one on guitar and vocals, the other on drums, and Kazu Makino, whose bizarre soprano voice seems to be the trademark of the band. Their song "In Particular" proved to be the crowd pleaser. People in the audience were dancing and said that it sounded better than on the record.
Throughout the performance, Makino seemed to shy from the microphone and strum her guitar while her band-mate seriously rocked out on stage, on his knees at times. The band played a mere three songs involving Makino's vocals, even though they seem to be the most popular. During their set, it began to rain, giving a very appropriate eerie vibe to their sometimes haunting and gloomy instrumentals and vocals.
"The Pixies totally and absolutely took my breath away and made me tear up, it was the most amazing thing," says Lisa Maruna, 23, after the band finished their encore song while people still cheered for more. "This makes the whole festival totally worth it to me."
Said to be the one of the most influential underground bands of the 80's and early 90's, The Pixies seem to be more popular than ever. With thousands of people dancing and screaming along with their lyrics, The Pixies played on as if it their lives depended on it, putting on a stellar performance. The view from way in the back almost seemed preferable with a full view of the band and the giant screens showing close ups of the band members.
Frank Black, covered in sweat, playing his guitar within an inch of his life, and, of course, Kim Deal's notorious grin was gleaming while she strummed her bass, stopping to take the occasional swig of beer or drag off her cigarette. The highlights of the performance proved to be the infamous "Gigantic", which showed off Deal's vocals and received screams from the audience and their encore song, "Where Is My Mind?" While the Pixies played their final song, the sun set over the city and fans screamed for more.
Weezer kicked off their set just moments after The Pixies stopped playing with their anthem "Say it Ain't So".
"There must have been a lot of pressure to impress the same audience that had just finished watching The Pixies, of course they're going to open up with something old that everyone knows and loves," says Mike Bates, 21, who came from Madison to attend Lollapalooza. "It must feel pretty horrible to know that no one wants to hear anything beyond your second, maybe third album."
Weezer closed out the first day's events with a bang, playing favorites such as "The Sweater Song" and "Hash Pipe" along with new songs that the audience didn't seem to respond to, such as "Beverly Hills".
A less popular but significant band, The Dandy Warhols, played on the second day as did The Killers. The only band that seemed to experience any real sound problems or have any negative things said about them were The Dandy Warhols. Their sound system seemed to fail them, causing people to become disinterested in their performance. They were joined at one point by their once-time rivals The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
On the award-winning documentary, "DiG", the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy's both give examples of their respective bands' revolution. The front-man of the Dandy's, Courtney Taylor, even introduced the members of Brian Jonestown, friendly as ever, even though they haven't played together in years.
Lollapalooza seems to have come a long way since it took root when it was founded by Perry Ferrell of Jane's Addiction in 1991.
Since it began, it has featured mainly alternative rock bands that were not always main-stream. It flourished until the last festival in 1997, coincidentally the same year 'NSync came out, at a time when hip-hop, boy-bands, and main-stream pop were making more money than the alternative, indie-rock scene. The festival came back once again in 2003, only to be canceled in 2004 due to slow ticket sales.
All in all, Lollapalooza was a spectacle worth being a part of. There are certain things worth waiting in intense heat, those being diverse performers such as Liz Phair, The Pixies, The Dandy Warhols (despite the problems during their set), Weezer, and Blonde Redhead.
Let's hope that Lollapalooza continues next year with an even better lineup and that they choose beautiful Grant Park as its back-drop once again. |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| silvereel |
Posted - 08/07/2005 : 13:15:17
they played "i bleed" Faster than i've EVER heard it played. it was an awesome show. Kim did the vocals on "in heaven". that was my personal fav. i've got a really shitty video of "vamos" that i took with my digital camera... if anyone is interested. |
| fumanbru |
Posted - 08/04/2005 : 04:39:05
thanks for the update 1c. ya, wtf?? joey's the shit. give the man some respect. we all love kim and frank but the band's got 4 people in it.
great to hear that the arcade fire put on a great show. just got tickets to see them play in winnipeg in a nice intimate venue so pretty excited bout that!
 "I joined the Cult of Frank/ cause I'm a real go-getter!" |
| theonecontender |
Posted - 08/02/2005 : 22:47:20
I was there. It was a great time.. too bad they failed to mention the power of the arcade fire, who, in my opinion, were the most kick ass band of the weekend. I wasn't sure if they could pull of their energy in a big outdoor crowd, but it was done.
1c
p.s. pixies ruled - only complaint... the bloody camera dudes focusing of frank and kim during joeys raging vamos "solo". Yeah.. like I want to see Frank and Kim staring at Joey during his wicked chaos. |
| fumanbru |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 20:33:56
thanks carl. i forgot all about lollapalooza. anyone here go? i thought daisy was going. fill us in daisy! how was the road trip? road trips are great. i wish i could have went this year. any highlights? highlights from any of the other bands? did you hang out with frank again?
"I joined the Cult of Frank/ cause I'm a real go-getter!" |
|
|
