Saturday August 6th
Phantogram:
Friendly Fires:
I have to be honest; I often find it interesting to hear foreign frontmen simply speak. When a performer sings, he sings, and an accent simply becomes a part of “his sound”, rather than his own voice. Ed Macfarlane breathy style gives way to a very, very British accent, and amongst all the ways artists found to thank their audiences, his simple, “Thank you very much, Lolla. Cheers,” was so quaint that it’s stuck in my mind more than any other expression of gratitude. Amongst all the indie rock present, Friendly Fires offered what was perhaps the most danceable music, a refreshing diversion for those tired of the all-out raves found elsewhere. The audience weren’t the only ones enthralled to the point of distraction: Ed got so into his performance that he flung his mic off stage, jumping and beating security to retrieve it, hardly missing a beat. There’s a showman for you.
Fitz And The Tantrums:
Black Lips:
I’d be lying if I said the Lips were my cup of tea, but even my critical mind couldn’t help but feel the energy their fans chew up as they cavorted onto the stage. Upon entering, Jared Swilley promptly tossed a beer at the audience and belched out what one could only presume were its contents. Was there any better way to begin a Black Lips show? Had they not even played a song, the gesture represented their music quite perfectly. To call the performance messy would be a pointless remark; it’s just that that endears them to their fan base so greatly. Nonetheless, the sporadic nature of their recorded material can grow all their more confused live, resulting in tracks that either succeeded greatly or were slightly baffling. Hell, that’s a Black Lips performance for you, and while those that happened to see them were occasionally left in the dark, those that came to see them got exactly what they were looking for: a clusterfuck of insanity.
Dom:
The Drums:
If there’s any gripe I’d level at The Drums, it’d be a very fair one: they didn’t play their entire scheduled time! I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed as they dashed off the stage, but for the time they did spend, they made the most out of it. Their fondness of reverb leads to some interesting moments on stage, their use of sound is all the more fascinating as it organically occurs before you, arguably an expansion upon their recorded material. For a live show, the crisp, clear nature of the opposing sounds and yelps were impressive. They were strong performers to boot, playing primarily music from their debut, although also offering up some songs from their forthcoming sophomore release, including single “Money.” Finally, they closed their too short-lived set with “The Future”, and you had to give it to them, there wasn’t a better song to close with.
Local Natives:
While they may face a bit of criticism for their mix of coastal sound, I’ve always found Local Natives’ very nature endearing, and entered their venue excited. Interestingly, the band goes with a rougher sound live, far removed from the extremely polished music found on Gorilla Manor. There’s something to be said for the more lo-fi sound, rougher guitar strokes and other aspects made for what could nearly be considered different renditions of their tunes, normally more calm songs could gain a haunting quality, and so on. The band gave it their all, too. Sure, it’s more or less expected for an artist to declare their excitement at being at Lolla, but the Natives’ were clearly truly joyous, saying, “This is the biggest crowd we’ve played, by far. By far.” The sun came in and out of the clouds throughout, with the band thanking the fans who had waited an hour and a half in the sun for their set. They also played a track from their Daytrotter session, which is somewhat representative of their overall performance: a pleasant one. With the current generation’s obsession with more for the sake of more, simplicity is greatly underrated – it’s always bigger and louder, and Local Natives seemed to be asking, “why?” Towards the end, Taylor dedicated “Airplanes” to his mother, before they closed with “Sun Hands.” One comment stuck in all the fans minds: “This is only our first album… I don’t know what to say. We don’t take this for granted, we just built a place, we’re working on our second album. We can’t wait to come back and show you guys as soon as possible.” Neither can we.
Cee-Lo:
Of all the shows I was looking forward to, I perhaps least knew what to expect from Cee-Lo Green. As an Atlanta native, I’ve longtime been a fan of Goodie Mob, but had never had the chance to see him perform. Add to that his recent behavior at Coachella, and I was all the more uncertain. He must still have been smarting from that disaster, as his band took the stage as quickly as possible. His female guitarist – I presume she’s a member of Scarlet Fever, but she didn’t look it – began by saying, “We are going to destroy you.” Count me invested. Then Cee-Lo himself emerged – dressed in full battle armor. He looked like he was auditioning for the next Mad Max movie… and it was pretty damn cool. Throughout the show they presented a significant amount of instrumental covers, interesting at first due to their surprising nature – the likes of “Rock Lobster” and “Thunderstruck” – but grew relatively dull. Cee-Lo’s presence outdid his music, with the show’s best moment coming from the simplest of statements: following his second song, a loud, boisterous track, Cee-Lo declared, quietly at that, “Awesome.” If he’d play music that consistently matched his swagger and confidence, Cee-Lo could have had one of the most exciting shows at Lolla. Instead, it was a memorably mixed bag.
Lykke Li:
Lykke Li is the sexiest woman on the planet. Having seen her perform, this is the only conclusion any sane being can come to. Forget the fact that she’s gorgeous, she could be the homeliest Swedish girl to ever grace a stage, and she’d still be captivating to the point of tunnel vision. Of every artist I saw at Lolla, she may well have given the best performance. For her, stage presence is not merely a necessity for creating a good show, it’s another art all to itself. Dressed in what my fashionably clueless self can best describe as a black cape, she pranced about the stage, even using the walls as an instrument, beating them with frenzied drum strokes.
There’s not much of anything she couldn’t do: from singing over Kanye West’s “Power” (easily one of the entire festival’s most glorious moments) to a harmonica solo, Lykke proved herself as one of the most brilliant pop performer’s presently working. She even began to instruct the audience, declaring, “I’ll teach you all a trick to get laid: just dance like this and sing like this,” beginning to thrust her hips, demanding all others to engage in the same. She received an uncertain reaction – hell, who’s not going to feel intimidated when ordered to dance as well as Lykke Li – she smiled, saying, “Aw, you all are so shy and sweet, and I love you.”
As the show continued, the stage began to take on an otherworldly appearance, flooded with cigarette and marijuana smoke. Clearly, she didn’t mind, as before breaking into “I Know Places”, she quipped, “If you smoke, this is the song to light up to.” Towards show’s end her boundless energy had begun to take it out of her: she grabbed some water and a small bottle of liquor, downing both on stage, only to continue with all the more fervor. Unquestionably amongst the best Lolla had to offer.
Beirut:
Eminem:
Marshall Mathers may be a divisive figure amongst the music community, but he draws in the droves that could care less about – or, even more likely, have never heard of – 80% of the Lollapalooza lineup. I myself am a considerable fan of Slim Shady, but found his show earlier this year at Bonnaroo to be a mixed bag, an entertaining show, but not quite what I’d hoped for from a legend. I assumed Lolla would be more of the same. Damn, was I wrong. He must have heard the mixed reaction to his Roo show, because Eminem took the stage with a vengeance, never ceasing his furious tirade of a performance. More so than his previous performance, he focused on his older material, only playing three Recovery songs, if memory serves.
Instead, he focused on his best material, at one point busting out the insane one, two, three punch of “My Name Is”, “The Real Slim Shady” and “Without Me”. It doesn’t get much more legendary than that. As if that wasn’t enough, he and D12 member Mr. Porter presented a Nate Dogg tribute, with Eminem yelling, “Who loves Nate Dogg as much as I do?!,” then performing what he called his favorite collaboration with the late great, “Till I Collapse.” Another classic moment, despite being a repeat from Roo, was his performance of “Fast Lane” and “Lighters” with Royce as Bad Meets Evil, bringing out Bruno Mars as well (not something I was particularly overjoyed by, but the audience ate it up). Also similar to his former performance was his shouts of, “I say Wayne, you say Weezy,” although in an interesting difference, poor Weezy received crickets – Eminem simply consumed everything, and people only wanted to hear his verse, already.
Also memorable was his banter with the audience, including a declared intent to “relapse” with the crowd. His people brought out vodka, which he seemed to chug, followed by water pouring out through “holes” in his body, after which he remarked, “What the fuck? I guess I’m just not cut out for that shit.” The gag seemed to take Porter by surprise, who couldn’t stop laughing. He also quipped, “How many a y’all get fucked up to the Recovery album?” After a loud response he laughed, “What kind of backwards ass shit is that?” In the end, as a fan, the show couldn’t have been more refreshing: with all the criticism directed his way, even I had begun to question Em’s longevity, but his performance couldn’t have been anymore passionate, entertaining, or grand. Let’s put it this way: after Bonnaroo, I talked to a fair number of folks disappointed, this time out, I didn’t find a soul with a negative word to say. If anyone tells you different, well, Marshall said it himself: “you haters look like you ate a grape fruit.”
