It’s the height of summer in Chicago and that means it’s time for excited (and soon to be inebriated) masses to gather in Grant Park for the city’s biggest (and most commercial) music festival. With an expanded territory in the park and an expanded capacity, Lollapalooza 2010 showed up with an impressive crop of performers and ideal weather, and after the first day, one big question: Didn’t this used to be a rock festival?
OK, there certainly we’re plenty of guitar-focused bands playing throughout the park with acts like The Walkmen, The Black Keys, The New Pornographers and Wavves entertaining the masses, but my path for the day turned out to be filled with keyboards, drums and overwhelming rhythms.
The job of starting all this off fell to Atlanta’s latest hip hop superstar B.o.B whose chart topping ways didn’t earn him a post-noon set time. But not worried about the early time, Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr., simply set about gathering the biggest possible crowd of early arrivers and working them into a fervor with crisp and quick rhymes and a crack backing band to keep things thick. Animated on stage and engaging with the crowd, B.o.B showed he’s been deserving of all the recent attention, and his career is probably still on the rise.
Israeli ex-pats and current New Yorkers Balkan Beat Box were up next and they kept the heavy bass sounds in full effect. They had the honor of being the first band to play the stage to be headlined by Lady Gaga, and their crowd was mostly the early to arrive Gaga fanatics who rushed into the park to claim prime real estate by the barricades. Lucky for those fans, BBB had plenty of dance energy of their own with their Middle Eastern melodies and everywhere at once rhythms.
Across the park (which is a seriously massive expanse that makes getting back and forth between the two main stage areas a lengthy endeavor) the global sounds continued with Los Amigos Invisibles showing up from Venezuela and bringing unstoppable energy to power their Latin dance funk. The crowd gathered for them was not as large as the masses already pooling across the park, but everyone watching them was quickly in motion as their sound is an infectious party. With a laid back style that belied the non-stop drive of their songs, Los Amigos certainly left a lasting impression on everyone who saw them.
Up next it was time for a legend. Hometown soul/gospel hero Mavis Staples came to the park to do what she’s been doing for a long time, sing praises with her unparalleled voice and take everyone listening right up there with her. Beginning things acapella, Staples, along with a trio of backing singers, showed off the power of an amazing voice. By the time her tight soul band kicked in, the crowd was ready to believe everything she had to offer. It wasn’t unexpected, but with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy currently producing Staples’ forthcoming album, it was nice to see him take the stage to add his guitar to one of her new songs.
Unfortunately, across the park a crime against scheduling was taking place because while Staples was singing, so was Raphael Saadiq. Two of the only soul acts on the bill went head to head, and I raced back across the way to catch some of his new takes on the classic style. As expected, his was a thicker funk, but no less genuine and from the heart. Saadiq even threw in a nod his Tony! Toni! Toné! past, playing “Feels Good” late in the set.
Over at the expanded Perry’s DJ stage, the boisterous crowd seemed to be oblivious that it was mid-afternoon and blazingly sunny. They were quite simply focused on the get down, and Stones Throw honcho Peanut Butter Wolf was happy to oblige. Having moved on from 45s to music videos, he set about cutting and scratching his way through classic hip hop clips, with a nice homage to the late Guru thrown into the set.
The majority of people may know them for their gimmicky hats and singular 80s hit “Whip It” but Devo are much more than that, and they used their time on the main stage to show that all the gimmicks have great entertainment value, but at their core, they’re just a great band with great songs. Still, the gimmicks are fun and their new costumes of gray jumpsuits and gray masks made a striking visual statement while their music—new and old—was strong enough to speak for itself. Guitars, drums, keys and vocals all worked as a unit, and the band’s posturing added accent to the sounds. Far from running from their past, Devo donned their iconic energy dome hats halfway through the set and showed that it’s still a good thing to “Whip It” even after more than 20 years.
On stage monitor problems seemed to be bothering reigning synth-pop champions Hot Chip early in their set. Despite sounding good out front, the band seemed tenuous as they started things off. Thankfully they relaxed into the performance and each song gained momentum from the previous one, so by the time their hour on stage was up, the crowd which had begun thickening in anticipation of Gaga, was deep in their groove and getting their dancing legs thoroughly warmed up.
Keeping that groove going strong was the task handed over to Chromeo, but it was no surprise that they were up to the task. With their good time attitude, ample talkbox interjections and Robert Palmer-style background singers, Dave 1 and P-Thugg were in prime form throwing down their lithe grooves from both their anticipated forthcoming album and their now classic early releases.
Of course for many in the crowd, the whole day was just a warm up for what Lady Gaga was going to bring to close out the night. The thick mobs seemed to be made up of die-hard fans and people just there for curiosity’s sake. Both likely left with what they came for. Unsurprisingly everything about the performance was over the top and attempting to be in your face. The massive production budget was used for a serious of elaborate sets and of course an unending array of barely there costumes for Gaga and her horde of writhing backup dancers. It was pop music as spectacle and while her songs may not leave me wanting to press replay, Lady Gaga deserves credit for putting everything she has into the performance. She sang, danced, played a number of instruments and delivered a series of scripted and off the cuff soliloquies. It’s doubtful that her fans left disappointed and it’s likely some of the curiosity seekers left impressed as well.
But after a while I needed a break from the tight-packed crowd and the over-the-top stage show so I headed across the park for one last (and oddly my first) gasp of rock music. Stopping to get food from the booth of local burger legend Kuma’s Corner (worth it for the pretzel bun alone, but a great burger for anywhere, not just a festival) I arrived at the other end of the park to catch the final hour from The Strokes. While expecting little from a reunited outfit without even solid rumors of quality new material, I was surprised and amazed at the performance they brought. It was certainly headliner worthy, even if the strongest moments all came when they played the still vital material from their debut Is This It. Sounding tight, with jagged guitars and growling vocals it was a great finish to a long day of music.
Two more days full of music(and a whole lot more walking) to go. Check back tomorrow for a run down of what goes on during the second day of Lollapalooza 2010.
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