August 4-10, 2005

music

Perry's Kid: M83 makes an adjustment at the first ever stationary Lollapalooza. Photo By: Jesse Delaney

blistered in the sun

Chi-Town stand up.

by Jesse Delaney

One year after his overambitious dream to bring a two-day touring music festival to the masses fell flat, Perry Farrell has found success bringing the masses to the music festival. The re-relaunch of Lollapalooza as a one-town, weekend-long event in Chicago brought pilgrims from around the globe to the Windy City.

From midday to nightfall, music flowed nonstop from Grant Park as the four main stages, erected in the corners of the mall, followed a rotating schedule with the east stages giving way to performances on the west stages (and vice versa) every hour. International Noise Conspiracy broke the silence (with retro rockers The Redwalls quickly following suit on an adjacent stage), and attempted to set a tone of revolt for the festival by worshipping the MC5 and criticizing the lineup for containing a bunch of broken-up bands. With the malcontent revolutionaries out of the way, a spirit of frivolity took over.

Walking amongst the people, Farrell treated the children at the Kidzapalooza stage to acoustic renditions of Porno for Pyros tunes. (Kids under 10 were admitted free to Lollapalooza with paying adult, and there was "no limit on the number of kids per adult.") Treasure hunts, yoga and egg and spoon races entertained the young ones and kept them out of earshot of the main stages where Liz Phair offended consenting adults with the poor quality of her ribald performance. The homecoming (blowjob) queen was the biggest flop of the festival, and when her Exile-era material stopped, the rush to the Kaiser Chiefs' stage began.

There was way too much going on at once to see every act or performer, but this was a good thing (although choosing between Primus and The Black Keys was tough). There was never a dull moment. Even the sunsets were spectacular, and bands playing the west-facing stages at dusk had a beautiful view of the illuminated Chicago skyline.

Sunday started with OK Go around noon (discrediting all comparisons to Woodstock, which featured The Who at dawn), but got better with The Ponys, who delighted their hometown crowd with poppy garage rock reminiscent of Television, and an electrifying set by the reunited Dinosaur Jr. Temperatures soared to 105 degrees — hot enough to melt the glue binding 93 WXRT ticket-winners — and Lolla-gaggers passed out on blankets as lines to the water fountains swelled. Concertgoers could get out of the sun during the hottest hours by boarding the free cooling buses parked curbside by the Chicago Transit Authority (the anti-SEPTA) or by taking advantage of the liberal reentry policy to abscond to hotels.

The precaution to book combatant rockers on separate days proved unnecessary as it was too hot for fighting, and civility reigned when Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre joined The Dandy Warhols for a couple songs. The Dandys, playing at the same time as The Killers (who maintained their feud with The Bravery), tried to communicate across the crowd with their time-slot sharers, but The Killers either didn't hear them or had seen DiG! and didn't want to get stabbed in the back for associating with The Dandys.

Death Cab for Cutie, debuting material from their next album, wrapped things up and the wild reception they received from fans of The OC cemented Lollapalooza's legacy as an institution of popular culture (for the palooza suffix, if nothing else).

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Lollapalooza
July 23-24 Grant Park, Chicago, Ill.

• Number of bands: 60
• Number of stages: 6
• Tickets: $35-$115
• Celtic corn on the cob: $2
• T-shirts: $20 (same price as Lolla '93)
• Miles from City Paper office: 760.4
• Time difference: 1 hour