Lollapalooza Day 2: Dancing jailbait, wannabe outlaws, and vocoder madness

Day 2 of Lollapalooza 2008. Photos and videos taken by Deena and Scott. Reviews by both of us except where noted.

12:30 Does It Offend You, Yeah?

This was an upbeat, up-tempo show that started out strong but lulled in the middle. At one point the singer said, “This is our big pop song,” then proceeded to play one of the blandest songs we heard all weekend. At least the vocoder-heavy “Doomed Now” and “We Are Rockstars” lived up to their potential. Stick to the fat, thick, grimy electro-punk, guys—it’s what you do best.

1:15 Ferras (Deena)

Ferras was another visit I made based on hearing some stuff on Lolla radio. His claim to fame is “Hollywood’s Not America,” American Idol Season 7’s “farewell song”—you know, the one played each week during the video montage of someone who gets voted off. His show seemed bland, though, compared to what I’d heard on his album Aliens and Rainbows. He had a nice voice but spent most of his time behind the piano, not interacting a whole lot with the crowd; and even when he did it seemed awkward. I was just happy to enjoy some music in the shade for this one.

1:45 innerpartysystem

This act out of Reading, PA was just what we’d hoped for. innerpartysystem (named after a social class in George Orwell’s 1984) dished out their powerful electro-emo with both gusto and musicality. The band passionately performed and thanked the audience, which they claimed was the biggest crowd they’d ever played for. We’re looking forward to checking out their full-length album slated for release in September.

2:15 Foals (Deena)

I still can’t quite figure out what math rock is, but apparently Foals is it. Their dance-punk set sounded pretty true to their album, but I didn’t quite get their performance. The lead vocalist’s mic was set up so that when he sang, he faced the right side of the stage instead of the audience, and their guitarist was constantly facing the left side of the stage. Is this part of their math rock equation? I don’t know, but it didn’t add up to an entertaining performance.

2:30 Dierks Bentley (Scott)

The official Lollapalooza program tried to peg Dierks Bentley as an outlaw cowboy in the tradition of Waylon Jennings. Sorry, I’m not buying it. The guy used to work for CMT, for crying out loud. You can’t get more mainstream than that. But I did dig his rocking country tunes.

3:30 MGMT

Playing before a massive crowd (the largest I’ve ever seen at a non-mainstage at a festival), psychedelic synthpop band MGMT managed to bore everyone silly for the first half of their performance. No dancing, no singing along, just a lot of standing around and sweating. “Electric Feel” finally got things moving, but it was an aberration. “The Handshake” and the genius single “Time to Pretend” felt utterly joyless. Andrew VanWyngarden’s voice was so weak that the hooks weren’t even hooks because his voice was barely discernable. MGMT get this year’s “Fratellis award” for being the up-and-coming band that was presented with a huge opportunity at Lollapalooza and blew it.

4:30 Brand New (Deena)
This set started slow and never quite picked up momentum. Brand New’s songs often have subdued parts with lower-pitched vocals that are offset by borderline screamo, which works well on their albums; unfortunately, these sections didn’t carry over well live, forcing the singer to sing-yell them, which didn’t have the same effect. All in all, what I heard was okay, but after hearing frontman Jesse Lacey tell the audience (twice!) that they should really be seeing Explosions in the Sky, I went and did just that.

4:45 Explosions in the Sky (Scott)
Instrumentals don’t necessarily play well in a festival setting, unless you’re looking for some background music while you toss around the frisbee. These guys are known for thundering rock compositions, but for the portion of their set I observed, they stuck mostly to the quieter stuff, one exception being the magnificent “Welcome Ghosts.”

5:30 Okkervil River

Okkervil’s live show is phenomenal. The spontaneity between Will Sheff and his bandmates and the way they play off each other is great to witness. Sheff’s punk energy took the band’s best storytelling tracks like “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” and “The President’s Dead” to another level, proving (as if we didn't already know) that Okkervil River are one of the more exciting bands in rock these days.

7:30 Toadies (Deena)

I will freely admit that the Toadies aren’t a remarkable band, but they still provided one of the better shows I saw all day. Although they only had one semi-breakthrough hit with “Possum Kingdom” off their 1994 Rubberneck album, it was obvious that much of the crowd (including me) had been holding on to that album all these years, waiting to sing along to every song. These aging rockers delivered a solid set despite the years-long break since their last tour, playing all the songs people wanted to hear along with a preview of some tracks from their new album.

7:45 Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings (Scott)

52-year-old Sharon Jones is sassy, spunky, and soulful, and her performances are never dull. Against the wishes of security personnel, she invited a young man onstage, then said, “He looks kinda young. Do you think I can go to jail? I’m not trying to go to jail.” After discovering he has a wife, she taught him some dance moves to please his woman. Her throwback R&B tracks like “100 Days, 100 Nights” brought down the house.

8:30 Rage Against the Machine

Rage had to stop their show several times to order fans to step back because of the intensity of fans moshing and crashing the stage barriers. Even with the delays, the band owned Grant Park, rocking like it was 1996 and they were in their prime. Singer Zach de la Rocha was a commanding presence, and Tom Morello’s shredding was a sight to behold. As might have been expected, de la Rocha got political, speaking of the mysterious terrorist force that threatens our way of life, then claiming, “It’s our very government that is the terrorist organization we’ve been hearing about.” But mostly, Rage let their music do the talking, building up to an explosive conclusion of “Freedom” and “Killing in the Name.”

Saturday’s top 5:
1. Okkervil River
2. Rage Against the Machine
3. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
4. Innerpartysystem
5. Explosions in the Sky