Day Two @ Lollapalooza,Chicago (08/08/09)

Wed 12th Aug, 2009 in Gig Reviews

While day one of Lollapalooza was spent stuck in traffic, day two
began at an exclusive brunch hanging out with Playboy bunnies – ah,
the luxurious life of a writer. As my friend played Rock Band with
models, I ate a croissant looking out at Lake Michigan. Needless to
say, I started day two on quite a high. The music of the day began
with the infectious sounds of Los Campesinos! whose approachable
aura certainly made for a fun afternoon. The Welsh seven-piece exerted
a child-like enthusiasm, playing like they were incredibly happy to be
here and their infectiously catchy brand of indie pop made for one of
the best live acts of the festival thus far.

Next up to the plate, with what can only be described as stoner
electro, what with endless looping and extended jamming, emerged
Chairlift. Yet despite an interesting live jam and with the
exception of chart hit Bruises, their songs began to blend together
about 10 minutes into the set. Seemingly their biggest fan, the
shirtless bearded man next to me enjoyed endlessly dancing barefoot to
the relaxing and chilled sounds of Chairlift – at a festival though,
the mellowness was not a home run.

After a quick lunch break I eagerly rushed to see Santigold, hoping
the upbeat sounds would provide an ideal midday pick-me-up – wrong!
Even showing up half an hour before the set did not guarantee me a
viewing space and as the area packed with people, walking through a
brick wall would have been easier than navigating the packed Santigold
crowd. Emerging onstage late, the Brooklyn-based act sounded great,
playing songs from 2008 release Santogold with lots of energy but
blindfolded by the huddled masses, I was basically listening to an
extremely loud boom box.

After camping out to witness the highly touted TV on the Radio, I
discovered that the five-piece from New York has much to learn about
entertaining a festival crowd. Outside of some slight dancing and a
few well-timed jumps, the band mostly just stood on stage and
nonchalantly played songs off their latest album Dear Science. The
material was solid, but the lacklustre delivery made it a rather
pedestrian set.

My efforts to secure a spot for Animal Collective were thwarted by
thousands of Tool fans gathering in preparation for the headline
set. Unfortunately, this left no room for Animal Collective fans. In a
grassy part off to the side of the stage, Animal Collective sounded
magnificent and chilling under trees listening to the random
electronic meanderings of the boys originally from Baltimore proved a
great way to spend an hour.

Despite the objections of my 12-year-old self, I had no desire to see
Tool perform at all, let alone for 90 minutes as a headliner. The
alternate co-headliner was supposed to be rap icons Beastie Boys but
with the recent cancer diagnosis of Adam Yauch (aka MCA) the Yeah
Yeah Yeahs filled in. Despite my initial scepticism, as soon as
vocalist Karen O burst out onto the stage, the audience was hers.
Their unique blend of catchy yet edgy soulful indie rock worked
surprisingly well in such a large setting. They seemed just so
grateful for the headliner opportunity that the band performed a
raucous set with enough energy and song diversity to keep the audience
engaged and dancing. Not surprisingly, for the entire length of the
set, Karen O was a whirlwind of colour, dancing and singing on every
part of the stage. In the grandeur of the moment, guitarist Nick
Zinner busted out a camera and started taking pictures, seemingly
just to prove that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs actually played in front of
such a large crowd.