Lollapalooza 2006 Wrap-up: Hottest Act? Think Chili

Before the Red Hot Chili Peppers closed Lollapalooza on Sunday night, Perry Farrell told us about his favorite performances so far: the multi-lingual rock wonder Manu Chao and the Aussie psychedelic band Wolfmother. Our pick for best of the fest: The Chili Peppers, who even topped our other favorites, the Raconteurs and the Flaming Lips. From the very start of the Peppers' performance, thousands of fans exploded into what became a free-for-all of crowd surfing that extended hundreds of feet beyond the stage. (Mid-show, Farrell jumped out of a golf cart in the media area to revive an exhausted fan with a bottle of water.) The set — the only time in the festival when just one act was performing — included a wide range of tracks from the Chili's vast catalogue, culminating in an encore of "Give it Away." The perfect finish to three days of great music.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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