Lollapalooza Diary — Eels Define Coolness

8/5/06, 3:01 pm EST

eelsHere’s what’s hip at this year’s festival: beards (see below), flight suits, and a bunch of unexpected cover songs. We know this because today we watched the hairy-faced Eels rock military-inspired flight suits while performing a set that included Tom Waits’ “Jesus Gonna Be Here,” Peaches’ “Rock Show,” Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” and Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” — as My Morning Jacket watched in awe from backstage.

The West Coast boys outfits’ ranged from strange to stranger: lead singer E (Mark Oliver Everett) dressed as a hairy military bomber, drummer Knuckles wore, as he said backstage, a “racecar driver/rocket pilot/safety inspector kind of thing” and bassist Chet resembled Fidel Castro. But by far the most impressive onstage presence was Krazy Al, who looked like a cross between Mr. Clean and a big-ass mutton-chopped bouncer as he made karate moves and ennacted an incident involving latex gloves, whipped cream and a bit of meditation. We told you they were cool.


Comments

spike | 7/12/2007, 6:29 pm EST

i´ve been a fan for several years. The performance at Lowlands (Holland) was realy GREAT!!!!!
Eels ROCK!!!!

koen | 7/2/2007, 12:26 pm EST

hi i saw you writing this on a show on MTV

Hendrik | 3/2/2007, 4:34 am EST

Great music, great attitude, no band has ever swept me off my feet like they/he did..

Kly | 12/24/2006, 12:20 pm EST

Saw em at the ROYAL ALBERT HALL. Beat that MUVABITCH. k XXXXXXXX

Jason | 12/13/2006, 4:43 am EST

I saw the eels when they came to Australia this year and they were absolutly awesome. I don’t know if they play it in other shows by that did a marathon 10 min version of “Not ready yet” it was magic.

bannerman | 11/3/2006, 6:15 pm EST

EEls saved my life.I desperately cling to the hope that one day i’ll be privaleged enough to experience them live.PLEASE COME TO SCOTLAND!

Luca | 10/16/2006, 9:11 am EST

Missing EEls concert in Asti (Italy) this Summer rock-renounce since my little son Milo born…
Hope they come back again, may be Milo will be old enough to come with me!
Luca - Torino Italy

Tim Eggleston | 10/6/2006, 1:32 am EST

I saw the Eels performance at Lollapalooza. I didn’t know much about them but for some reason I was drawn to their show. I only caught the last 20 minutes of their set, but I was completely blown away. That 20 minutes was the best 20 minutes of Lollapalooza. I am now a big Eels fan and am dying to see them live again.

Andrew Cross - Canada | 9/24/2006, 6:24 pm EST

I saw Eels in Montreal, Madison and Milwaukee for this tour; Paris, London & New York for the strings; and Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal for Shootenanny. All I can say is they are an addiction worth having and can cure your soul.
The best band in the world and the most ironically intellectual entertainment experience coming out of the States in decades. The highest form of American artistic expression of late.
And they really put out! Rock on!!!

Benbloom | 9/18/2006, 5:31 pm EST

Saw EELS in Dublin in summer for the 5th time - every time is different but genius. One of life’s pleasures is Last Stop This Town in the rain…shouldn’t be but it is.

Klay | 9/9/2006, 12:03 am EST

When will they be on the cover? Probably too good for RS.

Profion | 9/6/2006, 3:58 pm EST

It is know.

Eels = Rock

Matteo | 9/1/2006, 9:15 am EST

I saw Eels in Senigallia, Italy this summer, for the first time. And now I know it won’t be the last time! They rock! Hope a live Cd will come out of this huge world tour.

mardy | 9/1/2006, 3:52 am EST

i can agree with everyone of these comments
also i have a bootleg from one show on the no strings attatched tour
people email me if you want it and i will create a torrent for you to leech

Beeber | 8/31/2006, 4:26 am EST

The thing about Eels is that every time you see them perform you feel special - just for being there.

Aurélie | 8/25/2006, 2:34 pm EST

I saw them in Paris, it was my first time. Unforgettable !

anonymous | 8/23/2006, 6:11 pm EST

i think im cool, i dress like a chav and act like one and hang around with them to as well as listen to predominantely hip hop.
But there is something about the eels. They are fucking amazing!!! i now have 17 cd’s!

willem | 8/18/2006, 10:03 am EST

Saw them in Groningen to, it was great, best band ever. Now let’s hope a live-cd comes out

Steve | 8/17/2006, 10:32 pm EST

First time Eels performance at Lolla. Had no clue what any of the songs were (except “Spell”). Very cool band who’s been around for a while. I love diggin’ new bands!

MichaelAngelo | 8/17/2006, 10:16 pm EST

My 17 year-old daughter brought me to see the EELS at the MN Zoo. I hadn’t a clue as to who or what to expect. I now own 5 EELS CDs and am a great fan. The energy I gleened from this show still has me inspired to ROCK!

erica | 8/17/2006, 2:27 am EST

Saw Eels at the Galaxy. E, please do another show out here before you go into rest mode. I need to see this one again. I know that the next tour will be different and outstanding, but I’m not done with this tour! That show last spring was so good. Thanks.

filip | 8/16/2006, 4:34 pm EST

the eels rocked this year all over the world. greetings from vienna/austria

Jason Grayson | 8/16/2006, 6:00 am EST

If you see one Eels gig, you think they’re great, see two Eels gigs and they’re the best band in the world. I’ve seen them on their last 4 tours and each show has been hugely different from each other. So much live rock music is artiface and they take that and turn it into performance. And they know how to do a proper encore.

tianna | 8/16/2006, 2:12 am EST

Seeing The Eels live “No Strings Attatched” was like catching a disease that you do not want to go away. Everything about the show was better than anything I could ask for! It will probably never leave my thoughts.

Mark | 8/14/2006, 12:01 am EST

Seeing the Eels in concert for the second time only reaffirmed my strong belief that they are the best band in the world. No, the universe.

alig | 8/13/2006, 9:58 am EST

saw the oxegen performance, was looking forward to seeing the band for the first time and they were a lot better than i could have hoped for, the rock like versions of most of the songs were great esp. I like Birds which they finished on….simply amazing…please release a live tour recording of this E!!

BEN! | 8/13/2006, 1:08 am EST

I think the most impressive thing about EELS is how diverse they are. Last year i saw EELS with strings at Town Hall (the back of my head/fadora can be seen for about half a second while E and The Chet are talking during the second to last song) and this year i saw EELS no strings attached at the free River To River show in the World Financial Plaza. The two shows seamed to be completely opposite of eachother, but they were both amazing.

Tomazi | 8/11/2006, 8:26 am EST

I were in Paris and this tour Rock my mind. This is the best performance i’ve ever seen. Thanks E and the band.

BILL | 8/11/2006, 7:12 am EST

I SAW THE EELS IN ATLANTA AND THEY BLEW MY MIND. KRAZY AL STOLE
THE SHOW WITH HIS ONSTAGE ANTICS AND PRE SONG QUOTES SUCH AS “THIS IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE WHEN DOVES CRY.” E WAS IN TOP FORM AND AFTER SEEING THE LIVE WITH STRINGS I WAS LEFT WONDERING IF THE ALREADY INCREDIBLE GROUP WAS EVEN MORE INCREDIBLE WITHOUT STRINGS–YES I THINK THEY WERE!!!

Traviswamsher | 8/10/2006, 9:51 pm EST

Don’t let E and his revolving cast of bandmates deceive you with the get-ups, costumes, and tomfoolery: they are superb musicians whose live performances match the quality and originality of their recorded material. E just doesn’t disappoint - ever.

Harmen Jan Veldhuis | 8/10/2006, 8:44 am EST

I saw the band in Groningen (Holland) and they are the best. I hope they make an live album of this tour

Paul the Truck UK | 8/10/2006, 4:27 am EST

Having seen the Eels for the first time this year and staying with them for the europe tour all that can be said apart from the music that this band are true professionals who live the life of ordinary folk not needing the hype of the rock and roll industry to survive , the follwing was beyond compare and the music ROCKED as did the performance of the band on stage. Crazy Al moves are wicked and the sounds from Chet and the E guitars were awesome but by far the sounds from Knuckles on drums made the show for me leading all the way. Not forgeting the backstage crew of Teabag , Bling Montain and Kitten . What a great bunch of Guy,s and Girls

Basti | 8/8/2006, 10:22 am EST

All I can say: The Eels rock!!!

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