The Smoking Section has to give it up for Eddie Vedder, who swept through Chicago and made our Lollapalooza worth living. We arrived on Thursday, and instead of selling our Pearl Jam ticket to one of the desperate fans outside of the Vic Theater (one offer: $5,000 in cash), we caught a bizarrely original gig by the band — no big hits. The gig started with Eddie and his acoustic guitar and a dope song about the Chicago Cubs. “Someday we’ll go all the way!” he screamed, and so did the crowd. The next afternoon, about a half-hour before the start of the Mets v. Cubs game at Wrigley, Eddie threw about fifteen solid pitches in the Cubbies bullpen, before delivering a fastball strike for the game’s first pitch.
Lollapalooza was insanely hot. In the middle of Grant Park, where Lolla went down for the third straight year, is the massive fountain in the opening credits of “Married… With Children” — but you can’t jump in. And there was a bit of a weird vibe along with the sweat. Though Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney told us that Lolla “is one of the few festivals where you can hop in a cab and be on your way to a neighborhood bar,” there was very little communal spirit. It was no Bonnaroo, where people are forced to suffer the trials and tribulations of living in the shit with one another for three days straight. Corporate sponsorship was everywhere, with scary old people dotting the air-conditioned tents (fetching up to $75,000 a piece) that perched about a hundred yards away from the two main stages (which are a twenty minute walk away from each other).
Still, there was a lot to love. On Friday, while Pete and Ashlee Wentz (née Simpson) held hands in the backstage bar, we caught dope sets from Blonde Redhead, LCD Soundsystem and afrobeat heir Femi Kuti and his sick band, Positive Force. The Daft Punk set was killer, but more fans were drawn to Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals show on the other side of the fountain. From the side of the stage we Harper and Vedder trade verse on Dylan’s epic “Masters of War,” (a payback for Harper singing “Indifference” at the Vic) then shut it down with “Better Way.”
Saturday was pretty dismal. Rain swept in, putting a damper on sets by Spoon and the Hold Steady. Rhymefest, the rapper from the South Side of Chicago, killed it, and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was pleasantly out of control, as her band debuted cuts from their new EP Is Is. We skipped out during Interpol to see MIA and Lupe Fiasco destroy the House of Blues.
The sun came back out on Sunday. We started the day with beers at the Park Hyatt with Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill, his dad Leon, and Leon’s charming wife who flew in from Oklahoma to see their kids rip it at Lollapalooza. Nathan told us that the same bar also hosted Bono’s last birthday party, where U2’s bodyguards were all dressed up like Aladdin. (Don’t ask.) Pressed for embarrassing details about the Followill boys, all Leon would say is that singer Caleb (who cut off all his hair when the band was just in England), and cousin Nacho (a KOL roadie) are incredible spoon-players. We did not know that. Harper played Kidzapalooza, the children’s stage, and told the kids that his cut “Steal My Kisses” was about stealing kisses from his son, who was put off by his dad’s beard. Ain’t that sweet. (Jim James of My Morning Jacket also dropped by, for “Rainbow Connection”!)
At Lolla it was 96 degrees in the shade, but that didn’t flatten Amy Winehouse’s beehive. Surprisingly undrunk, she mixed cuts from Back To Black with stuff from her first album, Frank, and even threw in a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Cupid”, while her Pete Doherty-esque husband shot footage from the side of the stage. Hanging on the side of the stage near the Kings’ ladies (check out the Myspace music page of Nathan’s fiance, Jessie Baylin, who just got signed to Verve), we witnessed the weekend’s hottest performance. Eddie Vedder, wearing a Fiji Beer t-shirt, and had been smoking cigs and drinking Coronas on the side of the stage, hopped out to join the Kings on “Slow Night, So Long.” Weilding two tambourines, Vedder finished Caleb’s lines and thrashed around, slamming the tambourines together. In three minutes, Vedder killed the tambourines. It was the perfect prelude to Iggy Pop, whose fans stormed the stage during “No Fun.”
With every stage but one shut down for PJ’s Sunday finale, crowds stretched back to the fountain to witness an epic set. PJ ripped through classics like “Why Go,” “Corduroy,” “Elderly Woman,” “Even Flow,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Alive,” “Rearviewmirror” and “Crazy Mary.” Backstage we met Dennis Rodman, fireworks exploded over Lake Michigan, and we shut it down at our neighborhood bar.
For full Lollapalooza coverage, including twice-daily reports on all the performances, click here.
Photo: Jackie Butler/ Retna
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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