“We on stage know that race is a social construct and we can go beyond it. So you can you!” No, those words didn’t come from the mouth of Barack Obama but of Saul Williams, whose side stage performance attracted a path-blocking throng of onlookers. And Williams thrilled with a mix of industrial gristle, glam-rock theatrics, bristling hip-hop and poetic free-styling that was as hybrid-fused as his philosophies. Here was revolutionary music absent nostalgic shackles. Genre-bending songs such as “Niggy Tardust,” “WTF!” and “Black Stacey” were simultaneously angry and provocative, while Williams and his mates’ homemade costumes ensured that humor played just as much of a part in the festivities as fury.

[Photograph by Rory O'Connor for RollingStone.com]

More Lollapalooza Coverage: Rock ‘N’ Roll Diary