Bat for Lashes make broody, beautiful, atmospheric rock that has a flair for the dramatic, but the sounds coming from Natasha Khan and Co.’s instruments were nearly overshadowed by a nutty weather system that practically blew the band offstage in Chicago yesterday. “The set was insane,” Khan tells Rolling Stone backstage at Lollapalooza, describing the stage as “a hundred million degrees.” Watch some of Bat for Lashes’ set and get the full interview, above.

Plus, check out all of the weekend’s hottest performances in our Lollapallooza live gallery and go behind the scenes in exclusive backstage photos.

On paper, the two bands headlining the final night of Lollapalooza couldn’t be more different. Over the course of their initial four-year run, from 1987 to 1991, Jane’s Addiction pioneered a hazy California psychedelia, writing strange songs long on mysticism and foreboding, placing Perry Farrell’s ethereal screech atop Dave Navarro’s charging guitars.

The Killers, on the other hand, are all pomp and preen. They thieve giddily from ’80s new wave and the back catalog of Bruce Springsteen with equal relish, fusing those disparate sounds into alarmingly effective pop songs. Sharing the same bill, they represented the past and future of modern rock — one generation putting emphasis on grinding guitars and strange imagery, the other favoring strong melodies, bleeding hearts and memorable choruses.

Photos from Lollapalooza ‘09: the ultimate live gallery.

Both bands have a thing for spectacle, though, and Lollapalooza’s final night was full of expert showmanship. Jane’s set launched as the charging thrum of “Mountain Song” began and a helicopter swooped down across the crowd, shining a spotlight on the impatient assembly. (more…)

Near the end of her thrilling set with Neko Case Sunday afternoon at Lollapalooza, Kelly Hogan admitted the group was trying to pull off a little trick: “We’re going to try to play some nighttime songs in the daytime.” They then launched into a stirring rendition of the gorgeous heartbreak ballad “That Teenage Feeling.” (Watch live footage of Case as well as the Raveonettes, above.)

Turns out, they weren’t the only ones with that dilemma. The final day of Lollapalooza was loaded with bands whose proper milieu is a dark club, not a sun-baked field. Like Saturday, the temperature on Sunday was miserable, the kind of wet-blanket heat that had concertgoers soaked within minutes. Though it relented a bit when the sun went down, most of the afternoon was an exercise in endurance.

Get a look at all of Lollapalooza’s big names in action in our live photo gallery.

In short, it was the worst kind of setting for Bat for Lashes’ dark, chilly new wave, but frontwoman Natasha Khan managed to make it work. “What’s a Girl to Do” was refitted with a limber dance beat, making it crackle and spark and “Trophy” became lean and sinister, its prowling bass bumped up to a mighty boom. She even managed to make her slower numbers translate: “Siren Song” was devastating, Khan’s plea of “I’m going to love you the best way I know how” raising gooseflesh. It’s no wonder someone in the crowd was holding up a sign reading, “Be Our Mother!” (more…)

Recording a video diary for Rolling Stone at Lollapalooza somehow got Airborne Toxic Event frontman Mikel Jollett thinking about the Rolling Stones, so he broke out his English accent and shared some of his old dreams about getting a phone call from Mick Jagger asking him to jump on tour. Go backstage with the Los Angeles rockers just moments before they hit the stage and check out some of their Sunday afternoon set, above. And experience all the Lolla action in our photo gallery straight from the scene.

Plus, want to see T.A.T.E. in a more intimate setting? Check out their exclusive acoustic set from the RS offices here:

• The Airborne Toxic Event: Acoustic Set Live at Rolling Stone

Perry Farrell shouts out Lou Reed for his first-ever U.S. festival appearance and promises a spectacular set from Jane’s Addiction at Lollapalooza (helicopters will be involved) during an on-the-scene chat with Rolling Stone. The recession has taken its toll on the live-music business, but Lollapalooza sold out for a second time this year and fest co-founder Farrell attributes the event’s continuing success to the “high value for a person’s dollar.” Watch him talk about the unique Lolla experience for fans and artists above, and take a trip back through the festival’s history here:

• Lollapalooza: The Life, Death and Rebirth of America’s Storied Rock Festival

Plus, dive into this year’s killer fest in Lollapalooza ‘09 photos.

Rise Against’s fiery Saturday afternoon set at Lollapalooza looked like it could have gone down during one of the great Lollas of the ’90s — mosh pit and all. Frontman Tim McIlrath tells Rolling Stone the show had special significance for the band, not only because it was their first hometown gig in a while (they skipped Chicago on tour with Rancid), but because Grant Park has so much historical weight: “To play the same place where Obama gave his speech, the same place where the riots of 1968 were, during the Democratic National Convention — this park has a lot of history to it.” Catch some of the band’s killer set and the rest of the interview, above.

No Age’s Randy Randall and Dean Allen Spunt sat down with Rolling Stone at Lollapalooza to explain why Randall performed yesterday’s set while wrapped in giant bandages. His injury stems from a dance contest on the tour the band is currently playing with Dan Deacon and Deerhunter. “Bradford [Cox] and I were battling it out and I didn’t notice this huge puddle of beer on the floor,” he says. “I slip backwards in some type of banana-peel-style fall and I land on my shoulder and dislocate it.” As a result, Randall reports, “We might actually be the first musicians to play on actual, prescribed pain killers.” Watch the duo talk about their new songs and a bit of their Lolla set, above.

Photograph by Alex Reside for RollingStone.com
After Day Two of Lollpalooza ended, concertgoers had their pick of afterparties. At the Metro – some 7 miles from the festival grounds – Fleet Foxes delivered a warm, soothing set, despite the fact that both Robin Peckold and Skyler Skjelset were battling illness. “I’m on this weird mixture of Advil and Dayquil,” Peckold announced. “I wouldn’t recommend it.” Fortunately, the flu had no effect on his voice – he still ably hit the upper register on the chiming “Sun it Rises.” He was even feeling well enough to deliver to new songs, both of which continued their tradition of merging broad folky strums with four-part harmonies. (more…)

Karen O has never been one to make safe sartorial choices, but the outfit she was wearing when she and her band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, took the stage at Lollapalooza was daring even for her. On her head she wore a towering crown made of multicolored cardboard cut-outs of human hands. It was enormous, a towering headdress that flapped and fluttered in the evening breeze. As if that wasn’t enough — she had the cape to match. She was bizarre, entrancing and a joy to watch. In other words, she was Karen O.

Get a look at Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tool and Lollapalooza’s best in our live photo gallery.

That outlandish outfit served as a good indication of what was to come – a set that was brilliant and daring, bursting with light and color. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have undergone a bit of a stylistic shift recently, moving away from the take-no-prisoners post-punk that defined their early work toward the glimmer and glide of electronic music. They pulled off the new songs with panache. “Runaway” started slowly and built steadily, while “Heads Will Roll” rocketed up instantly. (more…)

Near the end of her raucous Saturday afternoon set at Lollapalooza, Danish vocalist Ida Maria launched into one of her better-known numbers, the brash, battering “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked.” On record it plays like a coy come on, but on Saturday, it sounded like good advice. The temperatures were sweltering, an alarming contrast to Friday’s sheets of rain. By 1 p.m., most people in Grant Park were covered with a filmy sweat. A little nudity would have been apropos.

Dive into Lollapalooza ‘09 in our gallery of live shots, straight from Chicago.

There were two chief consequences of the temperature. The first was that there seemed to be twice as many people in the park as there were the day before, which made navigating the festival’s eight stages a small nightmare. A particularly nasty bottleneck between the end of the Arctic Monkeys set and the start of Santigold’s brought hordes of angry, sweaty concertgoers to a standstill. (Click above to watch Animal Collective, TV on the Radio and Arctic Monkeys onstage during Day Two.) (more…)

Fresh off their Lollapalooza set, Brian Fallon and Alex Levine from the Gaslight Anthem sat down with Rolling Stone to recall an incredible recent festival moment: sharing the stage with Bruce Springsteen at Glastonbury. Fallon tells RS Springsteen’s son Evan discovered the band, and the man himself “showed up one day at Glastonbury. He was like, ‘I think I’m going to play that ” ‘59 Sound” song with you.’ ” The pair also give a few hints about the secret new sound they’re working up now: a mix of Tom Waits, the Clash and the Supremes. Watch the full interview above and check out photos from Lollapalooza ‘09 here.

RS kicked back with MC Asher Roth at Lollapalooza, where the MC was totally feeling the fest’s chilled-out vibe. “It’s not about what you’re wearing or who you’re dating,” he tells us shortly after rocking the Friday crowd. “It’s just good people and good music.” Watch our full interview above and check out photos from Lollapalooza ‘09 here.

Depeche Mode’s Friday night headlining set at Lollapalooza began with a whimper. First, there was the tiny, steady blip of a pre-recorded drum track. Then came a bed of synthesizers, misty and mysterious. Finally, Dave Gahan’s voice — barely a whisper — floating above. When all of those elements finally cohered, it was pure rapture — a kind of revelation in phases.

In a way, that slow build and long sustain is an apt metaphor for Depeche Mode’s career. A trio of over-styled foppish young men, they were nobody’s top pick for arena giants, let alone a sure bet to be bankable career artists when they started 30-plus years ago. Their quirky techno seemed built for the moment, not for the ages. Even their name means “fast fashion.”

Photos from Lollapalooza ‘09: Depeche Mode, Kings of Leon and More

Funny thing, though: Depeche Mode have not only endured, they’ve prospered, and during their startling and frequently riveting set they proved that often the greatest rewards come from patience and restraint. Their songs remain mysterious and doomy, Andy Fletcher’s black synth lines walking lockstep around Martin Gore’s grizzled, distorted guitar. Live, they feel fantastically ominous: (more…)

“The thing about rain,” said Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon midway through his band’s Friday afternoon Lollapalooza set, “It kinda tells you what a city’s made of.”

If Fallon’s theory is correct, the people of Chicago — and everywhere else the crowd came from — are made of pretty stern stuff. But crap weather couldn’t hamper a festival that came off as both perfectly planned and expertly managed. Now in its ninth year (with a few gaps along the way), Lollapalooza feels less a music festival and more like a small village. It has a nightclub, an organic market, a day care and a video arcade. And because it’s held in Chicago’s sprawling, 319-acre Grant Park, no one stage ever felt overrun or uncomfortably cramped.

(Watch footage from Heartless Bastards, Bon Iver and the Decemberists’ Lollapalooza sets, above.)

It all allowed proper focus to be placed on the music, the bulk of which was both inspired and inspiring. Gaslight Anthem’s early afternoon set was particularly rousing. Opening with a white-hot run through “High Lonesome,” the group maintained a down-to-business approach, rarely pausing for banter or tune-ups. Drummer Benny Horowitz had a silkscreen of Richard Roundtree and Charles Bronson on his bass drum, and those twin images convey the group’s essential ethos: a collected cool that conceals a fighting spirit. (more…)

Photo: Eichner/WireImage

This weekend, Perry Farrell will return to the stage at the rock festival he helped begin — Lollapalooza — with the original lineup of Jane’s Addiction that rocked the inaugural event in 1991. “We were something brand new — we were called alternative rock,” Farrell remembers. “Jane’s Addiction by themselves probably couldn’t have brought in 20,000 kids, but we had strength in numbers. If we invited a bunch of our friends like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails and Butthole Surfers … people like that, all of a sudden you’re going to get the attention of the underground. And it worked out. So we started to draw kids, 10,000-20,000 per city.”

Look back at Lollapalooza’s history, with Farrell’s commentary.

The festival became a cultural phenomenon, spawning imitators, detractors and a hilarious homage on The Simpsons, where Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins mingled with Peter Frampton and a pair of talking shoes. But when Metallica took top billing in 1996, everything seemed to change. “I have nothing against Metallica, other than the fact that they were a different beast, they’re not an alternative rock group,” says Farrell now. A year later, Lolla as he knew it was gone. (more…)