Lollapalooza, In Summation

FRIDAY.



Yeasayer: So much better than I remember on the album. I don't know the name of this song, but wow. The percussion hurt so good: thick and raw bass with racing snares added for a very intricate effect. The distortion provided a soft bed of sound to carry the whole thing along, and the gentle guitar riffs with the middle-eastern tinge were drizzled on top like icing on a pastry. A DELICIOUS TREAT FOR ALL AGES!



Million $ Mano: Homeboy knows how to rock the house. This means playing Justice and Daft Punk duh. I don't know if Hollywood Holt can actually rap, but he sure can...hypeman, if that's a verb. It's a little silly, though, that when you normalize the beat in Abelton Live so it's all at the same tempo and add bass everything suddenly becomes a "MILLION DOLLAR MANO REMIX!!!!". That was a little annoying. I am glad he brought out Drea for some He Say She Say joints, because those are always satisfying. Most importantly, I got my groove on.


SATURDAY.



Spank Rock: Naeem Juwan is a nymphomaniac, or at least that's what his lyrics would suggest. I was a little surprised/disappointed when he didn't have sex onstage with Amanda Blank's backup dancer. Regardless, the crowd was excited. He performed a lot of Bangers & Cash stuff, which was really entertaining to watch. Hats off to him.

DJ Momjeans: Yes, Danny Masterson from That 70's Show is a DJ now. It was bland electro, which I guess is acceptable. But it left no lasting impact.



Wilco: This was an incredibly soothing concert. It's obvious that this band has mastered their catalog and can perform it effortlessly and beautifully. I wish I was more familiar with their work, I probably would have enjoyed this concert even more.


SUNDAY.


This is actually a picture of the flosstradamus set, but whatever I liked it better




Kid Sister: I want to say this was great, but the truth is that it was a little disappointing. I guess that she's only used to doing shows in clubs and whatnot, so being on one of the main stages was probably a big change. She was getting really tired and was visibly straining to deliver all of her lines accurately. Also, she performed a lot of new material, apparently for the first time. It showed: at one point she started the second verse to a song early even though the chorus wasn't over yet. The backup dancers were terrifying/amusing. Her brother Josh (J2K of Flosstradamus) helped to hold the whole thing together by doing the hype stuff while Autobot did the actual DJing. It was ok overall, but the crowd just wasn't feeling it. At a smaller venue, this would have been much better.

Brazilian Girls: No.



Amadou & Mariam: This blind couple from Mali make incredibly catchy afropop. This is what true world music should sound like because it is crafted from a vast array of sources. Very enjoyable.



Flogging Molly: Ah, it's good to be Irish.

Kanye West: I left early, so I can't really give a comprehensive review of this. Kanye made good and bad descisions during this concert. Good: Doing his verse to "Put On" without auto-tune. Bad: Giving a tribute speech to his mother in auto-tune. Unsure: Performing "Get 'Em High" with a really deep satan voice enabled? I don't know.

All photos courtesy of my cousin carlos or everyoneisfamous.com