The last act makes a film. Wow them in the end, and you got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end, and you’ve got a hit.
-Robert McKee from the film Adaptation
The above quote can all but sum up what was Lollapalooza 2009. A festival whose lineup was already in question prior to the Beastie Boys having to drop out due to health reasons, Perry had to make sure that all stops were pulled out in order for Lollapalooza to work, and he did just that and then some.
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Perry toasts the crowd after his show of thanks.
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Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz turned out to be one of the better (and wilder) showmen of the weekend.
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The huge crowd after the final day of Lolla anxiously awaits being able to cross.
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Perry Farrell brought everyone out onto the stage, including family and friends to celebrate another successful year.
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Very, very good from start to finish The Raveonettes definitely brought their A game and even previewed some of their new album.
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Jane’s Addiction ended Lollapalooza with a bang.
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Playing to one of the more raucous audiences, Passion Pit delivered an energetic set.
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The crowd passes the Palmer House after Day 3 of Lollapalooza
“We’ve had some massive nights, we’ve had some crushing lows”
First and foremost, a giant kudos to Perry’s, which was easily the most consistently entertaining spot at Lollapalooza. A-Trak was a personal highlight with Kid Cudi not too far behind, but I know there were a few other acts that really got the crowd going as well. Unfortunately it wasn’t completely immune from the mundane, as Animal Collective put on a pulse-stopping snoozefest of a DJ set, and Hercules and Love Affair didn’t do much better. The one improvement that they must make next year is actually making it more open, so that people have an easier time of getting in and out– some parts of the day were just brutal to get over there.
This also turned out to be the year for headliners, with Yeah Yeah Yeahs surprising the heck out of me with a top 5 set. Likewise, Jane’s Addiction was also in top form, even getting the helping hand of Joe Perry to perform “Jane Says” as a closer.
Food, Glorious Food
First and foremost, the Lobster Corn Dogs (and everything else at Graham Elliot) were absolutely delicious. The turkey burgers and sweet potato chips from BJ’s Market were also a good bet. Unfortunately, the selection appeared to be a bit more limited this year than it was last year (you can only have so many variations of chicken tenders, etc.), but it was nice that some places were actually selling fruit this year.
This Bud’s for You
While I understand that Budweiser is a big sponsor for Lollapalooza, I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that there’s only one place to find any other kind of beer, and even then you’re stuck with the Stellas and Becks of the world. To add insult to injury, you have to pony up six bucks for a Bud Light or a Bud Light Lime. Granted, on a weekend where the average temp hovers around 90 degrees one would think that alcohol would be secondary– but one look at the continuously half-baked crowd (both in sun and alcohol/drug exposure), would say otherwise. That being said, why don’t they try to bring in some microbrews next year– at least have some Goose Island beers on hand a la Pitchfork.
99 Problems
Here’s a short list of problems that they need to fix before next years Lollapalooza:
- They have to fix the layout of the stages– the north end of the festival was more often than not a giant clusterf***, and the crowds at the Citi stage always appeared to be on the brink of insanity thanks to such little space.
- MORE HIP-HOP PLEASE!
- Please go back to cloth wristbands.
- While it was nice they gave out free water for a time, running out of water on the hottest day of the festival is pretty much inexcusable.
- They need to have more misting stations and places for folks to get tap water if they brought their own bottles. Waiting in line for an hour to fill up your scuzzy water bottle with some equally questionable tap is just not worth it when it’s 90-something degrees.
- Figure out a way to get the sound on the Bud Light and Citi stages to work consistently. While TV on the Radio and Arctic Monkeys had to deal with spotty sound, I could suddenly hear every little giggle and quirk (and there were quite a few) of Karen O. during the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performance.
- Please offer more inexpensive food options.
- More portable toilets, maybe?
Top 10 Performances
- TV on the Radio
- Jane’s Addiction
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Atmosphere
- Cage the Elephant
- A-Trak
- Kid CuDi
- The Raveonettes
- Fleet Foxes
- Passion Pit
Top Disappointments
- Animal Collective
- Arctic Monkeys
- Kings of Leon
- Gomez
- Hercules and Love Affair
The WTF Moment of the Weekend
So if you haven’t heard by now, there was a bit of a mishap on Sunday evening– one that will probably stay in most people’s minds when they look back on Lolla 2009. Lou Reed was, well, Lou Reed, and decided that he wanted to hear himself play for an extra thirty minutes or so, thus delaying the Band of Horses performance. Not to be shortchanged, Band of Horses decided to keep on playing over time, despite the fact that Jane’s Addiction, fronted by none other than Perry Farrell (who runs the freaking show), was supposed to play at 8:30. Jane’s Addiction waited for about ten to fifteen minutes before playing anyway, causing what has to be considered one of the oddest pairings of sound to take place in Grant Park, and in retaliation Band of Horses decided that they would attempt to “blow that shit out” and keep playing anyway. Well, fellas, sorry that Lou Reed had a senior moment, but you don’t try to upstage the guy that brought you to the festival in the first place. Nevermind the fact that any real Band of Horses fan surely got their fix between you guys playing at the Kids stage and having a House of Blues aftershow– welcome to the Lollapalooza banned list.
Final Verdict
With Lollapalooza getting bigger every year, it’s beginning to show some signs of growing pains. Perhaps the biggest offender in general was the lack of any real rock-n-roll prowess. Oh sure, there were lots of quaint bands, lots of solid bands, but very few blew me away. That being said, I hope that next year packs a bit more excitement, if not bigger names, and please Perry, let’s have more quality hip-hop next year, yeah?
