Lollapalooza day two!

I was a little late getting started yesterday morning and Be Your Own Pet’s noon-hour set was the casualty. The first band I did catch was Cold War Kids, who are something of a blog favourite – a fact that didn’t really bode well for them considering how often my tastes fall in line with the buzz du jour. What they were, to me, was Modest Mouse covering soul tunes. Does Isaac Brock know how many bands are stealing his singing style? Or lack thereof? Perplexing. Anyway, they were alright. Nothing astonishing, but alright.

MP3: Cold War Kids – “Hospital Beds”
Video: Cold War Kids – “Hair Down” (YouTube)
MySpace: Cold War Kids

Geography would dictate much of my schedule for this day, hence The Go! Team – playing right next door to where the Cold War Kids were – got the nod over Feist, who was way the hell on the other side of the park. Their live show is somewhat legendary and now that I’ve witnessed it, I’ll fall in line. Super fun, super high energy and really good tunes, in that hip-hop/disco/dance/garage/sould kinda way. They got the crowd involved with singalongs, call-and-response, dancing, etc. Even the clown troupe in audience got into the groove and you know how dour clowns can be. Definitely a good time.

MP3: The Go! Team – “Bottle Rocket”
Video: The Go! Team – “Ladyflash” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Go! Team

Then it was hoofing it way across the park for Built To Spill. Their (alleged by me) hatred for Toronto is well-documented so they pretty much topped the list of must-see bands I’ve never seen and this would likely be my best opportunity to rectify that. As it turns out, they’re not the most charismatic performers but hearing the 3-headed guitar orgy and great tunes live was still a treat. And they were (surprisingly) the first band I’d heard to make a point about the corporate sponsorship of the festival, telling the crowd that Budweiser didn’t actually care about them. Which is unfair. Budweiser is a big company. Surely SOMEONE there is a Built To Spill fan.

MP3: Built To Spill – “Liar”
Video: Built To Spill – “Conventional Wisdom”
MySpace: Built To Spill

Geography came into play again as I opted for Calexico over Wolfmother even though I had seen them almost exactly one month ago. This time the guest appearance of Salvador Duran, who so spiced up their tour with Iron & Wine last year, was an unexpected treat though Sam Beam, who played yesterday, declined to make an appearance. But Nicolai Dunger, whom I’m no particular fan of, did guest on their “Alone Again Or”, which was naturally dedicated to the late Arthur Lee. When Calexico becomes a fallback act, you know you’re dealing with a loaded lineup.

MP3: Calexico – “Cruel”
Video: Calexico – “Cruel” (MOV)
MySpace: Calexico

Another band I’d never seen before was Sonic Youth and while not nearly the most devout fan, I was more than happy to get the chance. Probably the band at the festival most deserving of the adjective “legendary”, they proved they could still teach bands half their age a thing or two about putting on a killer show. They drew heavily on Rather Ripped – which suited me fine – and sounded fantastic with far more energy than I would have expected from an act that looked as grizzled as they do (the telephoto lens doesn’t lie). Kim Gordon, in particular, was a dancing machine. Handing off most bass duties to ex-Pavementer Mark Ibold has really freed her up to get in touch with her inner pogo-er. Fantastic.

MP3: Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”
Video: Sonic Youth – “Incinerate” (YouTube)
MySpace: Sonic Youth

The next time slot didn’t have anything of real appeal to me so I wandered to the closest stage which would be featuring The Dresden Dolls. They’re advertised as punk cabaret and that’s really as apt a description as any – the two piece, a drummer and pianist, dress in whiteface and cabaret makeup and play, well, punkish cabaret music. Dramatic, theatrical and definitely entertaining, their set was livened up by an accidental (?) n!p slip conveniently right after the photo pit cleared out. The band also has an almost frighteningly rabid fanbase – one girl pressed up against the barricade declared, unprompted, that she would let singer/pianist Amanda Palmer spit on her.

MP3: The Dresden Dolls – “Backstabber”
Video: The Dresden Dolls – “Sing” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Dresden Dolls

By now, everyone knows what to expect from a Flaming Lips show – the giant bubble, the costumed dancers, the confetti guns – and yet even though you know what’s coming, if you haven’t seen it before as I haven’t (or even if you have), it’s still spectacular. The bubble was actually less elegant than I’d expected – I thought Wayne Coyne would be walking more than being buffetted around helplessly, but that made it all the more endearing. And I’d mistakenly dismissed the musical aspect of the show, expecting them to rely heavily on tapes and concentrate more on the theatricality of it all. And while there’s no doubt they’ve spent a lot of time on the costumes and whatnot (in attendance – Martian dancing girls, an army of Santa Clauses and the Justice League), I was pleasantly surprised how much the band actually plays and performs. Simply marvelous and though it’s almost cliche to say, the highlight of the day.

Video: The Flaming Lips – “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”
MySpace: The Flaming Lips

The New Pornographers drew a much larger crowd than I expected, a fact that did my Canadian heart proud. It was also nice to see them garnering the attention they did without the “big name draws” of Neko Case and Dan Bejar in the lineup – while they’re somewhat lessened in stage presence by their absence, the core lineup still sounds excellent. I didn’t stick around that long – the opportunity to rest up before the evening’s finale was too tempting to pass up. But I could hear the Pornos from the media tent – at least until the crowd gathered at the big stage started chanting “Kanye, Kanye”.

MP3: The New Pornographers – “Twin Cinema”
Video: The New Pornographers – “Sing Me Spanish Techo” (iFilm)
MySpace: The New Pornographers

A year and a half ago, I said I had no idea who Kanye West was. Now, I know that a) he’s from Chicago, b) he headlined day 2 of Lollapalooza and c) he doesn’t think that George Bush cares about black people. The crowd was apeshit for him but after being hustled out of the photo pit with the rest of the camera brigade, I couldn’t bring myself to fight my way back into the crowd to see the rest of the show, and just listened from in back. He had an orchestra with him. Sounded nice.

MySpace: Kanye West

Photos from day 2 have been added to my Flickr set. Another 3.5 GB of photos to go through next week. Huzzah!

Today is the final day of the festival and as you might imagine, I’m about ready to crash hard. But I can keep it going for another 12 hours or so until this all wraps up proper and celebratory-like.

No preamble. Let’s just get right into it.

I chose Brit kiddies The Subways to open up Lollapalooza for me – their stage was the closest to where I was physically located and having seen them in Amsterdam earlier this year, I knew that their high-energy pop-punk would be a good way to kick things off. Their “Hello Lollapalooza!” would the first of many I would be hearing throughout the day. It was pretty amazing to see the size and enthusiasm of the crowd that had shown up so early in the day – definitely an auspicious beginning. Lead singer Billy Lunn seems to have gotten over the throat ailments that had them cancelling shows left, right and centre because he was in fine screaming form. Still not a band whose record I’d bother with, but definitely fun to see live.

Video: The Subways – “Rock’N’Roll Queen”
MySpace: The Subways

I had planned on seeing Finland’s Husky Rescue in Toronto tomorrow night but Instead I was seeing them here in Chicago. Their cool, Nordic sounds were a nice counterpoint to the Subways and considering how electronic their recorded output is, their live show was very tight and organic. Understated but with an undeniable sass. I mentioned yesterday that Lolla is mostly about the big, established acts but it was nice to see someone new step up and deliver as well. Grab an MP3 for “New Light Of Tomorrow” in the Stimuli section of the Minty Fresh website and check out their session for Minnesota Public Radio.

Video: Husky Rescue – “Summertime Cowboy” (SWF)
MySpace: Husky Rescue

Eels, I had just seen a couple months ago but they’re definitely an entertaining live band so they got the nod for their timeslot (and there wasn’t a lot of competition, either). Their wacky-ass live schtick isn’t as bewlidering the second time around but perhaps because of that, they were more enjoyable musically. Alas the photo pit’s 3-song limit was up just before Crazy Al went into his karate man routine.

MP3: Eels – “Sweet L’il Thing”
MySpace: Eels

There was a pretty strong Torontonian Arts & Crafts contingent at the festival this year – first up was Stars. While it was good to see them again, it’s been a while, I can’t decide if the big festival stage really suits them. In that sort of environment (and in the blazing daylight), their songs lose some of their intimacy. The still sound great, don’t get me wrong, and I don’t think Torq would ever say there’s a stage too big for him, but I think I prefer to see them somewhere cozier.

Video: Stars – “Sleep Tonight” (MOV)
MySpace: Stars

I only stuck around for a few songs of Ryan Adams’ set – too much else to see and if he wasn’t going to bring Elton John out as a special guest, then it wouldn’t be as good a show as the last time I saw him. Not surprisingly, I didn’t recognize most of what he played – I think he’s released like 14 albums since I last really paid attention to him – but he sounded good and his band is tight and the one song I did know, “Dear Chicago”, was well-received (naturally) and well played. I was only there for about 10 minutes but I think he released a couple of EPs in that span. There’s a new song streaming on his web page.

Video: Ryan Adams – “So Alive” (YouTube)
MySpace: Ryan Adams

I made a pit stop between stages to see Mates Of State and in the blazing sunshine, it was kind of painful to watch Kori Gardner’s sunburn grow before our eyes. Withing two songs she was turning scarlet red. Ouch. But for those of us with pigment and sporting sunscreen, they were great fun – interesting how they’re both able to be fully animated and engaging performers even though they can’t move from their instruments at all.

MP3: Mates Of State – “Fraud In The 80s”
Video: Mates Of State – “Fraud In The 80s” (MOV)
MySpace: Mates Of State

The Secret Machines have a reputation for a superb live show including light show, etc so I was wondering how they’d pull that off in the bright daylight – well it turns out their time slot was well-chosen as the setting sun not only bathed the band in gorgeous, golden light but was low enough that the synchronized stage lights were effectively dramatic. And their thunderous, epic-style rock was tailor-made for the festival stage. The three-song rule in the pit was changed to two songs on account of the fact that their songs are about 20 minutes long each.

Video: The Secret Machines – “All At Once” (MOV)
MySpace: The Secret Machines

My Morning Jacket were the first band I stayed and watched for more than 4 or 5 songs. Hey, the go-go-go pace of these things encourages a short attention span. But I’m glad I slowed down for their set because it was really just what I needed right then. Even though they opened with “At Dawn”, thing started a little bit slow but quickly revved up to awesome as they went on. Jim James shared his own memories of going to Lollapalooza as a teen, making me realize that a) this was now a generational event, and b) I’m old.

Video: My Morning Jacket – “Off The Record” (MOV)
MySpace: My Morning Jacket

Sleater-Kinney were by far the top draw of the day, what with this being the band’s final performance (save for two farewell hometown shows in Portland). As expected, they were fierce and fearless and rocktacular – maybe knowing the finish line is in sight helps you with an extra bit of adrenaline? It’s truly a shame they’re calling it quits but there is something to be said for going out on your own terms and at the top of your game. They drew a huge, adoring crowd and rightfully so.

MP3: Sleater-Kinney – “Jumpers”
Video: Sleater-Kinney – “Jumpers” (MOV)
MySpace: Sleater-Kinney

I had intended on seeing Death Cab For Cutie to close things out, but it occured to me that I really wasn’t much of a fan anymore and local heroes Ween, also given a closing slot, might well provide a more entertaining finale for the night. As I swam upstream through the sea of indie kids heading to the Death Cab set, I was pretty sure I made the right choice. Or not. I understand the appeal of Ween, but it just doesn’t click for me. After snapping my three songs worth of pics (in terrible light), I high-tailed it out of there. But I did hear “Voodoo Lady” though not the Pizza Hut jingle, which is easily my favourite Ween tune.

MP3: Ween – “Where’d The Cheese Go?”

And that was day one. It was hot but not too too hot. Bearable, anyways. I have to say, I am really impressed with the festival thus far. More than just the great music, there’s a real positive vibe about the whole park (which is massive, by the way) and everyone seems to be having a really good time. Things are also running surprisingly well. I just tend to expect disaster at things of this scale but my hat’s off to the organizers. Clockwork.

I’m also loving the access to the photo pit. I never would have thought I’d get the chance to shoot some of these acts from so up close. It’s going to take me some time to get everything processed but in the meantime, I’ve got a gallery up at Flickr with a single image from everyone I’ve seen so far. I’ll continue updating it through the weekend and try to have the full galleries up by the end of next week. But seriously, there’s hundreds and hundreds of photos to go through.

Now. Day two? Bring it on.

First off, I have never been a festival person. Not in the big, outdoor tens of thousands of punters sense, anyways. I’ve been to my share, yes, but except for seeing Richard Thompson at Bluesfest three years ago (and that was only for him), the last time I did the sit-around-all-day-and-burn thing was seeing Neil Young and Oasis at Molson Park fully ten years ago. A decade! But generally I just can’t be bothered to deal with the crowds, heat stroke, port-o-lets, travel, poor sound, etc etc so I don’t go.

And yet, here I am in Chicago for this year’s edition of Lollapalooza. What can I say, the press pass was pretty damned enticing and between you and me, getting out of town for a few days is something I probably needed. Even if it is for “work”, of a sort. I actually intended to go to my first Lollapalooza a couple years ago but it got axed, as most are well aware. I still have my ticket, soaked with tears, but considering that the bands that I had wanted to see on that tour are all pretty much on this year’s bill, we’ll call it justice. But yes, festivals – it’s been a long time and frankly I have no idea what to expect.

The closest I’ve gotten to something of this scale has been SxSW the last couple years, and even that’s nowhere near the same thing. Besides the fact that it’s spread out all over downtown Austin in a million and one little clubs, Sx is about the new bands – catching the buzz, discovering the talent, and so forth. If almost any of the bands playing Lollapalooza were to make a SxSW appearance, it’d be huge news. Hell, The Flaming Lips’ shows this past March were all anyone could talk about and yet, here, they’re not even a headliner – just the 6:30-7:30 Saturday night slot on the Bud Light stage (okay, maybe not *just*, but you get my point). Like Wilco, or Sonic Youth or The Shins. No, the headliners are the likes of Kanye West and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. You know, bands that sell records.

But this should, at the very very least, be entertaining, exhausting and interesting. The lineup is star-studded but not overwhelming – I have a pretty good idea of who I’m going to see and there’s only a few tough choices to make (Broken Social Scene or Blues Traveler – what to do, what to do). I have a photo pass as well so I’ll be fighting for space in the photo pit to get a shot up Ben Gibbard’s nostril. But mostly I’ll be soaking in the festival experience and perhaps discovering that I’ve been missing out on a great time… or not.

For those of you playing along at home, Billboard has set up a Lolla minisite where they’ll have, um, stuff, and AT&T’s Blue Room will be webcasting a slew of performances live over the internets. The schedule is as follows – note that these are Chicago times, as in Central Daylight Time.

The Subways on Friday 8/4 from 12:30-1:30 PM
Panic! At The Disco on Friday 8/4 from 2:30-3:30 PM
Editors on Friday 8/4 from 3:30-4:30 PM
Ryan Adams on Friday 8/4 from 4:30-5:30 PM
Iron & Wine on Friday 8/4 from 5:30-6:30 PM
Sleater-Kinney on Friday 8/4 from 7:30-8:30 PM
Wolfmother on Saturday from 12:30-1:30 PM
Wilco on Sunday 8/6 from 6:30-7:30 PM

The Associated Press has a piece on how Lollapalooza has changed over the years. I was too young to catch the really good lineups in the early 90s. By the time I was of concert-going age, it was all Metallica and stuff. Yeah. And Spin lists off 10 lesser-known bands playing the fest that they recommend. And Chicagoist also wants to tell you who to see.

And because I know you all get twitchy when there’s no audio content in a post, I leave you with a gift. A low-bitrate, mono gift, but still somehow nice-sounding. Enjoy.

MP3: Jeff Tweedy – “Via Chicago” (live at Harper College, Palatine, IL – March 5, 1999)

Some non-apalooza ites from the utterly bizarre – Johnny Marr has joined Modest Mouse – to the utterly crappy – Arthur Lee of Love has died.

Pitchfork reviews the Luna covers compilation Lunafied. They like it. As they should.

And some shows- The Grates, aka band of the week here, are indeed coming back to town for a third time this year and again, they’re opening. They will support Rogue Wave at Lee’s Palace on September 9 ($12). Islands are at the Opera House on September 28 ($13), Polaris Music Prize nominees Malajube are at the Drake on September 28 (though they might be Polaris Music Prize winners by then), and Scissor Sisters are at the Kool Haus on October 10 ($25).

Okay, off I go.

Forget what I said a little while back about what I was looking for in a new band – I now wanna be in The Hold Steady instead. On Monday night the Brooklyn combo steamrolled into town and absolutely destroyed a surprisingly packed Lee’s Palace with a torrent of beer, sweat and pure rock.

Openers were Horsey Craze, the Neil Young cover band alter-ego of some of The Constantines, former tourmates of The Hold Steady. At points sloppy enough to make the real Crazy Horse look tight, there was no denying that the band was just there to have some fun – they even apologized a few times for their ramshackleness. But no one really minded and in a way, they were living the Canadian dream – Lord knows I’d love the opportunity to get up and jam on “Like A Hurricane” for an hour or two.

Sounding like Robert Pollard fronting the E Street Band, The Hold Steady may well have been having a better time onstage than the audience was below, and the audience was having a hell of a time. Rowdy, raucous and often hilarious, over the set and two encores, they tore through material from The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday as well as previewing new material from Boys And Girls In America, out October 3. The new stuff sounds a lot like the old stuff – classic blue-collar guitar rock overflowing with wry observations and recriminations of down-and-outs and low-lifes, courtesy of Craig Finn.

A transplanted Minnesotan, Finn looks more like a beer league bowling champ or subsitute teacher than a frontman for a rock band. Despite that – or maybe because of it – he’s a manic, magnetic figure at the mic. Flailing, gesticulating, clapping, riffing (both on guitar and verbally) and otherwise just being a hell of a performer, the man could put on a clinic on how to front a rock band. I’ve actually always wondered about bands that put on these, “leave it all on stage” shows – how they do it every night, how they keep it fresh and honest. My theory is that they are completely drained by the end of each show – perhaps from all the sweat – but then recharge with beer. And then it’s on to the next show. Whatever the secret is, The Hold Steady have got it down pat.

Gig photos here. Bands as animated as The Hold Steady are fun to shoot, that’s fer damn sure. Also check out some AV, including a Separation Sunday b-side available to download from their MySpace and two versions of their video for “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” – one that apparently their management didn’t like and one they did. I prefer the rejected one. Pretty girls > dancing hipsters.

MP3: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “Curves Nerves”
MP3: The Hold Steady – “The Swish”
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (YouTube)
Video: The Hold Steady – “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” (rejected by management) (YouTube)
MySpace: The Hold Steady

This MySpace blog has got five live Eric Bachmann tracks recorded last Winter. All of them appear on his new album To The Races and sound a lot like the recorded versions – which makes sense since they were largely recorded live and solo. They sound great – the live stuff and album both. He’s playing the Horseshoe September 16.

Just two days too late to make my themed post, Australia’s Grates talk to Chart about songwriting and K-Mart.

Yo La Tengo will be in town to beat our asses at the Phoenix on October 2. Yay! And if you haven’t heard the second MP3 from I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, out September 12, well here you go.

MP3: Yo La Tengo – “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”

File under: rip-offs a-coming: Billboard reports that Universal has acquired the rights to the Elvis Costello catalog and is planning to reissue them with. In case you ran out of fingers, this will be the fourth edition of Costello’s early catalog and the third definitive one. I can’t imagine that there’s much left in the vaults to make this of any value even to die-hard completists, so unless someone out there’s been holding out on getting My Ain Is True for the past 30 years hoping that a better version will come out, then I hope to god there’s no audience for these. Enough already.

The Village Voice bonds with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats over The Geto Boys and comic books. Darnielle is a Deadman fan. Who’d have guessed? Get Lonely! is out August 22 and they’re at Lee’s Palace on September 19.

And the comics section – PopMatters reviews the epic of Scott Pilgrim thus far (and to Largehearted Boy, who believes my life in Toronto mirrors Scott Pilgrim’s, I have to say alas – I never seem to get the power-ups). And the AV Club interviews the legendary Alan Moore about his controversial (it’s sexy) new graphic novel Lost Girls and shuffles up Brian K Vaughan’s iPod. Vaughan swears his musical taste isn’t that lame.

And now I’m off to Lollapalooza. Dispatches from Chicago to come.

np – Shearwater / Everybody Makes Mistakes

I’ve been listening to Happy New Year, the new album from Brooklyn’s Oneida a lot lately – not because it’s addictive or I’m in love with it, but because it’s so dense and perplexing, but somehow intriguingly and not annoyingly so. Thick with synths, droning rhythms, psychedelic textures and vocals that are equal part medeival chanting and hippie folk revival, I can hear shades of early Pink Floyd, Stereolab, Primal Scream, The Olivia Tremor Control – it’s all over the place and yet somehow consistent. It’s also a strangely solemn-sounding record, certainly moreso than you’d expect from a band that goes my pseudonyms like Kid Millions, Bobby Matador and Baby Hanoi Jane. I’m not ashamed to admit that Oneida dwell somewhere on the outskirts of my musical comfort zone, but it looks like it could be interesting territory.

Exclaim! reviewed the new album and talked a bit to Bobby Matador while Seattle Weekly talks to Kid Millions and gushes about the live Oneida experience. An experience that Torontonians can take in August 4 at the Tranzac as part of the Bummer In The Summer festival which kicks off tonight and tomorrow night with a pre-parties here and there and then carries on through the weekend (day and night) at Tranzac with a lineup (over)loaded with local talent.

MP3: Oneida – “Up With People”
MySpace: Oneida
MySpace: Bummer In The Summer

Okkervil River are bringing gifts for their Australian tour this Fall – Overboard And Down is a new EP that will be made exclusive to folks down under (Australia and New Zealand). It will feature tracks recorded in the now-legendary (to Okkervil freaks) recording sessions from January of this year as well as a live reading of “Westfall”. Surely there will be a way for people on the upright side of the world to acquire this disc – when I find out, I’ll let ya know.

Rolling Stone caught up with Neil Young while on tour and talked a bit about Living With War arranged for CSNY. Neil also predicts that the first volume of Archives will be out within a year. Then after the reporter turned off his tape recorder he began laughing his ass off.

Asobi Seksu have put out a new video from Citrus. Now that the Cardigans tour is kaput, Asobi’s show at the Horseshoe is now your #1 thing to do on September 20.

Video: Asobi Seksu – “Thursday” (MOV)

Which segues nicely into more concert news. Drive-By Truckers come to bless and curse us at the Phoenix on October 18 with The Drams. Rogue Wave have a date at Lee’s Palace on September 9, Two Gallants are at the Horseshoe on October 2, tickets $10.50, and Damien Jurado is at the El Mocambo October 3.

There’ve been a couple additions to the lineup for the Virgin Festival at Toronto Islands September 9 and 10 – Razorlight are now playing day one while MSTRKRFT, The Mooney Suzuki and Born Ruffians augment day two.

Also note that Midlake is now off the French Kicks bill at Lee’s Palace on September 11, a makeup date for their cancelled show originally scheduled for this Friday. Instead Sound Team, who cancelled their show originally scheduled for the Horseshoe this past Monday night (the same night Midlake were supposed to play with The Hold Steady), will now support. Did you get all that? Me neither. Instead, those who want to see Midlake will have to pony up to see them open for Keane at the Hummingbird Centre on September 20. Oh, and as a bit of trivia, The French Kicks opened for Keane here in Toronto last year. Head… exploding… All I have to further to say is that while they may get nicer dressing rooms in the Hummingbird Centre, Midlake sure as hell would have had more fun touring with the Hold Steady. Full review of that show tomorrow.

And finally, the role of The Joker has been cast for the new Batman film, to be titled The Dark Knight. The role previously inhabited by Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson (and Mark Hamill, sort of) now belongs to… Heath Ledger. Yeah. I suggest a letter-writing campaign to the studio petitioning to have Jake Gyllenhall cast as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. The on-screen chemistry would be electric.

np – Sufjan Stevens / The Avalanche