Lollapalooza 2006 Day Two

The first surprise of day two was that my feet had rebounded and were ready for another full afternoon and night of music. I skipped the earliest part of the day, forgoing the opportunity to see the likes of Rainer Maria and Nada Surf in favour of a big breakfast. In retrospect, I still approve of the decision.

Feist (Photo By Noah Love)

The first act I saw Saturday was Feist, who I've seen more times than I can count with Broken Social Scene, but never solo. With a full band, the chic chanteuse played heavily from Let It Die, but also aired a few songs from her upcoming record, which she's spent much of this year recording in Europe. Both the new and old material were well received by, once again, a large early day crowd. "You see 1:30 on the bill and you think, 'Oh well,'" Feist lamented. "But you came out!" Those who braved the early afternoon humidity were treated to stellar versions of "Mushaboom" and the title track from her ubiquitous LP, among others.

Built to Spill's Doug Martsch (Photo By Noah Love)

Across the field on the Bud Light stage were the slightly reclusive Built To Spill. While the kiddies were across the park watching Coheed And Cambria, Doug Martsch and co. ran through an hour filled mostly by songs off their new album, You In Reverse. Most of those tracks, highlighted by set opener "Goin' Against Your Mind," sound much better live than on the LP. There's Nothing Wrong With Love's "Big Dipper" and Keep It Like A Secret's "Sidewalk" kept the crowd in check, but Martsch looked noticeably tired and barely spoke — and when he did, it was mostly a mumble. I opted to hike to the other side of the park for Wolfmother, even though I knew it would mean missing "Carry The Zero," which they closed with.

Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale (Photo By Noah Love)

The Aussie buzz trio netted an astonishingly large audience, which shows you the power of radio in the U.S. There may have been 10,000-15,000 in attendance for Wolfmother's barn-burning set of hard rock psychedelia, which didn't vary too much from their set at Toronto's Phoenix in April. The band were, however, in much better form on this day, consistently hamming it up for the masses and getting adulation back for their efforts. Still, the Sabbath-copping gets a little tiresome after about 30 minutes and, with peak heat approaching, shade beckoned.


Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo (Photo By Noah Love)

Respite was brief, since this summer's biggest hitmakers, Gnarls Barkey, were due to hit the AT&T stage at 4:30. For those interested — and it seems like everybody is as interested in what Gnarls Barkley wear as what they play — they came out in tennis club regalia: sweater vests, white pants and shorts and headbands. Aided by a string section and full band, Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse's project sounded crisp, but after "Who Cares?" I had to run the length of the park to the Bud Light stage.

Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon (Photo By Will Taylor)

That's because, if I have one rule, it's that when one of your favourite bands play, you don't miss them under any circumstance. Sonic Youth are just such a band for me. Though I had plans to see them three days later in Toronto, the indie icons have a back catalogue the size of a small library and tend to switch things up from show to show. Unfortunately, this was a set marked by poor song choices. The quartet, joined on this tour by former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold, slogged through the slowest parts of Rather Ripped in the last 40 minutes of their hour. Even ancient Kim Gordon wailer "Shaking Hell" couldn't shake this performance from the doldrums.


The Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer (Photo By Will Taylor)

Far more upbeat and engaging were The Dresden Dolls, who pounded through a set featuring songs from their self-titled debut and the recently released Yes, Virginia. Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione poured every ounce of energy into "Backstabbers," "Coin-Operated Boy" and the now-requisite cover of "War Pigs," which they dedicated to the soon-to-perform Flaming Lips, who also do the Sabbath song at their shows. In addition, Palmer made a mid-set wardrobe change and fully flashed the pack of diehard Dresden fans in attendance. Not saying, just saying.

The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, encased in a bubble (Photo By Noah Love)
After that, a huge crowd amassed across the field for the Lips. Now, you can say that Wayne Coyne's confetti and balloons routine is tired. You can say the crowd-walking in a bubble thing is played out. But if you say any of these things, you are jaded to the point that you obviously don't enjoy fun. Seriously, what's wrong with a band trying to have a great time when they go out on stage? Sure, Coyne's voice is a little frayed and the "Yoshimi Vs. The Pink Robots" nun puppet thing didn't really work without the video screen to back it up, but the Lips got their fans singing and smiling, and I don't think you could really ask for more than that. The set was, admittedly, a little slow until "She Don't Use Jelly." But that song, which culminated in a field-wide singalong, and "Do You Realize???" helped give the Lips the kick they needed at the end to make a lasting impression.

Organizers made two truly bizarre scheduling decisions on Saturday. With an entire afternoon of hip-hop and soul on the AT&T stage, they put The New Pornographers between Common and Kanye West on that side of the field, whilst sandwiching Thievery Corporation between the Lips and Euro polito-punks Manu Chao. Maybe it's just me, but I think people on both sides of the field would have appreciated not having to cross to the other side to see the more appropriate act. I only casually listened to the Pornographers, since I've seen them with Neko Case and Destroyer's Dan Bejar, and their current lineup features neither. People I talked to after said a gigantic conga line formed around that side of the field during the set, which sounded amusing. And, at the very least, it was cool to hear the Pornos power pop echoing through the field as the sun set on the Chicago skyline.

Kanye West (Photo By Noah Love)

Following a moderate delay, Kanye West sauntered on stage to strains of "Diamonds Are Forever." Mic problems hampered the hometown hero initially, and there was immediate awkwardness when the rapper, who's often accused of having an ego as big as his beats, chastised his sound people for screwing things up in front of the Chicago faithful. The problems didn't abate for several songs, giving the early part of the set a brutal staccato rhythm where West would perform a track, then run off stage to scream at his stage crew once again. The sound people must obviously hadn't anticipated that 90 per cent of Lollapalooza's Saturday gate would fill his side of the field, because the sound toward the middle and back was terrible. Credit to West, though, for not just walking off stage. Eventually, he shook off whatever was bothering him and blasted through tracks from The College Dropout and Late Registration, getting some help from Common on "Get 'Em High" and bringing out Lupe Fiasco and Twista for Kanye-produced tracks of their own. And as far as West goes, it doesn't get much better than chart-toppers "Jesus Walks" and "Gold Digger," which both whipped the dangerously tight crowd near the front into a frenzy at the end of the night. "See, mom, I told ya, I told ya I wanna rap. It works!" West exclaimed in becoming the first rapper to fill a headlining slot at any Lollapalooza. Overall, it was a charming, if somewhat volatile, end to a star-studded day two.

Here are the links to Friday and Sunday of Lollapalooza 2006.