The Lollapalooza Roundup: Day 2 - V
photo by: Steve Mitchell
I’ve been stalling finishing this write-up. It’s hard to sit and rehash three days of a festival you honestly weren’t that impressed with. But, I realize most of the readers of this site did not have to opportunity attend Lollapalooza, so I’ll keep continue with the recap.
Day two was the most lackluster of the three days. I am actually consulting my festival guide as I write this to remind myself whom I saw. We woke up late Saturday after a wild night of hitting the afterparties until 4:30am. We booked it over just in time to get a good spot for MGMT. My red flag was already raised after my friend’s report that MGMT’s DC show was lauded as awful by nearly every reviewer. I tried to remain open-minded as I honestly do love MGMT’s album, Oracular Spectacular. Unfortunately, MGMT did not measure up live. Actually, I should rephrase that. MGMT live was one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen in my life (if not THE worst). I’d rather listen to Celine Dion sing that Titanic song on an endless loop for the rest of eternity than ever have to sit through MGMT live again.
The entire audience REALLY wanted to like this band live. It was hot and packed and we were ready to be blown away. It was nearly impossible to discern that lead vocalist, Andrew VanWyngarden, was even singing at all. The production on Oracular Spectacular is dramatic, sweeping and energetic. The stage show by MGMT was anything but. With the inaudible lyrics and sleepy movements, the band came off more as a couple of drunk and tired amateurs than “Best New Band of 2008″. I honestly felt embarrassed and sad for them the 8th time the crowd chanted “TURN IT UP” with fists pumping in the air, desperate to hear the tiniest hint of the Oracular Spectacular sound we all fell in love with.
The only saving grace for MGMT was the fact that most of the crowd wrote off the godawful performance as a technical sound issue. However, anyone with a bit of sleuthing skills (such as myself) quickly realized that both the act before and following MGMT on the same stage sounded just fine. Perhaps this is what happens when a band is rocketed to notoriety without the proper timeframe to master the requisite humble rise from years of shitty venue gigs to the Lollapalooza stage. MGMT came off as shy, quiet, lackluster amateurs. Perhaps they should start touring with the producer of their album, Dave Fridmann (of Flaming Lips fame). Maybe then we they would have, “TURNED IT UP”.
Next we headed over to a smaller stage to check out Spank Rock. I had been looking forward to seeing them live. Like MGMT, I was left disappointed. When I think of Spank Rock I think of Spank, XXXchange, and Devlin & Darko. If you were unfamiliar with Spank Rock before Lollapalooza, you would assume the group was made up of Amanda Blank and whomever the gold-clad chick onstage with her introduced only as “Natalie” was. They were dirty, sassy and fun, but they took over the entire length of the set with the rest of the group as their backdrop. It left me very confused and wishing their talents were better spent on a few cameos. The show came off as obnoxious and kitsch, two terms I personally never associated with Spank Rock. Perhaps this was due to the ladies’ head-to toe Grace Jones-esque outfits and choreographed vogueing? It was a fun show nonetheless, and FAR superior to the mess that was MGMT, but I expected and wanted more and was let down.
Thankfully the last show we chose to stay for on Saturday, Lupe Fiasco, delivered. Lupe’s set from Lollapalooza 2007 was probably among my Top 3 Live Shows of All Time. I had a prime spot in the crowd and his stage energy was unparalleled. Since I had seen him last year and was exhausted by this point in the day, I sat off to the side on a hill and casually took in his set. His energy and showmanship was as good, if not better than his 2007 performance. Hands down, Lupe is one of the top stage performers in hip-hop today. Backflipping around the stage in an white suit, his energy gave Kanye’s performance on Sunday a run for its money. Lupe’s attitude radiates through every face in the crowd and you can tell it really MEANS something to him to be on stage at at an event as big as Lollapalooza.
Below are a few tracks from the performers I checked out on Saturday. I will still buy all MGMT’s albums and listen to them until they break. But I will never, ever, ever waste my time watching this band live again…at least not until they’ve played enough shows and been around long enough to figure out how to perform for an audience.
Talib Kweli vs. MGMT - Time to Listen (DJ Topcat Remix) (128 kbps)
And last, but certainly not least, a very special and rare treat. In early 2006, Lupe and his friend and hypeman Dusean “Bishop G” Dunbar started FNF Radio, a show on the college radio station WIIT located at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Here is a full recording of the first ever episode, aired on January 16, 2006.
Lupe Fiasco on FNF Radio 1-16-06. Download via zshare.
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yeah, i expected more out of this year’s lollapalooza. friday and saturday left me feeling sorta "meh…" that’s all i could say about them, but sunday was great! franki chan’s set at perry’s stage was fantastic! chromeo, girl talk, and kanye were good, too.
i have high hopes for next year!