Lollapalooza 2006 - Day 2 (8/5/06)

Day 2:

Sybris
The Go! Team
Disco Biscuits
The Flaming Lips
Thievery Corporation

Saturday was far and away the best musical line-up of Lollapalooza, and it was also the most crowded. It was obvious that many people had bought one day passes to see the mainstream hip hop stretch of Gnarls Barkley, Common, and Kanye West. I, however, avoided all three of these vile performers to the best of my ability. My day started just like Friday, at 1:00 pm on the PlayStation stage, where Sybris brought their Chicago noisy neo-psychedelia to the audience (an audience which was too small because old-school poppers Nada Surf were on the nearby Bud Light stage at 12:30 pm). Regardless, Sybris fulfilled every expectation of a live show I had developed since buying their album in the spring (I’ll try to avoid repeating myself after the CD review). I was worried that Ms. Mullenhour wouldn’t pull off that sexy howl on stage, but she did. During their set, she announced “We’re from here!” But you could tell by their shabby look, worn down by this desolate urban environment. It works well for Mullenhour though, as she shines like a ragged indie rock princess. And while men wear their guitar as an extension of their phallus, Mullenhour’s instrument melts together with her swaying hips (or even her womb). Although I dwell on the female vocalist (I’m such a sucker), I shouldn’t omit praise for the whole band. This group could soon make a national impression with the right amount of effort. Maybe it depends on the outcome of a sophomore album, so let’s wait and see.

I was sad to leave Sybris a little early, but I could not miss the Go! Team’s set at 1:30 pm on the Q101 Stage. This group’s one disappointing factor was the nearly constant rapping in places that it doesn’t appear on the album. It got very old very quick. The girl has a strong British accent that rubbed me the wrong way even when she was speaking between songs. Otherwise, I would say they got the job done. They managed to start up a rollicking party on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon. I was surprised that they didn’t even have a DJ, given that their album is loaded full of samples. I guess they felt they didn’t need one, since they already had dual drums and multiple instruments to cover most of the album’s sounds. I’m thankful at least to have seen them once, since they are from England and will not be around very frequently.

Skipping past Built to Spill and Particle (I promised to try and keep things exciting), I’ll now talk about the Disco Biscuits, who played at 5 pm on the AMD stage. I’ll admit I was pretty messed up from this time to the end of the night, but I feel that I can still report on the bands. I had been hearing about the Biscuits since sophomore year of college when I started listening to String Cheese Incident and Umphrey’s McGee, but this was my first opportunity to see them live. They are a foursome employing the classic line-up of guitar, bass, keyboard/synth, and drums, escaping the “jam band” noose to play a rather specific type of jazzy, electronic, experimental rock. I realized while watching them how much I missed hippies, after hanging out with them in years past. The crowd at this type of show becomes just as entertaining as the band on stage. The crowd was the orchestra, and the band was the maestro. There was a very “Matrix Reloaded underground dance party” feel to it all. Primal vibrations enveloped the area for an extremely peaceful and positive hour of dancing and grooving. They did include a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar,” which was a definite crowd pleaser (especially at a festival).

The real gem of the festival though was the Flaming Lips, who played at 6:30 pm on the Bud Light stage. I could spend all day and night talking about the Flaming Lips. They have been earning a stellar performing reputation in recent years by hitting up almost every music festival in the country. Of course, the one time they played a real show in Detroit (with Sonic Youth, Sybris, and the Go! Team?!?!) was at the State Theatre on Friday, Aug 4, and I missed it. The bottom line is that these fellows have hit a nerve in the collective consciousness of human beings. I’ve been saying for a year that this band (especially their Soft Bulletin album) is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. Their live show is equal parts extreme carnival and campfire sing-a-long. Along with the three steady band members (with Wayne Coyne as ring leader) came women dressed as aliens, men dressed as Santa Claus, and four inflatable monsters behind them. Coyne almost immediately blew up his human hamster ball and took a stroll onto the crowd. Then “Race for the Prize” exploded with dozens of gigantic blue balloons and Coyne shooting confetti rockets at the audience. It seems like I’m the only idiot who hasn’t watched their Fearless Freaks DVD yet, but the Lips are obviously on a quest. Maybe they’re trying to take the meaning out of those symbols like aliens and Santas, or maybe they’re celebrating the wonder and excitement aroused by them. Maybe Coyne was right when he asked everyone to sing along to hopefully stop the bombing in Israel, or maybe he’s a crazy fool who just knows how to get people off. One thing is for sure, the Flaming Lips will be remembered as one of the great bands of this generation. Despite all my words, you have to see it to believe it.

The final group from Saturday that I will cover was Thievery Corporation. They were on the Adidas stage at 7:30 pm, and were a perfect come down from the previous performance. I was so worn out in fact, that I just sat in the lawn at watched the band on their stage video screen. This show turned out to be a worldly electronic dance party that sounded a lot better than I expected. They performed their song “Lebanese Blonde” with almost no alteration from the album track. The sky was striped with clouds and faded into reds and pinks as the sun slowly set. It was truly beautiful, and I felt a sense of home in the city of Chicago that I hadn’t experienced in the 10 months of living here. Of course, it faded quickly, but somehow I made peace with the city. Darkness came after I got some pizza and beer, and Manu Chao took the Bud Light stage at 8:30 pm. Remember, most festival-goers were at the south end watching Kanye West at this point, so the north end had room to breathe. Manu wasn’t too thrilling, but it was nice to hear a little Latin music at this festival. I left the festival again around 9:30 pm, completely exhausted and almost forgetting that I still had one day to go…