Lollapalooza 2007 – Sunday Roundup

I arose on Sunday to a downpour and a sore back, once again, because I’m an old bastard. But soon the rain subsided and, with the help of some Advil, the pain in my back did as well. I made my down to Grant Park for a long day.

White Rabbits

First stop were the White Rabbits where I only caught the last two songs. A couple of the guys in the band were wearing blazers. I am all for keeping up with your stage appearance, but my god, it was fucking 90 degrees out there. Wear a t-shirt and we’d all understand. The two songs I saw were good and they had a great sound including two drummers. I need to catch these guys at a smaller venue.

See The White Rabbits perform “The Plot” at SXSW 2007

Dax Riggs

Next stop was Dax Riggs at the AT&T stage, the same stage that Pearl Jam would be playing later on. The Pearl Jam faithful were already setting up camp and while I appreciate thinking ahead to find a great seat, the utter lack of interest or respect for musicians up on the stage shown by some of the Pearl Jam fans really sucked. Mocking the guy or not even acknowledging him is lame and ultimately their loss. Dax was awesome and much better than his set last year with Deadboy & The Elephantman. His new release comes out soon and I will have a full review very soon. Let’s just say I like it. I like it alot.

See Dax Riggs perform “Ghost Movement” at Lollapalooza 2007

The Heartless Bastards

From there, ventured back across the field to see Dax’s label mate, The Heartless Bastards. Erika was smart and showed up in a summer dress, and felt like it was 100+ by that point. Erika’s look, her musical taste and her voice are a a downright sexy combination and The Bastards banged through an hour set that included one or two hiccups that just added to their charm. They opened with “Done Got Old” which is one of my favorites and closed with a killer version of Into The Open.

The Black Angels

I then met up with HearYa Live Sessions producer, Stephen Shirk, to take in The Black Angels on the Citi stage. We first caught them at SXSW and dug the stoner psych sound. They opened with my favorite tune, Bloodhounds On My Trail and were completely awash in reverb.
I couldn’t find a Lolla Performance, but here’s The Black Angels doing Sniper at the Gates of Heaven.

Kings of Leon

Kings of Leon hit the stage around 4:15 and I was immediately greeted with, “Wow, he’s hot!” by my wife.” They were fantastic. As I explained in my review of their last release, they are just much better musicians now than when they began. The first time I saw them, they were so stiff on stage, but now they fire through their tunes with a crisp sound. They ripped through 15 or so tunes which included King of the Rodeo, Bucket, Milk and My Party to name a few highlights. Then as the set came to an end, their good friend Eddie Vedder showed up with a couple of tambourines to sing Slow Night, So Long with Caleb. Poor tambourines never stood a chance as Eddie beat the shit out of them while alternating verses with Caleb. All in all a cool version of a great tune. The crowd was amped up and looking for more.

See Kings of Leon peform with Eddie Vedder at Lollapalooza 2007

My Morning Jacket

You could feel the excitement building along with the crowd size. Everyone was in good spirits and we were making new friends left and right. An hour later, MMJ hit the stage decked out in Purple tux jackets. Much like Craig Finn, Jim James never takes a night off. He is balls to the wall at every turn. Stick him in the Metro, have him open for Pearl Jam at the United Center or in front of 50,000 or so at Grant Park and he is amped up to perform.

Joining MMJ for about half the set was the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, also dressed in purple. Their sound lacked a bit but it was a cool scene and as my wife said, “very nice of him.” James actually lauded the orchestra, “for being very professional and a pleasure to work with..” which I thought was a nice compliment. The kids and conductor seemed to be enjoying themselves as well. Smiles abounded and the conductor boogied down and snapped photos left and right. The boys ripped through some killer versions Wordless Chours, Dancefloors and the seemingly last number Run Thru which was top-shelf. As I starting making my way to the beer tent, Jim & co. ripped out a very cool version of Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up to close a great set.

See My Morning Jacket perform “Golden” at Lollapalooza 2007

Pearl Jam

Now the crowd was in full throttle and people were chomping at the bit for Pearl Jam to hit the stage. We met seven knuckleheads from Jersey who drove out for the PJ show at the Vic and stayed for the weekend. A good group of guys who we wound up hanging with during the break and, much like my die hard Spoon fan, knew every last word of every tune.

As the lights dimmed, one of Jersey boys was convinced that they were going to open with “Release,” which I thought was not going to make the crowd happy. We were hot, tired, dirty and drunk and we needed something to kick start us. From the first chords of Why Go, you knew it was going to be a special evening. The band seemed really jazzed to be playing Lolla, and Eddie playing in his hometown was reveling in the setting (and my wife was reveling in Eddie). You just kinda got the feeling that we were part of something special; an event that will be remembered. I think they felt the same. It was much different vibe than last years closing act, The Chili Peppers.

Pearl Jam tore through a set with a fire that I don’t recall seeing from them with since the early days. We got Corduroy, Elderly Woman, and Even Flow before a Vedder public announcement about BP Amoco dumping shit in Lake Michigan. He then followed with a quick punk ditty that essentially bashed BP.

From there the set continued on with, amongst others, Lukin, State of Love of Trust (personal fave), Alive, and Life Wasted. After the first encore of Rearview Mirror, Vedder brought out an Iraqi vet to give their opinion on the war and then banged out a pretty solid protest song with Ben Harper which was followed by a rollicking version of Rockin in the Free World. An absolute stunning set of music, an absolute great scene and a perfect way to wrap up a great day of music.

See Pearl Jam perform “Why Go” at Lollapalooza 2007

See Pearl Jam and Ben Harper perform “Rockin’ in the Free World” at Lollapalooza 2007