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Thursday, August 6, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
By CARLY SNIDER
Daily Arts Writer
Lollapalooza, you truly are a
dusty, sweaty chaos of a festival.
For three days you put me through
my paces — forcing me to prioritize
which acts I would have to sacrifice
in order to see my musical idols,
testing how long it is physically pos-
sible for my body to stand in a crowd
under the relentless sun, daring me
to eat far too many $9 lobster corn-
dogs in one day, etc. But, oh, how I
love you so. You brought together
my three most cherished past times
(eating artery-clogging food, listen-
ing to live music and people watch-
ing) and tied them up with a bow
that was equally appreciative of
the classics, yet still on the pulse of
everything up and coming. To echo
the sentiment I heard so many times
while leaving Grant Park on Sunday
evening, I can’t wait ‘til next year.
What So Not
Walking into the masses for
the first time to see this EDM duo,
I honestly did not know what to
expect. It was my first show of the
festival and it was taking place
at the infamously rowdy Perry’s
stage. Making my way to the front,
the crowd consisted mainly of my
peers – young, probably intoxicat-
ed, people looking to have a good
time. What So Not was addicting,
working the crowd and exuding the
energy of a headliner rather than
someone in their 3:15 time slot.
Alt-J
Coming from the ready-to-rage
sound of What So Not to the under-
stated musicality of Alt-J provided a
stark contrast of experience. Open-
ing with “Hunger of the Pines” and
“Fitzpleasure,” Alt-J let their music
speak for itself. Starting off with
tracks mainly from An Awesome
Wave then transitioning into their
more recent material, the band
catered to old and new fans alike.
Their show was absent of overly
stimulating lights or even much
movement from the band members
themselves. Wrapping their set
with “Nara” and “Breezeblocks,”
Alt-J reminded the crowd where
they are now and how far they have
come since they started in 2007,
making it obvious that they have no
intention of slowing down.
Dillon Francis
Dillon Francis was ridiculous in
the best way possible. Satisfying
the fans of Perry’s stage, his set was
seventy-five minutes of unexpected
absurdity. Fittingly, his flashing
backgrounds consisted of emojis
and a hodgepodge of celebrity faces.
During one of his many remixes of a
trap song, Francis shouted, “I’m so
white!” to which the crowd roared
in response. The rest of his show
followed a similar pattern, pull-
ing stunts like urging the crowd
to chant “fuck!” and bringing out
Chicago-native Vic Mensa. While
most of his antics were idiotic, Dil-
lon Francis brought the level of
hype his millennial followers were
looking for.
Paul McCartney
With the longest set and the
most distinguished musical past of
any performer at Lollapalooza, do I
even need to mention how big of a
deal Paul McCartney is? Probably
not, it’s Paul fucking McCartney.
Reflecting on his legacy, McCart-
ney provided a steady flow of songs
by The Beatles as well as project-
ing pictures on stage of himself and
others in their youth. The astonish-
ing sea of people gathered to see Sir
Paul consisted of life-long Beatles
fans, young music buffs and the
occasional passerby who wanted
to witness the legend for just a
moment. McCartney did not dis-
appoint, playing hits like “Maybe
I’m Amazed,” “Eleanor Rigby,”
“Live and Let Die” and “Hey Jude.”
Reminding the crowd of his ever-
present roots in popular music,
he even sang a snippet of “FourFi-
veSeconds.” At seventy-three years
old, McCartney looked and sounded
amazing, putting on one hell of a
show and showing the youngsters
in the lineup how it’s done.
The Weeknd
Headlining
opposite
Paul
McCartney on Friday night, The
Weeknd opened with his claim to
fame, “High For This.” Despite his
more low-key R&B sound, Abel kept
the crowd’s energy up, telling them
things like, “I came all the way from
Toronto to fuck shit up with you
tonight.” The set spanned fourteen
songs, with one encore (despite the
artists claim that he “never does
encores at festivals”). Though he
touched on a variety of material,
both old and new, The Weeknd’s
set was a full thirty minutes shorter
than his allotted performing time.
Other than the lapse in timekeep-
ing, the performance was absent
of other shortcomings — Abel’s
live voice was as good as the studio
recordings, his stage set-up was sul-
try and dripping in red and, in typi-
cal festival fashion, he performed his
most popular songs. Paradoxically
enticing and relaxing, The Weeknd
was a perfect wrap for day one.
Tame Impala
I like to think of Tame Impala as the
present day kings of musical psyche-
delics, and their performance on Sat-
urday fit this bill perfectly. The masses
that gathered to hear the Aussies were
the most relaxed I had seen so far,
with many fans opting to sprawl out
on the grass rather than stand in the
crowd. Though brief, my time spent
engulfed in Tame Impala’s vibrant
wall of sound was exactly what I think
experiencing live music should be —
thought provoking and pure.
Brand New
In their fifteen-year history as
a band, Brand New has built up a
fiercely loyal fan base, a fact that
was clearly evident when survey-
ing the crowd at their Saturday
evening show. Opening with their
newest track, “Mene,” front man
Jesse Lacey and the band brought
the same level of emotive energy
they have been dishing out for over
a decade. In their twelve song set,
the band played mainly from The
Devil and God are Raging Inside
Me and Deja Entendu. Brand New
moved from more toned down
tracks like “Millstone” and “Jesus
Christ” to hard-hitting favorites
like “Degausser” and “Sowing Sea-
son (Yeah),” climbing to a crescendo
as the set wrapped.
Alesso
The crowd that gathered to see
the Swedish DJ was one of the most
homogenous I experienced at Lolla.
Everyone was young, animated and
absolutely psyched to be there. Ales-
so, who is only twenty-four himself,
mirrored this carefree attitude.
Despite not being super involved in
the EDM scene myself, I found this
set to be one of the best of the week-
end. Every song was a success; there
was never a lull in energy or lapse
in showmanship. Playing remixes
of top forty hits, like Maroon 5’s
“This Summer,” as well as his own
material, Alesso kept in mind EDM
experts and rookie-ravers alike.
There were strobe lights, bursts of
flames and layers of fog above the
crowd, leading the eye up to the vis-
ible Chicago skyline. A gold-winged
Tove Lo even came out to accom-
pany Alesso on their collaboration,
“Heroes (we could be).” Ending
with “Under Control,” it was clear
that this show would be the high
point of the weekend for much of
the young mass gathered at Perry’s
stage that night.
*Evacuation*
The only major hiccup of the
weekend came in the form of some
severe weather. Mid-day Sunday,
a storm rolled over Lake Michigan
and into Grant Park, forcing all Lol-
la-attendees to evacuate the park for
a short time and for the headliners of
that night to wrap their shows early.
Marina and The Diamonds
Sauntering out onto the swelter-
ing Sprint stage on Sunday after-
noon, Marina looked and sounded
flawless. Sporting a black, plastic
jumpsuit, neon pink heels and a
holographic
headpiece
reading
“Froot,” the title of her latest album,
Marina kicked off the show with
“Bubblegum Bitch.” Fans wore
headbands adorned with fruit, drew
Electra Heart’s signature heart
on their cheeks and affectionately
shouted things like “slay bitch!”
when she walked in their direc-
tion, they adored her. Marina took
the weather delay and scorching
post-rain heat in stride, continuing
to perform despite having almost
fainted (twice). With an equal mix
of old and new, the Brit mixed it
up with hits from each era of her
career. She even put a new spin on
some of her classics, inverting gen-
der-specific lyrics on portions of
both “Primadonna Girl” and “How
To Be a Heartbreaker.” Though
shorter than originally intended,
Marina’s performance was just as
fans would expect — personable,
sweet and spunky.
FKA Twigs
With such delicate vocals and
intricate instrumentals, I was curi-
ous to see how FKA twigs would
translate her music into a live
performance. She did so with an
extreme attention to detail. Every
note, tone and lyric was synced
to the movement of her body and
the timing of the lights. Writhing
and slithering, she danced her way
through each song, managing to
move about the stage and keep up
with her vocals. The echoing nature
of a live performance only amplified
the already reverberating quality
of Twig’s voice and I could tell she
was in her element. The vocals, as
well as the steady roll of the bass,
were especially powerful on songs
like “Glass and Patron.” Her perfor-
mance came across more like a live-
action art exposition rather than a
concert, setting her apart from all
other performs I saw.
Florence and The Machine
It should surprise no one that
Florence and the Machine abso-
lutely killed it as Sunday night’s
biggest headliner. Though the set
was cut short due to another round
of bad weather, the nine songs that
she did manage to get through were
phenomenal. Kicking off the show
with “What the Water Gave Me”
and “Ship to Wreck,” Florence made
it clear that it was going to be a high
energy,
passionate
performance.
Running about the stage, with her
signature red locks trailing behind
her, Florence didn’t miss a beat — her
vocals remained impeccable. With
lightening flashing in the sky, Flor-
ence received word that she needed
to leave the stage, stating “the storm
had won.” Before doing so, she gave
the crowd one last song, “Dog Days
Are Over.” People began slowly
making their way out, dancing and
clapping along to the rhythm as the
night sky continued to cloud over.
During these last few minutes of her
performance, Florence urged the
audience to be free and passionate,
telling them to remove an article of
their clothing and wave it above their
head. Following her own advice, the
singer removed her blouse and ran
off stage towards the crowd to make
her exit. The masses went crazy,
making it one of the most memora-
ble moments of Lollapalooza by far.
Festival Report: Memorable Lollapalooza
LOLLAPALOOZA
Excuse me, Ms. Welch, do you know where I could buy some drugs?