There was a time, long ago, when Lollapalooza essentially represented the very antithesis of mainstream popular music. Or at least that was the case in its inaugural year anyway, way back in 1991 when it originally started as a modest touring event showcasing generally subversive alternative acts like Rollins Band, Butthole Surfers, (a very young) Nine Inch Nails, and of course Jane’s Addiction. Perry Farrell actually put the original incarnation together as a farewell tour for Jane’s, but as we all know, the festival’s popularity exploded in subsequent years, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fast-forward 31 years, and it is remarkable to reflect on just how much Lolla has grown, not just internationally (Farrell recently announced Lolla will be making its India debut in Mumbai next January), but also musically as well. No longer just an alternative-rock-centric festival, Lolla has expanded its pallet over the years to include practically all popular genres of music, with hip-hop and mainstream pop acts making up a notable portion of the billing (particularly lately).
And it was Friday, more than any day of the festival, that seemed to have a decidedly more mainstream pop flavor than others, at least judging by the headlining acts anyway (Dua Lipa, Machine Gun Kelly, etc.). But whether pop music is your jam or not (which it generally isn’t in the case of your humble narrator), there was plenty of other quality acts on the lineup that proved to be more than worth checking out Friday.
Here’s a rundown of highlights from Day 2:
Wet Leg – All the cool indie kids know that Wet Leg are kind of a big deal right now, and judging from the huge crowd taking in their mid-afternoon set at the Discord stage Friday, safe to say the secret is apparently out. Fronted by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, it was frankly a refreshing way to start the afternoon, particularly after the sausagefest that was Metallica the prior day, so Wet Leg’s performance proved to be the perfect antidote. The band delivered a positively infectious set that had the crowd bobbing their heads and jamming to their crunchy, bouncy, subtly peculiar/hip brand of indie-rock. Their riffs and rhythms actually kind of had a vaguely grungy flavor in a live setting, but ultimately the band’s performance felt breezy and fun. A good up-and-coming band with a lot of potential. Judging from their live show, the hype seems real.
Mahalia– Keeping the girl-power theme going, your humble narrator made his way around the corner to Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage, where The Regrettes were about to perform. This afforded me the chance to catch the end of Mahalia’s set across the north lawn at the Bud Light Seltzer stage (which is one of the main/headliner stages). Although not familiar with her, Mahalia took the opportunity to introduce herself to folks like me by (playfully) stating in her thick UK accent “for those of you that don’t know me, I’m mad fucking cool…”(etc.). A tongue-in-cheek statement, of course, but what Mahalia lacked in humility she seemed to make up for talent-wise, as her sultry, generally downtempo R&B vibes felt real and seemed to resonate with the crowd. Kind of had a 90s-era Monica thing going on, but have only caught the last few songs in her set, could be slightly off there.
The Regrettes – In any event, after Mahalia wrapped up, The Regrettes took to the stage and delivered a quality set of generally spunky/dancey punk-rock. It was definitely more dancey than punky technically (kind of had a latter-era No Doubt thing going on…maybe with a splash of It’s Blitz-era YYYs), but whatever the case, frontwoman Lydia Night brought her sassy energy to the stage and the band as a whole delivered a pretty fun set overall.
Royal Blood – After three consecutive woman-fronted performances (girl power!), the sausagefest returned in earnest when it was time for Royal Blood to hit the Bud Light Seltzer stage. That’s not a knock on Royal Blood really (it’s not like they’re super heavy or anything), but the band did seem to attract a significant portion of dudes, for better or worse. That is probably because they sport a generally meat-and-potatoes type of hard-rock sound that feels a little basic (in fairness, they are a 2-piece band after all), but it seemed to translate fairly well in a live setting. Mike Kerr practically does it all as the lead-singer/bassist, and considering the band has no electric guitar, his versatility on his instrument and his ability to effectively drive all the songs is pretty impressive in its own right (worth noting Ben Thatcher is no slouch on the drums either). Overall though, their performance came across as somewhere between serviceable and good, so if you are looking for a relatively new, kind of generically heavy hard-rock band, chances are Royal Blood may be worth your time.
Clozee – There is something about Perry’s (stage) that always seems to suck your humble narrator in, and that proved to be a recurring theme for yours truly Friday night. It all started when my ears picked up a sample of RJD2’s “Ghostwriter” emulating from Perry’s stage, which was simply too enticing to pass up. This led to the discovery of Clozee, who was DJ’ing to a sizable crowd and kept the general RJD2-esque vibes going throughout the remainder of her set, which was enough to keep this reviewer’s attention. For someone whose electronica expertise/fandom doesn’t extend much beyond DJ Shadow and Aphex Twin, Clozee’s DJ set was really hitting on all those types of down-tempo/hypnotic vibes, so overall, was digging it.
Glass Animals – Everybody knows “Heat Waves”, right? It’s summer, we can’t escape that song, whether we like it or not, it gets stuck in your head, yada yada. But do Glass Animals have any other songs? Apparently, yes, they do, as evidenced from their hour set at the T-Mobile stage on the south end of the festival. Unfortunately, from this reviewer’s assessment anyway, none of their other songs were as good/catchy as that one, at least in a live setting anyway. This is not surprising of course, and in fairness, that would be a tough feat to pull off, but their supporting material did little to grab this reviewer’s attention overall, so it was back to Perry’s again for me!
Liquid Stranger – Haven caught Clozee’s set from the outskirts of the crowd, your humble narrator decided it was time to get into the thick of things for Liquid Stranger’s set, which was quite the immersive experience. And really, that’s the best way to absorb any live performance, but it’s particularly true for electronica acts given the all-encompassing visuals and hypnotic intensity that usually comes with the territory. That was certainly the case during Liquid Stranger’s set (aka Martin Stääf), whose futuristic dub-step-heavy beats were pretty fucking impressive/fun. There are plenty of reasons aliens don’t visit our dysfunctional little species, but if they happened to be passing by and got to check out Liquid Stranger’s set, they just might stop and reconsider (it was that dope).
Dua Lipa – My 5-year-old tells me that Dua Lipa is super famous, and buys all her clothes at the “famous store in China”. While not entirely sure about the last part (my 5-year-old’s proclamations are often highly questionable), this reviewer can attest to the first part. Indeed, Dua Lipa is definitely hot right now, as evidenced by the massive sea of humanity that effectively filled up the entire south lawn for her performance. Dua and her team of sparkly/scantily-clad dancers came out and gave a Super Bowl halftime-worthy performance, which seemed to go over well with the crowd at large (and boy was it large). But for this reviewer anyway, pop music is not really my jam, so after patiently waiting through a few songs in the hopes of hearing “Levitating” (guilty pleasure, sue me), it was time to head back to the tweaker stage to close out the night with The Rezz!
The Rezz – In a nutshell, The Rezz basically picked up where Liquid Stranger left off, but it did not take long to realize why she was headlining Perry’s that night. Although similar to Liquid Stranger, her set proved to be even groovier, more hypnotic, less glitchy, and probably a little darker to boot. Her beats were downright disgusting at times, like, shake-your-head in awe/delight-level digesting (which is a compliment of course). Throwing in a brief remix of “Killing In the Name” almost made this reviewer forget about missing Rage Against the Machine’s show at the United Center earlier this month, but hearing The Rezz’s twisted remix was the next best thing.
Overall, that’s the nice thing about Lolla. If it’s pop music night, or whatever music that isn’t your particular preference, chances are you can always find a stage that’s bumping your type of jam. And in the case of your humble narrator Friday night, it was Perry’s for the win!
Day 2 Tidbits:
Number of (dejected) people spotted getting escorted out of my cops: 2 (don’t act the fool folks)
Number of dude-brahs air-humping the ground: 1
Number of high people that randomly tried to kiss your humble narrator: 2 (next to Perry’s, of course)
Second-hand smoke levels at Perrys: high
Best dinner option so far: Broken English Taco Pub (brisket tacos for the win!)
Best random NBA jersey spotted: Damon Stoudamire (Grizz)
Day over day decline in Metallica t-shirts: -97% (there were still quite a few though!)
