If Day 2 of Lollapalooza was unofficially the pop/electronica-centric day of the music festival, then Day 3 (7/30) proved to be the perfect antidote, at least for this reviewer anyway. Yes, after a day that was decidedly lacking on the live instrumentation front (at least the back half of Friday anyway), your humble narrator was very much looking forward to experiencing what promised to be some hard-hitting live performances from the likes of IDLES and Turnstile in particular.
Here’s a recap of Day 3:
Fletcher – This reviewer made a promise to himself, that no matter how hype/enticing, I would need to steer clear of the tweaker stage Saturday (aka Perry’s). There’s simply too many other quality rock acts at Lolla to get sucked into all the electronica hype (alluring as it is), constantly emulating from Perry’s, so if I was going to follow my ears, it would need have to be towards reverb/feedback/distortion/riffs, and the like. And so it was that my ears led me to the T-Mobile stage where a crowd of thousands were soaking in Flether’s mid-afternoon set under beautiful blue skies and a generous (maybe a bit too generous) toasty sunshine. Fletcher’s set was really clicking on all those chill, mid-afternoon set cylinders, emulating a generally dreamy, emotionally sultry pop-rock type of vibe. Although primarily considered a pop artist, the live instrumentation added an element of rawness to her performance that almost gave it kind of a Lilith Fair type of ambiance (which is a compliment, of course). Quality mid-afternoon set.
After navigating the masses (Lolla should look into a Waze-like app to avoid human traffic jams) to find some late-afternoon grub (courtesy of yummy rib tips from Pork Shoppe), it was time for this reviewer to undertake the epic journey back to the north end of the festival to checkout IDLES, but on my way, was able to take in passing performances from the following:
Wallows – Seemed super accessible (perhaps insipidly so), but overall, somewhat enjoyable/tolerable with their cute-and-cuddly brand of “alternative rock”. Moving on…
YG – While not much into new-school hip-hop these days, this reviewer does have a soft spot in his heart for west-coast rappers, particularly those from Compton, like YG. Unfortunately, the glory days of Death Row Records are long gone, and not coming back, as evidenced by YG’s generally underwhelming performance. He did briefly cover “Racks in the Middle” by the late/great Nipsey Hustle, which got my attention, but it was over all to soon, unfortunately. Moving on…
Frozone – This was actually just some dude in a full Frozone costume who was being accosted left-and-right by teenagers for pictures (poor guy…but, you reap what you sow I guess), but was super cool/nice to talk to, so wanted to him a shoutout!
IDLES – After about a 30-minute walk (which included some brief stops to check out the aforementioned sets), your humble narrator finally arrived at the Bud Light Seltzer stage at the (very) far north end of the festival just in time for IDLES to do their thing. For those unaware, IDLES are a UK-based punk band that has risen to prominence over the past few years with its politically/topically-charged brand of uncompromising punk rock. Indeed, have released 4 LPs since their 2017 debut Brutalism, IDLES have slowly risen up the ranks in the underground punk scene, so much so that they have now apparently earned an early evening slot at one of the headlining stages at Lollapalooza. Which is certainly well-deserved, in the eyes of this reviewer anyway, but seeing IDLES for the first time in such a setting felt a bit odd for yours truly. That’s probably because IDLES bruising brand of punk-rock has always felt tailor-made for dingey and dirty dive bars, or at a secret show in someone’s basement, something like that. And no doubt they have played plenty of those settings, but, your humble narrator was apparently just a little late to the (live) party.
Whatever the case, IDLES opened things up with the incredibly brooding “Colossus”, which seemed to illicit some confused looks on the faces of folks casually checking out their early-evening set. While it might be a stretch to say that IDLES are a band that doesn’t like to have a good time live (in the traditional sense anyway), their music is quite heavy, not just sonically but often in terms of subject matter as well, which felt like a sharp contrast to the plethora of generally softer/more accessible bands that mostly dominated Lolla’s various stages that day. Even for this (casual) fan, it felt a little jarring, but not in a bad way of course.
Lead singer Joe Talbot was locked-in with his unflinchingly intense stage persona, which only added to the strength of the band’s live performance. It definitely packed a punch, thanks to killer performances of “Grounds” and “Mother” for example (“Well Done” was unfortunately absent from the setlist, but oh well). In a nutshell, IDLES delivered all the pummeling goods this reviewer had been craving, but ultimately it only proved to be a nice warm-up for the main event that evening (for me and a 1,000 or so other folks anyway).
Turnstile – And that aforementioned “main event” came courtesy of Baltimore’s Turnstile, who took to the Discord stage around the corner promptly at 7:45. For those not privy, Turnstile was already (debatably) the best/most exciting hardcore band in the land prior to 2021, but with the release of their critically acclaimed Glow On album last year, they have experienced a surge in popularity that is almost unprecedented for bands coming out of that scene. That’s probably because Turnstile has never really been just a standard-fare “hardcore” band, given that their music has always had dashes of color/variety that are somewhat atypical of traditional bands from that genre. While most hardcore-centric music is very black-and-white, or grey in texture/tone, Turnstile has never been afraid of experimenting and broadening its horizons to incorporate more alternative flavors, and Glow On really took all of that to the next level (with ridiculously awesome results).
But ultimately, more than anything, Turnstile is a band that makes you want to dance (albeit not in the traditional sense of course). Some people like to tango, some people like to do the macarena, some folks like to do the Humpty Dance (guilty as charged), whilst others like to slam dance (also guilty as charged). And while there is probably a somewhat negative connotation to slamdancing for most people, the difference with Turnstile’s music is it is not coming from a negative or angry place. It is coming from an exuberant, freeing, dare I say loving place, but perhaps more importantly, it’s danceable AAF. Indeed, if there was such a thing as “slamdancing nirvana” a happy place where everyone moshes in the aggressively joyful union to some of the most infectious breakdowns imaginable, the closest thing you’re going to get to that would be at a Turnstile live show.
And all that aforementioned slamdancing paradise was in full effect Saturday night, as Turnstile delivered their patented brand of virulent crossover hardcore with full gusto. Kicking things off with “Mystery”, the band instantly launched the crowd into a delightful frenzy, which rarely let up throughout their (approximately) 50-minute set. Old-school tracks like “Fazed Out” hit like a ton of bricks and was definitely a highlight (“Gravity” was, unfortunately, missing from the set, but beggars can’t be choosers!) Overall though, the band primarily pulled heavily from Glow On, with cathartic performances of “Blackout”, “Don’t Play”, “Underwater Boi”, “Holiday”, “Endless”, “Wild Wrld”, “Alien Love Call” (which afforded a nice chance to catch our collective breaths) and “T.L.C.” (Turnstile Love Connection), which was a fitting way to close things out with the chorus of “I want to thank you for letting me be myself, I want to thank you for letting me see myself!”. That tune kind of perfectly captures the essence of Turnstile’s music really. Music should set you free, ultimately, right? It’s one of the last few refuges from a too often chaotic and troubling world. It’s good for the mind, body, and soul, and Turnstile’s music certainly provides that in a very exuberant and liberating way for yours truly. And for the 1000s of fans that got to witness their set Saturday, one can only hope they took away at least a little bit of that same positive energy as well.
Day 3 Tidbits:
Number people seen spilling entirely of their delicious chips & guac: 1 (smh)
Number of cosplay people encountered: 1 (shoutout to Frozone!)
Number of Turnstile t-shirts spotted: several
Number of Turnstile t-shirt complements received: also several
Level of Turnstile fandom present in this article: high
Best vintage NBA jersey spotted: Kevin Johnson
