Lollapalooza: Off The Beaten Path

By Jack Spilberg

August 10, 2006

There are a few things you need to deal with right off the bat with Lollapalooza. The first couple are obvious—first off, Chicago in August is hot, be prepared to fry. Next up, Lollapalooza is massive, it’s a full mile from the northern-most stage to the furthest south stage. Bring some comfortable shoes and get ready to do some hiking. Lastly, and most importantly, there are way too many amazing bands playing simultaneously on the multiple stages. Trying to plan out your day can be an ordeal, as you are pretty much guaranteed to miss an amazing set in one shape or form.

Most who attend Lollapalloza opt to not take risks and b-line back and forth to the main stages to check out the headliners: Death Cab for Cutie, Thievery Corporation, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Gnarls Barkley. While that strategy is all good and fine, you end up missing some phenomenal acts throwing it down on the smaller side stages. For the masses that inevitably missed some of these up-and-coming acts, we will provide a down and dirty breakdown for you here.

With a bit of a sparse crowd off to the side on the cool and shady tree-lined BMI stage, female rapper Lanz proceeded to astonish anyone who happened to witness her forty-five minute set. She can accurately be described as “shorty,” petite and only sixteen-years-old, but this female busts out with a surprisingly powerful voice and a lyrical flow worthy of respect. Fresh off signing her first major contract with Interscope Records, Lanz is poised to quickly gain momentum as she joins the ranks of label mates M.I.A., 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Eminem. Look out for her debut album due out in Spring 2007.

Meanwhile on a stage area called the “Mindfield,” all sorts of mayhem was going down in the afternoons and on into the evenings. Chicago based audio and video producer extraordinaire (and of Chi-town production/DJ outfit Brobot) Baseshot Scenerio provided a custom-tuned, mind-bending visual backdrop on massive, dual LED walls to the ground thumping beats provided by VHS or Beta and the lovely breakbeat-specialist DJ Rashida.

On Sunday, the Mindfield came to life thanks to a special, sneak attack appearance by the bigwig himself—Perry Farrell. Onstage, the festival-founder and former Janes Addiction/Porno For Pyros front man served champagne to the crowd and proceeded to toast both his wife for her birthday, and also to the success of the weekend. After the toasts were delivered, Farrell gave the crowd another treat—an exclusive listen to an unreleased track entitled "Celebrate" from his new project, Satellite Party.

Immediately following Perry’s antics, none other than Beastie Boy DJ and three-time DMC

World Champion Mix Master Mike stepped to the turntables on the tiny stage and performed a completely unannounced, extremely rare, intimate, and totally slamming two-hour set for the crowd that had quickly amassed.

Fellow Bay Area native, funk specialist, and notorious party-starting, crowd-involving emcee Lyrics Born delivered another performance arguably hotter than the hottest of the Lollapalooza headliners. Those lucky enough to catch him tearing the roof off the House of Blues the night before ended up with a double-dose of Lyrics Born at his finest over the weekend. Just as smooth and confident in the intimate club setting, the funky vocalist charged through his set in the muggy Chicago afternoon heat without a hitch. For the uninitiated, Lyrics Born, co-founder of Quannum Records alongside DJ Shadow and others, rocks a funk and hip-hop style all his own, and has grown an underground following from his better known tracks like “Calling Out,” and “I Changed My Mind,” (feat. Poets of Rhythm). Look out for his brand new album Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born LIVE! due out in October.

Off to the sides of the massive main stages, an area designated for the tykes in attendance called Kidapalooza surprisingly featured some of the more interesting sets of the weekend. Off Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label, vocalist Matt Costa (www.mattcosta.com) displayed his softer side in an acoustic, G-rated performance on the kiddie-stage. Perfect for his hula-hooping, tag-playing, underage audience, Costa performed songs appropriate for kids and adults of all ages including “Lullaby,” the heartbreakingly sweet duet with Jack Johnson found on Sing-A-Longs &Lullabies for the soundtrack to the film Curious George released last February.

Later on, a group announced as The Terrible Twos took to the stage. The band first informed the crowd that they might recognize them as The New Amsterdams, a different group altogether, and noted that they will be rocking a main stage later on with a completely different catalog of songs. As an acoustic quartet, The Terrible Twos proceeded to rock an entire set dedicated to dinosaurs, owls, sibling rivalry, and how cool it is to be 11-years-old.

From just these few remarkable stories, you can tell that the event’s sheer massiveness was both a blessing and a curse. While huge music festivals can be quite an ordeal in a variety of different ways, the good ones still present rare opportunities to get turned on to different styles of music and musicians you might not discover otherwise. For that reason alone, that $60 or more you end up throwing down for tickets makes the drain on your funds a little easier to stomach, as Lollapalooza continues to build momentum rocking on to next year.

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