Jane’s Addiction, of Montreal & Langhorne Slim highlight Lollapalooza 2009

With eight stages and three days, Lollapalooza 2009 in Chicago had so many artists performing at the same time, it was a festival with a lot of tough decisions to make — Fleet Foxes or Crystal Castles? Kings of Leon or Depeche Mode? Arctic Monkeys or Perry Farrell? Santigold or Glasvegas? Animal Collective or Ben Harper? Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Tool? Neko Case or Vampire Weekend? Lou Reed or Snoop Dogg? The Killers or Jane’s Addiction?

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009

The first day of the festival was a heavy rainy one and I — with no umbrella — got soaked fast so I found shelter from above side stage to watch White Lies. The boys from the U.K. performed an impressive set and were a great introduction to my first day at Lollapalooza. I spent more time in the artist lounge and made some friends I’d continue to see over the three days of the festival: Ted from Chicago, Jen from Austin, Texas and later Jenna from Australia.

No one really seemed to know Perry Farrell was going to make an appearance at the Kidzapalooza stage and certainly no one was expecting his duet partner. Before the set, I went backstage to say hi to Perry & Etty Farrell, who were probably the only ones fresh, clean and dry at that point in the rainy day. I was surprised to look over and see LeAnn Rimes beside me. Farrell and Rimes turned out to be not so an odd of a pairing and performed “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” and “Here Comes the Sun” and Farrell promised the sun will come out . . . tomorrow. 

The rain stopped for Canadian electro duo Crystal Castles which features Ethan Kath with the intriguing Alice Glass. Watching from the side of the stage, I was in awe of the insanely large crowd that gathered for them; Canada would be proud. Glass is a captivating passionate performer that is hard to take your eyes off of. As I was heading to another stage, I ran into the one Canadian I knew at Lollapalooza, PatVon Ghostwolf from Die Mannequin. Yay, Canadians.

Oops, jumped off the cart at the wrong stage on route to of Montreal and I was glad I did. Peter Bjorn and John from Stockholm, Sweden put on a fun and energetic show with singer Peter Moren jumping off stage to get closer to the crowd. Their song, “Just the Past,” was a definite stand out with the crowd singing along.

As much as I was enjoying PB&J, I couldn’t miss of Montreal, the group that puts on a colourful spectacle of a show. I walked up the backstage ramp in awe of balloons, make up, costumes, smoke, feathers, this was going to be a glamorous show. Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie fans will instantly fall in love with flamboyant frontman Kevin Barnes, who wore a pastel blue suit with tall silver boots and a long silver cape. Of Montreal does not hide their influences as they even did a cover of Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream.”

Each song featured some sort of character act, which was odd to watch as the extras got ready behind the stage view to come out in costumes that included a pig, rooster, gas mask, dinosaur and more. After shooting feathers into the audience nearing the end, you wouldn’t think the show could get any more fun or strange, but alas . . . the encore featured two people cuffed onto large wooden crucifixes, who broke free to ride above the crowd in an inflatable raft. 

Of Montreal’s music stands up to the hype. “For Our Elegant Caste,” “Touched Something’s Hollow” and “She’s a Rejecter” are amazing songs. Listening to the band on album I hear obvious Prince influence if not a complete imitation at times. Besides Jane’s Addiction, of Montreal was one of two acts that I will always remember from Lollapalooza 2009 and I look forward to seeing what the show looks like from in front of the stage very soon.

Of course I chose Depeche Mode, who were deserving of the large crowd that gathered on the muddy Grant Park lawn at the Chicago stage. Performing many songs from their latest album, Sounds of the Universe, along with all the hits you hope for, like “Policy of Truth,” and the encore, “Personal Jesus.” The synth-driven familiar to many songs got the crowd dancing and was the perfect end the first day of Lollapalooza.

Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009

With no definite plan of action until Perry Farrell, I was on route to the artist lounge, however, I heard the most intriguing music and was immediately drawn to follow the sound to the little BMI stage in the shade. At first listening and watching from a distance, the more I heard, the more drawn to the front of the stage I became. Langhorne Slim is one incredible charismatic talented musician and performer with a unique take on roots and blues rock music. I was mesmerized by him and took many photos. Songs like “I Love You, But Goodbye,” “Rebel Side of Heaven” and “Restless” were beautiful. As an indie, CD distribution is not the best so I haven’t been able to get his music yet, however, it looks like a new release is scheduled for this month.

Perry Farrell’s electronic act at the Perry stage with his wife Etty and guitarist Niky May, sometimes called Satellite Party is always a fun dance party. Recent tracks include “Go All the Way” for the Twilight movie soundtrack and “Nasty Little Perv” for NCIS TV soundtrack and new music is soon to be released. [As a friend/previous publicist, I can’t review the show, but I loved every moment of it ; )]

After a visit with the trio, I headed to see Glasvegas and they did not disappoint. Dressed in black, this Glasgow band with the ’50s vibe’s music fit right into the gloomy cloudy day. 

Having been listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs latest album lately and not being that familiar with Tool, I thought the decision was made, but then I heard so many great things about Tool’s live show. I was torn, even Facebooking and Twittering friends from Toronto to help make the decision . . . it was a tie so I went with Lucky’s advice of “Karen O’s outfits alone are worth it.” She was right, Karen O was wearing a huge colourful headdress and what I think looked like an Indian-inspired Snuggie. They were fun and a good choice.

Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009

With the artist line up at the Budweiser stage, I decided I’d stick to that end of the park for the day and started listening comfortably from the artist lounge. I went out for Kaiser Chiefs, who turned out to be a fun surprise as they know how to put on a good show and frontman Ricky Wilson was all over the place. Soooo much fun. The Ravonettes were a surprise of a different kind; I’ve been meaning to see them for years, thinking their live show must be amazing . . . it was okay.

Next up was Neko Case. Years ago when I first saw her in concert, I preferred her opening act Kelly Hogan who is more Patsy Cline classic country. I was happy to see Hogan is still singing with Case as a background singer and I definitely enjoyed the alt-country set.

Another big decision for me was Snoop Dogg or Lou Reed . . . I know it would seem they would have different fans, but I love Snoop Dogg and hip hop as well as all kinds of rock. Guilty pleasure or respected rock legend? Even though most of my friends polled voted for Reed without question, I was still torn. The Budweiser end of the stage won out as I figured best to stay close for Jane’s Addiction. Apparently Reed goes on whenever he feels like it and the set was delayed 20 minutes. I watched from above side stage; it was cool to finally see the legend perform but Reed was not happy, seemingly growling to techs about everything between words which he read off many Teleprompters. With little visual entertainment, I left the area to listen from and hang out behind. While there, Joe Perry from Aerosmith walked by, guitar in hand looking like the ultimate rockstar. Will he be joining Reed or Jane’s Addiction? The sound improved as the set went on, which also apparently means Reed doesn’t get off stage until he feels like it either. At least he gave us “Walk on the Wild Side” as the take away memory.

At festivals like these, timing is everything and Reed obviously didn’t care about anyone else as Band of Horses had to start their set at the opposite stage late and wanting to perform; their whole set went 20 minutes into Jane’s Addiction’s set. Jane’s is not going to wait so not sure how that worked out for BoH.

The original Jane's Addiction lineup played Lollapalooza for the first time since the festival’s first year in 1991 and they were not going to be outdone by anyone. Helicopters circled and spotlighted the crowd as Jane’s took the stage. Perry Farrell, the ultimate showman was in a fantastic gold lame tuxedo suit while Dave Navarro went with black leather pants and hat. Having just seen Jane’s Addiction in Toronto in June, I knew it would be an amazing show but the Lollapalooza closing headlining performance was one of the best shows I have ever seen of any band. Watching from above Navarro was a pretty cool experience, especially when looking out to the thousands in the crowd in front of the stage.  The band performed all their greatest hits including “Been Caught Stealing,” “Ocean Song” and “Stop.” Stephan Perkins, who was under many doctors orders not to play due to a recovering arm, hit the drums hard while Eric Avery rocked the bass. The level of musicianship in this band is astounding.

When I didn’t think the show could get any better, for the final encore, Farrell introduced Joe Perry to join them on an acoustic version of “Jane Says.” Etty, who was one of two featured dancers during the show, came on stage, replaced Perry’s wine bottle in hand with a magnum of champagne and then pointed to a few of her friends on the same side stage as me to come down. Of course many took that as everyone come down but security only let the few Etty invited . . . including me, what? How did I get here? I’m dancing on stage with Jane’s Addiction at Lollapalooza during the last song of the three day festival behind Navarro, Perry, Farrell, Perkins and Avery with about eight others. When the song ended, we stayed on stage as Farrell had some introductions to make and said some encouraging final words to the crowd. It was the most surreal experience ever and like waking up from a dream, Lollapalooza 2009 was over with me wondering if it all really just happened.

— Diane Foy