By Scott Lapatine & Amrit Singh
It wasn’t always smooth, but it was definitely memorable: Lollapalooza’s top-heavy booking panned out this year, giving each night a bit of magic and each day an air of anticipation. Day Last didn’t exactly bring a stacked lineup, but the day’s sets were some of the fest’s best. For one, Saul Williams became our New Favorite Guy. He and his Niggy Tardusting cohorts dressed like intergalactic Native Americans by way of tribal Africa, bounding the stage and easily winning the packed crowd of Girl Talk waiters. Gregg came next with something extra special. Feed The Animals was on display, and as always Gillis mixed in some new pieces to his ultimate party playlist, but this time GG brought two kids dressed as cops, lots of confetti, 96 rolls of toilet paper, and two inflatable rafts. The security guards told us the pit crew from Rage the night before had been assigned to handling the Girl Talk crowd, and sure enough the photo pit closed after 50 seconds because it was “unsafe.” But in a fun way! Plus there was a gorilla there? Yes.
Ronson had special guests, Gnarls covered Radiohead, John Popper played a harmonica, et cetera — i.e. expect the obviously expected — so it was left to Trent and Kanye to shake up Chicago. For West, that meant graduating from “Glow In The Dark” (maybe he learned something from Bonnaroo after all) and bringing a full band and stage banter back to the fore. Reminded us of his Lolla set in ’06 — i.e. nobody will be painting the walls — only this time with a slightly bigger ego. Did you know he put Chicago on the map? He’ll tell you. (Brooklyn Vegan has nice shots.) Nine Inch Nails, well, that was a little different: Trent let his voice, catalogue, light show, and chiseled forearms do the talking. The stage lights and jumbotron camera work were jaw dropping — all interactive fake waterfalls and disorienting image superimpositions — and the hits hit with industrial bliss. Singing “Hurt” with 25,000 others on a skyline-lit, perfect summer night is not the sort of thing you forget easily. But just in case, we have some photos from the night, and the day, as our way of saying goodbye to Lolla 2008. It was fun.
Before we go: Thank you to Abbey Braden for the tireless camera work, and thanks for the good company to our friends at Gorilla Vs. Bear, Muzzle Of Bees, Pitchfork, Pop Candy, and You Ain’t No Picasso. For the rest of our coverage from the weekend…
- Lollapolooza 2008 MP3 Mix
- Surprise! Radiohead Own Day One
- Grizzly Bear Play Four New Songs
- Friday In Photos
- Saturday In Photos, Rage Deliver Bruises
- Wilco Bring New Tune, Not Obama
See you next year, Perry.
BLACK KIDS
BLUES TRAVELER
BRAZILIAN GIRLS
MARK RONSON
SAUL WILLIAMS
GIRL TALK
NINE INCH NAILS
[Nine Inch Nails, Saul Williams & Girl Talk photos by Amrit; all others by Abbey Braden]
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NIN always put on a great show
absolutley
whoa, saul williams is looking good
the NIN show was amazing. I could’ve done without the Ghost stuff, but once the insane light effects started my mind was properly blown. Trent is the hottest 43 year old former heroin addict ever. He looks like a fuckin’ rhino these days. A hot rhino? Anyways thanks for the pics.
Kanye was alright (productions like his and Lupe’s need all the rehearsal they can get, IMO), NIN was very mind-blowing, Gnarls terrific and Ronson was awesome – don’t downplay that!
Great! My favorite is #2 under Mark R.
Saul & Mark were both so good. Both were epic in their own ways. FYI, Pop Candy said that Kanye was backstage at Saul’s grooving along.
It’s true! In fact I talked to him. He said, “Tell everyone I said hello.” So, Kanye says hello, everybody.
What was up with Lolla this year, there were mosh pits at Black Keys and Raconteurs? Come on folks, that’s not how we party.
seeing saul williams play earlier on the niggy tardust tour in a 400 person rock club really made me realize his status to me as a true genius in music right now. i don’t throw around that term lightly. he has completely his own sound and is really a unique talent. i’ve never heard anyone do what he does. ironically his “rap” show was probably the most “punk rock” show i’ve ever seen in my life.
i can’t view the photos for some reason theyre just showing up as skinny lines. does anyone know what the problem might be?
the pictures take a little time to render, depending on the speed of your connection (sorry). it’s worth the wait for the saul photos, i think i’m going to be him for halloween.
The lady with Saul Williams is purty.
And is his 12 year old daughter Saturn. Just for the records. Saul was good (and yes utterly punk) but I’ve liked him better in previous performances, mainly cuz that’s not Saul as much as it is Niggy – a total performance piece, amazing all in it’s own way.
I saw them both in the airport waiting to board a delayed flight to LA. Maybe it wasn’t so clear on stage, but it was pretty obvious to me then that she was his daughter.
She’s 12? Wow. that’s awesome.
saul has been so underrated by the indie press for so long. his s/t album is incredible and niggy tardust is really cool also (show’s how many risks he is willing to take as an artist even if some fall flat). i’m so happy to see him get repped on this thread. ever since he opened for the mars volta a few years ago (there are some sweet boots of him onstage with them at their legendary wiltern shows in LA on the deloused tour) he has been like a god on the mars volta fansite (which has like 50 thousand members most of them don’t even listen to them anymore but there is such a high level of music discussion there ranging from all genres from obscure classical and jazz stuff to rock and hip hop) and i think saul is one of the most popular artists there.
ps:
awesome pics from the tardust tour http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=13395348&albumId=1813819
my favorite one:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=13395348&albumID=1813819&imageID=34802512
such a fucking rockstar.