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Each morning we're going to highlight five bands playing at Lollapalooza that we think are worth seeing. Some will be popular, some less known, but we believe they're all worth your time. And for those not making it to the festival itself, we'll round it out with an additional show going on after the grounds close down for the evening.
Matt & Kim
Bouncy, jouncy, fun, and happy, Matt & Kim are just the sort of duo to kick your day off with a smile. Matt's off kilter vocals are endearing and the duo's melodies are playful enough to snare both the indie rockers and the dance kids. (adidas stage, 11:45 a.m.)
Tokyo Police Club
We caught these boys a few months ago at Subterrnanean and thew blew us away. Let's say you took Television's songs, sped them up double-time, and cut them in half ... then you have an idea what Tokyo Police Club sounds like. Our only worry is that their immediacy gets a little lost on the massive stage at the south end of Grant park. (AT&T stage, 12:45 a.m.)
Silverchair
We've been getting press releases about Silverchair about every other hour for the past two months, so we almost didn't write about them on principle alone. However their new disc is really, really good -- they're no longer a bunch of teenage grungesters, that's for sure -- so here we are, writing about them. The band has taken the Beatles route of mining their strengthsd and expanding thm with fractured art-rock leanings, leading to results that are surprisingly engaging. (AT&T stage, 2:30 p.m.)
Rhymefest
Rhymefest's debut should have been a monster, but ended up being criminally overlooked. This rapper's rhymes and beats leave most of the mainstream in the dust, and we're not just saying that to lean on / attempt to support our "underground" standing. Hell, any dud e that samples The Stroke and make Julian Casablancas' vocals his bitch, deserves our love and respect. (Playstation stage, 3:30 p.m.)
Muse
Muse makes Queen seem understated. With pop hooks an roaring choruses that take up where Radioheads' The Bends left off, Muse is the perfect capper to an evening downtown. Sure, Interpol is playing across the way, but wouldn't you rather see the night off with a bang instead of the whimper the Joy Division tribute band is bound to deliver? This is why you'll see us fighting our way through the crowd to hit stage center for Muse. (AT&T stage, 8:30 p.m.)
Juliette and the Licks, Suffrajett, theStart
Juliette Lewis' outfit just wasn't meant for sunlight, so we're catching her angry Hollywood grrrl rock at her Lolla afterparty that's open to the public.Chicagoist pals Suffrajett open, and we're totally holding out hope for a face off between singer Simi and Lewis. Also opening is the dance rock combo theStart, who's album is pleasant enough, if somewhat faceless. We're hoping their live show adds a little extra bite. (The Note, 9:00 p.m.)
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After seeing these lineups, it's no wonder why this corporate suck-a-thon didn't sell out.
Type-os galore, dude. Sheesh.
Tankboy,
Calling Interpol "the Joy Division tribute band" is just a cheap shot you're making because you can't put more time into a thoughtful post. Yes, Muse were the better band to see, and the easily blew Interpol away, and it was to be expected.
But do yourself a favor as a (are you a journalist? does un-edited blog posting count?) and find a point. Find some originality. People were comparing Interpol to Joy Division since day one, and it's just not, eh, cool anymore. It's lazy. It's the easy way out.
Speaking of easy ways out, the same can be said for buying into any hype about the second-coming of Silverchair. Man, they were awful. Unmodern, just a different version of what they tried to do a decade ago. Too much noodly guitar crap, too much idiotic banter between songs. Why were they there at all?
I do agree though, about Muse. They were incredible. Just how I wanted to end the night.
I have given Interpol repeated listens, and while I was (am) a big fan of their debut, I haven't seen them growing at all. In fact, and the Joy Division crack is due to this, in my opinion they're regressing.
As for Silverchair, I only caught a bit of them since I had to hoof it to shoot another band, but I agree that their live presentation was wanting. I really do like their new disc though, and had high hopes for them.
And yes, Muse was incredible.
I Listened to Silverchair's performance on Ethel XM and thought they sounded great. I saw them live
a couple weeks also, it was such a fun show. Daniel's vocals were great and I thought they
were pretty tight. I noticed Daniel couldn't joke around as much as he would during one of their own shows though.
Muse are amazing live, that's for sure :)
Thanks for this. Interpol was great and it seems like 2/3 of the crowd was over at Muse, so we were able to get pretty close considering we didn't show up til about 8:15. And we had room to dance.
I'd never heard of Joy Division until I started listening to Interpol and catching onto the broken-record criticisms of them (and spare me, I was born the year Ian Curtis committed suicide). So I bought Permanent, thinking, well if Interpol is a carbon copy, I want in on that. I,um, was shocked to discover that I really didn't hear much similarity, besides Paul Banks sounding kind of like Ian Curtis, but he also sounds kind of like Jim Morrison, so...
In any case, their first album is insanely great; maybe the second and third aren't quite as good but they're still pretty f-ing good. However, please continue to hate on them, because when they are flying just under the radar I can get that much closer to them at every show.
And, sorry for the random rant.