LCD Soundsystem And HAIM Close Out An Epic, Long Lollapalooza 2016
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 1, 2016 3:02PM
Additional reporting by Austin Brown and Michelle Kopeny.
Lollapalooza wrapped up its four-day run with a strong closing lineup throughout Sunday, and as the evening wound down we got the news that the fest will return next year for another four days from Aug. 3 to 6, 2017. As we ponder that news, let's revisit some of Sunday's highlights.
Entering to the Joubert Singers' "Stand On The Word," a nod to New York dance scene godfather DJ Larry Levan, LCD Soundsystem took the stage for their headlining set to an eager crowd. When the band initially disbanded in 2011 they were popular, but we wouldn't have imagined them mainstream enough to headline a major music festival. But since their reunion earlier this year, it's become more and more apparent that their reputation has only grown. We caught their live set at Metro the night before, so we knew the band was in fine form, but we were curious to see how the show would translate on Lolla's massive scale.
Opening with "Us V Them," LCD Soundsystem had the crowd dancing from the first beats. And as the song picked up steam, a giant disco ball slowly rose over the stage, casting beams of light over a wildly cheering audience. As the set progressed, the people clogging the massive field in front of the stage only danced and sang harder. Many of the attendees had never seen the band before, and were happily caught up in one of the best live shows on the planet. When the band played "Yeah," thousands of people jumped around with each other screaming the lyrics and it was both slightly scary and really magical. Later in the set when they played "Someone Great" someone lit a paper lantern and it floated gently into the sky as the crowd swayed back and forth to the beat.
When LCD leader James Murphy told the crowd they only had four more songs left, he answered the disappointed "No!" that erupted by saying, "Four is a long time. We have 10 fucking minute songs!" And he didn't disappoint. "Home" followed, riling the crowd up even more before taking a slight breather with the more melancholy "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down." Thank god for the breather, because the final one-two delivery of "Dance Yrself Clean" and "All My Friends" closed out the night on an euphoric note as everyone within earshot just absolutely lost it. We nearly collapsed by song's end.
Earlier that evening, the three sisters of Haim energetically took stage to the opening drum beats of “If I Could Change Your Mind.” It was a party from start to finish with these ladies, who shared some new songs and memories, including their own trip to Lolla in 2007, seeing Amy Winehouse on the very same stage. The setlist was mostly recognizable songs from their debut album, Days Are Gone, though they did debut a handful of new songs from the new album they are currently recoding.
All three have a big stage presence, but it’s bassist Este whom we can never take our eyes off, with her infamous “bass face” on full display. She got her chance to take the lead and show off some dance moves during a lively tribute cover of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U.” At the end of their set, a huge drum kit was rolled out and the California trio closed their set with an impressive extended drum jam.
Dare we say that Third Eye Blind is experiencing a resurgence lately? We were surprised to see the '90s hit-makers on the Lolla schedule when it came out, and their recent antics at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame benefit during the Republic National Convention made headlines. That said, maybe festival organizers should have let the band's semi-charmed pop hooks graduate to a bigger stage, because the crowd amassed at Petrillo was massive and impenetrable. There were people in trees, hanging from light poles, standing on garbage bins.
Frontman Stephan Jenkins was nothing but gracious throughout though during their first appearance at Lollapalooza. “Thank you for loving us,” he told the mass of fans at the end of the set, just after closing with “Semi-Charmed Life.” The crowd emphatically sang with Jenkins, and we even spotted a crowd-surfing wheelchair. They even slipped in a little Prince cover, the first of two we witnessed on Sunday, playing a little bit of “I Would Die 4 U” in between many of the familiar tracks from their 1997 self-titled hit album.
While Låpsley spent much of her career finding her voice and sound on the internet, through her Soundcloud and songs like “Falling Short,” her set on Sunday showed an artist exploring the possibilities not just of her unique UK-garage-inspired pop sound, but also her confidence as a performer. While nowhere near as natural onstage as peers like Haim were, Låpsley nevertheless exuded a pristine confidence in her own songs, which themselves bubbled and clicked with simmering placidity. With the exception of showstopper “Hurt Me,” none of Låpsley’s songs created much of a marked uptick in heart rate, but that wasn’t the point—they communicated an undeniable mood, one which hopefully will have lasting potential beyond the festival stage and the Soundcloud account.
While ostensibly disco-pop DJs, a quick overview of Classixx’s songs and featured artists reveals their more self-aware indie inclinations. On Sunday, the music itself skews away from straightforward euphoria or heart-pounding drops, instead inclining towards groove and synth explorations and curiosities. But that didn’t stop the affairs from being kicked into twelfth gear with the arrival of first How To Dress Well’s Tom Krell, then Holy Ghost!’s Alex Frankel, and finally, frequent dance-punk vocalist and LCD Soundsystem affiliate Nancy Whang. For those in the know, it was a star-studded rotation of friends and colleagues from throughout the world of late-2000s indie. For everyone else, it was just track after track of blissed-out electro.
From listening to their crossover hit “Winterbreak,” one could be forgiven for thinking that MUNA are basically just another pop group—vaguely Euro vocals, subdued bass, sprinkles of a hyperactive drum pattern all through the song. So imagine the surprise we got, seeing them debut with their first festival performance in matching “Fuck Trump” shirts, plowing through their tracks with the confidence and swagger of a rock band ten years their elder. Their peak was an explosive cover of Stevie Nicks’s “Edge of Seventeen,” which landed perfectly and swept the crowd along with them.
In 2016, it’s a little passé to criticize someone for a lack of lyrical specificity or vagueness—some of the best bands out there only seem to hint at what they mean. But with Halsey’s definite inclinations towards anthem-building and fist-pumping at the Samsung stage, it was hard not to pay attention to her messages, which seemed to not stretch beyond reflexive self-consciousness and demands for respect. The specificities, when they came through, were often economic rather than generational, despite her inclinations towards being a “voice of a generation.” The pounding drums and hazy production served to mostly bolster songs like “Hurricane” and “New Americana,” which name-drop Brooklyn, LSD, and Balenciaga, to name a few. The “new Americana,” maybe. But it felt like mostly the new Americana for people who can afford (and want to attend) Lollapalooza.
Bryson Tiller’s thing, despite accusations of “industry plant” or the like, isn’t that he doesn’t have an identity or that he’s just a bunch of catchy songs. He’s got plenty of quotables and moody melancholia to go around, as his performance to the overflowing crowd at the Petrillo stage showed. But it seemed to always feel like a precision-targeted summation: start with the OVO sound, add a little Weeknd, sprinkle some Tory Lanez around, and you have the perfect hip-hop/R&B rising star for 2016. Songs like “Exchange” and “Don’t” brought structure and intensity to Tiller’s style, but for much of the set, it couldn’t help but feel like elevator music, as performed by The Weeknd.
Vince Staples has an EP coming out in the next few months, but for now he’s still gliding on the success of his teeth-grinding Summertime ’06. Staples’s songs sound almost too chill when recorded, so it was a welcome surprise to see even loping downcast beats like “Loca” and “Birds and Bees” recast as hyped-out bangers for the festival crowd. He also made the case for an internal, subdued politics as the most effective—his inquiry of “who here don’t trust the police” somehow scanned as more piercing than any other attempt at social justice the whole weekend, especially in conjunction with Staples’s repeated banter with the audience and playful threats to “revert to his old ways and beat your ass.”
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