Lollapalooza 2003

Enable frames

Lollapalooza 2003

By Randy Chandler

All Photos by Kay McEntee

'Behind the Front Line'

It has been a number of years since the travelling circus known as
Lollapalooza lumbered through these parts, so when it was announced that
the venerable package tour would make its return this summer, expectations
were high.

After all, a lot of similar festival-style tours have popped up in its
absence-most notably Ozzfest-not to mention the changes in our musical
climate.
The 'Alternative Revolution', which served as the impetus for Lollapalooza
in the first place, has long since become a footnote in our musical
history, giving way to nu-metal and jam-bands, which are well spotlighted
by Ozzfest and events like the Bonnaroo festival, respectively.

Lollapalooza 2003 had much to prove in these times when concert ticket
prices have skyrocketed and the economy is down. On top of that, there was
a question of audience-would those remaining alt-rock fans come out of the
woodwork?

I needn't have worried. As the day progressed (and a truly beautiful day it
was), DTE Energy Music Theatre filled to capacity, lying to rest any
lingering doubts of the festival's potency.

The lineup, as usual, was stellar: The bluesy punk of the Donnas, the
lumbering stoner-rock of Queens of the Stone Age, the Alt-friendly Hip Hop
of Jurassic 5, the melodic dynamics of Incubus, Rock's latest supergroup
Audioslave, and a headlining performance by the legendary Jane's Addiction,
in addition to a host of worthy second stage acts.

Admittedly, I never really made it to see any of the second-stage bands,
but one or two of them will probably get huge in the next year or so and
I'll be kicking myself for not getting off my ass and ambling down to the
parking lot to check them out when I had the chance.

Anyway, here's the rundown:

The Donnas

THE DONNAS: These young ladies have been recording and touring since their early teens, and their Lollapalooza set showed them to be seasoned vets. With a bluesy swagger and hilariously low-brow lyrics that mostly center around pre-and post adolescent sex, these four girls (who all share the adopted first name Donna, hence the name) may have come off as sluts, but musically they held their own with the best of them.

Rallying around the primal guitar work of Donna R. (aka Allison Robertson), the Donnas blazed through a set comprised of tunes from all their albums but heavily weighted toward their last effort, "The Donnas turn 21" and their current offering, "Spend the Night".

The singer reminds me of Christina Ricci's tougher, sluttier older sister, but the bottom line is that these women play ROCK AND ROLL the way God (and maybe Angus Young) intended.

JURASSIC 5: OK, OK-I have to admit I spent much of J5's set wandering around, looking for food and other things. But I did catch the first song or two, and the shear heart of this Hip-Hop group impressed me. Their music was refreshingly free of Gangster posturing, and the overall vibe was fairly positive.

Don't get me wrong, I dig Eminem and sometimes even Wu-Tang, but it was kinda cool to see a Hip Hop group with a little more upbeat undertones.

Jurassic 5

'Queens of the Stoneage'

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE: Right off the bat, It needs to be said that Dave Grohl was NOT the drummer for QOTSA at their Lollapalooza dates-some dude with a shag was filling his seat, but at least he played a lot like ol' Dave.

The second thing to note is that frontguy/mainman Josh Homme was not the main vocalist. Although he did do the Queens hit single "No One Knows", the rest of the vocal duties were handled by the Bassist and some other guy who appeared to be a guest singer.

I don't know a whole lot about them as a band, but I thought Homme would at least do the lion's share of the vocals. Nevertheless, QOTSA put on an amazing set, and I may have found another band to dig.

INCUBUS: Alternative holdovers Incubus have done well for themselves - a couple of multi-platinum albums, numerous singles, and the transformation of Frontguy Brandon Boyd into a bona fide Sex Symbol-so it came as a shock that the band, rather than merely churn out a set of their hits, instead showcased material dating back to 1997's S.C.I.E.N.C.E. as well as fan favorites from their current offering (not to mention that little snippet of Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" that seemed to basically be an excuse for Mike Einziger to nail the Wes Mongomery-ish guitar solo).

Interestingly, the set began with the slow build of "Warning" instead of coming out with one of their more bombastic numbers, and that set the tone for a set full of surprises. The biggest surprise was the omission of two of their biggest singles to date, "Pardon Me' and "Drive" both off their breakthrough album MAKE YOURSELF. Not that I was that disappointed-We've all heard "Drive" enough for now, and I bet even Incubus themselves are sick of playing it!

'Incubus'

AUDIOSLAVE:  There were basically two reasons I went to this show: Dave
Navarro and Tom Morello. We'll get to Dave in a minute. Audioslave came out
swinging, with Chris Cornell screaming his head off.

It sounded at first as if he was sick or having a rough day, but every time
he opened wide to shred his lungs, it was all about power. Quickly laying
to rest any doubts of this new supergroup's cohesiveness, Cornell and his
ex-Rage Against the Machine cohorts (guitarist Morello, Bassist Tim
Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk, who curiously faced the rear of the
stage) put on a tight and energetic show.

'Audioslave's Chris Cornell exorcizes the

spirit of Jack White while Tom Morello shows the magic touch.'

Mid-set, Cornell brought things down with a pair of solo acoustic numbers,
before bringing the band back out for a surprise rendition of the White
Stripes '"Seven Nation Army".

Morello was a revelation- not only does he coax all those otherworldly
blips, bleeps and scratches from a relatively spartan guitar rig (Jeez-
he's still using the Marshall/
Peavey 1/2 stack he's had since the first Rage album!), but he does it
while leaping around the stage like a madman. My hero!

Perry Farrell of Janes Addiction

JANE'S ADDICTION: Ah, Jane's-I have been desperately wanting to see them live since 1988! Even without original bassist Eric Avery (who swapped spots with new bassist Chris Cheney to go play with Canadian bitch-goddess Alanis Morrissette), Perry Farrell and Co. did not disappoint.

Kicking off with "Stop" from RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL, Jane's kept up a fevered pace throughout a set geared towards their long-time fans. A host of songs I never thought I'd get to hear live ("Ted, Just Admit It", "Oceansize", "Summertime Rolls") were paraded out to the delight of the faithful, sprinkled in with their latest single, "Just Because" and at least one other new tune.

Regrettably, I had to head for the Exits as they launched into "Jane Says"
(I wanted to get home before the weekend was over!), but for what I caught
I will be forever amazed.
Navarro, another of my six-string heroes, seemed a little high and/or
exhausted throughout the shortened set, but then if I was touring with
Jane's Addiction AND sleeping with Carmen Electra, I bet I'd be pretty
tired most of the time, too!

All in all, Lollapalooza was a rousing success across the board-it was good
to be home again!

Enable frames