Hot temperatures greeted festivalgoers on the third day of Lollapalooza, in which Vampire Weekend and The Weeknd headline. Here’s the scene so far:
Arena-ready?: Local rapper Femdot and a company of eight, which included three singers, a DJ, drummer, guitarist, bassist and keyboardist, created a sound bigger than what has graced the American Eagle stage in the past three days of Lollapalooza. It was hip-hop church, an emphatic display of musical craftsmanship and lyrical storytelling — aimed to move you spiritually and physically. Marrying bold gospel harmonies and roughly-chopped trap beats, the energy was non-stop, keeping the small but hypnotized crowd moving, filling out the sunny field. Bass drowned out instrumentation and vocals at times, diminishing a few of Fem’s more punishing hooks, but it was a solid festival debut and small glimpse into an up-and-comer’s arena ambitions. (Jessi Roti)
Da Bulls: By Saturday, a trend had been spotted: Chicago Bulls jerseys — not just worn by festivalgoers, but by the weekend’s performers too. We first noticed it with Taylor Bennett and his custom “Bennett” Bulls jersey on the Perry’s stage Friday afternoon, then again with R&B singer R.LUM.R and his bandmate. Bruno Mars and his crew sported Championship-era Bulls looks during their “entertaining with a capital E” headlining set, and local rapper Femdot wore Michael Jordan’s name on his back, while his eight-piece accompaniment was decked out in gold, Pippen “33” tanks. I guess choosing to rep the Bulls while pandering to a Chicago audience is less divisive, and decidedly more “on trend,” than choosing between the Cubs or White Sox. (Jessi Roti)
Heat wave: The city has taken additional steps to make sure Lollapalooza attendees stay cool as temperatures soared into the 90s Saturday in Grant Park. More cooling buses have been deployed to the music festival. These CTA buses give festivalgoers a break from the heat and a place to charge their phones. Festival staff members are handing out free water to people waiting in lines. Attendees can also fill up their water bottles or hydration packs at various “hydration stations” around the park. Festival organizers said they increased the number of water fountains by 20 percent this year because festivalgoers are no longer allowed to bring in two factory-sealed bottles of water as part of new safety restrictions. Misting fans have been placed at festival entrances and a mass ventilation truck is at the main festival gates off Congress Parkway. Attendees should keep an eye on the Lolla mobile app and the festival’s social media pages for heat-related messages. (Tracy Swartz)
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Health check: Thirty-nine attendees were sent to hospitals and two citations were issued on Friday, the second day of Lollapalooza, according to the city Office of Emergency Management and Communications. No arrests were reported. These numbers continue to decline compared to last year. Eighty-five people were transported to hospitals; two arrests were made (one person was released without charges); and four citations were issued for the first two days of the Grant Park music festival this year. Compare that to 128 hospital transports, 12 arrests and 16 citations for the same period last year. Festival organizers implemented new security protocol this year in the wake of last year’s deadly Las Vegas festival shooting that prohibits large bags and any liquids. Hospital employees who talked to the Tribune advised festivalgoers make sure they stay hydrated as temperatures soar through the rest of the festival, which wraps up Sunday night. (Tracy Swartz)
Cool soundtrack for the suana: With Grant Park turning into a Coachella-style oven, the music of Grace Weber proved to be a pleasant tonic amid the tree-sequestered BMI stage. Weber grew up in the Milwaukee area, is now based in Brooklyn and working with Chance the Rapper’s band, the Social Experiment, on a new album in Chicago. One of the Social Experiment mainstays, Nico Segal, added chilled trumpet accents to one of Weber’s breezy R&B ballads. The singer’s excellent three-piece backing band knew exactly when to lay back to let the songs breathe and expertly underlined Weber’s vocals, which boasted some distinct gospel accents and owed plenty to early Michael Jackson in ballad mode. Little wonder the singer delivered a supple cover of Jackson’s “Human Nature.” (Greg Kot)
Pics or it didn’t happen: Did you really go to Lolla if you don’t post a picture on Instagram? As hugged-up couples and glitter-clad girls posed in front of the Buckingham Fountain Lollapalooza sign, passersby yelled “Yas girl, get it!” The best part? The festival now has employees designated to help get your best angle. There’s no awkward waiting to step in for a picture, instead you just deal with the line then hand your phone to the staff who snaps the necessary photo. (Savannah Eadens)
Not the New Orleans you’d expect: Tank and the Bangas found their sound in New Orleans, but they weren’t much interested in dishing out second-line rhythms. Rather than pour on the dance grooves, the band invested in building long, stream-of-consciousness pieces that suggested short acts in a play. Spoken-word veteran and poet Tarriona “Tank” Ball served as the narrator, with lurching, spastic interjections by the horn section. One piece ebbed and flowed, with bell chimes and music-box interludes, and slowly climbed to a roaring guitar and sax-stoked crescendo. The would-be dancers had nothing to do but listen. (Greg Kot)
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The future looks bright: U.K. synth-pop outfit Pale Waves made its debut in all its goth-lite glory. Singer-guitarist Heather Baron-Gracie’s sugary-sad vocal, reminiscent of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan, glided across slick guitar hooks and glossy keys. Its brand of pop packed just enough of an edge to cut — just not deeply. But lyrically, songs of heartbreak and survival made “dancey” seemed to do well with the youth at the festival this year. With only one EP under the band’s belt, and an album due in September, the short but sweet set showed promise. (Jessi Roti)
You go, grrrl!: Los Angeles-via-London-based guitar duo, Bones (U.K.) brought dark and stormy riffs to the BMI stage, unleashing the real rock “n” roll fury kept bottled up nice and tight so far this weekend by the Guitar Rock Boys’ Club. A little bluesy and totally in-your-face, Rosie Bones and Carmen Vandenberg (accompanied by the one named “HEAVY” on drums) rallied against perfectionism — in music and in life. No frills, no gimmicks. Finally. (Jessi Roti)
Tropical invention: Bomba Estereo are seasoned festival performers (they have been semi-regulars at Lolla for nearly a decade), and yet the duo of Liliana Saumet and Simon Mejia still perform like they have something to prove. Despite the wilting mid-afternoon heat, Saumet sprinted from side to side on the big stage in a flowing yellow dress and flower crown straight out of the Colombian folk festivals she attended as a kid. Mejia led the band through a global musical journey, combining West African guitars with hip-hop; reggaeton with rock; and cumbia with pop hooks. The anthemic “Soy Yo” electrified the audience with its hypnotic flute riff, and the set ended with a long psychedelic flourish, a slow expansive piece that grew increasingly frantic and celebratory. (Greg Kot)
Staying cool @ Lolla: In 96-degree weather, Lollapalooza kiddos are finding unique ways to stay cool. Groups of festgoers hopped fences to gather underneath trees, and the fields in front of stages were a little more bare than usual as hundreds of people sought refuge in the shade. Packed crowds waited outside every hydration station (but there were still lines at beer tents, of course) and there were cooling fans spritzing water. During the midday sets, festgoers shared ice and cooling cloths as they danced. But we were most grossed out by the amount of teens casually sharing Camelbak mouthpieces, but it is important to stay hydrated. (Savannah Eadens)
Salad days: Singer Daniel Caesar garnered a huge crowd during his set, which felt less like a performance and more like a vibe. Caesar is an unimposing presence, letting the music speak for itself. And it was smoooooth, but it made you want to drop out and cruise. You closed your eyes and swayed your hips, choosing to pretend you weren’t at Lollapalooza, but alone in your bedroom. The drums didn’t snap enough, the guitar warbled and snaked, but wasn’t loud enough. It all needed to be turned to 11. The environment stole from its inherent moodiness — its corner-booth-in-a-smoky-lounge swagger and the absence of outdoor sounds competing with Caesar’s rich, bass vocal. He had one “moment” with “Get You.” It was a spark, but fleeting. Some artists just aren’t made for festivals –nsometimes that’s a blessing. (Jessi Roti)
Classic hip-hop: LL Cool J has that ’80s hip-hop vibe down cold: flipped-back baseball cap, gold chain, shades, basketball jersey. With his swagger intact, the veteran MC-turned-actor still has his chops in full effect. All he needed to keep the audience rapt was two turntables (with a DJ who actually scratched as opposed to clicking a laptop) and a microphone — old-school all the way. Plus a few break dancers — again a nod to the New York City hip-hop culture that shaped the rapper. LL’s hits have a timeless appeal, in the same way that ’60s classic rock continues to resonate with a previous generation. He ripped through “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” “Going Back to Cali,” “Rock the Bells” and other singles. And with his groundbreaking ’80s hit “I Need Love,” he sounded very much like an early influence on today’s new breed of R&B crooners. (Greg Kot)
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It’s the song everybody knows: There’s no more quintessential festival cliche than a big crowd singing along to a big hit, lighters optional. Lollapalooza’s history is dotted with such moments, most memorably 2006 when Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” was performed by no less than three artists during the festival. This year’s answer to that was the crowd anticipating Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” a 2012 hit that seems to have penetrated every pop lover’s DNA in the year’s since. When the song rolled out three-quarters through Jepsen’s set, the crowd exploded as the first note sounded and sang fervently with every word. Jepsen then continued her set, but the unison moment was gone, and the fans scattered. (Greg Kot)
Most generous headliner of the day: Rapper Logic had his entourage toss out free T-shirts into the crowd at the conclusion of his Saturday evening set on the Grant Park stage. The emcee took a shot of whiskey to celebrate the final stop of his “Bobby Tarantino vs. Everybody” tour before tossing the free swag into the crowd. It wasn’t the only act of generosity Logic displayed during his set — he called out two young fans throughout and thanked them for their dedication. One of the fans, a 13-year-old named Matthew, said he waited since 6 a.m. for the Lollapalooza gates to open to see his favorite artist. Seems like it was worth the wait. (Morgan Smith)
Annie Clark shreds: St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, brought a band this time, and ramped up the intensity over her last appearance in Chicago over the winter as a solo performer. The setting remained a kind of alien boutique, with her band and guitar tech dressed as showroom dummies, while Clark moved like an android mannequin. When she hunched over her guitar though, she unmoored the arrangements with swooping sustains and violent clusters of notes. The set built in intensity into the closing one-two-three punch of “Fear the Future,” the wrenching “Slow Disco” and the heart-breaking goodbye to her late friend, David Bowie, “New York.” (Greg Kot)
Hotel security: Several Michigan Avenue hotels had increased security measures for this year’s Lolla. The Blackstone, Best Western Grant Park, Hilton Chicago and the Congress Plaza all declined to comment specifically on the security uptick, but confirmed it has been increased due to the festival. There was a visible police presence, and checks of guest ID’s or room key cards. The Blackstone required wristbands for all guests. The Congress Hotel seemed to have the highest levels of security, where even before 5 p.m. on Saturday, two guards were stopping people from even entering the lobby without a room key. (Savannah Eadens)
Fire and ice: Dua Lipa is a born performer, you could tell from how she commanded the Lake Shore stage. She didn’t turn to costumes or pop-machine choreography, she alternated between wielding havoc with her mic stand and using the stage as her week’s worth of cardio. Only with lights, a lotta lights, she relied on her skills alone. While her smoky vocal was sometimes drowned out by thumping bass, she powered through. When the bass and breeze waned, she took advantage of her voice’s subtle power — a rich, pillowy-quality mix of sensuality and vulnerability. Sounds good in a pop song. (Jessi Roti)
“Weeknd-typo vs. Weekend of the Vampire variety”: I was saddled with the latter — evidence that vampire culture has gone soft (also thanks to the “Twilight” series). “This is our first time playing an American festival in about four years,” said Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig, before the band’s sound went out for about two minutes during “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”– after it had chosen to play breakthrough single “A-Punk” three times for a crowd that didn’t care either way. Sometimes I think Vampire Weekend is responsible for the negative connotation around “hipster.” The sound going out after nine minutes of “A-Punk” was karma. But the once preppy band of Columbia University kids — in polos and chinos — has mellowed out, musically and aesthetically. Its East Coast yacht-shtick is gone — wait, I lost my train of thought: Koenig and co. just samba-grooved into Chicago’s “Saturday” in honor of “Obama Day” in the city. What’s the Weeknd doing? “Sucks we have to play against The Weeknd,” Koenig whined, again interrupting my train of thought. “We’d go see that guy. You can’t have Weeknd vs. Weekend.” There we agree. I guess the band’s set of greatest hits is what’s preferred when playing truncated festival sets, and Vampire Weekend got away with it because it’s made up of technically sound players. But AS A HEADLINER? Weeknd or no Weeknd, no way. When St. Vincent, who has released new headline spot-worthy music and has a back-catalog deep enough to flesh out a killer closing set, has to play the same stage before them and was actually captivating? I’m not buying it. (Jessi Roti)
Creep-show headliner: The Weeknd has gone from a club act in a few short years to headlining one of the biggest festivals in America on a Saturday night. It’s been an unlikely rise for the Toronto singer, born Abel Tesfaye 28 years ago in Toronto. His subject matter borders on the macabre, as he distills toxic love affairs with horror-movie precision. Though recent tracks such as “Secrets” worked as superficially cheery festival hand-wavers, with a Tears for Fears sample adding to the sense of anthemic togetherness, the song is hardly joyous. And when Tesfaye dug into his earlier material, the mood darkened, especially with the growling undertow of “House of Balloons” and the eerie desires of “I Can’t Feel my Face.” “I can’t feel my face when I’m with you, but I love it,” the Weeknd sang as the fans danced. “I know this will be the death of me.” (Greg Kot)
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