BITE ME! Lollapalooza 2003 Live Review

Lollapalooza 2003

So here we are at Lollapalooza 2003, and it is as hot as all hell out here. Seriously, I can see steam come off the asphalt. We can blame the gridlock on the 405 for missing Rooney and the Kings Of Leon. We hear The Donnas taking it off as we are frisked by security with serious rent-a-cop issues. No blankets, not even for the poor sods who had lawn seats, and no cameras etc. Please, can someone tell me where in the spirit of Lollapalooza (i.e. freedom, challenging authority, new experiences, etc.) does it say we cannot take some lil’ snapshots to mark the occasion. Unless you have a mega zoom camera all the pictures of the bands on stage are gonna be crap anyway. Luckily, I managed to get my trusty tiny cyber shot in anyway, so screw the security!

Anyway, whilst downing a couple of cool beers we are accosted by breasts covered in stars and airbrushed moons, so its from one bunch of tits to another as 30 Seconds to Mars bounds onstage with a boom of bottom heavy bombast. Watching this band onstage is really like watching The Jared Leto Hair Show, as it seems to dominate the proceedings as it performs its own dance onstage. Meanwhile, the noise coming offstage is a wannabe Tool mix of Sci Fi riffage and rumbling bass.

We drink more (8 Bucks a beer!) then decide to stay to check out The Music, which are my surprise band of the day. They are so young, and the singer has some serious Perryisms. They rule playing "The People" and the great song "Take the Long Road and Walk it". The band has a great frontman in Robert Harvey, who is a kickass dancer to boot. I cannot believe so few people are here watching them. Are Jurassic 5 (who are on the main stage at the same time) really that popular? Or maybe Jared has taken half the crowd away in his spaceship?

After seeing The Music we decide to take our own long walk uphill in 3 digit temperatures to our designated seats, just in time to check out the new version of A Perfect Circle. We are high up in the sky, but I can still see from here that Twiggy (ex Manson) appears more than happy with his new environment as he bounces around in his black flares. Of course his name is Geordie White now, but he will always be Twiggy to me! The band’s stage set up is very weird. James Iha (ex Pumpkin) has his own podium, which he never moves from, and stranger still - Maynard Keenan (from his other gig Tool, how much talent can there be on one stage?) has his own wrestling ring at the back of the stage where he twists and cavorts around. I’m sure in a theater sized venue this would be cool, but when the band looks like dots way down there it just seems to alienate an audience member - - he's in his own world but I feel like I’m not invited.
They played the new single "Weak and Powerless" in addition to now classic sounding tracks off their debut album such as "3 Libras, " but the afternoon belonged to "Judith". Everyone in the arena seemed to love and get off on it as the band charged through a song that would be hard for them to ever improve on.

Then, as the sun started to descend we got another supergroup of sorts as Audioslave joined the party. I like this band a lot. I’ve seen them a couple of times now, and I think Chris Cornell has rarely sounded better. There seems to be lots of mirrors onstage including one in front of the drummer (Brad Wilk) as he sits with his back to the crowd. It gave the impression that he was surrounded by fans. The band played for about an hour. Most of the songs were off their album, but they also did an amazing version of The White Stripes recent smash "Seven Nation Army," which had the whole place clapping along, in addition to their storming new single "Show Me How to Live". Then, Chris takes to the stage alone with an acoustic guitar and strums through Elvis Costello’s "Peace Love and Understanding". The band closes their set with "Cochise," which threatens to detonate the whole place. No one else sings like Mr. Cornell and that's why we all love him.

After a short interval we get the main attraction, but not before Carmen Electra introduces the Lolla girls onstage, who are accompanied by some mega cheesy Austin Powers style music. They throw themselves around for a few minutes, while three guys that won some computer game stuff are greeted by near silence as they just stand there looking dorky (undoubtedly surprised that there is a real world after all!) At long last Jane’s Addiction hit the stage, complete with Dave Navarro in a furry red dressing gown thing and Mr. Perry Farrell decked in skin-tight black vinyl. The band sounds tight as they stick to the classics -- only deviating to the new stuff about two times with "Just Because" and the title track to their latest release, "Strays".

The guys look like they are having fun, especially Perry who is throwing himself around the stage like a thing possessed. I swear he is going to rupture something! But it all became a bit like the Perry and Dave show as they introduce songs to us. Perry: "Hey Dave it’s great to be home. Back near the ocean….” Dave: "Sure is Perry. Let’s sing a song about it." (Intro to "Ocean Size") Or, how about Dave - "Hey Perry it’s nice to be surrounded by the mountains again." Perry: "Sure is. Hey let’s sing a song about it." (prior to "Mountain Song") You get the idea.

"Been Caught Stealing" was disposed of early on in the set and, to be frank, it sounded like a mess. “Three Days” sounds AWESOME. Then, after the maybe a bit predictable "Jane Says," with the Incubus drummer on erm…drums, they are gone. The lights in the venue turn on within a minute of the band leaving the stage after just 60 minutes. No encore. Please leave now. “Wow! Weird. Oh well.”

So in a nutshell, it was a day of fun but I kind of left feeling that it could have been more. This was, after all, the legendary Lollapalooza that I had been reading about in England for years now. Perry's traveling carnival of oddities and entertainers, but to these eyes and ears it kinda just felt like any other outdoor show—a good show—but just a bit too normal. -Glen