Lollapalooza 2009 - Lindsay's take, part 2

SATURDAY: day two, no rain, just hella hot with sunny skies. Cue the sun burn and salt sweat stains on the clothes.
Constantines – lots of alternate rock just the way I like it. Again thank you Paste for Islands in The Stream. I wished they had more songs to play a longer set, but what I heard was excellent.
Miike Snow – okay these guys at first freaked me out because they started out their set in scary blank white face masks. Mike Myers…is that you…aaaahhh! Their catchy electronic and random instruments (you name it, they played it) won me over, especially the single Animal which was featured on Gossip Girl (although these guys would never admit to that).
Ida Maria – billed to be the next Biork. I must say she had a strong voice but was more concerned with belting things out than staying on key. Plus she was way fucking weird. I mean would-have-taken-off-her-thrift-store-metallic-dress-and-jump-in-the-mosh-pit kind of strange.
Care Bears on Fire – okay another band I got a lot of shit for watching. Get this, they are an all-girl punk band composed of three tweens (ages 12-13)! One had a tutu and purple hair…how cute is that! Give them a few more years to build up their sound and I swear they are going to rock. Plus how often have you ever heard a more disturbing band name.
Chairlift – you likely don’t know this band but know their song. It was in an I-Pod nano commercial , and you know how damn infectious those are. Their indie groove reminds me a lot of Fiest (you know, the one in the other I-Pod commercial) except not nearly as good. Yeah ten minutes into a jam, it dawned on me that I hadn’t understood a single word she said. I bet it would be a lot better drunk. I headed out early to catch some other artist and they evidently played that one song last. Damn.
Gomez – this alternative rock band was a welcome relief (remember I had just come from Chairlift). Their sound reminds me of 90’s alternative rock with guitar jams that channel the 70’s (when it was all about the guitar). I soaked up the sweet sweet sound and wondered where my old doc martins were.
Arctic Monkeys – their huge hit Fluorescent Adolescent makes me want to take a road trip. It seems like the perfect song to cruise around with the window down. The rest of their music is actually a lot different but still really good. It is totally British and almost Ramones-esc. I found myself throwing my hands up and pumping my fist to the beat.

Santigold – Jensen, Dan M., and I pushed far into the crowd to get about two dozen rows back from the stage. Then we waited…for 30 minutes. Yeah, the time slot is only 1-hour long, so after a while we started to think she cancelled. People in the crowd started to amuse themselves by putting chicks on their shoulders and then boo

disappointedly when they didn’t flash. One skinny guy finally got on the big screen camera…and flashed. Ah ha ha. Anyway, finally she walked out with her entourage which included matching African themed uniforms for the band and a pair of back up dancers that were so serious they were robotic. Santigold came out in this crown thing that I was tempted to punch since we waited in a hot packed crowd for 30 minutes while she prepared (hello Barbara was never THAT bad). I must admit, she did sound fantastic and sang every hit that I knew. The backup dancers totally stole the show though. I would pay them for a day to just follow me around and break out in spontaneous synchronized dances.
Rise Against – I had to run waaaay across the festival to catch the opening song of one of my favorite Chicago hard rock bands. You could feel the energy and I can still hear their sound in my head. I could see the epic mosh pit on the big screen (hell no, I steered clear of that) and the audience jumped and shouted out as one during the chorus of The Good Left Undone. I still get goose bumps.
Animal Collective – transitioning from some kick ass rock into electronica, well they were bound to disappoint. This band had a lot of hype but frankly the crowd was not buying it. I went from an eleven to maybe a four. Actually I felt bad for these guys because the bands sandwiched around them (Rise Against and Tool) were so not their fan base.
Tool – I love me some Tool (okay hold on, that came out wrong). I admit I am more of a Perfect Circle fan, but hey, aren’t they essentially the same band. The music is powerful and haunting, and frankly it lingers in my head like some catchy Britney Spears song. I probably would have enjoyed the music more if big screen graphics weren't so damn scary and distracting. Seriously, at one point a fly crawled out of an eyeball iris and then a skeleton skinny old man stared to peel his skin off. They did play Schism which made me happy. Oh and they also played Flood which expresses his hatred for California (learn to swim). I have nothing against California; I just find the song funny.

Pics from Santigold (the back up dancers are actually on either side of her)