August 06, 2007

Amy Winehouse's Beehive Survives; Kings Of Leon, Lupe Fiasco Also Endure Heat On Lollapalooza's Last Day

By Chris Harris and Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)

CHICAGO - The final day of Lollapalooza dawned hot and steamy, with the overnight downpour turning the field into a muddy morass and the air into a thick stew of three-day-old festival funk. Of course that didn't stop anyone from standing in the sun for hours.

One of the most anticipated performances of Lollapalooza's climax on Sunday (August 5) was given by Amy Winehouse, the petite, rail-thin English soul, jazz and R&B singer whose latest album, Back to Black, has been one of this year's more surprising sleeper hits in the U.S. The crowd of thousands, including shirtless frat boys, drunken hipsters and lovely lasses baring their midriffs, built slowly in the minutes preceding Winehouse's set, which, as it was, began 15 minutes late.

For a supposedly "green" festival, it was amusing to think how many cans of Aquanet it must've taken to keep Winehouse's beehive intact. And while he hair kept its form, so did she: Her voice was as smooth as a peach, even hypnotizing at times - eerily reminiscent of Lauryn Hill's luscious pipes. And her band, which helped bring the set to its peak during a cover of Otis Redding's "Don't Mess With Cupid," was as tight as Iggy Pop's skin and jeans - the ska-leaning horn section is perhaps one of the best to come along since Hepcat's.

But despite the robust set, Winehouse failed to get the audience groovin' - instead, it was yawning. It seemed as if most of the crowdgoers were just waiting to hear "Rehab," Black's breakout hit - and Winehouse made them wait 50 minutes for it. When the song's first notes did boom from the Bud Light Stage's amps, the crowd responded with a feeble "Woo," and then didn't even assist Winehouse on the vocal front.

As Winehouse and her band - all dressed in white button-down shirts, and black ties and pants - tore through songs like "Just Friends" and "Tears Dry on Their Own," the listless mass rocked back and forth mindlessly, baking under the blistering sun. She returned the sentiment, not saying much more to the crowd beyond "Thank you" for the meager applause that seemed to follow every song she performed.

The reaction to the Kings of Leon was anything but ambivalent - after the Southern rockers unloaded an hour's worth of straight-ahead, ballsy rock and roll, one thing was certain: A lot of people are going to be waking up tomorrow with neck pain. The band of brothers - and one cousin - induced all-out headbanging as they ripped through the set's opener, "Black Thumbnail." Next came "Milk," which inspired wild pogo-ing across the crowd, with heads popping up above the clutter like whales surfacing for air. Hippie chicks danced wildly in circles, eyes closed, as if they were the last people on earth, oblivious to the smirking spectators gathered around them.

Nathan Followill's giddy-up drum punches punctuated the riff-heavy "Knocked Up," but it wasn't until the Kings whipped out "On Call" that the crowd really got into it: At one point, the audience's collective pipes drowned out frontman Caleb Followill's strained, impassioned vocals, forcing him to sing a little louder to make up for the difference.

Also getting a lot of the love from the crowd were Modest Mouse, who reminded other bands why it's a good idea to break out hits early: The band drew in the fans right away and held them there until the end of their performance. The Mouse began their electrifying set with "Bury Me With It" and followed it up with the foot-stomping "Dashboard," a tune everyone in the audience seemed to know by heart. Fans clapped their way through "Fire It Up" and "Bukowski," at which point the band dropped another hit, "Float On." No one within earshot was idle - definitely not the band, which bounced in place in tandem with the song's chunky bass line and popping drumbeat.

David Vandervelde also turned in a hot afternoon performance - just watching the flannel-garbed man was enough to make anyone feel toastier. The Chicago piano-driven indie rocker - whose mellowed band at times sounded like the Black Crowes, only less Southern - specializes in catchy, head-boppin' numbers like "Murder in Michigan," which had the crowd swaying from side to side, and "Triple Up," a song he prefaced with a story about R. Kelly.

"We went into Wal-Mart, and I accidentally bought the edited version [of Kelly's Double Up]," Vandervelde said. "I threw it away, 'cause every word, you couldn't hear."

Meanwhile, Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela dazzled the crowd with a medley that included Latin-flavored renditions of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." At one point, rhythm guitarist Gabriela Quintero urged the crowd to "dance naked." Alas, no one took seriously her call to bare more than their arms.

The hotly rumored guest appearance by Jack Black during the School of Rock All-Stars' set over at the Kidz stage didn't end up coming to fruition, but Lolla mastermind Perry Farrell and former Porno for Pyros guitarist Peter DiStefano did join the band for a moving cover of Jane's Addiction's "Summertime Rolls" - a song Farrell admitted his new band, Satellite Party, haven't even been able to master for live gigs.

Though most of the thousands crowded around the AT&T stage Sunday afternoon were camping out for a good spot for Pearl Jam, hometown MC Lupe Fiasco worked it to his advantage. Hyping the crowd with repeated shouts of "Can you dig it?," the skateboard kid sprinted onstage, his Levi's hanging so low that they threatened to end up around his ankles, and laid out his verses from pal Kanye West's "Touch the Sky."

Next up was "Happy Industries," which loops the Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc." Lupe was feeling the rock vibe, running from one side of the stage to the other to show off his air-guitar skills.

Though king of Chicago Kanye was a no-show, laying to rest several rumors of possible guest spots with Daft Punk and Rhymefest, Lupe more than held his own on the Thom Yorke-sampling mixtape tune "Us Placers," a song that was a perfect example of why the rock-loving kids were so into the set.

He kept them hyped through his big hit, "Kick, Push," and into the President Bush-baiting "American Terrorist," which he spit with furious conviction as a backing singer crooned the refrain over and over.

None of the early performers seemed to let the muggy weather get them down, whether it was Academy Award-nominated actress-turned-Iggy Stooge cover girl Juliette Lewis - who led her Licks through a glam-gutter-punk set of screamers while wearing weather-inappropriate skintight vinyl pants - or brotherly English trio the Cribs, whose singer/guitarist Ryan Jarman braved the direct sunlight in jeans and a black leather jacket, as his group powered through Brit pop-punk ditties like the crowd-baiting "Our Bovine Public."

In fact, there were several ways to cool down: find shade under a tree, stand around Buckingham Fountain and hope some of the spray comes your way, or do what Peter Bjorn and John's Peter Morén did. Halfway through the band's third song, "The Chills," a generator blew, leaving the amps dead and the boys to entertain the crowd in other ways. Morén, who spotted several fans in the front waving copies of his band's CD in one hand and black Sharpees in the other, decided to get up close and personal with the crowd. He walked to the rim of the stage and attempted to jump onto a platform about 4 feet from the ground. He missed, instead falling feet-first into a large garbage can brimming with ice-cold water

Morén and the garbage can swiftly fell forward into the photo pit, but luckily, the singer caught himself before smacking his head on the black metal barrier separating the fans from the rock stars. As both fell, a wave of ice spilled out onto the ground, and Morén jumped up fast (that water must have been pretty damn cold), his pants and shoes soaking. He then made his way down the line, autographing the discs and posing for pictures with the eager mob. Close to 20 minutes later, a black plume of smoke rose from a backup generator and the show was back on. "Thanks for waiting," Morén said sheepishly as the band shifted into "Amsterdam" and the infectious "Young Folks."