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Despite a spottier lineup, Chicago's expanded
Lollapalooza still rules as the premier music fest
(Day 1)
(Day 2) Review and Photos
(Day 3) Review and Photos

Lollapalooza 2010
Grant Park
Chicago, IL
Aug. 6 - 8, 2010

The Walkmen (PB)

Lady Gaga (AA)

Devo (PB)

Story by Tony Bonyata
Photos by Andy Argyrakis, Rob Grabowski & Phil Bonyata

Last weekend marked Lollapalooza's sixth year at Chicago's Grant Park and despite an industry-wide slump in concert ticket sales this year, the fest has not only expanded in size, but continued to pack in a record 240,000 music fans over the three days. This 800-lb. gorilla of a music fest was given an even bigger cage to romp in this year as city officials and promoters opened up Congress Street for the fest (increasing the total lakefront acreage by 30%), making the lengthy stretch from the north to south ends of the park (where the two main stages were located) much easier to navigate and helped to lessen the human bottlenecking around Buckingham Fountain in the center of the park. The many additional porta-potties situated at both ends of Congress also made things more convenient and comfortable for all.

Even though her electro-dance-pop style of music didn't fit conveniently into the fest's indie and alternative rock aesthetics, Lady Gaga was, without question, the most anticipated act to see, as tens of thousands of fans and curiosity seekers crowded the south end of the park last Friday. And while the pop princess may have entertained many of her hardcore fans in attendance, her show was, in fact, a watered-down, even comical aping of Madonna... or, perhaps more accurately, a very good impression of a very bad Janet Jackson music video.

Along with her outrageous costumes (something that has landed her in the tabloids more than her mediocre pop music), elaborate multi-tiered staging and gaggle of dancers, Gaga offered up hits from her two platinum-selling albums The Fame and The Fame Monster, such as "Just Dance," "Telephone," "Paparazzi," "Bad Romance" and "Poker Face," albeit all heavy-handed and too showy. Surprisingly the timing and pace of this glitzy production was brought to a screeching halt a number of times throughout her set, as the pop singer ambled on end in-between numbers about her hard-knocks in the music biz. Lady Gaga is at the height of her career at the moment, but with more overblown, self-indulgent and (who'da thunk?) meandering shows like this ahead of her, it may not be long before her veneer starts to wear thin for even her most fervent fans.

Earlier in the day, the Cincinnati-based rock band Foxy Shazam also turned in an over-the-top performance that, not unlike Gaga's set, was more style over substance as the outrageously clad band turned in a flashy, but ultimately disposible performance of ham-fisted, operatic Gary Glitter-meets-Rocky Horror Picture Show glam-rock that surely had the late, great Freddie Mercury tossing in his grave.

Thankfully other acts throughout the day more than picked up the slack, with an inspired fest opening performance from indie-roots rockers These United States. Led by the group's amicable and enigmatic frontman Jesse Elliot, the quintet tore through a number of songs from their newly released full-length What Lasts and ended the set with two rousing takes of "Honor Amongst Thieves" from their Crimes album and "I Want You To Keep Everything" from last year's Everything Touches Everything. The Akron dynamic duo of The Black Keys (featuring Dan Auerbach on vocals and guitar, and Patrick Carney on drums) likewise kept things on track with a fiery set of scuzzed-up, primordial blues, before broadening their sound later in the set with an accompanying bass and keyboard player.

Raphael Saadiq (from the R&B group Tony! Toni! Tone!) and his stage-sprawling ten-piece band - all clad in similar dark suits - injected a welcome shot of steamy soul and R&B into the middle of this ideal summer day. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises from Day One, however, was the rewarding performance from the new wave band Devo, as they delivered an energetic and quirky set of nostalgic favorites from their 32 year recording career, including "Whip It," "Freedom of Choice," "Girl U Want," "Jocko Homo," as well as newer material from their recent full-length album Something For Everybody which worked perfectly next to their older material. And even though they chose not to include their own angular, post-punk version of The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," it didn't seem to matter as all in attendance got more than expected from this great performance.

While the talent pool this year may not have equaled previous year's, with the additional acts performing throughout the weekend such as Arcade Fire, Spoon, the reunited grunge rockers Soundgarden, MGMT, The National, neo-soul queen Erykah Badu and a wealth of up-and-coming indie acts (not to mention the vastly improved park expansion) Lollapalooza is still the undisputed champ of music festivals.