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The Black Keys

Aug 07, 2010 By Lindsey Anderson Photography by Matt Jones Lollapalooza 2010 Day One

The Midwest’s favorite fest, Lollapalooza, kicked off Friday in Chicago’s Grant Park and things really couldn’t have been better. Bright blue skies paired with an additional 35 acres of grounds, and show-goers found a little more walking room and an overall ‘larger’ feel to the 3-day music circus.

Early in the afternoon I made my way to see Los Amigos Invisibles, a disco-funk group from Venezuela (now set in New York.) Six strapping dudes took to the PlayStation stage’s jazzed crowd and churned out a solid salsa-influenced set. It seemed early in the day for the crowd to be grooving so hard, but the Latin Grammy winners knew how to keep everyone’s feet moving. And as a bonus, it was the only time in the day I saw a vuvuzela.

Across the lawn, Chicago-born gospel queen Mavis Staples took to the North side’s larger Budweiser stage and let her smokey pipes rip. Playing a chunk of tracks off her upcoming album, You Are Not Alone, Staples introduced producer Jeff Tweedy of Wilco to share the stage with her for the album’s title track. Tweedy went on to play another with Staples, but it was time to migrate.

One of the growing forces behind Lolla for the past few years has been Perry’s stage. The electronic and DJ-heavy stage has evolved from a tent and balloon infested fairy-tale-esque spot in a wooded area to a full-blown Dance Party, USA hot spot. Standing behind the tables was pint-sized Ana Sia, dropping mad dubstep hip-hop beats. Sia was the first of many dubsteppers set to grace the spot this weekend, with Caspa later laying down deep, dark dubstep wobble.

Before Caspa took to Perry’s, though, a moment with Devo seemed appropriate. With two decades spanning between their last full record release and 2010’s Something for Everybody, I couldn’t help but imagine washed-up popsters wearing sun-faded crumbling plastic hats struggling to get through 60 minutes. Pre-show, I almost felt nervous; was I only there for “Whip It”? Running onto stage in blue two-piece work suits and half-face plastic masks, the 1980’s icons mixed old and new, with singer Mark Mothersbaugh telling the crowd, “It’s 2010 and we’re here to fucking ‘Whip It’ again!” They still have it.

Running over to catch a few songs from The Black Keys, a random guy proclaimed sunglass-wearing vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach, “Plays the guitar. Plays the vocals. Plays the sunglasses. And he used to play the beard, but doesn’t anymore. He does it all.” Under a blistering blue sky that begged patrons to sip a cold one, The Black Keys kicked out more than an hour of crunchy blues rock-from Brothers’ “Next Girl” to “Lies” from 2006’s Attack & Release.

But it was time to put my dancing shoes to the test so I hiked back to the south side to watch Chromeo break down the crowd before Her Lollapaloozaness, Lady Gaga, rounded out night one. Dave 1 and P Thugg channeled Robert Palmer ala “Addicted to Love” with three backup singers mimicking the late Palmer’s infamous video. Chromeo puts on a tight, loud live show, but a handful of d-bags who liked to push people around practically ruined the set up front, forcing us in the middle out to the edges-where the dancing was much more friendly and less elbow-involved. Pulling from their entire catalog, 1 and Thugg cruised through, “Tenderoni,” “Needy Girl,” Bonafied Lovin,’” “Fancy Footwork,” and “Night by Night,” with new material cushioning older tracks.

But tonight, no matter how much you wanted or didn’t want to admit, was all about Lady Gaga. Rumors swirled before the fest that Lolla founder Perry Farrell forked out $150,000 for a custom-made set, and whether it was $150,000 or more, it was drop-dead fantastic. Between approximately 10 costume changes and just as many therapeutic speeches, Gaga stomped around with a slew of dancers and put on a production that could make Broadway blush. Robotic monsters! Scaffold jungle gyms! Cars that turned into pianos! Blood and Jesus Christ! Fire-spewing bras and panties… Her two hours were entirely energetic-exhausting almost-and full of hits. Between raunchy rants-addressing her “pretty tremendous dick” and throwbacks to her “train wreck” 2007 Lolla performance-Gaga reminded us of what a performer she really is; the sheer ability to hit the notes while dancing in staggering stilettos is beyond comprehension. Gaga is weird and good. And maybe that’s what she does best. Lady Gaga manages to capture a slice of everyone’s own diversity. I watched straight dudes bounce behind their giddy girlfriends, dads twirl LED lights that read “GAGA,” teens dressed like whores “Just Danc(ing),” and gays all colors of the rainbow holding their ground. It became apparent Her Lollaness was playing to a crowd who identified with her weirdness in some shape or form-even if it was subconsciously. So, yes, tonight was all about Gaga-and tonight was also all about us.