Kanye touched the sky, alright. But I got to touch the Space Bubble.

I’m talking (bragging), of course, about the Flaming Lips’ show-starter. Frontman Wayne Coyne climbed into an inflated plastic bubble and proceeded to surf the crowd, which had surged to a good 40,000 strong or so around their stage (about 60,000 showed on Saturday overall … geesh). Thanks to the photo pass I charitably received from the Lolla press reps, I was down in at the front of the stage for the start of the Lips set. Itturned one to be one of the best r’n'r experiences of my life: Giant, bouncing blue balls went flying everywhere; confetti and streamers were blowing off left and right; and down in the middle of it all walked (rolled) Wayne. On his way back, he went right over me. Those Space Bubbles aren’t as light as they look. I did my part this weekend.

Oh yeah, the Lips sounded great, too. They opened with “Race for the Prize” and soon had 3/4th the crowd singing along to “Yoshimi” and the new “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.” I actually got to interview Wayne backstage before their show, for a feature to run the week they play the MN State Fair (Aug. 24). He knew all about the fair gig and was excited about it. He said something along the lines of, “We’re the type of band that loves the idea of playing to a bunch of Toby Keith fans, or anybody new.” Suffice it to say that’s a show not to be missed.

I wish I could say Kanye West was as exciting as the Lips, but my high hopes were relatively let down. The most exciting thing about the 80-minute set was the sweet fact that the K-man was in his home town playing to a crowd that, no kidding, stretched about a quarter mile back from the stage. No matter how hard Lolla promoters tried to sell Manu Chao as amarquee name (he was on the other big stage at the time), nobody bit.

“Feels good to be home,” Kanye yelled at the start and end of the set (the latter was in the show-closer, “Touch the Sky”). He also kept saying things like, “You see mom, I told you I could be an actor.” Unfortunately, he also had to yell at his crew and the Lolla staff, because the show was plagued by sound problems. The first two songs, “Diamonds of Sierra Leone” and “Heard ‘Em Say” were barely audible. The crowd kept chanting, “Turn it up.” They never totally got it fixed, and microphones kept going in and out. At one point, Kanye roared, “I do shows all over the world and come back to my city, and now ya’ll are gonna (mess) up the sound. There’s gonna be some changes after this.”

Whether or not that threw him off, the set was poorly paced and lagged in parts. Kanye let just about every rapper he knows in in Chi-town get some spotlight time, including Common (great!), Twista (pretty cool), a skateboard-riding Lupe Fiasco (hmmm) and GLC (yawn). The best parts were when it was just the man, his amazing DJ, 8-Track, and his stirring string section. Highlights included Crack Music,” “We Major” and, of course, “Jesus Walks.” He also let the strings and backup singers do half of Gnarls’ “Crazy,” making that the third time the song was sung at the fest (see previous post). Is it officially the song of the summer yet?

Other bits from the day:

*Playinga small stage across the field from the biggest stage, the New Pornographers benefited from thecrowd’s giant pilgramage to Kanye’s set. Frontman A.C. Newman even made up a “throw-your-hands-in-the-air” type chant: “All the people flooding in to see Kanye say yeah!” By their final song, “Sing Me Spanish Techno,” I think the Pornos managed to dig up at least 10,000 new fans.

*What’s with Sonic Youth and festivals? Every time I see the art-rock godsat a big outdoor shinding like this, they seem to intentionally play their most grating, least accessible songs. A lot of their setSaturday came from their new CD, “Rather Ripped,” which I think is rather overrated. Here’s hoping they take a different approach when they open for the Lips at the fair, because they had enough trouble keeping their own fans interested. Imagine what thoseToby Keith fans will think.

*Worst band of the day: The Dresden Dolls, a piano-led boy/girl metal duothatdresses up like mimes. Too bad they don’t keep their mouths shut, too. It was like Tori Amos meets Marilyn Manson.

*Kanye’s sound issues were the least of Lolla organizers’ problems on Saturday. Faced with a much bigger crowd, the problems of the festival site became obvious. Traffic flow was terrible thanks to several bottle-necks in the park, and there clearly aren’t enough food or drink stands. Waits were often well over a half-hour for a bite. Definitely the worst-planned of any of the big fests I’ve been to, except Woodstock ‘99. There’s still one day to go, though, so maybe the kids will riot and burn everything again. Tonight’s headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers were also the last band to play Woodstock, it might be worth pointing out.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 5th, 2006 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Lollapalooza, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.