Lollapalooza...in conclusion

So now that we've recovered from Lollapalooza, here are some afterthoughts and post-concert reviews. I know it's a week later but hey, this girl's been busy, and it's better late than never, right?

Pearl Jam
I've never really listened to PJ all that much. I know their hits from my high school days, but powerhouse vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden was more my cup o' tea. Now it seems that Eddie uses his vocals to bring attention to world problems, which not all corporate sponsors are pleased with. During "Daughter," the band slid into a cover of "Another Brick in the Wall," where Eddie changed up the lyrics to "George Bush leave this world alone / George Bush find yourself another home." But curiously this section was missing from the AT&T webcast. AT&T has said that the censorship was done in error, and they are currently working to rebroadcast the performance yadda, yadda yadda, which actually means some poor editing schlub got fired because he did what he was told at the time, but when the backlash rolled in, he became the scapegoat. Lucky for you fine readers, I was there to capture the whole thing live! Click here for the complete unedited version. Oh and who knew Dennis Rodman would show up?

Daft Punk
Amazing set (for what we saw). Although I was okay with leaving early that night because it had been a full day, now I'm completely kicking myself for not staying longer. Obviously some were anticipating this act more than others. Check out this guy--100% commitment, people. For those of you not familiar with this getup, check out Daft Punk's video for "One More Time".

Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
I only caught a couple of songs, due to having to hike about a mile to get from one end of the park to the other. Karen O was...interesting. Clad in a black leotard, crisscrossed pattern pantyhose, mid-arm-length latex gloves, and white sneakers, she was a sight to see. She also seemed to be channeling a bit of Marilyn Manson, sporting a bright blue forehead, which you could see when she wasn't singing under her sparkly Micheal Jackson-esque towel. I was so entertained by her outfit and onstage antics and flirting with the crowd that I really didn't listen to their songs until after getting home and reviewing the clips. Not sure if that makes them good, bad, or indifferent.

!!! (chk, chk, chk)
Oh where do I even begin with this fucking band? After seeing a rousing clip of their act at Coachella on YouTube, I was really pumped to see this group. They seemed like a fun, dorked-out dancing, super group (there's seriously like 10 people on stage), and I was more than willing to completely bust a move along with them when they came on. What I was not expecting was the singer's dorky dance moves to be paired with lyrics / spoken word / pseudo rap crap such as "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK", and "SUCK MY DICK" (or perhaps "cock"--I've tried to block it from memory) delivered as though he were some street-hardened thug. Dude, you failed, Failed, FAILED to pull this off. By the fourth song, I was making my way out of the crowd, shaking my head in disappointment. I probably could have written this off as a bad act and forgotten about it fairly quickly, but the fact that I had left Iggy and The Stooges right as the onstage riot was beginning just so I wouldn't miss any of !!! is like salt in an open wound. Especially since Gabriel had also given them a poor review prior to this. (maise says: I HATE it when he's right!)


Juliette & The Licks
These guys were awesome and so much fun! After their set, we got a bite to eat and casually made our way down to see who was on the list to sign autographs that day. Lo and behold, their names were taped to the schedule. Apparently they weren't initially scheduled, but Juliette had decided that since it was such a good set that they wanted to stick around to sign some autographs too. I had to have a CD to get in line, so I ran in the music store tent: sold out. The shady-looking guy selling them outside the tent: sold out. The people already standing in line: not willing to sell. But fortunately another case was found, and hubby snagged one for me. Up close, Juliette is just a tiny little thing but still full of so much energy. She'd let people come around behind their table to take silly pictures with her and the band and would really ham it up for the camera. Here's the face I got for my picture with her.

Of course I cut myself out because if the saying goes "the camera adds 5lbs," then it should be said that standing next to Juliette Lewis adds 20lbs. And then of course, my signed CD. HELLZ YEAH!




Other tidbits:
*LCD Soundsystem = perfection. Fabulous performance, even though the drummer was under the weather, and it seemed uncertain in a couple of songs as to whether he was going to make it.

*Interpol's bassist can keep the ash on his cigarette from the start of a song to the finish while still playing and moving around. Impressive. While admiring this with Ro's friend, I was hit on by a guy who had clearly stolen his look from Seth Green in "Can't Hardly Wait". I'm talking right down to the goggles.

*As we were walking to the Bud Light stage, Rodrigo y Gabriela played out a few minutes of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" on their acoustic guitars, which gave me chills. Described as a "Mexican-born, Ireland-based, heavy-metal-obsessed instrumental acoustic guitar duo," even if they don't sound like your kind of thing, they still are worth a listen because they're that good.

*Angelman will also be happy to know that I purchased some hippie-dippie Vegan sandals due to poor judgment that morning in festival-going footwear. They were more than I would ever normally pay for sandals, but then again I don't think my tire-tread sole will wear out anytime soon.

You can check out some of our other pictures here or click the link on the sidebar. They're organized by day 1, 2, & 3 for easier perusing. There are loads of them! I think they turned out pretty good considering this was about our average distance from the stages.

Exclusive Concert Review #1: Skillet/Flyleaf, 6/25 [snicker, snicker]

Okay, now far be it from me to have a laugh at the expense of my venerable spouse, Mr. Maise, but...BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Over the past few months, he has become an avid fan of Flyleaf, a quasi-gothy, quasi-metal band that is, I have to admit, more melodic than most metal bands he enjoys and rather angsty lyrically. The husband was particularly taken with lead singer Lacey Mosley's high, breathy and occasionally shouty vocal stylings. One evening when he had gotten a wee bit buzzed at Hala Kahiki, our local Polynesian dive bar, he waxed philosophic: "Her voice is like a siren. I would crash my boat into the rocks for it." Um, yeah. Whatever. I, on the other hand, feel that her voice careens on the edge of annoying, but I will admit that she is talented, and I really do appreciate Flyleaf's attempts to write metal songs with catchy hooks, that you might find yourself singing along with despite the fact that it's completely out of your vocal range. Besides, the man has gone halfway around the world to indulge my Nine Inch Nails obsession, so who am I to judge? When I learned that Flyleaf was coming to town, I readily agreed to accompany him. Fortunately our Ro came along as well.

The Flyleaf concert at the House of Blues was originally postponed due to the fact that Ms. Mosley had seriously strained her voice. Which I certainly don't doubt. It hurts my throat to just listen to her! But fortunately, the show was rescheduled and happened to coincide happily with one of Mr. Maise's irregular days off.

We missed the first opening act and had a nice dinner at the House of Blues restaurant. (Note to HOB concertgoers: if you buy an entree from their restaurant, you can get line-jumping privileges. Not that they were needed in this case. The show was well attended but not sold out.) So when we took our place in the upper balcony, Skillet was taking the stage. I don't have a ton to say about them. They're from Kenosha, Wisconsin; they're all relatively good-looking; they have a formidable-looking female drummer; they're REALLY LOUD; and while they aren't terribly offensive musically, it's obvious that Nickelback is a major influence for them. Meh. The husband bought their album because it was $10 and because he is amused by the name Skillet, as it reminds him of the chinchilla-esque character of the same name on "12 oz. Mouse." Interestingly enough, both Skillet and Flyleaf dedicated a portion of their setlist to telling us some pitiful tale of a "girl they know." In Skillet's case, she was a depressed cutter, so they dedicated a song to her and reminded us all that God loves her. Which is quite nice of them.

When Skillet departed, Flyleaf followed about half an hour later, as is customary. Lacey Mosley is a lot shorter than any of us were expecting. The band is quite energetic on stage, jumping off of amps, jumping up and down, etc. They played faithful renditions of the album tracks that, thanks to the spouse, I now know up and down. Lacey spends much of the concert with her arms stretched skyward or on her knees, which made me start to wonder...but more on that in a moment. Their tale of woe involved a young woman who had once been beautiful but was covered in burns and was a victim of domestic violence. Apparently in her despair this young woman set herself on fire but found faith in God because when the pain started to be too much, she went into a coma. Jesus, what a downer of a story! Anyway, a song was dedicated to that girl as well.

So around this time, and the fact that the snippets of lyrics I could discern could totally be about a person's relationship with God as opposed to another person, I leaned over to Ro and asked, "Um, is it just me or are these guys a Christian rock band?" After all, one of their songs, "Cassie" very obviously refers to the disputed story of Cassie Bernall, one of the Columbine victims, who was allegedly killed after replying "Yes" to the question, "Do you believe in God?" (The official investigation concluded that this exchange did not occur.) So, although the VERY IDEA of my completely areligious husband taking me to a Christian rock concert is HILARIOUS to me, I wasn't going to give him any shit about it or comment, but he did ask why Ro and I burst out laughing when Lacey dedicated the last song to Jesus Christ. He looked a little sheepish and said, "Her voice just draws me in," and of course, I totally respect that. [tee hee!]

Not that I have any problem with someone believing in God or expressing their faith. I mean, I am a card-carrying Episcopalian after all. But again, it's the juxtaposition of us being brought to this rather Jesus-y rock concert by a man who normally fervently eschews all of that (a big Marilyn Manson fan back in the day, no less!), that Ro and I found humorous.

Besides, Christian rock and this kind of Creed-influenced quasi-Christian rock is just...dorky. I don't know why that is. Elvis can sing gospel, and it's awesome. U2 can get away with being even more overtly Christian than Flyleaf, and it still rocks. What is it about Christian rock as a genre? Seriously...help me out here. (Oh, and both Flyleaf and Skillet are marketed as both mainstream and Christian artists, btw.) Although I'm sure that both bands are expressing themselves artistically in an authentic, heartfelt Nickleback-y way, Christian rock always leaves one with a sense of being conned...of being proselytized to in a way that they think you will find "cool." Being a veteran of Roman Catholic youth groups, I have been subjected to quite a bit of that "rad" message delivery. Also, Christian rock sets itself up as an alternative to mainstream GODLESS DEVIL MUSIC, in a way that U2 never did.

This HILAROUS and ABSURD snippet really says it all. From "Skillet's Answer to Marilyn Manson":

Marilyn Manson stood on stage, screaming something about Jesus. And it wasn't very nice. To Skillet's John Cooper, who was in the audience, it was downright offensive. "Man, you're just rippin' us off!" John said out loud at the Manson concert.

Since Skillet's music is often compared to Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, John, Skillet's lead singer, decided to learn more about these groups. He found that the hype about Manson's message wasn't exaggerated; it was very anti-Christ.
As he watched the audience cheer at Manson's rants, he saw just how powerfully music can impact students—for good or for bad. John knew his band could have that kind of impact too, but with a message of hope.

His experience at that concert led to the song "Rippin' Me Off" on Skillet's recent album, Alien Youth.

I mean...Marilyn Manson????? They're STILL using Marilyn Manson as their boogeyman? PLEASE. He is beyond irrelevant and is more concerned about his girl problems and horror movies that go nowhere these days than with being the Antichrist Superstar. I mean, he's pushing 40! Marilyn Manson???!!!! Plus, it should be pointed out that Skillet sounds nothing like either Manson or NIN. Nothing.

The inability of Christian rockers and their fans to differentiate between a criticism of ORGANIZED RELIGION and God Him/Herself is just...a different topic for a different day. Mainly, Christian rock is dorked out because many Christians continue to believe that they and everything they stand for are constantly under siege and that they can't find messages of hope or love or peace in songs by NINE INCH NAILS (gasp!). There's nothing wrong with writing music with a positive message, but when you condemn angry music and dark music simply for being angry and dark, you're missing the point half the time.

I'm kind of digressing here. But I have to say, Flyleaf isn't particularly egregious in the preaching department. You can listen to their music for months and not realize that they're trying to be the next Creed, lyrically. As the husband apparently did. And as far as I'm concerned, they're a hell of a lot better than Creed. Not that that's saying all that much.

After the show, I asked the husband, "If you had a chance to HYPOTHETICALLY date Lacey, but you would have to regularly attend church, would you do it?" He looked a little torn. "What kind of church?" he asked. "Evangelical!" I gleefully answered. Now he looked really torn. "Well, is it a relationship as I would consider it to be a relationship?" "Yes, you would have sex with her," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Well, sure, I guess," he said.

Lacey and company? You've saved another soul.