LIVE REVIEW: INNERVIEW DOES LOLLAPALOOZA, SUNDAY 7/31
Despite the early hour and a clearly sluggish audience, Smino woke everyone from their stupor with a full band and backup dancers that helped him deliver a surprisingly high-octane set from start to finish. Sir the Baptist was the talk of the day as he turned heads by staging his own funeral with a church pew and a casket, at one point provocatively asking the crowd, “Would you care if it was me?” Lapsley was in a melancholy mood while D.R.A.M. was clearly here to party thanks to a set defined by nothing but ragers. At one point, FIDLAR referred to themselves as “four idiots with three chords a bunch of weed,” a description that seemed pretty apt thanks to a set packed with more drug references than a late-night screening of Ted 2. Local Natives delighted the crowd with a gentle set of bucolic art rock jams while HAIM looked every bit the part of festival headliners with their made-for-Gap-commercials look and sunny summery sound. Bloc Party uncorked a blistering version of their 2005 party anthem “Banquet” but, much like their career, it was all downhill from there as the rest of the set, while decent, was no match for the intensity of the band’s Silent Alarm thrillers. LCD Soundsystem capped the night with a set that, while basically a carbon copy of the sets they played at Metro the two nights before, nevertheless gave the crowd everything they could ask for following a long five-year wait since the band “retired” including the sardonic “Losing My Edge”, the raging “Tribulations”, a stirring rendition of “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”, and festival closer “All My Friends” that had everyone sweating and screaming “Where are your friends tonight?” before walking out of Grant Park all smiles arm in arm. BY JOHN KURNAT–PHOTO BY CHARLES REAGAN HACKLEMAN
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