Lou....What The Hell Was That?

Ok, Sunday was really a suckie day at Lollapalooza. It was hotter than hell and humid as a mutha! I have to say the weekend was really disappointing in that most of the talent never hit the mark. It all seemed so blase, so milk toasty, so "when is this thing going to go off"? Never, i was soon to realize Sunday as i walked away from the sounds of Jane's Addiction playing their hits one more time as if no one had ever heard them before. God it really sucks musically right now; doesn't it? I feel like this is as bad as when the punk movement was born out of a fat, lazy music business whose acts sh*t on their fans. Ok; maybe not that bad, but where is the stuff that makes your hair stand up? where is the next Clash, the next Jesus and Mary Chain, the next Strokes? Stuff that makes you get up and blast the songs as loud as you can. Nowhere i tell you....NOWHERE!! Well maybe somewhere, but we haven't found it yet. Until that day, we seem to retread everything and smile like happy idiots sucking it up. Two of the things i am most excited about is the Faith No More reunion and the Radiohead set; both at Reading this year as i will be. Great bands, but they are already on every one's radar. I remember the year The Strokes played Reading and their was such a mania in the UK and especially in London that summer for them. We were there in the early summer and everything was Strokes and Strokes related. They were the toast of the country. People were truly excited by them and their music. They were added to the Reading fest that summer late and on a side stage. There was so much furor over them playing a small, side stage that the promoters a few days before the fest; added them to the Friday main stage...how cool! We were sitting backstage and everyone looked like they were in The Strokes (when Londoners love something, they go 110% all out...sometimes cool and sometimes silly, but always entertaining), loads of suit jackets, skinny ties and cropped hairdo's. So none of this exists right now in the music scene and it is a bit perturbing, something has got to break out and amaze us soon!!

So uncle Lou....what can i say about a set so disjointed that even the hardest core fan had to be scratching there head. I have been lucky enough to see him in the past three decades and even once in New York City at the Beacon Theatre. All his shows are different and always new and challenging. He has such a huge catalog to pick from, he seems not to duplicate sets. So I take my wife who has never seen him and has been a fan since she first heard his music. I was very excited as the rest of the weekend had been a bit of a let down except for Arctics, Kings Of Leon and Glasvegas; so let's show these frat boys and wannabe fashionista girls how the lower east side on NYC does it. Snoop was on at the other main stage at the same time and i heard it was the biggest crowd of the weekend; WTF!! Reality show = NO credibility in my book, no matter how hard you were, what you produced entertainment wise or how many gold records your ass has. YOU F*CKIN' BLEW IT WHEN YOU DID THAT TV SHOW!! You ruled, but no more. Snoop is no more a "G" than my Mom is. I know i am going off on a tangent, but what does this say about the lemming mentality that pervaded this fest? You have guys leaving it all onstage and everyone wants to see Snoop shizzle the fizzle. Back to Lou, he was 15 minutes late and i don't think he quite understands that to do 144 bands in 3 days; you need a tight schedule or all goes to hell. I think he was the only late act all weekend; not 100% sure, but everything else seemed to run like clockwork. So Lou straps it on 15 minutes late and immediately launches into "Sweet Jane"....SWEET!! Next was "Dirty Boulevard"; nice one again Lou!! Now is when it all goes so terribly wrong; Lou seems mad or uninterested in the remaining set. He plays several very slow numbers and brings the great start to a screeching halt. A few more obscure songs and then we get to the noise part. I thought "Metal Machine Music" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Machine_Music) was way ahead of its time and i know Lou has done these intense "noise" sets in past decades; but this was just annoying noodling. This went on for the next 30 or 40 minutes, such a huge bummer. I don't want a greatest hits set, but come on throw us a few bones in this oppressive heat and humidity. He went over on his set and Band Of Horses had to start across the field, that was a weird situation. He ended with "Walk On The Wild Side"; could you be anymore predictable? I was a bit pissed, upset and mostly bored as I sweated backstage trying to figure out Lou's psyche for that set. Right now backstage is being over run by Hollywood wannabe creepoids, trying to get a touch or piece of Perry Or Dave....yuck....time to go swimming.