There were some big events in Chicago last weekend. The blogosphere is abuzz with reports from the Daily Kos convention but I spent the weekend at Lollapalooza. Since this is primarily a political blog I’m going to give a primarily political review of the festival.
For those who are unfamiliar, Lollapalooza was a touring festival in the 90’s that featured some of the biggest acts and up-and-coming names in the alternative and grunge music scene. It was effectively over when they booked Metallica as the headline act one year. I heard the promoters try to pass it off by saying that even though Metallica was well known that the group wasn’t known to the Lollapalooza crowd. I laughed at that like everyone else. The Lolla crowd already knew very well who Metallica was and just didn’t like them so much.
In 2005 Lollapalooza was reborn as a weekend festival in Chicago and returned to the successful formula of featuring popular groups from the alternative and underground music scenes plus newer bands most people haven’t heard of yet because commercial radio mostly plays crap.
Political statements by musicians died down after the ’04 election but politics was frequently present at Lollapalooza. On Friday night of the festival I saw Ben Harper who infuses political messages into much of his music. He sets himself apart from most other modern groups with a political bent with his positive messages of hope. A Better Way and My Own Two Hands were two of his best songs in the set and they typify his empowering lyrics. Later in the set he brought Eddie Vedder on stage to cover Dylan’s Masters of War.
In contrast to Harper is the angrier and sometimes sarcastic style of Iggy and the Stooges with songs like the anti-war statement "My Idea of Fun." He brought a lot of excitement though and I had the most fun watching the Stooges of any group at the festival.
Someone should tell Iggy that if you’re going to invite a big crowd of fans onto stage that you should do it at the END of your set because it’s a pain to get them back into the crowd. It was kind of funny to see him get everyone worked up with his high-energy performance and then start telling people to settle down and get off the stage so he could play another song.
Tied with Iggy for my favorite show to watch was Femi Kuti. I kept telling friends to go see him because almost no one has heard of him. His dad, Fela Kuti, basically created his own new style of music by mixing Afrobeat rythms with jazz and funk. I don’t understand most of what he says but his songs are charged with social and political commentary just like his father’s. The music is like nothing else you’ll hear and the dancers were amazing. I’ll post a picture if I can figure out how to get it off my cell phone.
I saw two excellent bands from Ohio: The Black Keys of Akron and The Heartless Bastards from Cincinnati. Both groups have a blues-influenced yet modern rock sound. Go see either band if you ever get the chance.
There were seven stages on the grounds in downtown Chicago with Buckingham Fountain in the middle of it all. The Black Angels from Austin Texas were the only band on one of the smallest stages that I watched for their complete performance. I went based on a friend’s recommendation which confirmed her great taste in music.
Pearl Jam lived up to their reputation both by putting on an amazing show and when Eddie Vedder made several political statements during the final encore. First he spoke about BP polluting Lake Michigan from their Indiana refinery and encouraged people not to buy BP gas until they cleaned up their act. There was a booth with people giving out information about that issue all weekend.
The really powerful part came when he invited a wounded Iraq War Veteran in a wheelchair onto stage who said that it was fine for bands to sing anti-war songs but it was really up to the people in the audience to go home and take action to stop the “criminal occupation” of Iraq. He directed people to the Iraq Veterans Against the War website. Then Ben Harper joined Pearl Jam to sing a new song for peace written by Vedder.
When Pearl Jam finished the festival was over and I left with thousands of people who packed into Chicago’s convenient and affordable public transportation system that I’m deeply envious of. It was an amazing weekend.
If any bands had conservative political views they kept it to themselves. Liberal viewpoints win cheers from young audiences while songs with similar messages are downplayed on commercial radio conglomerates like Clearchannel. This is one case where companies are attempting to change its market audience rather than respond to it.
I’ve had baby-boomers ask me why there aren’t more political and anti-war songs today like there was in the 60’s. The songs are being written and released but they don’t get radio airplay with the exception of a few widely popular established bands.
That’s another consequence of media deregulation that puts decisions about what we hear in the hands of only a few companies. Bill Clinton did a lot of good things in office but he made a huge mistake when he signed the media de-regulation bill that, among other things, centralized ownership and consequently gave us a forced-fed diet of American Idol while innovative music is obscured. When I hear young people say they don’t care about politics I sometimes bring up this issue to point out that even an every day thing like what music you hear on the radio is a political issue.