words by Zach Pollack, photos by Grant MacAllister

Sorry for the delay of our third and final installmet of Lollapalooza 2011 coverage, but here it is! Due to the major downpour on the Sunday of the fest, Grant's pictures were almost lost forever in a wet camera, but are now recovered. If you're just joining us, check out parts one and two first. Here is part three...

My third and final day of Lollapalooza (8/7) kicked off at Music Unlimited Stage with an opening set from Titus Andronicus. The Garden State punks began things by playing the opening track "A More Perfect Union" from their incredible 2010 LP The Monitor. Titus generally would make for a fantastic start to the day, but their sound was a bit off, and by the look on frontman Patrick Stickles's face, I think he agreed.

After Titus, I decided to calm things down and went to catch Lia Ices. This was my second time seeing the Brooklyn, NY-based songstress this year, but that did not make her less interesting. Lia's well trained voice fluttered effortlessly over the avant pop she produces. I must admit I was skeptical that she and her band would translate well to an outdoor setting. The four-piece shattered any and all of my doubts.

The next set I caught was Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s at the quite favored Google+ stage. The kitschy group are infectious and totally unavoidable. I stuck around for most of their set which included their handmade "Jr. Jr." light boxes on stage and, more importantly, bubble machines.

I then made my way over to watch The Cars, who again consist of their original lineup, except for Benjamin Orr who passed away in 2000. The Cars ran though many of their hits like "Just What I Needed," "My Best Friend's Girl," "Good Times Roll," and a few new ones too. I didn't initially plan on catching their set, am glad that I did.

I then headed to the Sony stage where Portugal. The Man were setting up. I had caught their aftershow with Wye Oak at the Double Door on the first night of Lolla, and they blew me away. I was psyched to hear so many cuts off of their 2009 LP The Satanic Satanist. I was NOT psyched to hear that their van and trailer (gear and all) had been stolen later on that night. The van and trailer have since been recovered... and so has most of the gear!

I left Portugal's set a bit early in order to make it to Best Coast at Google+. Frontwoman Bethany Cosentino entered the stage and jokingly stated, "Fuck you, we're Best Coast." Unfortunately halfway through their set storm clouds that were hanging over Chicago all day finally burst. It poured for a good hour, letting up just before Explosions In The Sky's set.

The Austin, TX-based post rock band entered the stage stating, "I think you just saw 'us,' but now we're going to play some music." I was glad to hear some of my favorite songs like "The Birth and Death of the Day," "Six Days At the Bottom of the Ocean," and "Your Hand In Mine." Their awesome set was more than enough to keep the muddy, sopping festival-goers around.

Everyone legitimately thought the rain had let up, so I headed across to Music Unlimited for Foo Fighters' headlining set. Their set included a handful of songs from the recently released Wasting Light LP and a bunch of older cuts too. A few songs in it started pouring again and I decided to leave the festival along with Grant whose camera had officially stopped working. Unfortunately that meant that I missed Perry Farrell (of Jane's Addiction and founder of Lollapalooza) joining the band on stage for a second during "Everlong," which included the Foos playing a piece of Jane's Addiction's "Mountain Song."

Day 1 pics are HERE and Day 2 pics are HERE. More pictures from Day 3, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Arctic Monkeys included, below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2011 -- Day 3 pics & review (EITS, TPOBPAH, Best Coast, The Cars, Portugal the Man, Arctic Monkeys & more)"

photos by Ryan Barkan

The Cars @ Roseland Ballroom

In case you missed it, we wrote our own little Lollapalooza preview for Lollapalooza.com, The Cars included. Bill wrote:

So many bands have cribbed from The Cars' new wave playbook you may have forgotten that they did it first. (Hear that Phoenix and The Strokes?) Ric Ocasek hasn't been behind the driver's seat of The Cars in 24 years, which is reason enough to see one of New Wave's most popular bands reunited. Five more reasons: "Just What I Needed," "My Best Friend's Girl," "Good Times Roll," "Let's Go" and "Shake it Up."

They didn't play "Shake it Up", but the other four reasons were heard along with 14 other songs at Roseland Ballroom in NYC last night (5/25). It was The Cars' second to last show on their May tour that is both a reunion with Ric and in support of a brand new album. The new album, Move Like This, was released on May 10th, and its songs also contributed greatly to the Cars' 90 minute setlist at the large, sold out NYC club show.

Bassist Benjamin Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. In case you were wondering...

"I wondered how they would replace singer/bassist Ben Orr, who passed away a few years ago. It turns out, they really didn't. Ric sang all of Ben's songs, and keyboardist Greg Hawkes played some basslines on keys, and picked up the bass guitar (which actually belonged to Orr) on a few songs. (On the album, Hawkes played some bass, as did producer Jacknife Lee)." [No Expiration]

The Cars end their tour tonight in Boston, but will be back on stage this summer at Lollpalooza in Chicago. More pictures from the NYC show, and the full setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Cars played Roseland (pics, setlist), playing Lollapalooza"

Lollapalooza last year (more by Josh Darr)

Lollapalooza celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with some huge names on its just-announced lineup. See it in full below.

The festival has obviously changed over the years. What started out as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction with a 'touring festival' lineup that included the Rollins Band, Nine Inch Nails, Butthole Surfers, and Souxsie & The Banshees, has turned into a one-weekend Chicago festival that Lady Gaga co-headlined last year. As leaked a while ago, Foo Fighters, Muse and Eminem all play this year, as will Coldplay, Cee Lo Green, and My Morning Jacket along with the reunited Cars and the continuing-to-be-reunited Big Audio Dynamite and Death From Above 1979, and a bunch of other bands which may or may not be worth the ticket price depending on how you feel about the headliners and generally seeing bands in big, hot, outdoor crowded parks (Lollapalooza happens in Chicago's Grant Park from August 5th - 7th).

Full 2011 Lineup and a couple of videos (one from 1991, one from 2010), below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2011 lineup announced"

After resisting the idea for many years while "The New Cars" played without him (and with Todd Rundgren in his place), Ric Ocasek has joined back up with his band The Cars, cementing the remainder of the original lineup (except for bassist Benjamin Orr for died of pancreatic cancer in 2000)...

"The project's genesis came in the fall of 2009 as Ocasek considered how to proceed with his latest batch of songs. He realized that his best option was the three players with whom he had the most symbiotic relationship. Ocasek reached out to Hawkes, Easton, and Robinson, each of who were excited at the opportunity to play together again. "It totally clicked immediately," Ocasek says. "Everybody got right into it, as if we had never stopped playing. After two days I thought, 'Oh yeah, this is going to be cool.'"

Even as the band fell naturally back into rhythm, Hawkes says, "We tried hard to keep it from just being a nostalgia thing. We definitely wanted to bring a modern slant to it.""

The new album, their first in 24 years, is called Move Like This, set for release by Hear Music/Concord Music Group on May 10th, 2011 which is also the same day they kick off a tour in Seattle. The NYC show happens May 25th at Roseland. Tickets for that one go on Live Nation presale on Thursday, 4/7, at 10am, and then regular sale on Friday at 11.

All dates and videos videos for the lead singles "Blue Tip" & "Sad Song", below...

Continue reading "Ric Ocasek back w/ The Cars --- reunion tour & new album"