Lollapalooza Day 3: The sun came out, the south end of Grant Park was a giant mud pit, and Graham Elliot lowered the price of his lobster corndogs to $7 from $10.
Bombay Bicycle Club gathered an impressively large crowd for the first set on the Red Bull Stage for the day. The English indie rockers provided the perfect soundtrack for the sunny day in the park after “Lollapocalypse 2012.” Crowds danced and relished in the pop-y, folk-y beats the band provided, with the band members even breaking out into a do-si-do toward the end of their set. A perfect way to begin the final day of the fest.
Across the park at 3:30, the Dum Dum Girls were performing. The Dum Dum Girls are like that cool group of girls you saw when you started high school and wanted to be just like them by the time you graduated. Dressed in all black dresses and tights, a brave feat in the heat even on Sunday, sunglasses and complete with sharply cut coifs with bangs, the Dum Dum Girls are the epitome of cool. Their musical chops only add to the effect.
The band began their set with “Mine Tonight,” a mild but pulsing track from their latest EP “End of Daze.” As the set continued it picked up speed and intensity with vocalist Kristin Gundred (stage name Dee Dee) slowly coming out of her shell.
You wouldn’t necessarily expect surfy-vibes from a group of girls all dressed in black, but the group pulls it off effortlessly. Women in rock may (unfortunately) still be looked at as a novelty (seriously, it needs to stop), but the Dum Dum Girls are proving they can hold their own and then some. Though a bit timid throughout the set, Dee Dee pulled out an impressive vocal hold at the end of “Coming Down,” the final song of the performance, to the cheers of the crowd.
New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem took the Google Plus Stage after the Dum Dum Girls. Walking out to Fugazi’s “Waiting Room,” the band appealed to the punk fans that started their following. They began their set with “Great Expectations” from 2008’s “’59 Sound” followed by their latest single “45.”
The emotion lead singer Brian Fallon puts not only into his songs but into the performances is unparalleled. By the third song of their set, “Old White Lincoln,” you felt as if Fallon just spilled his heart to you and shared all of his deepest darkest secrets. The grit in his voice sounds rawer, more real live than it ever could on a studio album.
Not only did Fallon put all of those heartfelt emotions into his performance, his face showed happiness like no other artist from the weekend. Between songs, when the crowd was screaming along to “’59 Sound” and when crowd surfers would make their fateful journey to the front, they was an almost goofy grin no one could wipe from his face. Maybe it’s that New Jersey charm, not that of their neighbors on the shore, but the hard-working Bruce Springsteen-esque kind. Fallon and the rest of the band have it down pat.
Fallon asked the crowd who they were seeing the rest of the night and said we’d be crazy to miss Florence + The Machine, and how right he was. Florence Welch is a goddess among women in the music industry, and her performance proved nothing less.
The crowd that gathered at the Bud Light stage was sizable enough for a headlining performance, and Florence + The Machine gave nothing short of such. Welch emerged onto stage like a delicate fairy with the harp as her soundtrack. Her flowing maroon dress complete with Stevie Nicks style sleeves, blowing by the fans set up around her mic. The performance began with “Ceremonials'” “Only If for a Night” with an entranced Welch, voice filling the entire north field.
The initial trancelike state of Welch wore down as the set continued, and she opened up her show to the fans. Before “Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)” she asked for “human sacrifice” and if you were with someone you “like, love, or just met,” to raise you up on their shoulders. The crowd love didn’t end there, with Welch later encouraging everyone to hug whomever they were standing next to in the crowd.
Welch’s vocal ability was unmatched the entire weekend, yet in an outdoor venue the vastness of her booming voice can lose its effect. In a smaller concert venue her voice bounces off the walls, surrounding you with its impressive nature, but outside it simply continues on. Still impressive, but not to its highest degree.
The band surprised the crowd with a brand new song “Breath of Life,” and stuck to well-known favorites like “Dog Days Are Over,” “Shake It Out,” and closing with “No Light, No Light.”
The sun (finally) set and crowds amassed at the mud-filled south end of Grant Park. I could give you a review on Jack White, but please read fellow editor (and die-hard Jack White fan) Shannon Shreibak’s review. I promise she’ll give White the justice (no pun intended with Justice playing on the north end) he deserves.
Lollapalooza 2012 is over. We enjoyed great music, took multiple mud baths, learned to live without cell phone service, and dealt with the ever-increasing amount of bros the fest draws. Who’s ready for 2013?