Lollapalooza 1995

This post contains my complete running coverage of this annual festival ...
© Tulsa World

Faces in the Crowd
By Thomas Conner 08/04/1995

Sen. Orrin Hatch was introduced by a young man who advised the
audience which over-the-counter pain remedies effectively simulate
a heroin high. The senator — an actor, of course — stepped up to
the third stage and began auctioning off the national parks and the
public school system to indifferent bidders in the crowd. His
ranting was interrupted by protesters from the Elf Liberation Front.

And the simulated high hadn't even kicked in yet.

So you can see that Lollapalooza is more than just a music
festival. Oh, so much more. Lollapalooza is a sampling of
contemporary youth culture, or at least a parade of those masks the
kids are allowed to rent.

The ticket price alone can be earned by just watching the
people go by at one particular sidewalk. You'll see every fashion
mistake since the first World War out there. This is an age group
that grew up parroting Billy Crystal's Fernando Lamas catch phrase,
“It is better to look good than to feel good.'' They mean it; on
July 10 at the Kansas City show, kids trudged through the
near-100-degree swelter in wool stocking caps, flannel shirts and
heavy boots.

Other dedicated followers of fashion sport 'do rags, pierced
noses, pierced ears, pierced navels, pierced lips (watch them try
to eat the stir fry), toe rings, Brady Bunch striped T-shirts, jean
jackets with anarchy symbols emblazoned with permanent marker,
T-shirts that say “Kansas Zen Society'' (the oxymoron of the day),
tie-dyed shirts, ballcaps in every direction, Dr. Suess hats, Tommy
Hilfiger Golf Team shirts, postal uniforms, Stars and Stripes
bikinis, every landscape of facial hair one can conceive, and
tattoos tattoos tattoos!

But not everyone in the crowd is a young'un. Fred Coombs, 38,
of Olathe, Kan., stood out like a sore thumb in his button-down
shirt and Dockers shorts at the Kansas City show.

“I'm like that director on the old Dave Letterman show --
the blue shirt, the tan chinos, the brown shoes,'' Coombs said. “I
just discovered that I had too strong a parental instinct to let my
son come to this madness by himself.''

Coombs' 13-year-old son, Jay, said he was having fun despite
having his dad around.

“He's a pretty good sport,'' Jay said.

This conversation took place in the shadow of a giant condom,
mind you. An AIDS awareness group had, er, erected the 12-foot
device over its information table. That was next to the Planned
Parenthood table, where you can get free goodies if you hop on one
leg while saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

 
Lolla Land: A Self-Help Guide
By Thomas Conner 08/04/1995

Whatever you do, don't forget the tanning lotion. And here are some
other factoids and tips for the Lollapalooza virgin:

— “Lollapalooza'' is an actual word defined in Webster's
College Dictionary as “Slang. an extraordinary
or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or
instance.''

— The festival began in 1991 as the farewell tour for Jane's
Addiction, the influential band fronted by the festival organizer,
Perry Farrell. He wanted to do something special to honor the band
on its final go-round, so he hooked up with agents Marc Geiger and
Don Muller, added seven bands to the bill as well as food, vendors
and art displays, and pulled off an extravaganza unlike any
promotion ever attempted before. Still going ...

— Number of people who attended the festival last year:
969,554.

— Water, water everywhere: Most venues will allow one bottle
of water per ticketholder through the gate. You'll want to ration
it when you see that a cup of ice water costs $3 at the concession
stands, but be sure to get your proper fill of nature's lifeblood.
Number of people treated last year for heat-related illness: 203.
Near some restrooms there will be showerheads for public dousing,
and the festival sets up Rain Rooms for your relief — tents full
of water spray through which you are herded like cattle through a
car wash. Number of gallons used in last year's Rain Rooms: 154,801.

— Plan for the shopping. The cheapest T-shirt for a
main-stage act is $20. A meal from one of the worldwide food
vendors will average around $5. And the vendors!

— Number of pounds of carrots consumed by artists during
last year's festival: 2,365.

— Dollars donated to charity from last year's festival
alone: 856,437. Tour planners hope this year's charity hat will
push the five-year festival total over $2 million.

— Number of kids who crowd-surfed to the front of the main
stage last year: 6,533.

— Number of bottles of Evian consumed backstage during last
year's tour: 25,800.

— The Starplex can be Mosquito Central around dusk. Throw a
bottle of Muskol or some kind of insect repellent in your hip pack.


Sonic Youth - Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon - and Courtney Love's Hole Head a Truly Ensemble Lollaplooza
By Thomas Conner 08/04/1995

Beck bounced off the Lollapalooza stage like Tigger just out of
rehab. He bounded over to two humble Midwestern journalists eager
to interview the artist — about his work, his schemetic aural
creations, his interpretation of the sociopolitical state of modern
rock music — and he grabbed them by the shoulders.

“Yes. No. Maybe. Never. Only after meals, and I refuse to
answer that one on the grounds that it's too damn hot,'' he said in
a frightening, Pee-Wee-on-meth crescendo. He then dropped his water
bottle, cursed, and skipped away to a waiting, air-conditioned bus.

It was that kind of day.

The Tulsa World attended the Kansas City date for
Lollapalooza, July 10, in order to experience the madness and thus
warn those of you making the trek to the Dallas show on Aug. 10.

And for those of you waffling on whether or not to make the
journey, we feel it necessary to — right here, in front of your
boss — testify to your weakening condition, how we have heard that
raspy cough, how pale you've been looking (i.e., call in sick and
hit the road!).

Now ensconced as an annual institution, Lollapalooza lumbers
around the country this summer with its fifth and best bill ever.
The Kansas City show nearly sold out the Sandstone Amphitheater in
the suburb of Bonner Springs, Kan. The Dallas show, at the
Starplex, is expected to sell out, at least by showtime. (The
reserved seating is gone, but early this week Ticket Master still
had general admission available at $31.25 a ticket. Call (212)
373-8000, and expect a lengthy hold.)

This year, the Lollapalooza name may be as big a draw as the
headliners, who get a rare chance to play for a filled arena. The
festival's founding philosophy of showcasing new talent has been
relegated to the second and third stages this year, which actually
is more conducive to the tastes of the most diverse crowd you'll
ever see. Many acts on the main stage have been around for a while
— the main headliner act, Sonic Youth, has a greatest hits
album out, for instance — but this is still a
cutting-edge festival, a chance for an urban and college-town
culture to visit the suburbs and spread the freak power far and
wide.

The day on the main stage begins with the Mighty Mighty
Bosstones, a ska-punk act with a social conscience that wound up
stealing some of the day in Kansas City. The first and last slots
on the bill are the worst for bands; everyone's arriving and
getting settled in during the first band, and a lot of goobers pack
up to beat the traffic during the last band. The Bosstones,
however, opened the festival with a roar and wound up reprising
their set on the second stage late in the evening. Frontman Dicky
Barrett sweats all over the stage, leading the band in a frenetic
swing that inevitably catches up the crowd.

Jesus Lizard is next. Here's some advice: Get there early,
drop your stuff, enjoy the Bosstones, then do your settling in
during Jesus Lizard. This band fuses whiny rants onto hard-rock
riffs and has been doing so for six years without making any
impact. Vocalist David Yow announced in Kansas City, “I have sort
of an upset tummy,'' then launched into a song about his urine.
Ex-Scratch Acid guitarist David Wm. Sims wields his axe like an
assault weapon, but this is still a great opportunity to scout
better seats and grab a smoothie.

The bouncy Beck takes the stage in third place. More
appropriate for a sizzling street corner than a sizzling arena,
Beck's Juice-O-Matic approach to music doesn't wilt in the heat.
With a '60s-vintage effects box and vocals that sound like Tom
Waits transmitting from Jupiter, Beck screeches all over the stage
and swings like few blond kids in knit caps can swing.

In Kansas City, his hometown, he played “Pay No Mind''
“heartland style,'' and he previewed two eerie pieces from his
next disc, including a slow grinder called “Black Hole.'' And yes,
he satisfied all the frat boys who were there to see “that guy who
sings `Loser.' '' For that hit, he was joined onstage by the S7Ws,
two men in sailor suits who stood guard at the corners of the stage
like Public Enemy's X Men. “Take it easy,'' he said before
bounding off stage, “and have a good picnic.''

The fourth act in Dallas will be Elastica, a hot new pop
group from the other side of the pond. They take the place of
Sinead O'Connor, who left the lineup because she's pregnant and the
heat was a bit too much. It's a tragic loss; she was the turning
point of the Kansas City show. Her fans were rabid, screaming like
banshees when she came on stage and not stopping until the last
chords of “Fire on Babylon'' were off to the stratosphere. The
pregnancy explains why she was so subdued, walking around the stage
barefoot, looking comfortable and laid back like Michelle Shocked
or Carly Simon.

Elastica started filling clubs in and around London two years
ago. Leader Justine Frischmann left Suede before that band hit it
big. The band's self-titled U.S. debut (another Geffen band on the
bill!) collects 16 short-but-sweet tracks from independently
released EPs. “This is music to be brave to,'' Frischmann has
said. Their sing-song squelch should fit right into the festival.

The coolest new band on the bill is Pavement, a band of
upstarts who offer a refreshing — gasp, even melodic — pop
sensibility amid the dissonant lineup. Bringing its crooked reign
on stage, Pavement prefers to sound as if its songs just fell
together — melodies are there but tentative. Lead goofball Steve
Malkmus shifts between sleepy-eyed cool to yelping exasperation
while wearing silly hats.

The bulk of the Kansas City crowd just didn't quite get
Pavement, though. The band ambled on, coughed, tuned up, joked
among themselves and plowed into herky-jerky numbers like “Father
to a Sister of a Thought'' and pop gems like “Kennel District''
and “Range Life'' while dazed breadbasket babies stared blankly at
the stage and applauded politely. Ah well, gotta pay those dues
before you pay the rent.

When Pavement modestly leaves the stage, the stage managers
go into high gear. For Cypress Hill, they hustle out a giant gong,
a giant bong, DJ posts flanked by towering (simulated, surely)
marijuana plants, and a 20-foot gold Buddha with a pot leaf on his
belly. So begins this one trick pony's act — endless pro-marijuana
rap.

They certainly have guts. Before “I Want to Get High,'' lead
rapper B-Real lights a joint on stage for the screaming glee of the
crowd. He slides along with his annoying voice — like Bill Cosby
imitating his children — and rants about the virtues of marijuana
legalization. Despite the thinness of the group's one-topic set and
B-Real's habit of calling everyone in the audience “mother
f—-ers,'' Cypress Hill does get the crowd on its feet — a
surprising hunk of which came especially to see them.

Holding to the festival tradition of foul language and her
own knack for tastelessness, Courtney Love stepped out onto the
Kansas City stage next to sneer, “I'm going to abuse you because
you deserve it, you f—-ing sh—s.'' The widow Cobain then lead her
band, Hole, through some of the tightest and well-built pop of the
day, over which she warbled like a drowsy sheep. Most of the band's
latest album, “Live Through This,'' was covered, with sharp
interpretations of “Gutless'' and “Softer Softest.''

Wearing a stark white dress and made-up like she was bruised
and battered, she picked fights with anyone she could see in the
crowd who wore a Pearl Jam T-shirts. Many of her stage antics are
just a little too difficult to attempt to explain in a wholesome
newspaper.

Finally, Sonic Youth held everyone into the
head-for-the-parking-lot timeslot with the expected confidence of
the only band to transcend the typical underground,
art-or-popularity quandary. Drawing on a history stretching back to
1982, Thurston Moore matter-of-factly introduced the songs, many of
which were unrecorded ones. His lyrics were more audible, which is
a real plus and reflects the heightening of that awareness on the
band's remastered greatest hits package out last spring,
“Screaming Fields of Sonic Love.''