Lollapalooza 2010. Day Three. Recap. Go.

8:45 p.m.: Arcade Fire

Win Butler of the Arcade Fire

To close out Lollapalooza 2010 on Sunday night, it really was a tale of two headliners. One the south end of grant park, in arguably the bigger area, you had a newly reunited Soundgarden with their big metallic and grungy fueled riffs taking center stage. Unlike Rage Against the Machine or Pavement, the Soundgarden reunion wasn’t really something fans had been clamoring for for years, but it is indeed a nice bit of nostalgia tripping for those who long for the flannel days.

On the other side, you have the Arcade Fire. A band who are pretty much in their prime right now having released the critically acclaimed new album The Suburbs only a few days before the Lollapalooza began. It would be like seeing Soundgarden back in the early ’90s. There might not ever be a better time to see The Arcade Fire in a festival setting again, and that might explain why the crowd for them was a few times bigger than that of Soundgarden and probably the largest of all weekend.

And of course, the Arcade Fire not only lived up to the hype during their performance, but bypassed any uncertainty that they might be the best band out right now. They came running out of the gate with an especially enthusiastic of version of The Suburbs take “Ready To Start”, which saw guitarist/percussionist Richard Parry and Win’s brother other-ist Will Butler taking turns hammering on each others tom drums. The song set the momentum, which never once wavered even during the slower burning “Crown of Love” from their 2004 debut Funeral. In between newer songs like the sleek, mo-town chorus of “Used To Wait” and caustic hymnal “Rococo”, the band played their older and best known songs including the glimmering “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” and towering “Intervention”.

While Win did most of the speaking and singing, Régine Chassagne, whose petite stature was balanced by her gigantic voice, shined on the new rocker “Empty Room”. But she absolutely brought down the house with the synth-soaked journey “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”, which was probably the best song played all night.

But the most epic moment definitely was set closer “Wake Up”, which featured the everyone within ear shot yelling it’s melodic refrain. Chances are if you where any where in downtown Chicago on Sunday night, you probably heard it. And with that, the Arcade Fire brought Lollapalooza 2010 to a powerful end with a performance that was truly fit for a king but witnessed by thousands.

6:10 p.m.: MGMT

Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT

Though MGMT’s new album, Congratulations, didn’t really connect with fans who hold their more danceable numbers like “Kids” or “Electric Feel” in high regard, that didn’t stop an enormous throng to gather at the Budweiser stage on the north side of Grant Park. After opening with the folky, acoustic work of “Pieces of What” from their debut LP, Oracular Spectacular, they switched gears into the eerie, psych-pop salute to the famed producer Brian Eno, which carries his name as its title. The crowd were seemingly still engaged at this point because of its jangly guitars and driving-yet-groovy beat. But things really started to catch a full head of steam when they broke out the Prince-influenced, bass-sex jam “Electric Feel”.

While MGMT alternated between new and old songs so as not to completely lose the audience, sometimes fans were still thrown off guard such as on the cartoon-chase-theme kitsch of “Song For Dan Treacy”. But from “Time To Pretend” to the big, hippie-rock jam out of “The Handshake” their old material was riddled with new energy. When they did finally break into their biggest hit “Kids”, a song they omitted from their Coachella performance earlier this year to the surprise of festival attendees and critics alike, they performed it to a prerecorded backing track and instead every member danced on stage and in the crowd. It’s obvious the band still don’t really want to perform the song, so instead play it off as a silly number simply to appease the crowd. And appease it did as the thousands watching jumped up and down to the song’s bouncy rhythm in what will be classic Lollapalooza 2010 moment. The best part came afterward, however, when MGMT closed with the reflective, Neil Young-folk of their new album’s title track, Congratulations.

4:37 p.m.: X Japan

X Japan guitarist Sugizo

The phrase “They’re huge in Japan” is sort of a running joke among American musicians, but X Japan live it literally. The Japanese heavy metal outfit was originally founded in 1982, but later broke up in 1997 only to reunite ten years later, are huge in Japan. How huge? They can pretty much sell out any arena any time they want. However, the band never made the leap to American audiences. Their brand of symphonic metal is more for niche audiences in the states and never had broken through into the mainstream. But as this Sun-Times article points out, that didn’t stop X Japan fans from flocking from all over to catch the band’s first ever performance in the U.S. at Lollapalooza.

Well, their dramatic arrival was no small event. Hardcore fans, which were easiy picked out with their X Japan merch and paraphernalia, and the curious flocked to the massive south side stage for the show, and those who witnessed it were not left disappointed. X Japan’s set was arena metal adrenaline with a few theatrics such as flames from the bottom of the stage thrown in for good measure. Lead singer Toshi was a masterful frontman who riled up the crowd with cliche rock phrases like “Are You Ready To Rock?” in his broken English, but it worked to set the tone for the deafening guitar assault that followed. Actually, deafening might be an understatement as X Japan definitely won the battle for loudest band at Lolapalooza 2010. The bass and drums were more like atomic explosions than thunder and the guitars chugged along without sympathy on takes like “Jade” and “Endless Rain”. But perhaps the best part was how excited the band looked to be playing to such a large crowd for their first American show. They smiled and even took the time to take some pictures of the audience before they exited the stage when their time was up.

2:35 p.m.: The Ike Reilly Assassination

The second local Chicago act in as many hours, the Ike Reilly Assassination started their set with a meager crowd at the Sony Bloggie stage. Of couse, this was the hottest time period on Sunday afternoon, so perhaps it was cooling off and refueling time for many. But Ike Reilly and his Assassination were completely unphazed as they pumped out tune after tune of narrative-form, southern-tinged, Midwestern working man rock n’ roll. The highlight for many was Reilly’s humorous and clever lyrics, which ran the gambit from a drug-rollercoaster that rattled off even more narcotics than Queens Of The Stone Age’s “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer” or about how New York City has nothing on Chicago. The crowd, which was a decent number by mid-set, were seemingly latched on to the music. Suddenly for a brief 45-minutes, the small, tree-covered Sony Bloggie stage area was transformed into your local dark and dank dive bar.

1:50 p.m.: The Dodos

Meric Long of The Dodos

It was finally during the Dodo’s performance on the Playstation stage on the north end of Grant Park did the rain finally cede to the sweltering heat. Still, neither the sun or The Antlers playing 10 minutes into their set time stopped the band from bringing their acoustic and tribal rhythm based pop tunes. Their material sounds minimal, but there’s a lot going on here with Metric Long’s steady croon and quick-fire guitar lines, Logan Kroeber’s thumping beats, mostly through toms, and Keaton Snyder’s vibraphone work that gives the song’s soaring flourishes just that much more height. Neko Case, who performed at Lollapalooza on Friday with the New Pornographers and who played with The Dodos last Thursday at Chicago’s Metro, joined the band on stage for a couple of tunes, which really added to their atmospherics. However, their 2009 release Time to Die, didn’t obtain the same warm critically reception as their 2008 album Visiter, and not stating this was the reason why, but the band leaned on the side of their older material like the sprawling folk of “Jodi”.

1:17 p.m.: Company Of Thieves

Genevieve Schatz of Company of Thieves

Company Of Thieves have come along way since lead singer Genevieve Schatz was performing at Chicago open mics and have even come along since their 2009 Wind-up Records debut Ordinary Riches. Schatz is obviously the center of attention here with her confident, sultry vocals that to a degree possess a certain Fiona Apple quality, but Schatz is no where near as pained. Her lively stage presence like twirling, dancing and even some tambourine play really hyped up the surprisingly ample crowd. It was when they branched off into the new material that really drove the point home that Company Of Thieves has the capability to be more than another girl-fronted indie rock act. The new songs were brimming with a darker edge expanding into riff-y blues rock territory from guitarist Marc Walloch, and Schatz’s voice became even more gritty and powerful. Still, the band played it safe and ended with the small modern rock radio hit “Oscar Wilde”, which did garner the biggest reception of the set.

12:40 p.m.: The Antlers

Peter Silberman of The Antlers

The Antlers’ album Hospice was one of the biggest surprises in 2009. It put the band on he map drawing comparisons to indie rock royalty, and one of the night’s headliners, the Arcade Fire. However, for the Antlers to get a rainy early afternoon spot at the conclusion of a major music festival was poor luck of the draw. The band did their best to pour their heart and soul into their soaring melodic suites, but the crowd was generally unmoved, talking to friends or trying to find a way to keep dry. The Antler’s songs were a bit too meek and under-powered, and even their more popular tunes, such as “Two”, failed to grab anyone’s attention.

11:50 p.m.: HEALTH

It was a soggy start to Lollapalooza 2010 day three. The morning hours brought rain, which while cooled the park briefly, made things particularly muddy on the south end of Grant Park. But the weather did not hamper a small group of dedicated music fans from braving the wet for a chance to see Los Angeles noise rockers HEALTH at 11:30 a.m. HEALTH, like quite a few acts from this year’s Lollapalooza, were on the bill for last year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, but if I hadn’t stated this fact, a casual listener might mistake them for two different bands.

At last year’s Pitchfork Fest, the band played a deafening set for half an hour and thrashed around on stage to a cacophony of electro-noise. There was little to no melody to be found. Since that particular set, however, the band’s little material, such as “USA BOYS”, is more accessible with nearly danceable pulsating synth breaks and space-echo vocals. Still, while their music may have calmed down, the band were still rambunctious on stage even with the smaller than usual umbrella-holding and poncho-wearing audience.