Photo Credit: Richard Giraldi

Considering Jane’s Addiction are from Los Angeles, their closing set at Chicago’s Lollapalooza 2009 was hardly a homecoming. Still, the band was in pure celebration mode with good reason. Not only has lead singer Perry Ferrell successfully created an extremely popular metropolitan summer music destination – this year marked the second straight complete sell out – but the original Jane’s lineup is back including powerhouse bassist Eric Avery.

Continue Reading…

[Editor’s Note: SOUND OFF is a column from Loud Loop founder/editor-in-chief Richard Giraldi. The views stated in SOUND OFF don’t represent the views of Loud Loop Press or probably anyone with half a brain.]

Remember last year’s Lollapalooza lineup? Sure, the middle-tier acts were lacking, but who cares? Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Wilco, Kanye West, The Raconteurs and Nine Inch Nails. That’s all I needed to know. Ticket bought.

However, it seems as though this year’s Lolla went the complete opposite direction in booking. The middle-tier acts are there, including a great number that played at 2008’s Pitchfork Music Festival such as Animal Collective, No Age, Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes.

But this year’s headliner selection is just so “Meh.” And I don’t mean the headliners just aren’t my cup of tea, but I’m talking about why are some of these acts even headline worthy? Since when did the Kings of Leon or The Killers become big enough to play opposite Jane’s Addiction or Depeche Mode?

Attention U.S. summer music festivals, I present you with a booking time saver.

Here are five sets of criteria that acts should meet in order to be a music festival headliner:

Let’s jump in, shall we?

Continue Reading…

Lolla’s three-day schedule is now online!

This year all three days have dual headliners, which for the most part works…emphasis on for the most part. Friday August 7 has Depeche Mode going up against Kings Of Leon and Sunday August 9 offers Jane’s Addiction versus The Killers in apparent no-brainers.

But it’s Saturday August 8 that really seems most divisive. While arguably not as bad as last year’s Rage v. Wilco or NIN v. Kanye debate, The Beastie Boys will go head to head with Tool pitting two acts from Lollapalooza’s heyday against each other. But I’m fairly certain the edge goes to the Beasties seeing how they are still relevant and have a new album due in September. Tool on the other hand haven’t done anything of signifigance since Lateralus…sorry 10,000 Days fans but it’s true.

In addition to releasing the schdule, single day tickets are now on sale as well as three-day passes here. Get them while you can. Last year became a bit of a clusterfuck when tickets acutally sold out for the first time in recent memory. Still with this year’s line-up maybe the demand won’t be as high, which is okay with me because that means a less crowded Grant Park.

No better way to brighten your morning than with the Lollapalooza 2009 lineup alongside your cheerios! Great timing on Lolla’s part because today is a nasty, nasty day in Chi-town. Anywho, here’s who you’ll be seeing this August 7-9 in Grant Park:

So there’s still a few hours left in the day for you to make it to your nearest independent record store and pick up some kick-ass goodies.

Here is a list to Record Store Day 2009 special releases straight from the official web site and you can probably still find some schwag if you hurry!

I hit up both Reckless Records on Broadway and Dave’s Records on Clark here in Chicago and picked up quite a few items including both Sonic Youth 7″ splits, a Flaming Lips/Black Keys 7″ split, a Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 7″, and the new LP Cryptomnesia from El Grupo Nuevo De Omar Rodriguez Lopez of Mars Volta. And you’ll be seeing a review of Cryptomnesia up very shortly.

So be sure to share your Record Store Day 2009 stories. Let us know how you did by commenting! Hopefully we’ll get some more content including reviews of select record store day items up shortly. Stay tuned!