Back To Basics After Last Year’s Tired All-Male Rock Band Misstep, Lollapalooza ‘97 Loads Up With Fresher Acts In Hopes Of Keeping Pace With Copycat Festivals

On many levels Lollapalooza’s lineup is as diverse as any of its previous incarnations.

There’s trip-hop a la Tricky, there’s the foreboding rock barrage of Tool, the twists and swirls of Orb’s electronica, there’s gansta rap from Snoop Doggy Dogg, and the Brit-pop of James.

Also in the mix is reggae from Bob Marley’s sons and a punk import from Japan’s Pugs.

So why is it that Lollapalooza - once the purveyor of all things fresh and alternative - now seems like an idea worn threadbare?

The passel of copycat festivals competing for our green probably has something to do with it.

Like a game of capture the flag, several of these music carnivals seem to have whisked away the flame of inspiration, once the domain of Lollapalooza.

Lilith Fair tapped into the long-ignored female equation with amazing success.

With Beck, Morphine and Soul Coughing in its lineup, the H.O.R.D.E. Festival moved the closest to the former cutting edge quality of Lollapalooza.

According to Pollstar, a magazine that tracks ticket sales, Lollapalooza lags behind both festivals - although it outsells the likes of the Warped and R.O.A.R. tours.

Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros frontman Perry Farrell co-founded Lollapalooza in 1991 as a mind-opening music extravaganza buoyed by art, poetry and leftist social and political pageantry.

Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth have performed in previous years.

But last year, Lollapalooza took a gut-wrenching turn into the mainstream as one loud, male rock band after another filed onto the main stage. Metallica capped off an event that, to many former fans, felt like a betrayal.

This year the festival seems to be fumbling back toward familiar ground. Farrell, who dropped out last summer, rejoined the effort. The attempt to recruit from diverse corners is a thankful homecoming.

Although no one would call Lollapalooza ‘97 a frontrunner in gender equity, it’s not the testosterone fest of yesteryear - especially now that Korn just dropped off the bill when its guitarist was diagnosed with viral meningits.

In a revival of the circus atmosphere, the festival concourse will feature the BrainForest and the Temple.

The BrainForest, a foliage-filled, earth-themed tent, will showcase spoken word performances, video imagery and local electronica DJs. The Temple, a 32-foot tower surrounded by panels of pagan and tribal art, will feature platforms for performance art.

But as Lollapalooza tumbles into The Gorge on - of all days - next Tuesday, it does so minus an awe-inspiring headliner of years past. It also arrives midway through a summer that has already bombarded us with grand linups from the Lilith Fair, the Warped Tour and the Summer Jam ‘97.

Still, Lollapalooza is the mother from whence these youngsters sprang. And there is something - dare we say - nostalgic about attending this event.

Lollapalooza was the first of something that will remain a benchmark of 1990s youth culture. It fostered a free spirit that, for a long time, had been forgotten by most of the concert-going American public.

And, in the end, no matter how good the other festivals are they are still Lollapalooza knockoffs.

So, here’s to respecting the pioneer - and a sampling from both the main and second stage acts:

Tool

When the four members of Tool take the stage they do so with a freakish fury.

Their art-metal is dark, brooding, forbidding and morose yet strangely alluring.

Reports from earlier Lolla shows have singer Maynard James Keenan donning fake breasts, a strap-on pony tail, and white body paint, with his fellow band members - guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor and drummer Danny Carry - also in body paint.

Formed in 1991, the band’s pathos-filled images of decay and deformation - transmitted visually through eerie stop-action music videos - have won Tool numerous video and music awards.

The Orb

A pioneer in the electronica scene, The Orb combine sound samples, television voice clips and a liquid beat into a swirling palate that sometimes thumps and sometimes meanders as though lost in space.

Alex Paterson, the founding and constant member of the group, sits at Orb’s core. He started the group in the late 1980s after he began DJ’ing in chill-out rooms and dabbling in an experimental wash of beatless collage music.

Since then, the group has released seven synapse-snapping albums.

Tricky

His music writhes with a wicked tension that, although sometimes hip-hopish and sometimes popish, most often lands in a thick netherworld of sound, song and growled rapping.

Joined on stage by vocalist and mother of his child Martina, Tricky’s atmospheric collage is considered the forerunner in a style labeled “trip hop.” (He hates the title.)

Born in Bristol, England, Adrian “Tricky” Thaws has developed a devoted following in Britain and a cult status in the United States with his albums “Maxinquaye” and “Pre-Millennium Tension.”

Pugs

Pugs delivers a wacked out rock/metal/punk straight from the demented side of Japan.

Frontwoman Honey K. sings with a fierce warble reminiscent of Bjork while six other members back her up with a seductive tonal rawness.

“Pugs is special music in Japan,” says Hoppy Kamiyama, the keyboard player, in a thick accent. “It’s different from Japanese punk music.”

Most of their songs are sung in Japanese, so understanding the lyrics may be a problem. But Hoppy insists they put on a good show nonetheless.

“Our performance is so strange, very strange,” he says. “The audience is so good reaction in America. Every time they have some dancing and diving and screaming.”

Orbit

Don’t confuse them with their Lollapalooza brethren of a similar name. This trio from Boston don’t do electronica, they simply do good ol’ progressive guitar rock.

On their sophomore album, “Libido Speedway,” the band takes a more thoughtful approach to tunes about fast cars and lust.

“I just started getting into the idea of cars and the power of cars,” says singer/guitarist Jeff Lowe Robbins. “The whole symbolism in Western culture of the car and how you can attract women with your car, it just seems like such a weird thing.”

Filled out by bassist Wally Gagel - who’s been mixing tracks for the Rolling Stones - and drummer Paul Buckley, the band levels meaty guitar textures between slices of mellower moods.

“One of the things I was experimenting with when we first started Orbit was the idea of negative space in the music,” Robbins says. “Kind of some breathing room in there.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT The Lollapalooza tour will be at The Gorge Tuesday; gates open at noon, the music starts at 2 p.m. Tickets are $33.50 and available through Ticketmaster outlets. For locations call (509) 928-4700. For tickets by phone call (206) 628-0888. Main Stage: Failure, Julian and Damian Marley, James, Tricky, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tool, The Orb Second Stage: Orbit, Skeleton Key, Lost Boyz, Pugs, Failure