Lollapalooza’s Luster Wearing Off

Lollapalooza Tuesday, Aug. 12, The Gorge

If there’s one thing Lollapalooza ‘97 proved, it’s that the fans who attend this music circus can and will mosh to anything.

I mean really, who would have thought anyone could work up the gusto to crowd surf to swirling Brit-pop from James?

Is it a sign of desperation? A pining for times past? It would seem so.

After making its annual stop at The Gorge Tuesday, this year’s version of Lollapalooza seemed more like a favorite toy now worn ragged.

Sure, it’s still comfortable to have around. It’s even fun to play with occasionally. But it just isn’t the shiny thing it used to be.

However, let’s give credit where credit is due. The lineup did offer something for just about every musical taste. The Orb, Tool, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Julian and Damian Marley gave up electronica, rock, rap and reggae, respectively.

And most of the bands produced fine performances.

Both Failure and James started the day off with solid shows for a crowd that was only beginning to wander in. Failure did so with intricate tweaks of modern rock and James with pop on the moody and mellow side.

To the multitudes of moon-white Washington faces, Snoop Doggy Dogg rapped about “gangstas,” “niggas,” and “chillin’.” The crowd responded enthusiastically, calling back his lyrics and rapping with him.

The Dogg certainly has flair for riling audience participation.

At his command, the throngs waved their hands in the air. At his command, they jumped up and down. At his command they shouted out how much they loved and missed Tupac Shakur, Snoop’s fellow rapper gunned down last year.

“When they come to see a show, they want to be part of the show. This might be the only time they get to see you live, so they want to feel a part of you,” Snoop said while lounging in a trailer after his set. But he admitted, “I didn’t think they’d be as excited as they were.”

Tool was the uncontested standout of the 10-hour event. Singer Maynard James Keenan appeared as a freakish double for “Married With Children’s” Peg Bundy when he arrived on stage in white face paint and wearing an enormous red wig, tight black pants, platform shoes and a bra stuffed with fake boobs.

Squatting, gyrating and thrusting his hips from impossible angles, Keenan cut a mesmerizing figure as he poured out anthems both plaintive and angry to the thunder of Danny Carey’s double set of bass drums.

“Opiate” and “Aenema” worked the throng into a squirming froth as crowd surfers dove like a school of fishes through a human sea.

On the second stage, Orbit opened up with straight-on guitar rock that kick-started the mingling masses.

Spastic bassist/vocalist Erik Sanko helped charge Skeleton Key through a quirky rhythm war waged by the band’s two drummers. Percussionist Rick Lee was all frenetic energy as his arms pinwheel-attacked tin pots, scrap metal strips, tire spokes and even a Radio Flyer wagon to call forth his beats.

On the downside, Tricky’s mainstage trip hop set was cut to less than a handful of songs after he and vocalist Martina arrived late. The holdup, he said, was due to heavy traffic. (In George, Washington?)

The pieces Tricky did growl out, built - brick by brick - a wall of dub-inflected sound that would have been cooler if the man knew when to end a song. And strangely, both Tricky and Martina spent much of the set with backs to the audience.

The Orb closed the mainstage with some trippy electronica that made for great rave fodder but went largely unnoticed by the masses filing out.

On the second stage, both the Demolition Doll Rods and The Pugs seemed more like novelty acts than up-and-comers.

Dressed in flesh-flaunting bikinis, the Doll Rods clobbered the audience with tedious vocals and robotic rhythms. The Pugs, a Japanese septet, took the stage in kitschy costumes - most notably the male keyboard player dressed in a tight red dress and blond wig. They made a lot of noise with their quirky rock but not a lot of sense.

Lollapalooza didn’t sell out The Gorge as it has in the past, although organizers say they drew 17,500 fans.

Still, in the end, it seemed everyone was going through the motions rather than reveling in the glory of a great concert.

Certainly, the Lollapalooza overseers bear part of the responsibility. Last year’s mainstream-fest and this year’s less-than-inspired lineup cast a pall over the event before it ever hit the road.

But a portion of the lackluster feel is really beyond Lollapalooza’s control. In a hyper-evolving arena where remote-control-literate consumers are constantly cruising for “the next big thing,” it was bound to be only a matter of moments before the mother of all modern music festivals became a grandmother.

On Tuesday, the rows of baubles, trinkets and T-shirts for sale seemed tired. The Greenhouse where environmentalists handed out impassioned leaflets and The BrainForest - a tented haven for performance art and dancing - became largely a mode of escape from the human barbecue outside rather than inspired sideshows.

It seemed nearly everyone at the event sported a tattoo or body piercing - even the fresh-faced kids who looked as though they arrived parent-delivery from the suburbs.

With several competing festivals - The Lilith Fair and H.O.R.D.E. among them - the tussle for fresh ideas is a stiff one this summer.

It appears the old-timer is having trouble keeping up.

, DataTimes