Mark Ronson, Gnarls Barkley also play closing day
CHICAGO -- Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails closed Lollapalooza 2008 in grand fashion Sunday in Chicago's Grant Park, with the former regaling his hometown crowd with hit after hit and the latter band offering a tour de force of vivid industrial rock.
All three years of Lollapalooza sold out this yr, a number one in the event's four-year history as a one-off event in Chicago.
Unlike his now-notoriously previous performance at Bonnaroo, West took the stage on time at 8:30 p.m. to a dazzling abstemious show. With singers and a percussion/DJ setup behind him, he strutted across the movement landing by himself for tracks like "Flashing Lights," "Shine" and the place-appropriate "Homecoming."
A cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," which he a great deal devotes to his late mother, was a late-set highlight, preeminent up to a exulting, show-closing "Stronger."
Across the field, the scope sun sour the sky pink and gray as Nine Inch Nails pounded out the opening bars of "March of the Pigs" through a daze of smoke. Gripping the microphone tight in an all-black outfit, frontman Trent Reznor growled through "1,000,000," from the new album "The Slip," which was given forth as a free download this spring.
"Let's f***ing do this," he exclaimed earlier the blockbuster "Closer," one of several highlights in a fix that likewise included "Hurt" and "In This Twilight," which was lit by strobes. The whole receive felt like the gelid opposite of the laid-back set presented by Wilco on the same stage the previous night.
Earlier, the National offered up a set of emotional rockers like "Mr. November," while the reunited Love & Rockets finished its carrying out dressed as bouncing Bubblemen, the band's black-and-white costumed alien alter-egos.
At the opposite end of the car park, a series of more dance-oriented acts of the Apostles were in the spot. DJ Mark Ronson performed a high-energy set featuring guests like hometown rapper Rhymefest, spell Gnarls Barkley was backed by a school uniform-clad band in maroon vests and bowties for a set featuring "Crazy," "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" and the Violent Femmes cover "Gone Daddy Gone."
Chromeo was greeted with their usual intone "Chro-me-oh," set up to the tune of the Wicked Witch's marchers from "The Wizard of Oz," prior to a set featuring several tracks from last year's "Fancy Footwork."
Quite a commotion bust out during Girl Talk's performance. Fans were continually foisted into the air for crowd-surfing, and ratter audience members tried their best to invade the stage, where a twosome dozen guests were allowed to dance around conceiver Gregg Gillis. Rapper/performance creative person Saul Williams took the stage for his have set with feathers stuck in hair, backed by his thomas Young daughter Saturn on several songs.
During the afternoon, G. Love & Special Sauce and Blues Traveler made a perfect one-two clout of roots-based pop/rock, with the late playing various fan favorites like "Can't Go Back to Jersey" and "Rodeo Clowns."
