Lolla: the highlights

Lady S-O-V! (Lady Sovereign)Fantastic voice, tremendous *punk* energy and talent and attitude and....she completely won my heart; I am in love. Seriously–I have never seen anyone like her. It may smell a little like a "novelty act", the songs *might* not be that strong, but she had that crowd captivated and grooving and chanting and laughing. Damn, the chick is cute (sorry, but the "vertically challenged" darling, she is 19, is just fucking undeniably cute) with her side ponytail and her braids encompassing one side of her head. She was TOUGH, sassy, FUNNY, stzoned and amped and swimming in her baggy gear, she paced a smaller stage at Lolla and I think my mouth was open most of her set. I also had little control over my ass–it kept shaking.

Ryan Adams...As we walked over to the stage a bit late, James informed me of the music wafting from the stage was "He’s Gone," a famous Dead tune. Ryan Adams then continued to play two more Dead covers, to the delight of the crowd. I was clueless, and I was happily shocked. Thank gawd James stood beside me, cluing me in to the hipness I have missed (I want to change that). The meandering, pretty melodies worked perfectly for his time slot–-the sun was beating down and there is something about that Dead guitar sound that is meant to be played in the sunshine. It feels like sun music, that reggae thing, it needs to be chill and mellow and sunny, that's where the drugs connect them, but it does really make sense...

He didn’t have any sort of breakdown–but he was in benevolently kooky mode. He went on a rambling, non-angry rant about eggs. Yes, eggs. Chiefly: "why you gotta be discriminatin’ against eggs, cat?" Like, why rock stars (oh, and normal people too) can’t order a "damn omelet" after 11 pm. He really only seemed mildly upset about this. And he went on and on about it. It was funny, but also mildly obnoxious.

He really didn’t seem sober. At all. It still sounded great, Adams himself has a great guitar sound. And, somehow, the way he sang and moved his mouth kept reminding me of Beck. It was comforting and unexpected.

The Raconteurs rocked, but for as much as I enjoyed it, I still felt that nagging disappointment that I wasn’t seeing the Jack White I know and love totally let loose in the White Stripes way I will always adore. That said, he still lead a great rock band with the songs from the record ("Hands," and "On The Level" were the highlights for me, the rest were good–not great) and two fantastic covers: Gnarls’ "Crazy"and Sonny Bono’s "Bang, Bang..." (featured prominently in "Kill Bill," sang by Nancy Sinatra.) The hugenormous crowd ate it up and I was there, lapping up all the Jack solos I could and ooooh they felt good.

Sleater-Kinney. Fuckin’ a. Man. Why? Why are they "done"? And why, oh why was I always so resistant to them? They tore it up. The sun was setting, and they were ROCK STARS. The female power was in full force and they sounded so tight and hardcore, I was stunned. They were so much more sexy and appealing than I expected. Also, they were far more accessible than I gave them credit for. Wow, did I miss that train. I feel really lucky that I was there for this set.

Gnarls Barkely. They PROVED themselves. Beyond my expectations. This was probably the most joyful performance I saw all weekend. Cee Lo was astonishing. Rocking this huge grin and pumping the mic stand back and forth, vigorously with his arms (COVERED in tattoos, it surprised me). Oh, and his *phenomenal* voice gave me chills. I can’t remember the last time I was in the presence of such a vocal talent. It flowed effortlessly and carried over the crowd like nothing else at Lolla, really. His phrasing and his tone were both so mellifluous. "Smiley Faces" felt like a drug. "Crazy" was surreal. "Gone Daddy Gone" was punk. They (all 20? Of them on stage was a sight! Dressed in white tennis outfits with sweatbands) were like a troop of performance artists. It was a traveling salvation show, bruda, and I totally felt saved afterwards.

....still have words in my head and on paper about Matisyahu and Manu Chao... they might make it on here......