Lollapalooza, Saturday 6th August

Straight from the outset, the second day of Lollapalooza promises to be hotter than the first. Even at noon, watching an incredibly spirited performance by the melody-driven rockers Grouplove, the crowd is dancing but sweating. The early acts endure and show tremendous amounts of energy. Cleveland’s Walk the Moon enter the stage in colorful war paint and play an impressive set of music featuring the dance-friendliness of Of Montreal combined with the harmonic sensibility of Grizzly Bear. An Horse power through a set of solid rock tunes that are especially intriguing with one considers that the wall of sound is being emitted by only a guitarist-vocalist and a drummer.

The first jaw-dropping set of the day is performed by Los Angeles soul outfit Fitz and the Tantrums. Their performance provides the cherished festival experience of randomly listening to an unfamiliar band and becoming engrossed with the full intention of buying the band’s album afterwards. Each song features engaging piano riffs and drum beats, memorable melodies, and catchy hooks, all amounting to irresistible soul tunes that are impossible not to dance to. Singers Michael Fitzpatrick and Noelle Scaggs both have undeniable stage presence. The band also introduced Day Two’s dominating trend: eighties covers. The band launched the Eurythmic’s ‘Sweat Dreams’ after already playing a rendition of ‘Steady as She Goes’ by the Raconteurs that made the over-played original seem listenable again.

When Fitz and the Tantrums play their final note, Mayer Hawthorne and the County play another sort of soul on the other side of the field that draws in all the stragglers from the other stage. The Ann Arbor native’s songs are generally more down-tempo than those of the preceding band, but the County’s tight grooves combined with Hawthorne’s captivating croon is enough to keep the crowd moving. Hawthorne plays some material from his upcoming album, with one song seamlessly transitioning into a version of Hall and Oates’s ‘Make My Dreams Come True’ (remember what I said about eighties covers?) that is quite poppy in contrast but that inspires the excited crowd to sing along.

At 4:30 the Music Unlimited stage heralds Big Audio Dynamite. They are the second act of the day that provide a performance of rare, coveted quality. The band is indisputably tight and their performance becomes incredibly dynamic with their vivacity, proving once and for all that Mick Jones and company have not been affected by age at all. Classics such as ‘E=MC2.’ ‘Medicine Show,’ and ‘Rush (The BAD Song)’ display their timeless quality to a new generation of listeners as a testament to just how cutting-edge the songs were when they were released. In particular, the rap featured in ‘A Party’ sounds stunning. A new song is played, which, as Mick Jones explains, ‘tries to summarize the current economic crisis in three in a half minutes… kind of…’ The song shows that Jones’ songwriting ability is still in tact, and the performance overall proves that BAD is absolutely worthy of its legacy.

Half an hour later, another eighties band with a weighty reputation take the stage on the other side of the festival: the always-interesting Ween. For those unfamiliar, Ween is a duo with a large underground following whose music is characterized by absurdity. Their first song is an excellent choice to clue in the uninitiated, a number called ‘Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)’ with chorus contains the memorable rhyme, ‘Smile on mighty Jesus / Spinal Meningitis got me down.’ The duo play with a full band, and the outfit’s ability to launch into powerful rock jams is uncanny, especially when accompanied by the guitar solos of Mickey Melchiondo (Dean Ween). Yet Ween, too, join the eighties cover party train with a rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ that Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) sings with a hint of humorous sarcasm.

Lykke Li takes the Google+ for a set of electronic indie pop that floods the tiny field and leaves fans scattered in the peripheries among the trees. Her performance proves that her popularity is merited. Her voice is incredibly powerful live, and her backing band is able to meet her presence. The songs feature compelling interplay between electric and synthesizer underneath soaring melodies. The overall effect amounts to an hour of dancing, with sing-alongs on better-known songs like ‘Get Some’.

The headliner of choice tonight is Beirut, whose blend of pop with Eastern European music and Balkan folk is even more enticing live than on the recording. Watching Zach Condon sing with his low, melancholy voice and then immediately raise his trumpet to play the brass-laden interludes (two trumpets and trombone or tuba) proves mesmerizing. The emphasis on accordion instead of piano or guitar is incredibly refreshing at a large music festival. Condon has an incredible ear for melody, his voice rising and falling with a potency that perfectly accompanies the generally tragic topics of his lyrics. Watching Beirut is a completely unique experience, as they have adopted a fusion of styles that separates them from any other band on the current scene. Condon and his band move through each song expertly, the crowd swaying and singing along to memorable songs such as ‘Elephant Gun,’ ‘Postcards from Italy,’ and ‘Nantes’. When they receive an overwhelming cry for an encore, Condon says apologetically, ‘We haven’t done this one for a while, so this could get interesting.’ Yet they work through a cover of Kocani Orkestar’s ‘Siki Siki Baba’ with the same virtuosic ability that characterized the rest of the set. When the band leaves the stage, the crowd is still buzzing from a truly inspiring performance. For this reviewer, it is without a doubt the greatest performance of Lollapalooza 2011.