Lollapalooza 2007 celebrates its own history, looks to the future

This weekend’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago may have ended with a blast from its own ceremonious past, but not before spending fifty-six hours introducing the world to newly famous and not-yet-famous artists from all corners of the musical spectrum.

By the time Pearl Jam took the stage Sunday night to close out this year’s festivities, frontman Eddie Vedder was on his third Lollapalooza performance of the weekend. Vedder made his first appearance on Friday night, joining Ben Harper late in his set for a classic cover of “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan, and then joined Kings of Leon onstage just a few hours before his own band’s headlining set. Since Pearl Jam is not on tour this year and doesn’t have a new album to promote, the band used their two hours of stage time to deliver an eclectic set which included dusted-off versions of everything from “Why Go” from the band’s debut album to their fan-favorite early 90’s cover of “Crazy Mary” by Victoria Williams.

As with any Pearl Jam performance, the intensity was fierce throughout, even when the tempo slowed for “Better Man” and other ballads. Although the band left the stage apparently for good at about a quarter to ten, Ben Harper’s surprise appearance on the Kids’ Stage on Sunday afternoon signaled that he was still in town, meaning that his appearance during Pearl Jam’s second encore shouldn’t have come as a surprise. And given Vedder’s penchant for using his music as a platform for making political statements to his fans, the nature of the second encore could have been predicted as well. Even the choice of final song, a cover of “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young, was fairly predictable given the band’s penchant for closing out regular tour stops in such a manner.

But no one in the crowd could have predicted the spectacle that Pearl Jam’s second encore would grow into by the end of the evening. Disabled war veterans joined Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, a number of other musicians, dozens of other unidentified individuals, and retired Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman to commemorate the festivities, leaving the stage so crowded with bodies as to invoke memories of 1985’s Live Aid finale, and causing the diminutive Vedder to take refuge on Rodman’s shoulders.

But if Pearl Jam’s return to Lollapalooza fifteen years after the festival helped launch the band’s career was star-studded and historical, many if not most of the other seventy-plus performing artists were still in grade school when Lollapalooza initially kicked off back in 1991. Performing on the BMI stage on Saturday afternoon was blues trio Back Door Slam, a band comprised of twenty year old Brits from the Isle of Man whose collective blues proficiency belies their youth. “This is all we’ve ever wanted to do,” said frontman Davy Knowles when iProng caught up with the band between gigs before they took the stage at the nearby House of Blues.

Perry Farrell, who founded the original Lollapalooza and is also responsible for the festival’s current Chicago-based incarnation, took the main stage with his latest band Satellite Party and appeared to be in a reminiscent mood as he tore through no less than four of his Jane’s Addiction classics including “Jane Says” and “Been Caught Stealing” and invited former Porno for Pyros bandmate Peter DiStefano for a rendition of the Pyros hit “Pets” as well as Satellite Party’s current single. Farrell and DiStefano joined forces again on Sunday at the Kids Stage to perform a second rendition of “Pets” followed by a cover of the Led Zeppelin classic “Whole Lotta Love” which featured DiStefano emulating Jimmy Page by taking a bow to his guitar.

There were other collaborations, including Silversun Pickups’ Nikki Monninger joining Snow Patrol for a duet, and other star sightings such as cyclist Lance Armstrong being spotted watching Pete Yorn’s Saturday afternoon performance from the side of the stage (for iProng’s late 2006 Pete Yorn interview, click here). There were also notable veteran performances from Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, and Australian chart-toppers Silverchair, now in their fifteenth year as a band despite no band member having yet reached the age of thirty.

But as signified by the massive fireworks display which took place during their rendition of “Even Flow,” the three day festival known as Lollapalooza 2007 belonged in the end to Pearl Jam, the band who has spent the past fifteen years evolving from early-afternoon newcomers to two-hour performing headliners. It leaves one to wonder if perhaps one of this year’s up and coming Lollapalooza artists might end up being the festival’s headliner in another fifteen years.