Messed!Up
It’s obvious that Stockholm needs a major festival. Last year Rosendal was started by competing Scorpio, and it was quite successful, and so even this year. There are several similarities, as both festivals are in the central Stockholm with all advantages concerning public transport and rather well suited venues. Rosendal, organized by competing FKP Scorpio, has a greener site though, as Lollapalooza is on a huge field. There are several, rather crucial differences between the festivals. Rosendal has fewer acts and more cohesive lineups, focusing on specific genres each day, and is much more inclined towards an indie crowd. This year the main act was The War on Drugs, pulling a rather huge crowd, which seems like an anomaly in Sweden nowadays. A guitar band??? Closing a major festival??? Wuuuut?
Lollapalooza focuses on mainstream acts. Period. That´s the way it is. And that is probably what is needed in order to try to pull more than 30 000 people per day. A big difference compared to last year is that there were no major rock acts this year, as the final day billed Pearl Jam, Turnstile, Idles, and Wolf Alice, to name a few. The question is whether that was a deliberate decision this year, or if the booking goods were not on their side this year.
One could easily criticize the commercialization of Lollapalooza, as several other journalists have, and I agree to some extent, but at the same time, this is what the music industry looks like today and we get what we pay for (or deserve). The question that is constantly in my head during my (sadly only) day at Lolla is if it even could be otherwise in Sweden. Bråvalla came and went, and I do miss it quite a lot. But the same critique has been raised towards both festivals – too broad, who is it for etc. and I don’t know. I guess it’s just music for the masses. And that’s OK I think. People don’t go to anything (almost) these days, so what should an organizer do? As of writing this, the organizers have announced that it will be a festival again in 2024, which is great news.
As for the festival. After missing Indigo de Souza (whom I at least discovered this way) due to logistical problems (totally my friend’s fault), we saw a pretty vibrant DJ set by Peggy Gou with absolutely gorgeous visuals. DJ-sets are DJ-sets, but it was entertaining throughout, but I just got reminded that the Swedish is not the most chill group of people. After being at Primavera Sound a few weeks earlier, with the most polite and nice crowd imaginable, it was just clear that the young generation me crowd around me is there for themselves, for selfies and Instagram photos. No matter if you bump into people or spill beer, and no need for an apology of course, as long as you can get to the spot you so rightly deserve. Well, hope you got nice insta -posts and MANY LIKES, kids (getting old? – editors note).
We passed by two Swedish acts that are kind of hyped, Dina Ögon, who has gained quite some attention in a short time period, and Vargas & Lagola. They have one thing in common, except being Swedish that is; they are super skilled musicians. That´s all I have to say, I think. Except that Dina Ögon replaced beabadoobee, whom once again canceled a show in Sweden. Does she hate us?? Despite the great review Way Out West last year???
Japanese Breakfast was the most important act of the day, the old indie röv that I am. I had seen her at Primavera (second time you mention Primavera….. – eds note) a few weeks earlier, playing a huuuuuge crowd. It was a flawless show, so my hopes were high. There was a big difference though, as the Spanish audience was larger to begin with, she also fits a bit better at that kind of festival, with an audience that is more interested in non-mainstream music. On the other hand, Mitski pulled a sizeable crowd last year, and they are in the same ballpark of acts, but are larger, at least based on Spotify-streams. But the crowd did not really show up for her set, but it did not seem to face her, as the ones there were very dedicated and supportive.
Anyway, the project of American Michelle Zauner, has gained quite some attention for her 2021 release Jubilee, especially for the hit Be Sweet. We´re obviously awaiting new music, but it did not matter, as the set was tight and extremely professional. She has an extremely likable attitude on stage, smiling and going from side to side to meet the audience and seems to connect with the lucky ones in the front rows. She opened with Paprika and followed with the above-mentioned Be Sweet, which is quite early one has to say. But it´s sooooo great. Such a great bass line, rhythm, and melody. The only thing was that the risk of playing a hit so early is that the sound has not been totally adjusted yet, and that was the case today. Still, great song and performance. In general, the show was the peak of the day to me, at least musically and as a music concert as such. Everybody Wants to Love You is another hit (at least in indie terms) that also works much better live than on record, in my not-so-humble opinion (but I´m sorry, I have to say that I realized that the verse totally sounds like Donkey Boy’s super mega super smash hit Ambitions – look it up kids, it´s a super cool reference). Great concert!
As the indie dude, the two following acts were not totally in my wheelhouse. Viktor Leksell is huge in Sweden and probably had the largest crowd of the whole festival. He brought up his dad to play with him.
Another one of the headlines was American OneRepublic. I had hoped to hear songs like Night Changes and What Makes You Beautiful but was told that it was another band. Disappointed. (fun joke, granddad – eds. Note). Listening to OneRepublic from afar at first, we realized that we kind of knew every single song, without really having listened to them. It´s impressive in its own weird way. But I couldn´t help asking myself why they are touring. Frontman Ryan Tedder could just produce, right? He doesn´t really need the money after producing and writing hits for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, and selling his music for more than 200 million dollars. But I guess it´s fun to tour, right? And the violine guy was cool.
We probably got the answer a bit into the set, when Tedder sat down by himself at the piano, flexing by playing a medley of songs he wrote to other artists (like Halo and Burn). It´s super impressive of course, but was it necessary? Maybe. People seem to enjoy it. I just felt that if I had learned to play piano, produce, had talent, and was good-looking, I could have done the same. Sooo…
I saw quite a bit of The 1975 show. They are, rightly so, huge and popular. But they have never seemed to be the band for me. I just would have loved more action, but they play beautiful songs, so I get it. But I also kind of understand Noel’s point…
It´s a beautiful stage and visual experience, and they are professional and tight, but to me, it never really takes of. Frontman Matty Healy is a star though, just walking around on stage, and actually being political in his banter, which is almost unheard of today. It´s refreshing. It´s also clear that he´s been into some “refreshments” (see what I did there!!!), being quite drunk actually, something that is not as usual nowadays either. During About You he just walks around, drinking straight out of a wine bottle and a pocket flask (according to google translate – fickplunta in Swedish you know). A pretty grand moment in the show though, as it works well.
Lil Nas X was quite interesting, to say the least. It´s kind of weird that he didn´t get to close the festival, but there were probably good reasons for it. A lot can be said, but I´ll just leave it to that it was one of the most elaborate shows I´ve seen in a while. Dancers, horses, dodos (probably), huge inflatable decorations, someone threw up a fleshlight on stage (seemed a little too well timed though, but we enjoyed the discussion on how the discussion might have gone in the security check), etc etc. I have to say that the show was more impressive than the music, as he does not really have that many hits yet. But that´s a minor thing, and give it a few years, and that won´t be an issue.
We only saw a few songs of Mumford & Sons due to fatigue, klumpfot and being attacked by a f-ing drone (or some kind of bug at least), but got to see Little Lion Man at least. Not so surprisingly, unfortunately enough, we were far from the only ones leaving early, but the lads seemed to enjoy the show and provided a good show.
A great day at a field in Stockholm. And that´s not too bad.
