Summer Times Staff Writer The crowd arrived with smiles, freshly laundered clothing and high expectations. They left with expressions of disbelief, mud-caked shoes and sweat dripping in all directions. So was the before and after sight at Monday's Lollapalooza festival at FDR Park in Philadelphia, an all-day affair featuring music, vendors of all types and exotic foods. And while the 45,000 people who flocked to the site couldn't possibly have expected to witness arguably the decade's best one-day showcase of music, they seemed chipper enough to respond to just about anything remotely entertaining. On Monday, however, they didn't need to search much further than the concert stages. Most bands present at the show, on both the main and second stages, captivated their audiences, leading fans into several mosh pits, crowd-surfing and general good humor. The opening bands, Japan's Boredoms and California's L7, were exciting enough to make the crowd forget the steady downpour of rain and the subsequent muddy terrain that were present for the first few hours of the afternoon. And second stage (read: less financially secure) bands drew much of the crowd away from the supposedly more established main stage artists. The most notable second stage band, Luscious Jackson, incessantly screamed into the microphones, "Nick! Shut up over there!" referring to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who were on the main stage. The shows best performances, however, belonged to the co-headliners: New York's Beastie Boys and Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins. The three members of the Beastie Boys, Mike Diamond (a.k.a. Mike D), Adam Horovitz (a.k.a. Ad Rock), and Adam Yauch (a.k.a MCA), gave the most energetic performance of the day. Parading around the stage with unabating fury, stamina and glee, the trio blasted its way through an hour-plus set which consisted mostly of songs from their recent album, Ill Communication and their 1992 multi-platinum smash, Check Your Head. Smashing Pumpkins soon followed, thanks to unbelievably reliable stage crews who changed stage equipment within an unprecedented fifteen minutes between bands; but the Pumpkins did nothing before one of the most emotional showcases in rock 'n roll history. The "illustrious" Courtney Love, as Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha called her, performed two songs from her band Hole's recent album, Live Through This. Love, the widow of the late Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, made her first Lollapalooza appearance and played one of only a few shows since the death of her husband. Further, her performance was un-announced -- not even the concert staff had an idea of what took place. In fact, one security guard was overheard saying, "Who the hell is this?" And that is why it was so remarkable -- she has apparently taken a great step in overcoming the grief of losing not only her husband, but also her friend and bandmate, Kristen Pfaff, who died last month. The crowd sensed this and seemed to appreciate the woman for her strength and courage. As the "Love"-ly songstress walked onto the stage, the crowd continued its meaningless between-band banter, not yet realizing who was about to perform. But when she addressed the crowd with "Hello. I'm Courtney. Could I play a few songs for you?", the crowd erupted into a frenzy –– most likely the largest cheer of the day. But then, as she stroked the first chords to the Hole song "Miss World," the crowd nearly fell silent, out of respect for the musician on stage, and for the one musician mostly responsible for Lollapalooza's longevity, Cobain himself. After two songs, Love asked for a moment of silence for her husband and then left the stage. When all was said and done, while people were dragging their exhausted feet and bodies to their cars, most people could be heard talking about Love, but could only say "wow" or "I can't believe Courtney Love played." But Love's performance wasn't the only Nirvana facet of the day. The cheers for Love were matched only by those that greeted Nirvana's hit "All Apologies" as it was played over the sound system just minutes before The Breeders were about to perform. As the opening notes pervaded the relatively silent park -- no bands were performing on either stage at that time -- a deafening scream filled the area and attendees didn't so much sing as scream along with Cobain, perhaps as an homage to the man that meant so much to modern rock and gave so much to his fans. And it was ironic that the song was played before The Breeders hit the stage –– they were the opening band on Nirvana's final tour last fall. But Kelley Deal, singer and guitarist for The Breeders said backstage at Lollapalooza that Cobain was not exactly glorious off the stage or away from the TV set. It appears his well-known heroin addiction was more severe than he led on to the fans. "He [was] always kind of pre-occupied -- He was a junkie," Deal said. "Junkies spend most of their time looking for drugs, doing drugs, and crashing." But Lollapalooza is certainly more than a Kurt Cobain remembrance. In actuality, the festival is what it claims to be –– a showcase of various forms of world culture, music and opinion. The problem is that the concert does not attract people from diverse walks of life -- it was overwhelmingly a suburban, white middle-class crowd which attended this show, just like every show in Lollapalooza's four-year existence. Still, the people who do show up are treated to a circus of fun. And the bands appear to have just as much, if not more, fun than the fans. "It's like band camp," said Deal who, somewhat modestly, stated that the tour in general was "fine." The food vendors ranged from Australian Barbeque to Chicken Jambalaya to simple pizza and hot dogs. Booths were set up to sell clothing from around the globe and one was even selling several types of bongs and other marijuana paraphernalia. The essence of Lollapalooza was best exemplified by a group of Tibetan monks, though. The group serves in the Dalai Lama's personal monastery and often tours with concerts, voicing complaints about Chinese oppression in Tibet. Still, Tenzen Jampa, one of the monks visiting the United States for the first time, "like[s] music of all forms, especially Beastie Boys," and thinks the band is "cool." Lollapalooza is, to an extent, a small-scale "travelling version of Woodstock," as Woodstock Producer John Roberts said yesterday, and well-worth the $30 ticket price. And, finally, it's just a fun way to kill time. And killing time is where music began.
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