Near the end of her thrilling set with Neko Case Sunday afternoon at Lollapalooza, Kelly Hogan admitted the group was trying to pull off a little trick: “We’re going to try to play some nighttime songs in the daytime.” They then launched into a stirring rendition of the gorgeous heartbreak ballad “That Teenage Feeling.” (Watch live footage of Case plus the Raveonettes, above.)
Turns out, they weren’t the only ones with that dilemma. The final day of Lollapalooza was loaded with bands whose proper milieu is a dark club, not a sun-baked field. Like Saturday, the temperature on Sunday was miserable, the kind of wet-blanket heat that had concertgoers soaked within minutes. Though it relented a bit when the sun went down, most of the afternoon was an exercise in endurance.
Get a look at all of Lollapalooza’s big names in action in our live photo gallery.
In short, it was the worst kind of setting for Bat for Lashes’ dark, chilly new wave, but frontwoman Natasha Khan managed to make it work. “What’s a Girl to Do” was refitted with a limber dance beat, making it crackle and spark and “Trophy” became lean and sinister, its prowling bass bumped up to a mighty boom. She even managed to make her slower numbers translate: “Siren Song” was devastating, Khan’s plea of “I’m going to love you the best way I know how” raising gooseflesh. It’s no wonder someone in the crowd was holding up a sign reading, “Be Our Mother!”
Equally gothy – and thoroughly engaging—were the Airborne Toxic Event. Their songs built to huge, doomy finales, pow...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily