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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1995)
^Festival still best summer show^ I t certainly is a different world. Top less girls with nipple rings. A guy dressed up as a big penis. A girl wearing only electrical tape in strategic places. Hair dye, hair dye, hair dye. People with every imaginable body part pierced. These are but a few things that be come the norm in the world of Lolla- palooza. Just to sit down and watch the freaky people go by is worth the price of the ticket. Music, of course, is the focus of the wildly successful summer festival. But this year’s lineup gave Lolla leader Per ry Farrell more headaches than ever, as arguments spewed over the goal of the concert. Did Farrell go with the mainstream, and accordingly, money? Or did he keep the original intent of the festival intact, which is to provide an interesting day of creative, cutting- edge bands for an affordable price. Surely Farrell could’ve pleased the mainstream masses with Stone Temple Pilots or Snoop Doggy Dogg as the head liner. The typical 104 KRBE listener would’ve been thrilled with that. U2 guru Bono once commented on the drastic change of styles that began with Achtung Baby by saying, “We may lose the pop kids ... but we don’t need them.” Good advice. So instead of STP or Snoop, Farrell took the risk of Sonic Youth as the headliner. Ever heard a Sonic Youth song on the radio? Most people probably haven’t. Does that make Sonic Youth unwor thy of the headlining spot? Of course not. gressive and influential bands around, Supporting the band on the bill was Hole, the lone Lolla band that could be accused of being more of a media circus than a musical group. But despite the ridiculous antics of Courtney Love, Hole’s debut album Live Through This was one of last year’s strongest albums. "We may lose the pop kids ... but we don't need them." -Bono, 1992 U2 lead singer And Hole’s performance at Lolla- palooza lived up to the album’s success. Yes, Love looked and talked like trash, but when the music started play ing, she was in total control. During “Doll Parts” and especially “Violet,” Love’s concert presence was perhaps the most impressive of the fes tival. The blunt brigade of Cypress Hill was the most crowd-pleasing perfor mance of the day. As a Middle Eastern drum beat in troduced the performance, a huge in flatable Buddha figure slowly grew into a monstrous stage prop. And as the throbbing beats filled the air, so did the puffs of smoke from the legions of mari- Thurston juana fans who lit up when Cypress Moore, Hill took the stage. Kim Gor- Lead rapper B-Real was the ring- don and leader, taking the advice of his own the rest of songs “Hits From The Bong” and “I the band Want To Get High.” have long But aside from the gargantuan gan- been one ja, Cypress Hill’s performance was one of the of the most energetic as B-Real and Sen most pro- Dog worked the crowd to perfection. Also impressive was Moby, originally scheduled for the second stage but pro moted to replace Elastica on the day’s bill. The industrial techno beats were a welcomed change of pace for the main stage. Especially when he donned a cowboy hat and sang “Sweet Home Al abama,” Moby proved he would’ve been an asset to the main stage throughout the tour. Also impressive was The Mighty Mighty Bosstones with a frantic horn section and an equally frantic stage show. Beck’s goofy antics and The Jesus Lizard’s and Pavement’s unintelligible lyrics were the weaker spots of the day, and Elastica was definitely missed. And in comparison to last year, when Green Day, Beastie Boys, George Clin ton and Smashing Pumpkins provided the most mainstream Lolla lineup ever, this year was quite a drastic change. But Farrell proved the festival could still be successful without reaching for MTV’s favorite bands. So what if the lineup wasn’t quite as enjoyable as last year’s? It’s still the best concert of the summer and the only opportunity to see eight bands (plus the second stage) for $30. A different world, indeed, but Lolla- palooza is still the most interesting con cert and escape a summer could bring. THE JESUS LIZARD P8 CYPRESS, HILL