Newsgroups: alt.rock-n-roll.metal
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 14:10:28 -0400 
From: Eric Scott Jefferson <ej0i+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Lollapalooza

I just saw Lollapalooza two days ago in D.C. and am still very excited
about it. While all the bands may not be metal some of the bands are so
I'll talk about it here. (I would certainly be glad to here about any
other people's opinions of this show if they went).

My friend and I got to the exit that led to Lake Fairfax Park in Fairfax
Virginia (not Alexandria as some magazines have it listed). about 11:00
A.M. about an hour before show time. Dumb move. We should have gotten
there earlier but he wanted to buy some stuff before we went (like a
baseball cap) which took us awhile. Traffic must have been backed up
about four miles. After about an hour of sitting in traffic and moving
all of 200 yards we pulled into some church parking lot and walked three
miles or so to the concert. We totally missed Lush (they suck anyway so
I'm not to sorry about that) but arrived there just in time for Pearl
Jam. Pearl Jam was really good though they still have a rough unpolished
sound that some people at the concert do not like. They played the
following songs (I can't remember the order):
Breathe (from Singles soundtrack)
Why Go
Once
Jeremy
Alive 
Evenflow
Hunger Strike (from Temple of the Dog for which Chris Cornell came on
stage and sang a duet with Eddie Vedder. They said it was the first time
they had done this song the whole tour, probably a load of crap)
These guys were just really friendly and anxious to please. They kept
smiling at the crowd and making some rather inane (though well meant
jokes). They played for about an hour and smashed their instruments,
including a $2000 drum set at the end.
The next band was the Jesus and Mary Chain. I truly thought they were
going to suck but I stayed to hear them anyway since My friend wanted to
talk to this hot babe near us (this was in fact the time when all the
girls came up front. All the other bands being so heavy and male
oriented (except Lush which I missed totally) this was the only chance
they got to really cut loose). They actually were okay. I know none of
their songs except for I Want to Die Just Like Jesus Christ (set closer)
but some of them sounded good, danceable anyway.The band came on wearing
Heavy sunglasses and played with clouds of thick smoke from machines on
stage pouring over them. They also played for about an hour. They  did
not interact with the crowd in any way nor did they acknowledge them in
any way.
	Soundgarden then came on. They played (in no order)
Face Pollution (opener)
Outshined
Louder than Love 
something from an early album I did not recognize
Slaves and Bulldozers
Jesus Christ Pose
Rusty Cage
Searching With My Good Eye Closed
Cop Killer (yes the Ice-T/Bodycount song that's caused so much hoopla.
Chris Cornell introduced this song by saying that this song was banned,
censorship was bad blah blah blah and he'd play this song since they had
not been stopped yet. He really put a lot of energy into this song
screaming out "Fuck The Police" at the top of his lungs)
Soundgarden extensively interacted with the crowd. Chris Cornell
continually talking to them in between songs, taking a beer off a crowd
member and drinking it etc. He even took a dive into the crowd, giving
the security fits but the crowd just tossed him around and then
deposited him back on stage. He also jumped around like a madman while
playing rhythm guitar (Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron basically stayed put
while Ben Shepherd loped around the stage bent double with his bass at
the level of his feet).. I was happy that Chris Cornell really ripped on
the '60s at one point saying that all the people then were losers and
drug addicts and we'd have to clean up the mess they made (a stange
comment though considering how much marijuana smoke was floating around.
It seems he's really anti-drug. I hate the 60s though so I was glad he
made this comment. The people then were losers)
Ice Cube then took the stage with his backup crew The Lench Mob.
He sang (or rapped rather)
"How To Survive in South Central"
"The Wrong Nigga ta Fuck With"
"The Nigga Ya Love to Hate"
"Dead Homies"
"Gangsta Gangsta" (from his N.W.A. days) and some other stuff. I
couldn't watch most of his set since my back and legs were killing me
from standing up in one place for three hours so I had to go the back of
the park and sit in a chair during the majority of his set so I can't
tell you much about it.
Ministry then arrived (they brought a black cloud of doom with them too
for the only time it rained all day, though it was overcast all day, was
during their set. How appropriate). All Al Jourgensen said to the crowd
was "Let's Get to Work" It took forever for them to set up for Ministry
so the crowd really went bananas when they finally came on. They had a
bunch on scantily clad lady dancers with them on stage who went through
all these suggestive dances while they were performing. They played
N.W.O. (set opener)
So What
a Black Sabbath song (I forget what. Supernought I think).
and a bunch of other sutff (I'm not too familiar with them). Their songs
went on too long though. So What must have lasted about 8-9-10 minutes
so basically you got kind of bored near the end of their songs. Their
songs produced the most furious moshing though and some black guy was
able to body surf all the way from the front of the crowd to the back
and back to the front again.I practically did not have room to breathe.
They were the first band to give an encore (all the fans started
screaming "Ministry, Ministry" at the end of their set so they came back
on)
Finally with the approaching nightfall, RHCP arrived and their were just
awesome. Despite an injury at a previous concert when he tried to use
his microphone as a pole vault, Anthony Kiedis was bounding around like
a madman with flames pouring out of his head from a helmet. They played
Breaking the Girl 
Under the Bridge 
Good Time Boys
Higher Ground
and a lot of other very good stuff. Some of which I had to miss since by
this time my back and legs were killing me and I had to sit and rest a
couple times during their very long set (they also did an encore and
played the longest 1 1/2 - 2 hours) of anyone.My friend and I then
forged a path through the woods somehow saving us a two mile walk,
walked the remaining mile to our car and went home during the Peppers'
encore.
All in all the best band there was RHCP, tied for second were
Soundgarden and Ice Cube (since he really knew how to play the crowd it
seemed like what little I got to see of him) and then Pearl Jam and
Ministry for third.I got a RHCP tshirt, a Soundgarden tshirt and a
Lollapalooza tshirt (the Pearl Jam tshirts looked like crap. They had
some girl on the front and on the back it said 90% of kids prefer
crayons to guns. I didn't buy one. I wish I had bought a Ministry shirt
though)
The stage was a good size though none of the bands really had fancy sets
(except Ministry who played with giant skeletons flanking them and a
pile of bones on stage). The only ornamentation was a huge banner
proclaiming the name of the band performing at each time.It took about
1/2 hour to change between bands (longer for Ministry and  the Peppers).
There were no seats in the concert area so you basically had to stand up
the whole time. The moshing was furious except during Ice Cube and the
Jesus and Mary Chain. The ground was slop, it had rained the day before
so I got really muddy, especially after shoving my way up to near the
fron of the crowd. The sprayed a giant hose on the moshers so that no
one got too hot (though it was cool outside anyway). I really didn't see
the booths or anything. I did see some of the freak show. Do not see
this unless you have a very strong stomach!! Some people in the crowd
literally fainted when the amazing Mister Lifto lifted weights by a
string threaded through his penis (I almost puked myself). I also saw
the lead guy get his face pushed into broken glass and he used his back
as a dartboard that people threw darts at (they actually stuck in his
back. Gross!)
All in all an excellent show though I was physically exhausted
afterwards. Tons of hot babes there too. My friend got a few phone
numbers.


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"I got something to say, I killed your baby today and it doesn't matter
much to me as long as it's dead
I got something to say. I raped your mother today and it doesn't matter
much to me as long as she spread" -- The Misfits
"They're out ta get me. They won't catch me. 'Cause I'm innocent." --
Guns N' Roses
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