•
Rating: The mega rock party at Grant Park already begins at the airport security. I am in Chicago, Ohare International, and the officer in the booth asks me the reasons for my trip to the United States. Even though I have never seen Al Capone's city and a thousand other criminal and cinematic legends, I respond curtly: "There is the Lollapalooza!" He scrutinizes me and makes conversation: "Ohhhh yeah, it's Lolla time!" and asks if among the headliners there are the Rage Against The Machine. Not just any group, perhaps because he is black and they are politically engaged. So he pleasantly makes the obligatory quarter-hour of chatting pass by, while I tell him: "Yes, but there are also Radiohead, Wilco, and the Nine Inch Nails." Okay, I am eligible, I enter and think "Lollaaaa I'm coming!" And to think that it all started because I wanted to attend the world premiere of the Nin's tour. A long, endless wait, a feeling only partly mitigated by the fact that yes, sooner or later, I would see them. It was a "first" for me too. Excitement through the roof. It's a pity or fortunately that around me was a city as seductive as Chicago, beautiful to death. Raised mostly with a cinematic imaginary, I felt like Alice in Wonderland. But from any angle one views it, The Windy City is unique and special. Love at first sight, then. The event "just" second! By day, I was exploring the most characteristic neighborhoods, in the afternoon I took refuge at Millennium for jazz, in the evening I was invariably on the rock hill, among the Festival's headliners. Running thinking "Lolla - Pa - looooo - za she's myyyy baby!". No, it was Be - Bop a LuLaaaa. It doesn't matter. Every day a challenge: Wilco vs. Rage, Kanye West vs. Nine Inch Nails, and at least ten others vying for fans from one stage to the other, on the opposite side. That's the beauty of these shows. Trent Reznor had declared before the fateful date: "We will have more spectators than West." Indeed, the carnage was more concentrated that way. I slip into the well-mannered crowd of spectators, try to gain some space, and am exactly.... in the middle! Near the sound engineer. I step aside, pull out the telescope, and from the speakers bursts "Year Zero, Capital G", Reznor and associates' good evening! Not only punctual but early! We can still see, the lights begin to rotate like flashes. Is that on stage the best line-up ever for the Cleveland group? Well, you be the judge: T. R., Robin Finck, Justin Meldal - Johnson, Josh Freese, and Alessandro Cortini. Angry angry, they continue on the wave of "Survivalism" to reach a kind of athletic trance. From the front rows and the back where I am, everyone lets loose: a crazy yet civil crowd. We are sharing a great emotion. It's time to scream, pigs, Trent's booming voice explodes on "The March Of The Pigs". I must admit it's strange to see this man of 40-plus squirm like a teenager, but we're far from pathetic. That album is then a milestone, a source of pride. However, he knows that the early fans haven't forgotten "Pretty Hate ...", indeed some idolize it more than the Spiral, so he kicks in with the turbo "Terrible Lie", with that initial feline scratch, followed in a splendid one-two by "Head Like A Hole", percussion to the point of exhaustion and the rumble of the guitars channeling the screams of the bouncing crowd into one single cry. Stop everything now. Red flashes tearing the mega screen, the amplified beat of "Closer" is heard bouncing between Trent and us, there are no words to express the emotion that memorable song conveys. Perfect. "You let me violate you"... Mr. T.'s whisper and the roar of the crowd right after. Legs and arms moving in a sensual, rhythmic dance, swaying the exhausted yet happy body. At this point, a track from "The Fragile" would fit well, but no. Nothing: is it possible at all...???. Reznor prefers "With Teeth," perhaps an underrated album but the first was something else. Here come the distortions of "The Collector", although the peak is reached with "The Hand That Feeds", impetuous from the intro: the volume pumps muffled, subdued, to explode in crescendo. "Love Is Not Enough" is the track of awareness and allows them a small respite. "Only" is loved by the male audience and is strategic thus, a step from the end. Not before listening to the real, still misunderstood pearl of the live. Special effects forming the backdrop, the notes of "Ghosts" are heard, track 9 I believe, one of the most suitable to be performed live. Digital projections of landscapes, Finck taming the instrument to produce a soundtrack appropriate to the most suggestive moment of the show. Reactions were very discordant: silence, murmurs, lost looks. Here the audience showed the first perplexities.
The parenthesis ends after a good quarter-hour, replaced by "In This Twilight", melancholic, sweet, truly a glimmer in the sky. And now the most touching phase: Trent talks about how, years ago, for the first time, he was invited to Lolla and was thrilled. He talks about when he became famous and gained awareness of his abilities. But he still has a lot of work to do in this field....He talks about that phone call. A tape with Johnny Cash's voice and after the interpretation of that piece so intimately his by the American legend his version no longer existed. Then, at that moment, the audience went crazy, "Hurt" was born with Reznor, died together with Johnny, and was resurrected multiple times. Including that night. "You can have it all, my empire of dirt," a tear rolls down the now full cheeks of the leader, we commiserating lost within the music, our thoughts, our lives.
In the background, the visionary skyscrapers designed by renowned architects, trees, and soft lawns, and the placid Michigan behind us.
The remains of the bivouac on the ground, I leave the arena humming
"Lolla - Pa - looooo - za - she's myyyy baby!".
Loading comments slowly
