THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE VANHECKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: 106 lines
THE TICKETS read Lollapalooza, but this was a Metalpalooza.
A Machopalooza.
Dudeapalooza.
That's what the annual alt-rock fest turned into last week when 40,000 fans, mostly young males in their favorite Pantera and Iron Maiden concert T's, swarmed New York's Downing Stadium to see such bellicose, guitar-brandishing bands as Metallica, Soundgarden and Rancid.
Organizers of the traveling festival, conceived in 1991 as an eclectic showcase for underground music, have taken a lot of flack for assembling such a one-dimensional bill this year.
Chief among the critics is alt-rock elder statesman, and Lollapalooza co-founder, Perry Farrell (see story, Page E?). Now the frontman for Porno for Pyros, he has publicly tongue-lashed the manly, mega-selling lineup, which includes the Ramones, Screaming Trees and, Saturday at North Carolina's Rockingham Dragway, rap-metallers Rage Against the Machine.
For metalheads like Paul Menendez of Belleview, N.J., it's a fat slice of hard-rock heaven.
``I came to mainly see the Ramones, since it's their last time touring and everything,'' Menendez, 26, said last week in New York. Wearing a Metallica T-shirt, he was catching a multimedia martial arts demonstration by the Shaolin Monks between sets by Screaming Trees and Rancid.
``Soundgarden's great, too. I've seen Metallica once already, so I'm looking forward to it. This is my first Lollapalooza and I'm having a great time. I took the whole day off from work just so I can be here,'' he said.
Fans of more diverse fare will have to look to the smaller second and third stages, where a rotating roster of up-and-coming acts perform.
In New York, the piano-pounding Ben Folds Five, groovesters Ruby (fronted by Lesley Rankine of Silverfish), Janis Joplin reincarnation
Beth Hart and British sample-mavens Moonshake drew enthusiastic crowds.
As the sun dropped on Downing Stadium's second stage, an unscheduled ``girlie freak show'' featuring Slymenstra Hymen of Richmond gore-core band Gwar, along with a variety of contortionists, hermaphrodites and drag queens, served as a smug, one-finger salute to the macho main stage.
In North Carolina, the secondary stages will feature sludge-rockers the Melvins, edgy popsters Sponge and the sample-delic Soul Coughing.
This year's unimaginative and repetitive (Soundgarden played Lollapalooza's second year) main-stage lineup is not the only difference from festivals past.
Once cutting edge, it has gone totally commercial: A slickly-produced free program features record label, apparel and condom advertisements; MTV's gawdy election year ``Choose or Lose'' bus is parked prominently in the vendor midway; Airwalk footwear has its own tent.
In the heavens over Manhattan, a skywriter scrawled an advertisement for alterna-metal band Tool's forthcoming album.
Even the food vendors are on the make. In New York, a chicken and vegetable pita went for $6. A tiny bottle of water that was $2 at the festival's start had climbed to $3 by midday.
Such brazen marketeering is hardly surprising; in fact, it's a telling reflection of the state of modern rock. ``Alternative'' acts like, well, Metallica, Soundgarden and Rancid are merchandised and promoted to multi-platinum success.
Of course, the festival tempers its moneymaking motivations with the feel-good inclusion of various charities and social, political and environmental activist groups. This year, however, those once highly visible stalls were tidily tucked away under the Brain Trough tent.
An article in the Lollapalooza program makes big noises about how a portion (a single dollar) of every ticket (nearly $40) is dumped into the ``Lollapalooza Fund'' to help ``a wide variety of `progressive, grass-roots' organizations.''
But it's the music that's supposed to be center-stage at Lollapalooza.
Unfortunately, even that's not a whole lot of fun this year - unless standing in a huge, littered field with a moshing crowd of bare-chested, sweating, staggeringly drunk and stoned Beavis and Butt-Head types is your definition of a good time.
In New York, the standout performance was by the Ramones, who played a gleefully non-stop, hit-filled set to the hometown crowd in their no-frills, three-chord style. That's if you could see or hear them. After jockeying and craning for a view, many festival-goers gave up after few songs and migrated to the more manageable crowds at the other stages.
Metallica, who certainly know how to put on a stadium show, were also impressive. Even if you're not a fan of the music, the newly-shorn James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and the rest have such an obviously great time onstage posturing and posing you might actually exit Lollapalooza '96 in good cheer.
One thing is certain, though: This year's festival leaves one feeling wistful for that groundbreaking Lollapalooza way back in '91.
The excitement and wonder of seeing Gothic princess Siouxie and the Banshees and the Butthole Surfers alongside the aggro-industrial Nine Inch Nails, Ice T's Body Count and punk-poet Henry Rollins was positively heady.
Maybe familiarity does breed contempt after all. MEMO: Sue VanHecke attended the inaugural Lollapalooza in Fairfax, Va.,
as well as the 1992 and 1994 festivals. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Lawrence Jacksonn\The Virginian-Pilot
Above: The heavy metal lineup was perfect for a little crowd
surfing.
Left: Covered in sweat and dust, a group of concert-goers start
their own "mosh" pit.
Color photo
The Ramones: Joey Ramone
Soundgarden: Chris Cornell
B\W photo
Festival Co-Founder Perry Farrell is the first to criticize this
year's show. by CNB