Lollapalooza – Santigold Shines Bright

As I continued my Lollapalooza Tour de Brooklyn, I headed back up North, this time to see my girl Santigold. Or try to. Stuck on an awkwardly positioned stage in between the main entrance and the large north venue, Santigold was a vision in gold and a vision on the JumboTron, as there was no chance in hell that I was going to be able to bust through the insane crowd that milled back and forth between the adjacent stages. JumboTron would have to do.

The bonus of this was that I had the opportunity not only to watch Santigold put on an amazing show, I got to see everyone on stage, thanks to the cameraman’s equal opportunity policy. Showcasing the entire band, the dancers and the Chicago skyline, I got to see the whole show, without missing that “oh dear God, I might actually be smothered to death by this crowd” feeling. Fun!

Once I was finally able to hear the second song, “Say Aha,” with enough room to breathe, I realized I was in the middle of a fantastic, if slightly pungent, dance party. Miles from Brooklyn, Santigold turned out one of the most impressive crowds I’d seen yet, and well deserved. The spot-on performance gave up nothing to the heat or venue, and every note, line and beat was so perfectly timed and choreographed, you had to wonder if they were overdubbing the entire set.

An obviously winded Santigold cleared up any Ashley Simpson-esque conspiracy theories and revealed probably one of the most adorable performers I’ve ever seen. Lollapalooza marked the close of two years she spent on the road, an event for which this girl would have phoned in the show and had a cocktail in the VIP lounge, but that’s just one of the many reasons why this girl is not famous.

Proceeding through most of the tunes from her self-titled Album, Santigold kept the crowd pressing in and dancing for the better part of an hour with nonstop energy… until the last song. Before launching into an awesome cover of The Cure’s “Killing an Arab,” the adorable act starting to grate a little, particularly when Santigold brought a good dozen people on stage to compete in a dance-off. After explaining the rules of “don’t touch the actual dancers,” we were subjected to the requisite small child entry. A cute kid, for sure, but come on. I know Lollapalooza is a mainstream show but did Barney sign on for a set? Is no where safe for the non-child-loving among us?

In any event, the final song, and full set leading up to it, was well worth the crowd, heat, and small child moment. Another taste of Brooklyn was definitely welcome after my two months in Chicago, something to dull the pain of leaving the greatest borough in NYC. Without a specific song to inspire my self-absorbed musings, I was (and you will be) spared too much internal back-and-forth, but suffice to say Brooklyn was a welcome cameo against the backdrop of my old-new home.

*By Jesy, who has spent too much time watching NCIS today…. and has decided she should learn how to fight.

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