So, I've had a little time to live with this year's Lollapalooza line-up and no matter how I try to reconcile the festival's need to continue to appeal to a younger demographic each year in order to "remain vital" (i.e., sell tickets), the 2014 line-up is, in a word, shit.
Now, before you accuse me (or anyone else finding obvious fault with the line-up) of being out of touch, let me first ask you to name three OutKast songs. You can't do it, can you? Do OutKast even have three songs?
While Eminem has enjoyed a very fruitful comeback in recent years, his most recent effort, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 falls back on the same tired formula of marrying a grating rap track to a female-sung pop chorus. This year, the role of Dido is played by Rihanna.
This continual cross-pollination only furthers the "don't bore us, get to the chorus" aesthetic of modern pop music. Kids claim to be down with rap, but give them a rap tune without a pop gloss chorus and they will turn their backs on you en masse. To survive, Marshall has willingly made himself an extra in his own movie.
While the new Kings Of Leon album Mechanical Bull received glowing reviews, it debuted at #2 in the US, then quickly fell to earth as subsequent singles have failed to take off as hoped. Main single "Supersoaker" features a chorus that essentially brings the song to a screeching halt - not exactly conducive to pleasing a crowd of folks who've been standing in the sun all day. "Don't bore us, get to 'Sex On Fire' and 'Use Somebody' already so we can go home already!"
Thing is, the festival's headlining core could have been so much better. fun. had initially been tapped as headliners, but Eminem's stipulation that they perform on the same day as him to facilitate Nate Ruess taking part in Eminem's set to perform "Headlights" together was nixed by the band's management. hey appeared to be more worried about fun. being perceived as an opening act.
Also, a scheduling conflict prevented Beck from performing at this year's festival. He has already been tapped to headline the festival in 2015.