Top 5 Musical Highlights From Lollapalooza Argentina 2015: Jack White & Robert Plant, The Kooks, Smashing Pumpkins And More!

As tickets for our own summer Lolla began selling briskly even before the line-up is announced, Argentina's Lollapalooza went off without a hitch, with a lot of the attention focused on Robert Plant and Jack White belting out "The Lemon Song" together during White's set.  Here are four more you may have missed:

1. Foster The People

First off, let me just say that lesser bands would have balked at following the viral success of "Pumped Up Kicks" and a platinum-selling debut album (Torches) with a musically adventurous concept album.  Needless to say, we in the U.S. didn't hear a "Pumped Up Kicks, Pt. 2" and promptly moved on, but the rest of the world continues to embrace the band, as did the audience on the first night of Argentina's Lollapalooza.  Anybody who might doubt the band's true talents need only marvel at tireless frontman Mark Foster absolutely singing the shit out of their tunes.  Granted, appearance-wise, they did sort of remind me a little too much of the time I got roped into seeing Savage Garden at the Greek Theatre in Hollywood once.

2. Cypress Hill

I know, I know, who knew they were even still together?  Even so, there was just something about these California rappers bringing their love of the ganja to South America.  Turns out Argentinians really love their Cypress Hill as they rapped along to the group's "Tequila Sunrise", "Dr. Greenthumb", "I Wanna Get High", and "Insane In The Brain".  For many, myself included, their set was a reminder of just how many hits the group has amassed in their 15+ year career.

3. Smashing Pumpkins

First off, let me just say that we here in the Windy City sure do love to give Billy, er, I mean William Corgan shit.  So the guy is a little bit of a ...hard guy to figure out; insightful one moment, arrogant the next.  Plus, there was that whole "dating Jessica Simpson" thing.  Sweeping all that aside and taking stock of Billy, er, William's latest "supergroup" incarnation of the band, which now features Killers bassist Mark Stoermer and Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk.  The group's energetic set, propelled by Wilk's jackhammer of a right foot, gave Billy's anthems an edge that other recent line-ups lacked.



4. The Kooks

Much like Foster The People, The Kooks have also thrown caution to the wind on their latest effort, Listen, which saw them incorporate jazz and world music elements into their usual crash, boom, bang and it was encouraging to see the Argentina audience react so positively to a band we here in the States have yet to embrace.  Those skeptical of Luke Pritchard's jittery vocals and Hugh Harris's esoteric, yet rhythmic guitar work translating to a festival audience need only check out their riveting performance of "Naive".