Song, set or spectacle | Lollapalooza 2011

Cage the Elephant

Photo: Courtesy of the Windish Agency

Caption: 

Phantogram

Credits: 

Photo: Courtesy of the Windish Agency

THE SONG
With some bands, you just want to hear their hits. Yeah, they’re serious musicians who worked really hard on an entire record. They slashed open their hearts on those moody cuts buried on Side B. But that’s not how we organize our iPod. Just play the damn song from the Cadillac commercial so we can go grab a hot dog and some shade.

The Naked and Famous
Friday 5 at 1:30pm; Sony stage
Stay for “Young Blood.” If you’ve heard this song on TV, and you have, you’ve probably mistaken it for Passion Pit (they sound eerily similar). It’s the one where androgynous, blissed vocals joyously tumble into a, you could say, pit of passion.

Foster the People
Friday 5 at 3pm; Sony stage
Stay for “Pumped Up Kicks.” With its cool bass strut and walkie-talkie vocals, it is deservedly a smash. It’s the new MGMT. So catch this band now before they gobble shrooms and embark on a prog odyssey.

Cults
Friday 5 at 4:45pm; Google+ stage
Stay for “Go Outside.” If it had a time machine, this duo would set the dial to 1964. It aches to be a girl-group. Bad news, Cults, most of those cute beehives were one-hit wonders. But this song is summer fluff perfection, and that’s enough. For us.

Tinie Tempah
Friday 5 at 6pm; Google+ stage
Stay for “Written in the Stars.” How did a Brit score a gargantuan hip-hop hit in the States with this number? The Bronx should be ashamed. The big question is if that anonymous douchy Eurodude on piano will tag along to belt the hook.

Phantogram
Saturday 6 at 1:30pm; Sony stage
Stay for “Mouthful of Diamonds.” Confession: We fell in love with this tune while watching MTV’s Skins. Its chirpy, bleepy groove sounds like Ping-Pong balls in a tumbler. No wonder the New York State Lottery used it in an ad.

Cage the Elephant
Sunday 7 at 5:15pm; PlayStation stage
Stay for “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” The bros in the crowd just want to hear this slacker redneck anthem. Remember how Beck refused to play “Loser” when it blew up? Cage shouldn’t do that.