Band of Horses and The Battle for Grant Park

On Sunday night, the headliners were set to collide and split Lollapalooza patrons straight down the middle — some would venture over to Jane’s Addiction for Perry Farrell’s flashy arrival in a helicopter (never happened, but a helicopter did awkwardly hover over the audience during the band’s opening song) while others would kick it with The Killers. What wasn’t expected was Lou Reed’s piss-poor performance (reading lyrics from the monitors, relishing in his drawn out 3-minute, dad-rock intros, generally sounding more geriatric than grabbing) would run a solid 20 minutes over the allotted time, leaving Band Of Horses to endure the heat off stage, waiting for their turn. Eventually, Reed had to empty his colostomy bag and Band Of Horses quickly took the reigns, launching into organ-soaked versions of fan favorites “First Song” and “The Great Salt Lake” from 2006 debut Everything All The Time.

Dressed in honky-tonk tones and cowboy hats, Band Of Horses would’ve physically fit into the dark, damp scenery of a whiskey-flavored watering hole … but musically, with the addition of soaring sonic subtleties, monstrous choruses and expansive riffs to their almost alt-country roots, the five-piece outfit have carved out a table at a watering hole all their own. With a smart set list that balanced between their debut and 2007 follow-up, Cease To Begin, Band Of Horses powered through one of the best live performances Lollapalooza had to offer this year. And when Jane’s Addiction finally took the stage, not exactly granting Band Of Horses an equivalent amount of time lost, front man Bed Bridwell asked the massive audience, “Think we can blow that shit out?” with a bearded smile. “Let’s try!” And with that, the band launched into “Wicked Gil” as half the crowd dissipated to feed their … uh … addiction. Nearly after twenty minutes past their allotted set time, Band Of Horses was still marching forth into the great unknown — challenging the closing night headliner (not to mention a headliner that started the festival in the first place) at one of the world’s largest musical festivals … and walking away victorious.