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A different Empire

Music Features

Hollerpalooza

I suggest that, if not musical boundaries, at least interpersonal boundaries seem to have built themselves up again among musicians, at least on the festival circuit. Reed responds: “If something catches my ears, I’ll check it out. But what we do is just a little more direct — we just set up and play, the music is just what comes out.” A no-wah-wah zone, if you will. “We’re lucky, too, there’s a ton of us in the band, we’ve got a little microcosm of musical debate within our group — that’s what keeps us on our toes.” And sure enough, later on, Reed and guitar player Ryan Spraker watch Wilson Pickett sing “Deborah” on YouTube and take notes: “He’s got two microphones. . . . Look at his hair. . . . He’s got two bari-sax players?”

I’m dubious as to whether all the different microcosms of the 70 or so bands at Lollapalooza are mingling in a progressive way, one that looks past merely sharing a festival bill — though I do hear a Radiohead cover from Gnarls Barkley. Still, Eli “Paperboy” Reed and the True Loves are a sight. From backstage I watch the horn players twist and Eli shake and roll. Up above and beyond him there’s a row of trees bent into a long archway that eclipses the sun and protects us from the light. Reed’s voice soars into hoarse hollers, rich with harmonic texture — and soul. “Courageous Jew Guy Really Does Know What To Do With Jesus Music.”

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