Lollapalooza 2011, Saturday: Death From Above 1979

The crowd was hungry. A swirling, screaming, perspiring pit amassed in the blazing sun at the north end of Grant Park, where a black-and-white tombstone banner set the scene—Death From Above 1979: 2001-2006. Drummer Sebastien Grainger and bassist Jesse Keeler helped launch the dance-punk resurgence at the beginning of this decade along with bretheren Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, The Faint, The Rapture, The Liars, Moving Units, The Chinese Stars and others. But it's not really fair to lump these guys in with the rest—whereas Faint steer electro and The Rapture four-on-the-floor, DFA 1979 are pure sexed-up, face-melting metal. That you can dance to. On a technical level, no one else was doing what they were. I was sure the Empty Bottle experienced massive structural damage from all the screaming and power pounding after the last time I saw them the last time in 2006.

Fast forward six years: Despite a few cosmetic changes, bleached hair and a wedding band for Grainger most notably, not much has changed. The pair took the stage in silence, immediately launching to favorites such as "Dead Womb" (which was famously sampled by Crystal Castles in "Untrust Us") from their Head's Up EP and "Going Steady" from You're a Woman, I'm a Machine. They flawlessly pounded and screeched and rumbled for the next 60 minutes with barely a pause. The guy holding the "Huge Party" sign was right: Women were taking their shirts off. Dudes were banging heads. Bud Light was flying. In short, it was a ridiculously impressive set, and the only one I've seen so far that was truly worth standing (jumping, screaming) in the muddy heat for. "Did you guys just see that building come down? Sorry about that," joked Grainger after a string of noise so loud folks (not me) were covering their ears as they screamed in response. It was DFA 1979 indeed.

Despite the insane performance, Grainger made sure to take a few shots at the setting. "Can you see these people on the side of the stage here? Does it look like the 'Thunderstruck' video?" he asked before launching into snarky version of the AC/DC tune. "I don't know the rest, but what a cool attitude these random people on the stage have, right?" he finished. Right, we get it. It's a giant festival—I'd play it just for the money too. But come on, is it really necessary to be giving a hipster quiz about the Empty Bottle (which he did, at the beginning of the set) to a host of folks who are obviously just here to see Coldplay and Eminem? That's not to say it's something I didn't expect from this guy. One thing is certain: he has not mellowed in his older age. And good for him, I guess. If not, we might not have gotten to witness the seriously badass versions of "Romantic Rights" and "Do It!" that finished off the set.