Lollapalooza's multiple stages force tough decisions

Chicago got its own "destination" music festival in 2005, and ever since, Lollapalooza's organizers have tinkered with the formula.

First, the fest expanded from taking up half of Grant Park to all of it. Then the layout shifted to decrease sound bleeding between stages. This year, the main difference is in the billing.

Aside from the usual "whaat?" bookings (Love & Rockets? Toadies?? Dierks Bentley???), Lollapalooza 2008 offers more singer-songwriters (Cat Power, Butch Walker, Mason Jennings, Sofia Talvik, etc.) and fewer jam bands (pretty much just G. Love & Special Sauce and Blues Traveler) than ever. More Chicagoans are headlining (Kanye West, Wilco), but there's less representation for the city overall. Even this year's Last Band Standing finalists, vying for an early slot on the fest, are all out-of-towners.

Most glaring, the prime "uncontested" closing slot, historically reserved for day three's big finale, shifts to day one as British art rockers Radiohead play Friday against no one. This is most significant for Radiohead fans who also want to catch other bands, but it underlines a Lollapalooza attendee's main conundrum: when more than one act you want to catch is scheduled at the same time.

Here are what we feel are three of each day's toughest time-based dilemmas. We don't know what genres you like or don't, so don't expect blanket judgments. We're not going to tell you that Gogol Bordello is more exciting than The Black Keys, or that Does it Offend You, Yeah? is less annoying than The Ting Tings. Let's just agree that if we cross paths while hustling between stages, we'll be considerate.

FRIDAY

• The Go! Team (2:15 to 3:15 p.m., Bud Light Stage) vs. Yeasayer (2:15 to 3:15 p.m., AT&T Stage)

Two of the most energetic acts on Lolla's roster, London's The Go! Team and Brooklyn's Yeasayer undoubtedly know how to deliver fast-paced live shows packed with teeming harmonies and showy, instrumental twists. The difference? It's all in the presentation. Whereas Yeasayer prefers heads-down knob twitching and carefully timed vocal loops, The Go! Team's smiley, six-piece "action" roster leaps onstage abuzz with rock and rap antics akin to the local cheering squad. Musical influences abound here, but it's safe to say both bands are awash in indie roots. While rookie rockers Yeasayer hone experimental tweaks on electronics and tribal bass lines, The Go! Team settles into six years of pop know-how with funk undertones and a whole lotta kitsch.

• Cat Power (5:15 to 6:15 p.m., PlayStation 3 Stage) vs. Mates of State (5:15 to 6:15 p.m., MySpace Stage)

Tough decision here. On one hand you've got Cat Power's expertly crisp voice crooning catalogs of covers and critically acclaimed originals filled with heartbreaking minimalism. But on the other mitt, Kansas duo Mates of State manipulates one heck of a synth-drum combo, spinning well-crafted webs of romantic pop songs. How to choose? Well, let's examine the evidence. No doubt Cat Power will consider sneaking in an older cover of "Sea of Love," though we expect to hear bits of Joni Mitchell and James Brown from her more recently released and overall well-received covers album "Jukebox." Mates of State have admittedly strayed from their couple-y duo setup, bringing in two extra performers on tour this year. Here's hoping it makes for an even fuller sound, adding depth to their May release, "Re-Arrange Us."

• The Raconteurs (6:15 to 7:45 p.m., Bud Light Stage) vs. Bloc Party (6:15 to 7:15 p.m., AT&T Stage)

Even though they're playing earlier, The Raconteurs are considered tonight's co-headliners with Radiohead, and they get an extra-long set to prove it. Their quickly recorded sophomore album, "Consolers of the Lonely," was announced a mere week before its classic rock tones hit stores in March, placing Jack White's "other band" among the acts famous enough to fiddle with traditional release schedules and not lose their shirts doing so. Meanwhile, English quartet Bloc Party turned out (in this writer's opinion) the best album of 2007, "A Weekend in the City." Spurned by some for blunting their steely politics with dramatic melodies, "Weekend" both humanized and aggrandized Bloc Party by delving into their taut post-punk style's shimmering shoegazer facets. More than ever, The Raconteurs sound like a Who/Zeppelin hybrid, while Bloc Party splits the difference between The Cure and Gang of Four. Both groups pull inspiration from bygone musical eras, but they both make a strong case for salvaging the past.

SATURDAY

• Brand New (4:30 to 5:30 p.m., AT&T Stage) vs. Explosions in the Sky (4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Bud Light Stage)

Almost two years after releasing "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me," New York post-punkers Brand New announced this month that they're well under way with recording their fourth album. Word on the street is they're trying out a new song or two at upcoming shows. Whether those shows include Lollapalooza is for you to decide. As for Explosions in the Sky, whose latest rock instrumental efforts debuted two Februarys ago, Lollapalooza might be the only chance you'll get to see them for the rest of the summer. According to an announcement on the band's MySpace blog, Explosions canceled all shows in May, July and August because of "a serious illness in one of our families." This weekend's performance is destined to be even more heavy-hearted than their music typically implies.

• Broken Social Scene (6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Bud Light Stage) vs. Battles (6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Citi Stage) vs. Lupe Fiasco 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., AT&T Stage)

What a log jam! On one main stage is self-described "nerd" rapper Lupe Fiasco, the Kanye and Jay-Z protégé from Chicago's West Side whose socially conscious 2007 concept album "The Cool" helped combat modern mainstream hip-hop's vapid sex-and-bling fixation. On the other, you've got gigantic Toronto indie pop collective Broken Social Scene, which as a recording act is officially on hiatus while spotlighting various members with solo records (last year it was Kevin Drew, this year it's Brendan Canning). Then, on one of the smaller stages, there's Battles, the supergroup featuring former Don Caballero and Helmet members who electrified last summer's Pitchfork Music Festival with a fun set of rubbery indie-jam-funk-space rock. With each act deviating from the bland center of their chosen genre, your choice will likely depend on how weird you want it.

• Rage Against the Machine (8:30 to 10 p.m., AT&T Stage) vs. Wilco (8:30 to 10 p.m., Bud Light Stage)

At the end of the second night, we've got a genuine hometown showdown. In their 14-year transition from alt.country twangers to alt.rock popsters, Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt and the rest of the Wilco gang have delighted some fans and annoyed others by alternately embracing and shunning experimentation. Last year's "Sky Blue Sky" landed on the populist side of their sound, pleasant folk rock with linear lyrics. The much louder Rage Against the Machine, featuring Libertyville native Tom Morello on guitar, are on a perpetual reunion tour that began at 2007's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The group hasn't released any new music, but as the only rap-rock pioneers who had anything intelligent to say, theirs is the good kind of '90s nostalgia. Other than last summer's Alpine Valley date, this is Rage's first Chicago-area show since 1999, while Wilco hasn't played here since their sold-out five night stand at the Riviera Theatre in February. Expect a warm welcome for both.

SUNDAY

• Iron & Wine (4:15 to 5:15 p.m., Bud Light Stage) vs. G. Love & Special Sauce (4:15 to 5:15 p.m., AT&T Stage)

If Lollapalooza held a cowboy-style showdown for Most Audience-Appealing Singer/Songwriter, Iron & Wine's Samuel Bean and G. Love's Garrett Dutton might as well call it a draw. Each singer alters his version of folk into such unique frenzies of emotion - Beam with his slow, whining guitars and Dutton with his bluesy fillers and candid rhymes - that both promise shows filled with throat-drying sing-alongs and plenty of requests from respective crowds. Their differences, of course, lie within their separate, creative takes on folk, which not only sets them apart from each other but musicians in general. Where G. Love emits his rap-laden and Jack Johnson-esque swoon, Iron & Wine thrives on the kind of doe-eyed vocals that likely will draw in audiences from other stages.

• Gnarls Barkley (6:15 to 7:15 p.m., AT&T Stage) vs. Girl Talk (6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Citi Stage)

Juxtaposition is a hallmark of any forward-thinking act today, and here, two masters of the game hit the stage at roughly the same time. Girl Talk (aka Pittsburgh DJ Gregg Gillis) artfully builds his delirious tracks from a wide variety of recognizable samples, creating wild live parties wherein Of Montreal tangos with Ice Cube, Smashing Pumpkins and Three 6 Mafia compare fashion and Lil Mama spits rhymes over old Metallica riffs. He follows his 2006 indie sensation "Night Ripper" with the new "Feed the Animals," in stores next month but available now via his Web site as a Radiohead-style "pay what you want" download. Better known to the mainstream is Gnarls Barkley, the collaboration of mashup master Danger Mouse and rapper-turned-crooner Cee-Lo Green, who ruled the airwaves with the inescapable "Crazy." The pair's kinky fusion of hip-hop groove, soul swing and rock thump masks the obsidian paranoia of Cee-Lo's lyrics, resulting in a curious sort of feel-good downer which is even more explicit on Gnarls' recent second album, "The Odd Couple."

• Kanye West (8:30 to 10 p.m., AT&T Stage) vs. Nine Inch Nails (8:15 to 10 p.m., Bud Light Stage)

Recently named "Hottest MC in the Game" by MTV, rapper, producer, clothing magnate and South Side native Kanye West needs no introduction. His bombastic, theatrical headlining set at Lollapalooza 2006 proved why he pleases but transcends the conventional hip-hop audience, and although 2007's megaselling Grammy winner "Graduation" didn't really top his past work, its characteristic blend of boasts and humility seemed more poignant after the tabloid-scavenged November death of his mother. Nine Inch Nails' musical waves aren't anywhere near as huge right now, but that doesn't mean mainman Trent Reznor can't attract attention. After last year's political concept album "Year Zero" signaled the end of the industrial rock veteran's longtime relationship with Interscope Records, Reznor's fans rallied behind "Ghosts I-IV," a self-released 36-track instrumental album. To thank them, he released a more traditional NIN disc for free online. Since May, "The Slip" has racked up more than a million downloads, so Reznor's probably got his finger a lot closer to the public's pulse than a major label's stockholders could understand.

Lollapalooza 2008

Where: Grant Park, Lake Shore Drive and Monroe Street, Chicago

When: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today through Sunday

Tickets: $80 per day, $205 three-day pass

Schedule and details: (888) 512-7469 or lollapalooza.com

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