While waiting for the official Lollapalooza 2008 line-up, here's a look back at Lollapalooza 2007's best performances. Enjoy.

The grunge/alt rock legend Pearl Jam performs "Daughter" and then eases into Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall". Always willing to expose the ills of corporations and politicians, Eddie Vedder changes up the lyrics in ABITW to "George Bush leave this world alone/George Bush find yourself another home."

Those lines were censored from the official AT&T Blue Room 'live' (obviously delayed) cast of Lollapalooza 2007, which created a huge uproar in the mainstream and blog music press. AT&T called the censoring of Vedder's words a 'mistake' with the video stream. Yeah, right.



This next clip is from the electronic lightshow duo Daft Punk performing "Robot Rock" with a very interesting and familiar intro. This is a good video, but it gets shaky once the grooves and beats really get moving. It's obvious that amateur videographer tacvbo was being bumped into, but strangely or not, it gives the video an added sense of excitement. Sound quality is excellent for a YouTube concert video.



Did you say more Daft Punk? Cool. Here's a nine-minute long compilation of Daft Punk's set during Lollapalooza 2007 meticulously spliced together by YouTuber trunts297. The shots are further from the stage and there's the shakiness factor (when will YouTube give us tripods?), but overall it's a must-see for DP fans. Sound quality is good.



Stay tuned, more best videos from Lolla 2007 coming soon...

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Labels: Best of Lollapalooza Videos, Daft Punk, Lollapalooza, Lollapalooza 2007, Lollapalooza 2008, Lollapalooza Videos, Pearl Jam

Over the next couple of days, IRC will publish complete updates on the latest news for 2008 music festivals, including Bonnaroo, SXSW, Coachella, Rothbury, Bamboozle, Sziget, Glastonbury, Austin City Limits, Virgin Festival and many others.

Next month, a comprehensive guide will be published and feature all of 2008's indie-relevant music festivals including the latest news, ticket info, line-ups, artist profiles, discussions, photos, MP3s and videos of past performances.

Lollapalooza (August 1-3, 2008) - While ticket sale dates and the line-up for Lollapalooza 2008 have yet to be announced (as of 2/26/08), rumors are flying everywhere about which artists and groups might be playing at this year's Lolllapalooza.

If the lineup is anything like last year's (see flashback to 07 below), there will be more lolla than looza.

The following artists are rumored to be set for Lollapalooza, according to the official website's board moderator sixtimes:

The rumor mill seems to be favoring the following artists as headliners: The Smashing Pumpkins (not a SP reunion, so it's really Billy Corgan and the band), Radiohead (who wouldn't love that, especially since In Rainbows is crazy popular in and of itself with a whole new generation), Wilco, Bjork, The National, Tom Petty and The Police.

Rumor mongering is dangerous, so let's just say that as soon as the line-up is announced, it will be published here (got folks in the mix but they are staying mum right now).

In the meantime, let's warp back to six months go for a memory fest of 2007's killer lineup:

Headlining Lollapalooza 2007 was an eclectic mix of popular alternative, indie, rock, mainstream and electronica artists like Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Modest Mouse, Ben Harper, Muse, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Patti Smith, The Roots, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, The Black Keys, Kings of Leon and others.

The headliners did not come at the expense of 'second-bill' artists and groups Tokyo Police Club, !!!, My Morning Jacket, Yo La Tengo, Ted Leo and Pharmacists, Snow Patrol, CSS, Annuals, Blue October and many other indie artists who rocked Grant Park.

Where is Lollapalooza? The annual event is held in Chicago's Grant Park on the shores Lake Michigan right off the Miracle Mile. Here's a map of last year's festival grounds.

Last year, festival goers endured blistering heat and suffocating humidity (as did festival attendees at the Austin City Limits fest in Austin).

Some folks may not realize this, but it's a fact that festival organizers deliberately schedule such outdoor summer events during the 'doggiest' days of summer. Why? They sell more drinks at ridiculous prices.

Now, in fairness to event organizers, there are tremendous costs to put events like popular music festivals together. Still, don't shed a tear for the organizers, corporate sponsors and vendors, they are raking in money.

The other point is that most music festivals are attended by students - whether college age or under - who obviously have the most free time during the summer months.

Labels: 2008 Music Festivals, Daft Punk, Festival Tickets, Festivals, Lollapalooza 2008, Lollapalooza Tickets, Modest Mouse, MP3s, Pearl Jam

LONDON - Techno music trail blazers Daft Punk released their new album Alive this week, but the collection of live performances is being overshadowed in London by the buzz surrounding a special cinematic screening of the duo's Electroma, a strangely beautiful sci-fi styled film.

The two main characters, played by Peter Hurteau and Michael Reich, are based ironically enough on the persona's of Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter.

In the film, the duo set off on an odyssey to become human, roaming through gorgeous desert landscapes in a sports car on wide-open roads until they come upon a small town (filmed in Inyo County, California) inhabited by a close-knit community of proud robots.

When the 'townspeople' discover that their new residents true intention is to acquire latex (yup, latex) faces in a desperate move to humanize themselves, the locals turn on the pair, and things start to get weird. There's not much action, but the film does seem to captivate the viewer through visual effects.

Electroma, the same name of Daft Punk's latest worldwide tour, spans an array of film genres but also may have very well created their own genre in an age when technology is expanding our concepts of what film art is and can be.

Surely the film is not going to open in theatres across the U.K., Europe or the U.S., but Electroma is very different, and definitely could turn out to be a cult classic in a decade from now, although it is more likely to fade away as an interesting experiment that does not have a 'mass' appeal.

Nevertheless, Electroma is entertaining, a psychedelic cinematic delight, and an accomplished one considering that the tripmasters of techno dance shot the movie with no professional training in film-making.

In fact, in preparation for the filming, Bangalter ordered and read some 200 back issues of American Cinematography and insisted the film be shot on Kodak 35mm stock film.

However dazzling the pictures are, it is not the traditional full cinematic experience film-goers would expect, and for die-hard Daft Punk fans, there is disappointment on two fronts concerning decisions made during the planning and production of the film.

First, and baffling to many when it was first revealed, there is not one note of music in Electroma by Daft Punk.

Huh? Yup, it's true.

If you listen real closely, or just search around the web, what you can hear is plenty of discontent from fans, but listen more closely and you might hear a lot more of head scratching; simply put, why wouldn't they use their own music?

Perhaps one explanation is that they did not want to detract from their film work. There is probably also a good chance that in doing so they would miss a major revenue stream by selling a new music on a separate album release rather than add it to a movie where it would also be judged differently by critics.

It is not by mistake that Daft Punk has established itself in dance clubs and raves around the world as one of the most prolific innovators of electronica experimentation.

Secondly, if you like your movies with characters who talk - like actual dialogue - forget it - there is no dialogue in Electroma, which makes the movie more interesting, but it's a risky move.

Apparently, it's a risk Daft Punk was willing to take, and for the most part, critics and fans who have seen the film seem to think the guys pulled it off.

But still, the question will not go away:

Why wouldn't Daft Punk release a film they wrote, directed and produced and not put any of their own music in it?!

Well, as you can imagine, rumors are all over the place as to why Daft Punk's music isn't featured in the film, but really, who cares?

Moreover, a smart bet would say that it was a deliberate decision - and a wise one at that - to not include any of Daft Punk's own music in the film.

Doing so would detract from the focus - which in this case is the film-making, not their music.

Stay tuned: IRC continually updates music news, links and content even after a story is published. You can easily sign up for the Indie Feed Me mailing list.

LONDON DAFT PUNK FANS: Sign up to get free tickets for Electroma's November 30th screening in London.

View the Electroma trailer now or see it on YouTube.

Take a special peek at a photo still from the movie featuring a beautiful, tall naked women standing in the desert. (What is exactly wrong in the U.S. with showing a nude woman's body NOT in a violent movie or a pornographic context? Maybe, just maybe, that's why we have so many crimes against women in this country?)

Need a Daft Punk fix right now?

Labels: Daft Punk, Electroma, Indie Films 2007, Indie Films: Electroma

Labels: Alternative Rock Festivals, Daft Punk, Indie Rock Concerts, Indie Rock Festivals, Indie Rock Videos, Kings of Leon, Lollapalooza 2007, Muse, Pearl Jam, Spoon, YouTube Music Videos