By Rich Sancho
CHICAGO -- Karen O may be the only real rockstar left on the planet. There is a level of captivation that defines a true rockstar, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman far exceeds it.
After guitarist Nick Zinner, drummer Brian Chase and touring guitarist Imaad Wasif entered the stage to a deafening crowd roar, the audience fell silent. Then, about 30 seconds later, Karen O slowly appeared, wearing a giant psychedelic Native American headdress and matching robe.
The solo piano line to "Runaway" off of It's Blitz began, and accompanied by guitar noise and ambience only, Karen O softly meandered through the lyrics, entrancing the audience. The song built to an epic level and then subsided. By far the best show open of the weekend.
From there the set turned deliberately more high-energy, launching into "Phenomena," which ended with 16 bars of the funky, guitar driven chorus of the Beastie Boys' "So Wat'cha Want," -- clearly a nod to MCA and the Beasties, whom the YYY's had replaced on the Lollapalooza lineup due to MCA's recent cancer diagnosis.
The quartet then tore through It's Blitz!'s "Dull Life" and Show Your Bones tracks "Gold Lion," and "Cheated Hearts," with Karen leaving items from her Native American costume strewn all over the stage in the intense August heat. They then pulled the energy back for one song, the ambient and majestic "Skeletons."
Several songs later they started arguably the best track on It's Blitz, a song called "Hysteric." As the intro began, an additional synth/ backing track was mis-triggered by either the guitar player or the drummer, so several seconds in, all band members traded a glance and stopped playing entirely. Karen O casually turned and said, "Sorry!" to the crowd and laughed -- they restarted the song, and the set rolled on, intoxicating the fans at Chicago's Grant Park as if nothing had happened.
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