Follow along with the Sun-Times as the tunes continue Saturday at Lollapalooza in Grant Park. Day 3 headliners include Megan Thee Stallion and Post Malone.
Cannons
Fate has treated Cannons well in the past year. After their saucy hit “Fire For You” landed on the Netflix teen drama “Never Have I Ever,” the L.A. trio was signed to Columbia Records and had a #1 hit on the Billboard alternative charts.
Keeping the crowd on bated breath, the act ended their dreamy early set with that number, as singer Michelle Joy commenting on how the track “changed their lives” after working on their craft for seven years, with bandmates Ryan Clapham (guitar) and Paul Davis (keyboards) finding Joy through a Craigslist ad.
It’s a story told a thousand times, but only a few bands like Cannons make it to a main stage at Lollapalooza — and they clearly have the je ne sais quoi to back it up.
It was also the band’s first time ever playing Chicago and the trio, accompanied by a live drummer, came dressed for the occasion.
Joy looked like a mix between Cher and She-Ra with a gold jumpsuit that hinted at her pop star career in the making. Her bandmates were wearing equally vibrant Midas shades, looking like they just got off the set of “Miami Vice.”
It makes sense since that seems to be their decade of choice. The band effortlessly floats in the ’80s post-disco electro-rock clouds, with a fresh pop veneer on songs like “Bad Dream,” “Talk Talk” and “Hurricance,” the latter debuting on Saturday, from their forthcoming album, out this fall.
Although Joy struggled at times to find her vocal footing, the set showed great promise for these up-and-comers. — Selena Fragassi
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Michigander
Michigander’s Jason Singer swore he thought he’d only see about 20 people at his set, but there was easily a hundred times that amount of revelers taking in the easy-like-Saturday-afternoon performance delivering perfectly crafted indie pop.
Of course hailing from Michigan (Detroit, to be specific), Singer and crew imbued that laidback Midwest attitude in both their music and their exultation for being tapped for a spot at Lollapalooza.
The frontman commented several times it was a “dream come true” and something he could only pine for as a high schooler when he first began writing music, like the song “Fears.” But with his talent, it was really only a matter of time until people started listening — and they have.
The band hit a high note with material from the recently released EP, “Everything Will Be Ok Eventually,” a figurative place it feels like we’re getting back to, Singer said.
Later, they began with a cover of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” morphing it into their storyteller song “East Chicago, IN.”
The addition of a trombone player in the ensemble gave the band another layer to peel away and one that has many wanting to know more.
Thankfully, they were scheduled at the same time as Madrid indie rock band Hinds whose issues with visas prevented them from making an appearance at Lollapalooza, with Michigander filling in the gaps. — Selena Fragassi
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Joy Oladokun
It’s really a wonder the BMI Stage at Lollapalooza is not the most crowded of the day, every day, with its track record of producing the next gen starts — and after seeing Joy Oladokun’s heartfelt, powerful, deep, timely and important set on Saturday, it’s clear she is next to launch.
Singer-songwriters with both universal appeal and resonating perspective like Oladokun don’t come around often, but when they do, they make their permanent mark. The songs she chose for this set touched on a range of themes — heartbreak and love (“Sorry Isn’t Good Enough”), the crossroads of religion and coming out (“Jordan”) and the current socio-political complex (“I See America”). The latter she interspersed with a house-toppling cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the intersection of the two songs giving its own moment of pause.
Born in ’92, “I See America” is her reflection about being born in the year of the Rodney King Riots and, almost 30 years later, witnessing a similar uproar of the death of George Floyd: “It’s exhausting to have to do this all the time … this song is about the tension between what a country can be and what it shows itself to be.”
To close out the set, Oladokun (switching between electric and acoustic guitars) chose another interesting medley – pairing her latest imprint “Sunday” with Prince’s “The Cross,” bubbling into a musical baptism with its amount of spirit. “I would love for you to forever associate me with Prince, how he can make you think and dance at the same time,” she said.
Oladokun doesn’t give herself nearly enough credit for being able to do so already. She may come off carefree with her jeans and Jimi Hendrix T-shirt ensemble and a sing-a-long coffeehouse vibe, but she has a fire inside we will continue to see rise over time. — Selena Fragassi
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