Best & Worst of Lollapalooza: Day 1

B.o.B. / Photo by Erik Voake

Best Reason to Wake Up Early: B.o.B.
There were more dragonflies than fans on the damp expanse of Grant Park — and more people holding coffee cups than beers cozies — when the man born Bobby Ray Simmons took the stage at 11:30. What was with giving a guy who's moving so many units a slot in the Breakfast Club? Who knows, but before Squirt Boy's water bottles were even out of his holsterer, B.o.B. had the crowd overheated. His sweet genre-mashing went down like a pastry. Heads bobbed and arms waved to "Haterz Everywhere," "Past My Shades," and "Magic." Playboy Tre guested on "Bet I." and the frontman busted out an acoustic guitar for the emo power ballad "Letters from Vietnam." He played his own song "The Kids," and finished with a cover of MGMT's "Kids." But no kids were happier than the two who ended up with Bobby Ray's sneakers — in a moment of exuberance, he flung them into the crowd. — KEVIN BRONSON

Second Best Reason to Wake Up Early: Javelin
This Brooklyn duo were worth setting that pesky alarm clock and hitting Grant Park early. Cousins Tom van Buskirk, 28, and George Langford, 30, hit the Playstation Stage just before 11:30 A.M., and got an early-bird crowd dancing with their electronic sound collages that cut and paste rock, soul, pop, and hip-hop samples with original music. Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself," Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Tears of a Clown," and Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" were dropped over loops, drum machines, and synths that sounded like 8-bit video game themes or digital nursery rhymes. And it gets quirkier: The former art school students transmitted their music on a local frequency to an assemblage of 20 boom boxes onstage, which blasted the sound with a charmingly ramshackle quality. — WILLIAM GOODMAN

Best Excuse to Wake and Bake: Wavves
"You guys get high?" Nathan Williams blearily greeted the surprisingly massive opening-set crowd. "We just smoked out of a Bud Light can." Hey, never let it be said that artists won't support a festival's sponsors. But what better soundtrack for the day's first bouncings of beach balls than "King of the Beach?" Stoned out of his gourd or not, Williams seems more assured every time he plays, leaving his previous festival misadventures further in the rear view, thanks to new, better songs like "Green Eyes" and "Take on the World." And obviously, it's impossible to watch this incarnation of the band without thinking of Jay Reatard. —STEVE KANDELL

Most Glamtastic Extroverts: Semi Precious Weapons
For their Friday afternoon set on the BMI stage, Semi Precious Weapons came to make an impression—and left having made a spectacle of themselves. They wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Fronted by stiletto-heeled giant Justin Tranter, the NYC tranny glam quartet were a furious ball of fabulous energy, attitudinally if not musically akin to Lady Gaga, with whom they are currently touring and who helped them get signed. Thanks to their dervish bassist, whose playing often fell victim to his aggressive antics, the sound mix disappeared into a K hole and never quite recovered. But the crowd didn't seem to mind. Not when it could see the band's benefactor—clad in a nearly sheer body stocking—take to the stage, just to fly off it. "It's rock 'n' roll, but you can still dance," Tranter scolded. Like he even needed to tell us that. — DOUG BROD

Best Hometown Heroes: Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy
Artists traveled by plane, train, and automobile to Chicago for Lollapalooza, but some of the fest's most revered stars live so close they could have walked. The Mavis Staples -- the 71-year-old lead singer for the chart-topping Stax group the Staples Singers, and a native of the city's South Side -- invited another local, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, onstage during her early Friday afternoon set for a sampling of Chicago's gospel-blues sound. Tweedy, who produced Staples' forthcoming album You Are Not Alone, joined on acoustic guitar on its title track (which he wrote for her), as Staples for the world's lonely souls in her soulful voice. The alt-country rocker also played on a cover of John Fogerty's "Wrote a Song for Everyone," while Staples and her crackerjack band -- including three backup singers -- played Staple Singers classic "I'll Take You There," You Are Not Alone gospel gem "Too Close to Heaven/I'm on My Way to Heaven Anyhow," and a hot-blooded cover of the Band's classic "The Weight." — WG.

Best Gingers: New Pornographers
The New Pornographers are always more entertaining when Neko Case is along for the show, as she was here. Wearing a massive floppy hat that could easily double as an Ikea lampshade, she lamented the fact that it was far plainer haberdashery than the evening's headliner—Lady Gaga— would likely sport. Still, equally pale but hatless AC Newman offered her $500 bucks for it. And in between the crackling stage banter, they played their songs, particularly awesomely. Say what you want about dodgy festival acoustics, but the intricate three-part harmonies on the Dan Bejar-fronted "Testament to Youth in Verse" were as clear as a bell. Three bells, even. — SK