Santigold / Photo by Erik Voake

THE WORST:

WORST USE OF CLARINET: LOW ANTHEM
The Low Anthem are a good band. Lollapalooza put them in a tough spot. The Rhode Island trio's lovely folk-rock is a delicate, often hushed thing. Unfortunately, those are adjectives that don't always translate well to a festival gig, where big gestures go over best. When the band broke out the clarinet and harmonica for some gentle mewling, it wasn't a surprise to look around the audience and see a lot of people start checking their schedules. -- D.M.

WORST WHITE STRIPES COMPARISON: BAND OF SKULLS
People often refer to the White Stripes when talking about Band of Skulls, likely because the British three-piece has a similar guy-chick blues-rock thing going on with vocal-swapping guitar player Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson. If anything, though, the Skulls' fat, fluid sound -- scudding bass lines and fuzz-toned guitar predominate -- makes them more of their generation's answer to classic '60s power trio Cream than Zep acolytes like the Stripes. For their late morning set on Lollapalooza's BMI Stage, the Skulls reprised much of their current Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, including "I Know What I Am," quite possibly the catchiest hit in the uncatchy annals of blooze-rock. -- B. F-W.