Pared down from last year’s seven-stage overload, a leaner and more efficient Outside Lands this year sported appearances from The Strokes, Kings Of Leon, Al Green, Cat Power, Wolfmother, Social Distortion, Phoenix, Nas & Damian Marley, Electric Six and many, many more.

Performances were spaced out enough on the fairgrounds that music revelers weren’t forced to choose between their favorite acts or sprint between stages, adding to the casual pleasantry of the overcast skies and cool ocean breeze that kept the late-August heat from becoming a bother.

After dealing with the epitome of whole-crew ineptitude from the will call/media pickup people (really, guys? A dozen workers looking at empty rows while the one actually doing his job is listening to his iPod and casually spending an average of 5 minutes per person?) we got through in time to catch Electric Six turn the early afternoon crowd into a bouncing bonanza with Improper Dancing.

We’re all massive fans of E6 and have seen ‘em tear down the house at a dozen club shows, but these Detroit demons are most in their element in the festival setting, winning over tens of thousands of complete strangers with infectiously hilarious party-rock voodoo. Their new album comes out next month – it’s called Zodiac, and it’s without doubt the single most fun record you’ll hear this year.

We moved on to Gogol Bordello after an interview break, and were reminded how much better these guys are live than on record. Their unique brand of gypsy Rock matched the jubilation of Electric Six, with an Eastern European flare that was alien enough to keep the crowd – roughly half of which were familiar with the band – on their toes.

Beats Antique was an experience of sagging beauty and percussive mediocrity, with thirty-and-fortysomething dancers sucking in their bellies as they did their little gypsy hip shakes around the stage.

For a long while now I’ve had the same feeling about Wolfmother that I’ve had about eating broken glass (it’s stupid), but it’s only fair to acknowledge that goat man and his hired guns had the crowd in the palm of their hand Saturday night, particularly during a surprisingly impressive rendition of The Who’s Baba O’Riley late in the set.

After being completely indifferent towards My Morning Jacket for years, the photo-pit proximity to the show – coupled with some undeniably fantastic nugs – created the perfect environment for Jim James and company to fully convert me to a fan. They opened with a slow-rising rendition of Tonight I Wanna Celebrate, before moving on through an impressive set that included fan favorites Highly Suspicious and Golden. I was disappointed to leave after only a few songs, but I wanted to get good positioning for Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power.

I’ve been a Cat Power fan for many years, but it gets difficult to maintain an active listenership with a voice that cuts through my heart like a sword through rice paper. Opening with Good Woman, a Vedder-tinted track from her astounding You Are Free record, the understated agony of heartbreak wafted through the air like a sweet sedative, calming the fidgety crowd and enrapturing all in earshot.

Moving on through a soft-step cover of the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction, Chan took advantage of the singalong to step back and survey her audience. The look of appreciative enthusiasm illustrated just how far she’s come as a musician since her early days of botched shows and fits of stage-fright.

My hectic trek to the opposite end of the park for Grateful Dead spinoff Furthur, featuring original Deadheads Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, proved unnecessary; they didn’t appear onstage until 15 minutes into their set time, after which they spent another 20 minutes noodling around, warming up and completely ignoring the crowd.

Once they opened with Cassidy, the joints were lit and the crypt-keeper face of Lesh was mercifully hazed out in a thick cloud of weed smoke. Watching a woman my grandmother’s age lose her shit as the band broke into the celebrated Dead jam Loser, screaming with joy and throwing herself to the ground again and again, proved to be my breaking point. I moved on.

The hippies rolled deep for Further, and I nearly missed the start of The Strokes set back across the field at the Twin Peaks stage. But I made it, in time to muse on how bizarre it was that a band who hasn’t had a record in four years or toured in ages was drawing such a massive crowd. I was a fan, but the boys had long since dropped off my radar, and I found myself wondering if they could even hold my attention anymore.

It only took one song. New York City Cops, a buoyantly stabby non-album track, kicked off a high-energy set of accelerated darkpop jams that escalated through The Modern Age and Hard To Explain, two more cornerstone songs that sold even the most cynical skeptics on hand.

We parted the hipster/hippie seas before the band closed with Take It Or Leave It, a triumphant day behind us, to gear up for Day Two.

A little while back, we got a tip from an insider informing us that the Soundgarden reunion officially announced at the start of this year was not happening after all, as the members of the band struggle to maintain a sustainable working relationship with Chris Cornell’s Wife / Manager Vicky Cornell. We’ve been trying to dig up news in either category ever since; of reunion plans, or supporting this tip, and so far this Lollpalooza lineup is all we’ve got. We’ll just have to wait and see if it happens… And where it goes from there.

We’ll also have to wait and see how the rest of the lineup shapes up. Looks like Them Crooked Vultures are out despite rumors, but there’s a bunch of interesting bands that fit into mystery spots, including Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Social Distortion, The Black Keys, The Deftones (people are saying that one’s The National, but would they be so high on the bill?), Spoon, Devo, Bon Iver, Cypress Hill, and Gogol Bordello.

UPDATE: Soundgarden have officially announced their Lollapalooza appearance, and here is the complete lineup, as slipped out by The Chicago Tribune’s Greg Kot (via Consequence Of Sound):

Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Phoenix, Social Distortion, MGMT, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, The Black Keys, The National, Spoon, Devo, Cypress Hill, Cut Copy, The New Pornographers, Erykah Badu, Slightly Stoopid, Grizzly Bear, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, Wolfmother, Yeasayer, X Japan, Mutemath, Metric, Dirty Projectors, AFI, Mavis Staples, Matt & Kim, The XX, Drive-By Truckers, Blues Traveler.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Temper Trap, Jamie Lidell, Frightened Rabbit, Fuck Buttons, Deer Tick, Blitzen Trapper, Stars, Raphael Saadiq, The Cribs, Minus The Bear, Switchfoot, The Walkmen, Mumford & Sons, Wild Beasts, Rogue Wave, Los Amigos Invisibles, The Big Pink, The Dodos, Hockey, Cymbals Eat Guitars, B.O.B., Dawes, Warpaint, The Antlers, The Soft Pack, Rebelution, Balkan Beat Box.

Wavves, American Bang, The Ike Reilly Assassination, Company Of Thieves, Nneka, Harlem, The Constellations, Miniature Tigers, Mimicking Birds, The Kissaway Trail, Health, Javelin, The Morning Benders, Foxy Shazam, Violent Soho, Royal Bangs, Neon Trees, Freelance Whales, Semi Precious Weapons, Dan Black, The Band Of Heathens, Dragonette, My Dear Disco, Shawn Fisher, Neon Hitch, Skybox, The Ettes, Jukebox The Ghost, These United States, MyNameIsJohnMichael.

Perry’s DJ stage lineup:

2ManyDJs, Empire Of The Sun, Digitalism, Perry Farrell, Tiga, Felix Da Housecat, Rusko, Erol Alkan, Kaskade, Flosstradamus, Wolfgang Gartner, Joachim Garraud, Mexican Institute Of Sound, Caspa, Peanut Butter Wolf, Dirty South, Nervo, Cut Copy (DJ Set), Beats Antique, Steve Porter, Didi Gutman Of Brazilian Girls, Ancient Astronauts, Ana Sia, Team Bayside High, Dani Deahl, FreeSol, DJ Mel, BBU, Vonnegutt, Only Children, Lance Herbstrong.

Big thanks to Consequence Of Sound for much detective work, especially when it comes to all those hipster bands we’ve never heard of.

Women ruled the night at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift leading the pack at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Both Swift and Beyoncé, both apparently immune to overexposure, left little room for other contenders. Jay-Z’s wife pulled the most awards, taking six trophies — the most ever for a female artist on a single Grammy night — including Song of the Year and Best R&B Song for Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Halo. Somewhere, Kanye was undoubtedly jumping up and down with a bottle of cognac. So now we can officially put that Single Ladies song away, right? Can we never hear that shit again please?

Swift became the youngest musician to win Album of the Year, for Fearless. She won four awards overall, including Best Country Album (also Fearless), Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance (both White Horse).

Other big winners included Eminem, who won for Rap Album (Relapse) and Best Rap Duo Performance (Crack A Bottle), Jay-Z who won for Rap Solo Performance (D.O.A.), Rap Song (Run This Town), and Collaboration of the Year (Run This Town with Rihanna and Kanye West), while Lady GaGa won for Best Dance Recording (Poker Face) and Dance Album (The Fame).

Disappointingly, several of the most interesting awards were given prior to the telecast. Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream was named Best Solo Rock Performance, Jeff Beck took Best Rock Instrumental Performance for A Day in the Life, the Beatles took Best Long Form Video and French electro-poppers Phoenix took the Best Alternative Album award for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. AC/DC finally won their first trophy for War Machine, pulling Best Hard Rock Performance. Neil Young, who took his first award for Best Boxed Set Or Special Limited Edition Package, deserved at least to have his win televised.

Kings of Leon grabbed three awards, all involving their hit Use Somebody, which has officially earned itself a right to go the hell away now. Stephen Marley won Best Reggae Album for Mind Control – Acoustic, while Ziggy Marley captured Best Musical Album for children for Family Time.

The Black Eyed Peas won three Grammys, including Best Pop Vocal Album for The E.N.D., and I suppose there’s no getting around that. But for all the flash, glamour and back-patting, some oddly-chosen performances lent the hyperbolic congratulatory nature of the event a little bit of a circus air.

Gaga, the walking space-cadet rotating wardrobe herself, opened the show with the song Poker Face before a memorable two-song duet with Elton John. Green Day, who unjustifiably won Best Rock Album for 21st Century Breakdown, turned in a solid performance of tired station-changer 21 Guns with the American Idiot musical cast. Beyoncé lost some sheen and showed that she’s overdue for a break with her performance, backed by a SWAT team of dancers. Pink spun from the ceiling, soaking wet, during an acrobatic performance of Glitter in the Air. Put that girl on “Dancing With The Stars” and be done with it, alright?

Lil Wayne, Eminem, Travis Barker and “Hi, I’m overhyped” Drake issued a profanity-laced medley of Rebirth’s Drop the World and Forever, after Jeff Beck led a special Les Paul tribute while Jamie Foxx’s Blame It managed somehow to mix T-Pain, opera, Doug E Fresh and Slash performing the November Rain solo into one strange melting pot performance. I still can’t figure out what the hell I was watching.

An overwrought 3-D tribute to Michael Jackson followed, featuring Celine Dion, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, Usher and Carrie Underwood singing along with the King of Pop’s Earth Song. Prince and Paris, Jackson’s two eldest children, accepted their father’s posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award (but Blanket was in the house!!).

Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks, a beautiful portrait of idiocy, also joined Taylor Swift to duet on Rihannon and You Belong With Me. It was an unsuccessful collaboration, with the two having absolutely nothing in common with one another, and no chemistry to speak of. Nevertheless, Swift was beaming throughout the performance – though seeing and hearing are two different things entirely.

Below are the most important/noteworthy awards:

Best Alternative Music Album: Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Best Solo Rock Performance Vocal: Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Kings Of Leon – Use Somebody
Best Hard Rock Performance: AC/DC – War Machine
Best Metal Performance: Judas Priest – Dissident Aggressor
Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Jeff Beck – A Day In The Life
Best Rock Song: Kings Of Leon – Use Somebody
Best Rock Album: Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
Record Of The Year: Kings Of Leon – Use Somebody
Song Of The Year: Beyoncé – Single Ladies
Album Of The Year: Taylor Swift – Fearless