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Written by VANESSA MIRABILE / Photos by NICK POWILLS
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Monday, 07 August 2006 |
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Charismatic Matt Hales aka Aqualung was among the first acts to kick-off Lollapalooza early Friday afternoon, and he did it with style. With the sunshine stronger than ever, Matt Hales started the show introducing his first song “Easier to lie” in a serious tone but then jokingly added “a perfect song for a sunny day”.
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Aqualung
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August 4, 2006
Adidas Champs Stage
Lollapalooza
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With a set list that is often described as deeply emotional and filled with heartbreak, Aqualung managed to express his melancholic mood while singing and beautifully playing the piano, but at the same time kept close contact with the audience to ensure we enjoyed his show. The humorous Brit lightened the mood when introducing such songs as “Strange and Beautiful” by joking, “It’s a lovely sunny day so we will play this song to make you feel it is raining.”
His good mood did not stop there. He introduced new songs claiming the new album was be finished on the flight back home (maybe that was not a joke), and treated us to a made-up song to justify the misery Aqualung projects in his lyrics: “What is his fucking problem, When everyone is so lovely to him, He is an English sad bastard, So you will have to put up with it” While the crowd was not exactly rocking, we were stretching, giggling, and more importantly, paying attention to what was happening in the performance.
Towards the end of the show, Hales shared with the audience the story of his two-year old son’s disease as he introduced a very emotional song “Tongue-Tied”. After playing the hit “Brighter than Sunshine”, the band closed the set with a strong and up tempo cover of Queen's “Somebody to Love”. This gave us the opportunity to taste a bit of the rock'n'roll as most of us were so eager to experience this weekend.
In spite of all the melancholy in his songs, Hales made it fun, and it would have been a miss not to see Aqualung at Lollapalooza: he reminded us that life is good. After his show I was ready to get a beer and rock on!
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