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Music

Eminem Did the Unexpected and Gave Lollapalooza Exactly What They Wanted

He's made a career out of fucking with people's expectations but at Lollapalooza he fulfilled them.

Photo by Petya Shalamanova

More than anything else, Eminem’s Lollapalooza set was comforting. Closing out Friday night at the Chicago festival, he delivered on all the things that a fan could reasonably expect—the sustained raw energy, the perfectly canned, audience-rallying banter, the virtuosic wordplay, and the surprises that elevate a headlining set from enjoyable to electrifying. It was just the crowd wanted, and Eminem gave it to them. And it was fantastic.

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Beginning as dusk fell, the hour and a half set was Eminem’s first U.S. performance in 2014. He came out after relatively little build-up and immediately launched into a 30-song setlist that spanned his entire career, mega-hits and lesser-known jams alike. He reached his stride a few songs in, spitting out strong verses from “Business” and “Kill You,” followed by the biting “White America.” Strobes and searchlights lit up the crowd—seemingly acres of hands stretched high in the air—while Eminem prowled the stage. Except for endlessly shouted “Chicagos” and some formulaic words about service and loss before “Like Toy Soldiers,” he didn’t say much. He didn’t really need to.

Oh, and Rihanna was there. Earlier in the evening we heard that Rihanna had boarded an afternoon flight bound for Chicago, but her actual appearance on stage was still thrilling. Recently, they’ve been practicing for the six-date Monster Tour, which starts shortly after Lollapalooza but only travels to three cities, so this gave fans that probably won’t see it a terrific preview. She took the stage about a half hour into the set to duet on “Love the Way You Lie,” which they followed with “Monster” and “Stan,” with Rihanna taking over Dido’s hook. The crowd went pretty wild, and went even nuttier when Eminem later fired off “My Name Is,” “The Real Slim Shady,” and “Without Me” in quick succession.

The only real musical missteps were some muddled vocal mixing, especially in the songs immediately following Rihanna’s appearance, as well as the questionable use of gunshot effects punctuating the end of several songs. This summer has been a horrifically violent one for Chicago, with every weekend bringing news of shootings all over the city. Not to mention the fact that there are thousands of drunk people tightly packed in a confusingly laid-out area with only a few relatively narrow exits. Although there were about seven or eight of gunshots sprinkled throughout the set, each one made the crowd noticeably jumpy. Other than that, the set flowed smoothly and kept building.

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Eminem is a deceptively subtle, constant crowd-pleasing force, doing all the right things befitting his stature as a hip-hop institution, but never ostentatious about it. At the show, you’re keenly aware you’re watching the second-best selling male artist of all time, as well as the 41-year-old version of the furious, hard-up kid from Detroit who has been a dominant cultural force since the deliriously profane, irresistible The Slim Shady LP dropped to controversy-filled fanfare in 1999. Since then, he’s had an impressive ability to direct everything that happens to him—the family strife, the struggles addiction, years and years in the limelight—into a singular, forward-moving body of work. He’s fleshed out multiple distinct personalities, using them to explore himself, his personal relationships, and his place in the hip-hop landscape. That’s what sets him apart; he doesn’t just build his songs around his first feeling about something, seeking to hit the same notes over and over again—Eminem dives into uncertainty and embraces the parts of his brain that most musicians are too scared to touch. And we trust him because we’ve watched him do it–even his weirdest decisions are sensible, in character, and still terrific to watch.

Trusting is a weird way to think about a musical artist, especially one who’s often the subject of controversy and who really doesn’t perform that much—it’s been almost impossible to see Eminem live outside of a handful of festivals and arenas since the early-aughts Anger Management tour, back when people would actually spend hard-earned American currency seeing Papa Roach. He’s not really a contemporary artist, in the sense that he doesn’t use social media, or build his brand Jay Z-style, yet inspires obsessive devotion and fandom. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t felt the need to modernize as much, instead preferring to continue looking inward at himself, that makes him so trustworthy as an artist. It’s a great thing to see musicians you love, and there are so many artists out there with a sterling live reputation, but with Eminem, it feels different. You trust him to be open, intense, and just go up there and play the music. You trust him to be transcendent, as he has been for such a long time, and then he is. And what is the "Lose Yourself" chorus–“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment," his only encore–except the state of mind everyone at Lollapalooza is trying to achieve? Eminem has made a career out of fucking with people’s expectations, but at the same time, he’s always able to fulfill all of them.

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Devin Schiff is a stan for life. He's on Twitter - @devinschiff.

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