Muse
8:30 p.m., AT&T stage
Muse is already huge around much of the world and regularly play to tens of thousands of people, so the English group's opportunity to finally do the same in America felt a bit like a belated coming out celebration. Muse has definitely got the goods to connect with the masses, but it also demonstrated a few fatal indulgences, like a wicked pretentious bent and tendency to conflate Radiohead's operatic, paranoid sci-fi prog traits with Coldplay's intrinsic wimpiness. But bombastic songs like "Starlight" and "Supermassive Black Hole" were just the thing to finish off a welcomingly cool day of rock. For all its minor flaws Muse rocked the crowd's socks off, hinting that perhaps once and for all the band has cracked general Yank indifference and plans to keep its Stateside star rising upward. --Joshua Klein

Interpol
8:30 p.m., Bud Light stage
If the music thing doesn't pan out for Interpol, bassist Carlos D has a bright future ahead of him as a Charlie Chaplin look-alike. However, judging by the masses that turned out for his group's headlining gig on Saturday night, he needn't book any vaudeville convention appearances just yet. Now three albums into their career, Interpol have more than enough material to assemble a rousing 90-minute set, and vocalist Paul Banks made the performance as intimate as it would have been were it housed in a nearby theatre. --Will Fresch



Spoon
7:30 p.m., MySpace stage
There's a restrained passion boiling hard in this Austin group that spills over rarely, but is downright fascinating to watch regardless. Maybe their smart, stylish rock is best suited to clubs, but Britt Daniel and company rose to the occasion, serving up songs from their acclaimed-across-the-board discography but focusing much of the set on new material from this year's "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," including "Don't You Evah," "The Underdog" and "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb." Old-school fans dug into offerings such as "The Fitted Shirt," "Small Stakes" and "Paper Tiger," the lyrics of which Daniel--being the jokester that he is--changed from "I will no longer do the devil's wishes" to "I will no longer do the devil's dishes." --Fauzia Arain

Patti Smith
7:30 p.m., Adidas stage
Perhaps it was the looming threat of rain or younger hipsters discounting her as an old timer, but the attendance during Patti Smith's set was far from what a legend of her status deserves. Regardless of the reasons, those who did show up were treated to a mixture of golden punk oldies and covers from her current "Twelve" disc. Smith tore into her staple "Because the Night" with gutsy abandon while offering an ambitiously insurgent blues interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" A dirge-like take on Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" seemed tailor-made for her rugged pipes, which remain in feisty form even at 60. --Andy Argyrakis

Snow Patrol
6:30 p.m., Bud Light stage
Snow Patrol took advantage of their first trip to Lolla by chatting up the crowd. Frontman Gary Lightbody even gave shout-outs to the bands he saw earlier that day (Cold War Kids, Tapes 'n Tapes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Hold Steady), then dedicated a song to headliner Interpol--which he called the best band in America. Fans waved Irish flags, and one girl held a "Dingle '05" sign, a reference to the cliff-side studio on Ireland's West Coast where Snow Patrol recorded the album, "Easy Open." Radio hit "Chasing Cars" came at the halfway point, with much of the crowd singing and swaying along, many women visibly moved by the emotional ballad. Later, surprise guest Nikki Monninger of Silverspun Pickups sweetly sang a duet with Lightbody on "Set the Fire to the Third Bar." Though their set was tight, Snow Patrol's sound seems best-suited for rotation on your iPod; they're not exactly a visually exciting band demanding to be seen live. --Karen Budell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6:30 p.m., AT&T stage
First, fest daddy Perry Farrell proclaimed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs "explosive," rare and one of his favorite bands. Then, Karen O--decked out in a zig-zaggy black, white and silver costume we can only hope to see copied come Halloween, and a sassy smear of blue makeup on her forehead--Nick Zinner, Brian Chase and touring member Imaad Wasif took the stage to prove Farrell entirely right. Their hour-long set started with a bang and never ceased to fuel the flame that the band set under the audience, a mix of hipsters and frat boys thrashing along to Karen O's cues. Highlights from the set included "Turn Into" and "Gold Lion" off of "Show Your Bones" and "Pin," "Y Control" and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' love song, "Maps." --Fauzia Arain

Regina Spektor
5:30 p.m., Adidas stage
Singer/songwriter Regina Spektor triumphantly launched into the ethereal "On the Radio" at the grand piano, accompanied by a fervent sing-a-long. But only a few minutes into the set, her momentum halted when a fan fainted and she signaled the audience to make a path for security to intervene. While she was genuinely concerned, the break turned into an awkward silence that lasted several minutes, almost derailing Spektor's otherwise majestic voice and magnetic personality. Luckily, once the crisis was controlled, the troubadour returned to her cross-breeding of Kate Bush and Tori Amos, with "Fidelity" blending the textbook amount of enigma and charm. --Andy Argyrakis

The Roots
4:30 p.m., Bud Light stage
The Roots' MC, Black Thought, had a message for the sprawling crowd gathered at the Bud Light stage Saturday afternoon: Hip-hop is not dead. He came right out and said it mid-way through The Roots' set but spent the rest of the show proving it. The Philadelphia hip-hop pioneers tore through a rich set of tunes from their own catalog, letting up only to churn out snippets of the genre's greatest hits, from "Rapper's Delight" to "Push It" to "This is Why I'm Hot." Even if they'd had any competition--and they didn't--they still would've been the best live-band hip-hop act to play Lolla this year. --M. Kathleen Pratt

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
4:30 p.m., AT&T stage
Now that the smoke from 2005's e-hype--that catapulted these Brooklyn indie-rockers into silly fame before they were even signed--has cleared a bit, there are still hordes of people standing by the band's side. And for good reason. Their post-buzz second album, "Some Loud Thunder," delivered more of the same solid, inventive material that often draws comparisons to the Talking Heads. The band put on a good show, their sharp, quirky rock flowing over a crowd eager to respond to their jaunty tunes. Unfortunately, nothing too zany went down onstage to match the music, save for when they broke out a megaphone to deliver their debut album's opening track, the woozy carnie call "Clap Your Hands!" --Fauzia Arain

Rhymefest
3:30 p.m., PlayStation stage
There's no reason that Rhymefest should still be Chicago's best-kept hip-hop secret and not on a tier with fellow hometown heroes like pal Kanye West or even peer Lupe Fiasco. At the same time, Rhymefest has been better than he was Saturday afternoon, when even backed by a nine-piece band he still had a little trouble finding his groove. He did offer a couple of previews of new songs from his forthcoming second record "El Che," like the Kanye produced "I Came Home," but even his freestyle prowess seemed a little hindered by the bad sound and frequent digressions. --Joshua Klein

Cold War Kids
3:30 p.m., Citi stage
Even if no one's buying them anymore, CDs (or at least downloadable tracks) can still help build an audience. Take Cold Ward Kids, who played last year's fest with oodles of Internet buzz but no full-length album to their name. The Fullerton, Cal., quartet, who released the stripped-down, mid-tempo bluesy "Robbers and Cowards" last October, drew three times the crowd to their set at this year's fest. Now they have an audience to back their buzz; they also have a singer with a one-in-a-thousand raspy tenor in Nathan Willett; and on stage they have a fiery passion that rings true. With a little fine tuning to their set of same-y songs, the band could soon be a complete package. --Matt McGuire

Silverchair
2:30 p.m., AT&T stage
Australia's Silverchair has come a long way since their 1995 debut "Frogstomp." Singer/guitarist Daniel Johns effortlessly led the band through grungy guitar-driven rock reminiscent of their earlier days (though they didn't play their first hit, "Tomorrow") to rock opera-esque flourishes in "If You Keep Losing Sleep." Johns, shirtless in skinny black pants with a red sash tied around his head, displayed a glam-rock sex appeal while slipping into falsetto and working his guitar with precision that included a couple of literal licks he played with his mouth. Silverchair has clearly matured and come into their own as a versatile band capable of beautiful melodies and rocking guitars that command an enthusiastic crowd and a response befitting acts booked to much later time slots. Both this set and their fifth album, "Young Modern," show Johns and company are poised for another surge of fame in the States. --Karen Budell

Stephen Marley
2:30 p.m., Bud Light stage
Given an immediately recognizable last name, Stephen Marley will always be in the shadow of his famous father. Unfortunately, his solo material paled in comparison to that reggae figurehead, as covers of several Bob Marley classics lacked his lineage's spice. New tune "Mind Control" was merely a percussion-stacked ramble jam, while treatments of "No Woman, No Cry" and "Buffalo Soldier" were void of the late, great legend's punch or personality. At least Stephen follows in pop's peace-promoting footsteps, but tomorrow's set from Bob's backing band The Wailers is probably a much better bet. --Andy Argyrakis

Tapes 'n Tapes
1:30 p.m., MySpace stage
Well, at least somebody came here to rock! Though the sizable crowd seemed a little groggy, Tapes 'n Tapes, the Minneapolis, Minnesota indie-rock buzz band, let loose with a full-throttle set that showcased its command of melody-gilded rock that has drawn favorable comparisons to everyone from The Pixies to My Morning Jacket. Singer Josh Grier's vocals vacillated between angst-ridden and ironic--frequently from one verse to the next--while the rest of the band followed suit. By the end, however, the crowd was no match for the hook-filled "Insistor" and succumbed to its foot-stomping charms. --Chris LaMorte

Pete Yorn
1:30 p.m., Adidas stage
When singer-songwriter Pete Yorn told the Saturday afternoon crowd, "We're gonna' shimmy and shake," people were happy to oblige. Yorn stuck mostly to his own material, playing hits like "For Us" and "Life on a Chain," even if, with a total of four guitarists on stage, the singer looked ready to break into Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird." Late in the set, though, he did throw in a spot-on rendition of Warren Zevon's "Splendid Isolation." --Will Fresch

Ryan Shaw
1 p.m., PlayStation stage
Every few years a new neo-soul singer is offered up as the one to bring the music back to its classic roots, but the emphasis typically falls harder on the "neo" end of the soul spectrum. Not so Ryan Shaw, who performs in the gospel-tinged style of soul legends Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke. He even started his set with a cover of Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," and the rest of the songs were old-school all the way, delivering, in Shaw's words, "a message of love." --Joshua Klein

Tokyo Police Club
12:45 p.m., AT&T stage
Canada's latest indie exports Tokyo Police Club have yet to release a full-length CD but nonetheless managed to build considerable European and American buzz from a series of EPs and singles. Given the spacious confines of Grant Park, the group tailored its set to the heavier-handed, distortion-filled side of its catalogue (including the bullet pounder "Cheer It On" and the politically charged "Your English Is Good"), rather than its dance/pop pedigree (most reminiscent of Franz Ferdinand). In doing so, the energetic troupe displayed an unrelentingly fierce demeanor and remarkable promise sure to blossom with additional touring. --Andy Argyrakis

I'm From Barcelona
12:30 p.m., Bud Light stage
There are 29 people in Sweden's I'm From Barcelona, but only 20 of them made it to their first-ever show in America. With the look and feel of a massive kiddy show gone berserk, the chorus, complete with kazoos and a melodica, led the early afternoon crowd in feel-good singalongs from their 2007 debut "Let Me Introduce My Friends". Ringleader Emanuel Lundgren looked like a hopped-up Fraggle, and a man in a bear suit ran around the stage; It may have been over-the-top sugar-pop, but it's nice to feel like a little kid once in awhile. --Kristina Francisco

Matt and Kim
11:45 am., Adidas stage
By far the smiliest act at the festival, Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim don't necessarily have great material--silly would be a better word for it, exemplified by a song in which they say "yeah" 19 times in a row--but they're such a happy-go-lucky pair that it legitimately doesn't matter. Breezing through simple, catchy stuff from their self-titled debut album, the keyboard-and-drums duo shook off some sporadic equipment problems and could barely contain their excitement to be appearing at Lolla--with a spirit that was nothing if not contagious. Their performances are better-suited to tiny venues where the manic energy can whip up the crowd into a positive-vibes frenzy, but even on the huge Adidas stage, pencil-skinny Matt Johnson and his girlfriend Kim Schifino are immensely entertaining to listen to and a blast to experience in person. --Matt Pais

Dear and the Headlights
11:15 am., BMI stage
These Arizona indie rockers don't even have a fully functioning website yet, but for a new band with one album ("Small Steps, Heavy Hooves") this quintet is remarkably assured. These acoustically based but dynamically exciting tunes aren't necessary a major diversion from the norm, but the arrangements show true musical creativity and an unwillingness to blend into the pack of bands that fill up small venues around the country. Dear and the Headlights simply specializes in good songs, tightly played and passionately sung by frontman Ian Metzger. The sizable crowd means that people have either already caught on or just that, for many, the group quickly became an appreciated early-day discovery. --Matt Pais