Limp Bizkit Had Serious Dad Vibes at Lollapalooza. Will They Last?
Limp Bizkit is back? That is my honest question this morning because it kind of seems like it. They were prominently featured in a documentary and then Fred Durst made a million headlines with a new normcore look and finally last night they played Lollapalooza in front of tens of thousands of people. Many of whom probably weren't even born back when Limp Bizkit was one of the biggest bands in the world.
That was around the time of Woodstock '99, which has recently reentered the Internet conversation thanks to a Bill Simmons-produced documentary on HBO. The documentary is an hour-by-hour retelling of how the festival was a disaster and while I can't say it was great, it was definitely a peek inside a time capsule from my sophomore year of high school. While I didn't attend Woodstock '99, a few of my friends did and they all came back with more sunburns than horror stories. As Durst started the hour-longn set he referenced the documentary saying this was not Woodstock '99.
Limp Bizkit is one of the many bands that people my age sometimes have to reckon with having been really into back then. I, along with most of my friends, probably knew every single word off "Significant Other," despite the fact that most of us had very few legitimate reasons to want to pack a chainsaw. And yes, we were definitely thrilled to download "Chocolate Starfrish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water" on Napster.
The music of that very specific era was so white and angry and full of record scratches and it is incredibly cringy to look back at it now. But it's what was popular. I remember blasting Disturbed and Papa Roach CD's on a boombox while playing basketball in my driveway. I sometimes wonder if my parents paid any attention to the lyrics about those bands having horrible relationships with their parents.
Anyway, I still talk to my parents and don't often revist that music, but seeing Limp Bizkit at Lollapalooza, it's all coming back to me now. I've been watching performances on and off all weekend thanks to Hulu. It's both nice to watch live music and be in the safety of my own home because it looks more like COIVDpalooza in Chicago this weekend, am I right folks? Towards the end of Limp Bizkit's set Durst asked the crowd to put their hands up if they'd been vaccinated. It looked like the whole crowd responded in the affirmative and Durst said, "That's very considerate of you."
It certainly looked like a triumphant return for Limp Bizkit. They sounded about as good as rap-fueled nu metal can sound in 2021. The crowd jumped and screamed and moshed. It will be interesting to see if it results in a new generation of Limp Bizkit fans. How ironic can this generation be? Their new song is called "Dad Vibes," which fits Durst's new look. Rather than perform the song, they played the track over the PA system while Durst went out into the crowd to pass out t-shirts.
What an incredibly weird scene! Much like Durst, I don't really know how to end this. I guess I'll just wander around pointing to shit we've done in the past and hope you still enjoy it. Just click these links about no longer popular music tastes. Will a new generation get into the L-I-M-P Bizkit right here? Or will My Generation just accept emrbace them again? These things happened. They were popular. Were previous generations retroactively embarassed by the music they loved when they were the target audience? I guess the best way to put it is to quote a Limp Bizkit song from 1999:
"You're no good for me. Thank God it's over."