Originally started in 1991 by Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band, the festival toured the country before calling Chicago’s Grant Park its permanent home in 2005. Seen here is the famous Buckingham Fountain that is centered inside the park with city skyline forming a beautiful background.
For “Love Me,” Hann used a Music Man John Petrucci model that his parents gave him when he was a teenager. “It’s got these two humbuckers in it,” he says, “but the out-of-phase position has both coils split, so you get like a single-coil out-of-phase on it. It’s this horrible maroon color and when it came to doing it live, the color was so bad that we ended up getting this white vinyl that we cut out and painstakingly stuck over the entire guitar. We then covered up the hardware with tape and threw a load of multicolored paint over it. Now it’s got this weird Jackson Pollock-esque look to it.”
One of three sisters that make up the pop-rock band, Alana—the youngest Haim—goes with a 2014 Gibson ES-339 for “If I Could Change Your Mind.”
Known best as the swaggering guitarist/frontman for the Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner rejoined chum Miles Kane to tour under their side band The Last Shadow Puppets. Both guitarists switch back and forth from electric to acoustic, but for the song “Aviation,” Turner needed his late-’70s Ovation Viper II.
FR’s lead guitarist works the trem arm on his Fender Jazzmaster during the band’s opener “Get Out.”
The co-leader of the Black Keys has spent most of the summer touring with his other act, the Arcs, and lit up Thursday’s evening with a set that had him almost exclusively using this ‘60s Gibson Trini Lopez model.
The skate-punker bassist lives-and-breathes the scene’s DIY ethos as he rocked this bastardized, parts Mustang bass the entire afternoon.
Typically seen with an Epiphone Sheraton, Aubert still isn’t afraid to tour with his 1965 Gibson Firebird that saw stage time for “Cradle (Better Nature).”
The lone country act at the entire festival instantly won over the hot crowd with his raucous introduction by way of the hit “Nobody to Blame” featuring Stapleton getting down with his Fender Jazzmaster.
Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green—also frontman/guitarist for post-hardcore band Alexisonfire—always brings a stash of Gibson ES-335s on tour, but here he’s seen playing a ES-355 on the song “Woman.”
The lead singer and guitarist gets down with her early 2000s Gibson SG, whichrecently received a headstock repair, for the band’s cover of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U.”
To work though the band’s entire Ritual de lo habitual record, he relied primarily on his custom ’90s PRS Signature Navarro model.
For “You’re a Germ” guitarist/singer Ellie Rowsell went with her first mate, a 2010s Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster.
Never wavering for a second, the FIDLAR (F*^# It Dog, Life's a Risk) lead guitarist thrashed on his Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T that’s been upgraded with ’50s-voiced single-coils.
The eldest Haim sister owned the stage thanks to her high-energy performance and mid-’70s Fender Precision bass that provided pop-fused, low-end thunder.
The funky bassist started the night off with a Fender Jazz model that he slapped-and-popped on “Can’t Stop” and “Dani California.” Learn about all of Flea’s gear in our Rig Rundown from a few years ago.
One of the Nameless Ghouls shreds on a Gibson RD during the solo of “Spirit.”
Pulling double duties on guitar and bass throughout most Violators’ sets, but for “I’m an Outlaw” he thumped on his Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass4 that he got at Chicago Music Exchange earlier this year. Learn about all of Jesse’s gear in our Rig Rundown with him and the other Violators.
The texture and atmospheric sonic painter for Wolf Alice slammed around onstage with his trusty 1962 Fender Jaguar reissue that has been modded to have Lollar pickups and a M1 Mastery Bridge.
To pull off “Dani California,” the RHCP guitarist went with his 1959 Fender Stratocaster—named “Chick” after the famed L.A. Lakers announcer—that he bought at Chicago Music Exchange a few years ago. See the gear that powered Josh’s live setup in 2012 in our Rig Rundown.
The band’s lead guitarist is a huge Star Wars fan and so he names all his guitars after characters from the movies. (Get the full scoop on his guitar collection in our Rig Rundown with him.) “Vadar” is a 1979 Gibson The Paul, which was the first good guitar Reid bought. The guitar sports a Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbucker in the neck position and an Alnico II at the bridge. Reid uses “Vadar” for “Graduate,” “The Background,” “Can You Take Me,” and anything using open-D tuning (D–A–D–F#–A–D).
The first instrument Vile connected with was the banjo—and he still uses it in the band’s music as seen on the right for “I’m an Outlaw” where he used a Gold Tone model—but eventually fell in love with two 1964 Fender Jaguars. During an earlier interview with PG, Vile explained his need to have dual ’64s: “I bought it in 2011 when I was on tour. I really focused on getting familiar with it, so much so that I just bought another ’64 Jaguar for the road.” One typically is tuned to standard or down a half-step while the other could be in any number of Vile’s own creative open tunings.
Showing that instrumental funk isn’t all about spanky single-coils, Lettuce’s Adam Smirnoff went with a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul VOS 1960 for most of the band’s Friday afternoon set.
One of the band’s co-founders, Coomes held down the low-end duties with killer shades, a breezy fan, and a Fender American Deluxe Jazz bass.
When it was time to get gnarly for the band’s set that closed Thursday night on the Pepsi stage, guitarist/singer Miles Kane opted for his 1974 Gibson ES-335.
The band’s namesake kept guitar switches to a minimum for the band’s Saturday set by hanging tight onto his Danocaster T-style.
Like his bandmate Jesse Trbovich, multi-instrumentalist Rob Laasko handles guitar, bass, and even dabbles with keyboards. On the left he’s seen with a B.C. Rich Eagle—a score he landed on the cheap because it didn’t have a bridge pickup and other head-scratching mods—and on the right he plays a white-turned-yellow Gibson Les Paul (with the wrong Bigsby vibrato) that he used on “Jesus Fever” and “Freak Train.” (Learn about all of Rob’s gear in our Rig Rundown with him and the other Violators.)
Roy was originally just a bassist for Mutemath, but when Greg Hill left the band he picked some of the 6-string slack with his Sublime Guitar Company Chieftain like on “Used To,” “Light Up,” and “Blood Pressure.”
For the opening number “Only He Can Heal Me,” the lead guitarist grabbed his 2000s Fender Telecaster Custom that’s completely stock aside from the plastic toy mounted under the pickguard —he’s engaging it with his right hand in the photo—that he uses for some weird, spacey noises that’s with mixed with ambient delays during the song’s choruses and outro. Check out the Rig Rundown with Russell where he shows off his huge pedalboard and even fires up the toy.
The Scottish bandleader made due with his Fender Telecaster for the band’s Friday afternoon set. The only mod or change to the stock Tele is that he can only use the Wide Range humbucker in the neck position.
For most of the band’s smash-hit set—including a live debut of “Cop Vs. Phone Girl” and covers of Beyonce’s “Mine” and Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U”—the frontman strummed a Gibson ES-335 for “Wounded.”
The indie-rocker spent the bulk of the set having a bash with this ’60s Harmony H15V Bobkat.
Making the trip from Oxford to Chicago, the frontman/guitarist rotated between two Travis Bean models. For the band’s heavier songs he often choose a ‘70s Travis Bean TB1000S.
Don’t be confused when it comes to gear and Zac—who went for this Rocker RG-80 “super-strat” for the band’s early Sunday set that included a cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”—who told PG that he has no idea what kind or make of the guitar.