Lollapalooza 2012: 10 Best Moments of Day 1

South African electronic rap group Die Antwoord have never exactly been shy, as their live shows are frequently frenetic bursts of chaos and unpredictability. On one track during their afternoon set, Yo-Landi Vi$$er, dressed in a pink half-shirt and matching booty shorts, mooned the crowd to ecstatic cheers. The gesture was like an adrenaline shot for the overflowing crowd, who turned the Playstation Stage into a giant rave.

In recent weeks, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos has become known as much for his admitted mental health issues as his band's catchy synth-pop. Today's set focused solely on the music, with the band garnering one of the biggest crowds of the day. On "The Reeling," the Bud Light stage became one giant singalong, with spontaneous dance circles forming and everyone in the crowd handling chorus duties.

While at Passion Pit, I spotted what may be the best back at the festival. I needed to know more. This guy had staked his place to see Black Sabbath, who were performing two hours later. Note Ozzy's signature tattooed on the top right side. The most devout Sabbath fan ever told me that Ozzy signed his back two years ago. When I asked him what Ozzy thought about his giant tattoo in honor of his group, the man responded, "Ya know, he didn't say anything."

Metric lead singer Emily Haines may be rock's perfect frontwoman, able to coo, growl, excite and pacify all in the space of a song. Live, Metric's recently released Synthetica easily blends in with the group's older material, but it was "Empty" off 2005's Live It Out that caused one of the best reactions. During the chorus, which contain the lines "Shake your hips/Move your feet," a grizzled biker wearing an American flag bandana and Hell's Angels t-shirt danced around like a teenager, unaware that the crowd could see him on camera. It was a pure, spontaneous moment that's a testament to the band.

For "See and Don't See," the band's cover of a 1970 song by soul singer Marie "Queenie" Lyons, Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli made damn sure you understood every word he said. The band's cover, released in May, was the first new Whigs track in five years, and for this performance, Dulli hopped off the main stage, leaning over to get as close to the crowd as possible. With only guitar and bass backing him, Dulli did his best approximation of a manic street preacher, proselytizing to the indie rock masses. The singer would later deliver a slowed-down version of Frank Ocean's "Lovecrimes." While Ocean was in town for his own shows, there was sadly no cameo by the R&B singer.

Many musicians on Friday professed their love for Chicago or dropped platitudes about the Windy City. Only Sharon Van Etten will jokingly introduce a track like, "I wrote this song about someone who was talking sh*t about Chicago." Well played, Sharon. The singer/songwriter went into "Leonard," a painstakingly beautiful song off her third album 'Tramp' containing the lyrics, "I thought that you would love more/Now you're a coward." Do not talk sh*t about Chicago.

The Midwest cuisine is not known as the healthiest of lifestyles, with Polish hot dogs and deep-dish pizza presumably replacing Similac in certain households. But we devoured Grilled Cheese on a Stick, intrigued by such epicurean phrases as "black rum" and "smoked bacon." We will gain an inordinate amount of weight at this festival but, to quote Rihanna, "we have run out of f*cks to give."

It was hard to reconcile the doom-and-gloom psychedelic drone-rock of the Black Angels with the sweltering sun—this is a band that should be heard at midnight—but the Austin, Texas group was one of Friday's highlight thanks partly to Stephanie Bailey's ferocious drumming and drum reverb. On one track, each kick drum reverberated across the field with such intensity, it felt like three drummers were on stage. Heavy.

Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell has been involved with Lollapalooza since the beginning, with one of the eight stages here entitled Perry's focused, today at least, on EDM acts. For the first time, Perry's graduated from a smaller tent to a wide-open field to accommodate increasing interest in the genre. Artists like Bassnectar, Nero, Porter Robinson and Madeon played to some of today's biggest crowds, further proof, as if we needed more, that EDM isn't going away anytime soon.