It always bothers me when things don’t work out according to plan, and the start/end to my Saturday at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival was one of those times. In what was supposed to be an early arrival to catch sets from White Lung, Pissed Jeans and Julia Holter, bad traffic turned a short drive into an extraordinarily long one. Thank goodness I finally made it in time for Phosphorescent. Then of course there was the weather. On checking the weekend forecast on Friday afternoon shortly before heading out on Day 1, it said a chance of severe storms on Friday night, then partly cloudy for the rest of the weekend. All was going according to plan until about 9 p.m. on Saturday when it started to pour. Of course it would. Let’s hope the park stays dry enough for Sunday that there’s not mud/sand pits everywhere like last year. As for the music itself, most everything on Saturday was an improvement over the somewhat shaky or mediocre sets on Friday. Let me break things down for you, band by band.
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Most things about Day 1 at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival could be considered challenging. Or, perhaps described a little differently, most things except the performances. The main factor on Friday was the weather. A glance at the temperature would tell you the heat index was in the upper 90s, and therefore it bordered on oppressive. Then again, it’s nothing particularly new for this festival or mid-July in Chicago. Still, the volunteer staff could be credited as doing a fair to good job of distributing bottled water to the sweaty masses, even walking around with cases of it through the crowd during sets. Yet if you went to one of Union Park’s few water fountains, the lines were long. The same could be said for all the beverage tents. Everyone was in need of some fluids. And while outside of the heat it was a nice and sunny day, it became less so when severe storms rolled in during the evening hours and effectively shut down Bjork’s set 30 minutes early. It hadn’t rained a drop when organizers pulled the plug on the evening, but there was a pretty great lightning show that could hypothetically have put people in danger. The actual rain, as it was reported to me, started about 30-45 minutes after the park was cleared. Hopefully it won’t be a soggy mess for the rest of the weekend. Beyond weather and lines though, let’s talk about the music itself. Here’s a recap of the artists I saw:
I’m pleased to say that we’ve arrived at Day 3 of the Pitchfork Music Festival preview guide. This of course falls during Pitchfork Music Festival Week here on the site, which kicked off on Monday with an Artist Guide, and featured a preview of Day 1 on Tuesday and a preview of Day 2 on Wednesday. So yes, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground so far, and there’s plenty more to go. After today’s preview guide of Day 3, I’ll have day-by-day recaps of all the festival action, and we’ll wrap things up with a final look back at the weekend, plus look at a whole bunch of photos. This is going to be fun! If you’re headed to Union Park this weekend, please remember to dress for the weather (it’s going to be HOT, but will get progressively cooler with each day, and with the potential for severe storms all day Friday). Sunscreen, bug spray, etc. will be your best friend. Also remember to stay safe. Drink plenty of water, and if you’re moshing at any point, keep an eye out for your neighbor. This is one of the friendliest, nicest music festivals you’ll ever go to, so please don’t be “that guy/girl” and take away the enjoyment factor for so many. Sit back, relax, and party with great music and amazing vendors. Here’s your preview guide to all the artists you’ll see on Sunday at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival!
If you’re headed to Union Park this weekend, I sincerely hope you’re following along with this 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival preview guide. There’s a lot of great and interesting artists playing the festival this year, as there are every year, and I just want to make sure you have the absolute best time possible. That’s why I try my hardest to educate you on all the artists on the lineup and try to help you make choices about what bands to see during what hour of each day. Yesterday we previewed Friday, and that’s a shorter day than Saturday and Sunday. So now here’s the guide for Saturday, which is longer and ideally more compelling. I think much of the day on Saturday is beset with fascinating conflicts, so you may want to skip around and catch pieces of different sets all day just to get a fully rounded experience. Now then, without further ado, let me present to you a guide to Day 2 at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival!
Welcome to Day 1 of the preview guide to the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival. In this guide, the purpose is to take a look at the artist schedule hour by hour and recommend the which acts to see when. I’ll be doing this for each of the three days of the festival, for the next three days leading up to the festival. That will be followed by daily recaps of all the action happening in Union Park in Chicago each day. In case you missed it, yesterday I started off Pitchfork Music Festival week with an Artist Guide, providing web links, audio streams, mp3s and even a Spotify playlist to help get you more familiar with the full lineup of this year’s fest. It’s gonna be a great one, I suspect. Now then, let’s get right into this preview of Day 1 (Friday) at the Pitchfork Music Festival. If you’re going, I hope you find this guide helpful!
Welcome to Pitchfork Music Festival Week! For the next seven days, you can count on more coverage of the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival on this site than you can shake a stick at. What does “shake a stick at” mean and how does it apply in this context? It doesn’t matter! Just go with the flow. Anyways, as a grand introduction to this whole week’s worth of coverage, I wanted to help you get fully acquainted with all of the artists performing at this year’s festival. There’s somewhere around 45 or so (I’m too lazy to count), and depending on your tastes there’s a chance you might fall in love with all of them. Of course you’ll never know unless you listen to all of their music and judge for yourself. With that in mind, click past the jump to see a listing for every artist on the lineup, complete with links to their websites, songs you can stream on Soundcloud or Spotify (depending on your preference), and in some cases mp3s or full album/mixtape downloads. It’s quite comprehensive, and I hope you’ll discover something new and great as a result. The listings are ordered by day and (technically) set time, though I haven’t listed the set times here. Additionally, if you’d like to find almost every artist put together in a handy playlist that’s organized by genre (for flow purposes), look no further than this Spotify mix that I put together. Check back tomorrorw for the start of the day-by-day preview guide, where I’ll suggest what bands to see each hour of each day. And I promise that WILL include set times.
Now that all the written pieces are out of the way, I wanted to share with you the collection of photos that I took at this year’s Lollapalooza. Before we dive in, I want to make sure you’re aware of a couple things. First and foremost, I was not given a press photography pass for the festival. That means I didn’t have the opportunity to stand right next to the stages and zoom in to get photos of sweat dripping off the faces of every artist that was up there. When you see Jack White looking like an ant in one of these photos, that was taken from pretty far back. I like to think that most of these photos are still reasonably decent though, and I tried my best to only select the ones that worked. Secondly, what I’m posting below is only a small sample of the total photos I took over the duration of the weekend. If you want to see the all the photos, head over to Facebook for day-by-day sets. Also, if you’d like to gain a little perspective on what bands I saw and the good/bad of it all, simply click this link to see all of my coverage of Lollapalooza 2012. Thanks! Photos are after the jump.
This was Lollapalooza’s eighth year in Chicago, and in turn my eighth year in a row attending it. I’ve seen it transform from a tiny little four stage festival on one half of Grant Park to a monstrous behemoth of a fest complete with eight stages and multiple blocks of park space. I’ve stood through oppressive heat, severe thunderstorms, a lack of water and restrooms, gate crashers, mud pits, clinically insane crowds/bands, and those tiny little rocks that always seem to get into your shoes. This year introduced a new slice of fun: the total festival evacuation. And here I thought I’d seen everything. In spite of all those things, I’ve managed to have a whole lot of fun and get inspired by music all over again. It’s become a very well run festival, which I suppose is thanks in no small part to a generous volunteer staff and the huge revenues they make from it every year. Are there things that could still be improved? Sure, but it’s more minor stuff that likely isn’t a pressing concern for anyone. I’ll outline some of that, along with the best and worst music of the weekend right now in my Lollapalooza 2012 Winners and Losers.
Well, put another one in the books: Lollapalooza 2012 is over. I had a whole lot of fun (as I do every year) and saw a whole lot of great music (which also happens every year). I’ll have a whole lengthy writeup on the weekend’s big winners and losers coming up in the next couple days, along with photo sets of pretty much every artist I saw. So yeah, there’s a little more Lolla coverage coming your way. In the meantime though, let me get to this quick summary of what happened on Day 3. The weather actually cooperated nicely, with a balmy 82 degree high temperature and barely a cloud in the sky. After the oppressive heat of Friday and the severe weather evacuation of Saturday, having one perfect day was just what the doctor ordered. My mental doctor also ordered that I stay home and rest just a little longer than the previous two days so I could make it all the way through still able to walk. Starting the day at noon or 1 PM and then partying until 2 or 3 AM is not a recipe for good health, so I’ve learned from personal experience. Anyways, here’s what I saw and my very brief impressions.
White Rabbits
They did everything a good band needs to do on stage. They were filled with energy and upbeat sentiments, and physicalized those things into something a crowd could get behind. Their double drummer attack and big melodies were very helpful too. Their albums might be a little lacking in creativity on the whole, but the songs morph into something else entirely when they’re performing them live.
The Walkmen
I very much like The Walkmen, but also promised myself I’d never go see them perform again because nothing could ever top the previous time I saw them. The reason I ultimately watched their set was because there wasn’t anything else good on, and it was on my way before Sigur Ros. In other words, The Walkmen were a choice borne out of convenience. That’s pretty much how they treated their set, too. Frontman Hamilton Leithauser may wail up a storm on stage with his gravelly voice, but there’s not much substance beyond that. So no, they were unable to do better than the last time I saw them.
Sigur Ros
Not only was Sigur Ros’ set one of my predetermined highlights of Sunday, but for me it was a highlight of the entire festival. While I was (and continue to be) upset over their 4 PM time slot (they performed at 8:30 PM at the Osheaga Festival two days earlier), it didn’t seem to matter much to the band. They were the same as they always are, soft, beautiful and somber melodies with explosive crescendos made of pure brute force, the whole thing anchored by Jonsi’s angelic voice. New song “Varúð” was part of their shortened festival set, and it fit in perfectly. With the vast size of Grant Park as their canvas, the band accompanied by their orchestral friends in Amiina painted a picture so beautiful you couldn’t help but be inspired.
Toro Y Moi
I wish I could say a lot of nice things about this set. The last Toro Y Moi record was really good, and hopefully the one coming out later this year will be too. The new songs previewed sounded solid, but then again so did pretty much everything. It was a lovely dance party if you were only listening to it, but watching was a whole other matter. The band may have been bobbing their heads while performing, but frontman Chaz Bundick didn’t seem to know how to engage the crowd. In other words, it was good, but it could have been much better.
At the Drive-In
If you saw At the Drive-In perform when they were still together over a decade ago, you understand the power of their performances. They’re high energy and intensely fun, with Cedric Bixler-Zavala as key ringleader and mischief-maker. Watching them reunited at Lolla, they haven’t lost a single step. Jumping off the bass drum and throwing the microphone stand into the air are just a couple of the wild things that happened during their set. Even technical difficulties couldn’t stop them from entertaining the crowd, filling the time with awkward stage banter that encouraged people to throw their shoes on stage. What’s missing in the end is only a deeper connection to the crowd. ATDI are a band of the people, and having them perform atop a high stage was almost like the difference between animals in the zoo and animals in the wild. So long as it’s not life threatening, you want to be as close to the animals as possible.
Chairlift
After their set was cancelled thanks to the storm on Saturday, DJ Mel was bumped from Sunday evening’s lineup to make room for Chairlift instead. With a new album full of really catchy synth-pop songs to perform, they dove right in and never looked back. With Florence + the Machine having just finished their set at the neighboring stage and Jack White set to start on the opposite side of the park, odds were against Chairlift. The stage may have been larger than the one they were originally scheduled to perform on, but the crowd was arguably smaller thanks to those tough time slot choices. Their set left me pleased, especially when frontwoman Caroline Polachek spun around or clapped/snapped. Call it a harmless but rather enjoyable late Sunday night set.
Jack White
In case you didn’t know it already, Jack White is the MAN. He’s one of the best guitar players living today, and to hear him tear a song to shreds is invigorating and inspiring. Naturally then, his headlining set was exactly that, along with a fair amount of showmanship to elevate the whole thing. There was the blue and black color scheme, and the two different backing bands, one all male and the other all female. They switched them out in the middle of the set, and thanks to the quiet duet of “Love Interruption” it went seamlessly. There was material from his solo debut album, with a handful of tracks from his other projects including The White Stripes, The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs. There were even a couple covers thrown in for good measure. Of the three major stage headlining performances I saw this past weekend, this was easily my favorite.
Day 2 of Lollapalooza 2012 was a short one. That is to say, a few hours were cut out due to inclement weather. By “inclement” I mean severe storms the likes of which Chicago hasn’t seen in a little while. They evacuated Grant Park for the first time in Lollapalooza history, undoubtedly scared at the prospect of a potential stage collapse that might kill some people. So from about 3-6 PM no bands performed and while some were rescheduled, others were cancelled entirely. One of the bands I was most looking forward to, Chairlift, was unable to perform as a result. But I did get to catch a few bands on Saturday, mostly after the storm. Here’s a quick summary of what I saw, which I will expand upon at a later date.
GIVERS
The only band I saw before the evacuation, and they were the perfect start to my day. Their upbeat energy was contagious, and the crowd was totally into it. They stuck with the great stuff on their debut album In Light, and made it even more exciting and catchy than ever. GIVERS are definitely going places.
FUN.
After the evacuation and rain delay and the release of a revised schedule, I was with some people that desperately wanted to see FUN. I went along for that ride, even as two of my favorites The Tallest Man on Earth and tUnE-yArDs were also playing at the same time. One thing I learned is that people love FUN. They love FUN. in the same way people love Neon Trees and the like. I am not a fan, but stood there trying to understand the appeal. What I took away from their set was that they’re high energy and really appreciate their fans. They’re also a little better than what their hit single might suggest. So there’s that.
The Weeknd
After a food and restroom break that took far longer than anticipated, I stumbled through the mud to see half of The Weeknd’s set. Turns out Abel Tesfaye (the man behind the project) is a pretty strong live performer. As a full band, they haven’t put on too many live performances, but you wouldn’t know that from watching them. Tesfaye’s vocals are the heart of it, and while he’s not quite Frank Ocean, he’s of comparable quality, which is meant as a compliment.
Bloc Party
The last time I saw Bloc Party was the last time they played Lollapalooza a few years ago. I wasn’t too impressed then, and apparently neither was frontman Kele Okereke. He said that he didn’t enjoy his last Lolla experience, but was having a much better time this time. It sure sounded like it too, as their set was better and more memorable than before. They kept the tempos strong and the hits coming. The couple new songs they played felt a little shaky, but maybe that’s how they all start before you’ve heard them a hundred times.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
What can I say about this performance. I’ve seen RHCP a couple times now, and they tend to be okay live. The live versions of their songs often have a little extra kick to them thanks to a funky bass solo from Flea or extended outros and such. Flea remains the band’s stronghold and focal point, the only real treasure now that John Frusciante is not with them anymore. Anthony Kiedis does all sorts of posturing on stage, but the real tragedy was that he seemed to forget a few lyrics. It made things interesting, to be sure. That, and the off-key renditions of RHCP hits done by every single person standing around me made for a pretty shrug-worthy performance.
Frank Ocean
Due to the modified rain delay schedule I didn’t see, I had no idea when Frank Ocean was performing. Somewhere around 10 PM I wandered over to his stage, and he’d been on for at least a 20 minutes or so. Because I also had an aftershow to go to and sets were pushing well past the curfew time, I couldn’t stay and watch the rest of Ocean’s set. I caught 3 songs, and they were all spectacular. His album Channel Orange is one of 2012’s best, and as a live performer he makes every single kind word said about it justified. The man is now a bonified superstar in both the studio and on stage. It was probably the most impressive thing I saw all day, even if it was only 15 minutes worth.
With Day 1 of Lollapalooza 2012 in the books, let me give a very brief rundown of all the bands I saw today, and my on-the-spot reactions to their sets. I’ll have photo sets for you and some longer collected thoughts once the weekend officially wraps up. Until then, my Twitter account is the best way to keep up with all the happenings in Grant Park, though my reception has been spotty at best. I may have social media blackouts for a few hours as a result. I’ll do my best to keep you all updated as possible though.
Yellow Ostrich
I only saw the last half of their set. They were dealing with sound issues and to me came off as lackluster and not the best way to start my day.
The War on Drugs
This is where I should have started my day. The band also had some sound issues, but got them cleared up quickly and put on a very rousing set anyways. Better than I anticipated it to be, too.
Sharon Van Etten
I’ve seen Sharon Van Etten twice before, and this third time was probably my favorite. Her band seemed tighter than ever, and her vocals were seeped in emotion. She didn’t even need to use words. Her tone said it all.
Tame Impala
Big crowd for these guys, who I really like on record. Turns out they’re just pretty good live. Maybe it’s more that their psychedelic songs aren’t as friendly when you’re outside in 90 degree heat.
The Afghan Whigs
Dressed in all black, the band hit every necessary note in their amazing catalogue. They played like they hadn’t lost a beat, and Greg Dulli wailed like a man possessed. Tragic that so many went to see Metric instead of this classic band. Oh, and lest I forget, their cover of Frank Ocean’s “Lovecrimes” is one of my early weekend highlights.
Die Antwoord
Here’s my other weekend highlight. I wouldn’t consider myself a Die Antwoord fan, and I don’t really listen to their records often, but they surprised me in a big way with their live show. They’re super energetic and weird (in a good way). They worked hard enough to make their set very memorable, and for that I give them full credit.
Passion Pit
With the reported mental health issues frontman Michael Angelakos is going through, I was concerned how it might affect the band’s live show. Turns out, not at all. They’ve gotten even better since the last time I saw them a few years ago, and the absolutely massive crowd was eating up every last note.
The Shins
I had to jump away from Passion Pit to see The Shins because I really like both of their latest records. I only wound up hearing a couple of new tunes, supported mainly by classic standbys off the Chutes Too Narrow album. Honestly, that was perfect for me. It lacked the outward fun party energy of Passion Pit, but offset that with great attention to detail.
M83
I think this was the biggest crowd I was in all day. I could only stay for 20 minutes before having to run across the park for Black Sabbath, and what I was able to hear was excellent but not nearly loud enough. The crowd seemed to only care about the hits on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, because classics like “Teen Angst” and “Colours” were met with shrugs. Too bad.
Black Sabbath
I never paid that much attention to Tony Iommi before, but after their set I was convinced he’s one of the 10 best guitarists still living today. The man hit every note with precision, and that’s with questionable health too. Ozzy was Ozzy, playing ringleader and encouraging the crowd to cheer louder or throw their hands up or whatever. He was mostly on target vocally, but slipped now and then, something all too easily forgiven considering his age and history. Bill Ward is certainly missed, however fill-in drummer Tommy Clufetos did an admirable job, especially on some big solos. The band hit all the important marks, including “Iron Man,” “War Pigs” and “Paranoid.” I wish them all the best and don’t regret missing The Black Keys for a second.
Hey friends! I’m happy to present you with Faronheit’s Guide to Lollapalooza 2012. Whether you’re headed to the festival this year or would just like to learn a little more about the artists performing on this year’s lineup, hopefully this guide will point you in the direction of the acts you won’t want to miss. Before we get started, I should go over a few details to help you interpret this properly. The purpose of this guide is not to analyze every act on the lineup and weigh who you should go see at what particular time. Simply put, I picked 10 acts from each day, irregardless of what time they are playing, and attempted to explain why they’re worth seeing. It’s a very good lineup this year, so choosing only 10 from individual days was tough, but I like to think this is distilled down to help you have the best possible Lollapalooza experience. I should note that some of the small side stages and Perry’s go largely ignored in this guide, because I think if you want to know where to go for dance parties or American Idol runner-ups, you can find them yourselves. Speaking of finding things, make sure you look at the festival map before going to Grant Park, if you’ve never been before. Knowing where the stages are located and that it’s a 15 minute walk from one side of the park to the other is very, very important. In the guide below, I’ve indicated when and where the acts I’m recommending are performing, and they’re ordered by time slot to help plan out your day. Additionally, if you’d like to hear music from the artists I’ve mentioned below, along with a bunch of other acts, there are links to individual day Spotify playlists for your enjoyment. I’ve structured those playlists thematically rather than by time slot to provide you with the best possible listening experience. All that said, I hope you’re ready to have a lot of fun this weekend. Drink plenty of water, dip yourself in sunscreen, and try to rest whenever possible. Those are my tips for surviving the weekend. Without further ado, click past the jump to view my Guide to Lollapalooza 2012!
Okay, friends. Here’s a selection of photos that I took all this weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival. In this set I’ve included one photo from each artist, edited down from over 400 photos total. If you’d like to see the complete set of edited photos (4-5 photos from each artist), please visit our Facebook page for all that. Their uploader is easier to use and the pictures look nice in that context. I’ve also given my final thoughts about this year’s fest, in case you missed it. Read 100% of my Pitchfork Music Festival coverage via this link. I think that about wraps things up. Starting tomorrow we return to our regularly scheduled programming of album reviews and mp3s. Until then, click past the jump to glance at some photos from the festival.
Before I start posting the many, many photos I took this past weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival, I want to take a moment to reflect with some words detailing the best and worst things that happened over the three days. If you haven’t read my detailed day-by-day recaps of the music I saw, here are links to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Best
There are many great things about the Pitchfork Music Festival, and those things expand even beyond the music being performed there. It’s held in Union Park every year, which might not be the absolute safest neighborhood in the city, but the space is ideal for its size and the parking is pretty ample if you need to drive. They spent the first couple years of the festival perfecting some of the issues that plagued it early on, such as the stages not being loud enough and a lack of restrooms. Vendors, sponsors and other features have come and gone too, but the last three or so years have seen a serious consistency develop with the festival and the atmosphere as well that works extraordinarily well given its size. Organizers have also done well with ticket prices, ensuring it’s still one of the most affordable festivals in the world to attend. They didn’t even raise ticket prices this year. Where they did falter a bit though in 2012 was with the lineup. I’m not trying to suggest that this year’s batch of artists was bad, just not quite as strong as years past. They can’t all be winners, and this year will probably go down as one of the more muted affairs. Overall ticket sales were a little weaker than normal, as Friday was a couple thousand tickets short of selling out, though Saturday sold out and Sunday came very, very close to doing the same. If you looked at my daily recaps and compare them with the schedule, you’ll notice that I did a lot of skipping around from stage to stage, not often taking in full sets. My issues either involved a restlessness out of sheer boredom with who I was watching at the moment, or a panic because there were too many good artists performing at the same time. A great example would be on Saturday, when I really wanted to see Sleigh Bells, Chromatics and Hot Chip. They were ploaying at 6:15, 7:00 (listed start time delayed due to soundcheck issues), and 7:25, respectively. I ran between stages and caught as many songs as possible from each. On the opposite end of the spectrum, on Sunday I wasn’t particularly excited about seeing Kendrick Lamar, Chavez and Oneohtrix Point Never, yet I went to two out of the three just to see if they’d surprise me somehow (they didn’t). While we’re on the topic though, let me give credit where credit is due and hand out some praise for the artists that did inspire me over the weekend.
When I saw A$AP Rocky back at SXSW in March, he and his A$AP Mob showed up an hour late for their set time. When they did finally arrive, the place went nuts, though I was only able to see part of the set because I had to be at another show. This past Friday, not only was he on time, but I was significantly impressed with how he and his crew handled every aspect of their show. They got the crowd fired up, ran through all the hits and more, broke up a fight in the crowd, stage dived and performed in the rain like it wasn’t even an inconvenience. In other words, they did everything a great live performers are supposed to do. When he finally hits the big time, and buzz is saying he will, hopefully he doesn’t change a thing about his live show. It was really enjoyable. Japandroids are arguably one of the best rock bands performing today, and they write and record their songs specifically to get the most out of their shows. They are like a two man tornado trying their hardest to lay waste to everything and everyone in their path. The best part is they succeed with flying colors. Brian King isn’t afraid to bang his head or move around the stage should the mood strike him, as it does often. David Prowse hammers the drums with such violent urgency he probably breaks sticks more than other drummers. He actually broke his kickpedal early on in their Pitchfork set as a testament to that.
I think my overall favorite moment of the entire festival came when I first arrived on Saturday. Cloud Nothings were playing, and a few songs into their set it began to drizzle. That drizzle slowly developed into a full-on downpour – one of the heaviest of the weekend. It was right around then that they launched into their nine minute opus “Wasted Days” from their latest album Attack on Memory. With the crowd getting soaked to the bone but not moving to seek shelter, the band played to the storm like they were looking to pick a fight. This went on for several minutes, during which it was quite likely the band members were risking their lives being out there. Eventually the rain won though, shorting out the main set of speakers and leaving only the on stage monitors active. They kept going even if only the people closest to the stage could hear them. When they finally finished, they threw down their guitars and left the stage. Watching it all happen sent an excited shiver down my spine. If only every artist was so dedicated to their art and putting on a great show. The main goal of Nicolas Jaar was probably to put on a great show too, which is why he took an extra 20 minutes for his soundcheck. I stood there during that time, panicked because I was only going to be able to see 30 minutes of his set and the longer he took the less time I had to see him. When he finally did start playing, it was nothing short of excellent and transcendent. At least that’s what I took from the 10 minutes I was able to stay. I wish I could have stuck around longer and seen the whole thing, but Wild Flag beckoned me across the park. I had almost the exact same problem for Chromatics, who were also delayed by Jaar and whose four songs I was able to hear were even better than their recorded versions, which I already love. I hope to see both artists again soon, should they come through Chicago.
Sunday presented a similar great artist vs. great artist predicament, and the best part is, both of them knew it. John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees asked how many people in the crowd were planning to see Ty Segall’s set, who was starting 30 minutes later. Some cheers went up in the crowd, but Dwyer then explained that he and the rest of the band really wanted to see Segall too, and as soon as they finished their set, they were planning to run over there to catch him. A short time later, they dedicated a song to Segall. Having never seen Thee Oh Sees before and only going by their recorded output, I probably should have guessed how their live show would go. Everybody in the band bounced and moved around to the songs, and Dwyer kept alternating between spitting and sticking out his tongue in between some intense guitar riffs. I’ve become a much bigger fan of the band now that I’ve seen their live show, and that’s sort of why bands do play live. A short bit later Ty Segall would rock harder and faster than any other band on Sunday. Not only was the fuzz and reverb completely in check, but Segall’s scream is just about perfect – loud, piercing and not too throaty. About halfway through his set he asked the crowd to shout out, “Dwyer!” as sort of a kind message to the Thee Oh Sees frontman. A short time later, the band covered AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” which was straightlaced but gloriously appropriate. If only all of Sunday were so exciting. And finally, I’d be wrong to not include AraabMuzik as one of the festival’s best sets. I’m not a fan of DJs or producers performing live, mostly because I think sitting behind a laptop or turntable your entire set isn’t exciting to watch. It’s a big reason why the Daft Punks and Deadmau5s of the world have intense light shows to distract you. AraabMuzik had none of that in his late afternoon set, but surprisingly enough just watching him put music together was exciting. His weapon of choice was an MPC drum sampler, and his hands moved across that thing so fast they were often a blur. But even if you weren’t watching what was happening, simply listening was intense too. I’m not the biggest fan of the dubstep genre of EDM, but I consider AraabMuzik to be one of the only performers to have won me over in that respect.
The Worst
This section should be a lot shorter than the above one, if only because so much went right at the festival this year. All the staff and volunteers were professional and did their jobs well. I got a bunch of free stuff simply by wandering the grounds at the right time, and elements like the Flatstock poster section, the CHIRP Record Fair and the Book Fort were fun things to do if you felt like the music wasn’t very good. Speaking of which, there were many artists over the weekend that gave very good performances but didn’t quite make my highlight reel. Some unfortunately did make my lowlight reel though, and I’ll talk about that in a minute. The worst thing to happen over the three days was the weather. Mid-July is typically not the time for rain, and the last few years at Pitchfork it has either not rained at all or sprinkled for under an hour. So when severe storms came rolling through on Friday afternoon, the hope was they’d be light and brief. The forecast said there was about a 20% chance of an isolated thunderstorm, but apparently they meant 100%. The rain was not light, and if you want to call a few 20-30 minute sessions “brief,” then so be it. Sets were affected, times were shuffled, and people exposed themselves to potential pneumonia after standing in the rain without an umbrella or poncho. The Saturday rain was just as bad, though happily the skies cleared around mid-afternoon and stayed that way through the end of the festival. The grounds of Union Park were a bit muddy from the rain as well, and I saw more than a few people covered in the stuff, most likely on purpose. But the swampy areas in some of the fields made it difficult to navigate, though thankfully crowds would surround them so you knew where they were and where not to step. Crews did do some nice work cleaning up as best they could, as quick dry, wood chips and platforms were thrown down to either dry up or cover up soggy sections. And you know what? The rain was nobody’s fault but nature’s. It’s a blameless crime with many victims, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Musically speaking, I’m going to try not to pick on too many artists that didn’t do so well in their sets. Atlas Sound is so good on record, and his last two albums have represented huge jumps in songwriting and melody development abilities. The first “mistake” was booking Bradford Cox solo at an outdoor festival. Atlas Sound is best experienced in a small, dark theater on a stage. Outside and in the sunlight just don’t quite work for his version of sleepy psychedelia. Cox is a nice guy with good intentions, but even he looked a little bored with what he was playing (or not playing, in the case of a few formless compositions). I tried to stick around for as much of his set as I could, but after 15 minutes just couldn’t take any more. Ironically, that pushed me into going to see Liturgy, a band I’ve only heard a few times and only on record. Their version of heavy metal resonated with me far less than I hoped it would. They were excruciatingly loud, which I’m okay with, but for the 10 minutes I stuck around watching them I couldn’t make out anything beyond ear-piercing screams. I know they have lyrics because I’ve heard them before, but I sure wasn’t hearing them during the performance. That’s okay though, I’m still pleased I went and watched for the time I did. You’ll never truly know how much you don’t like something until you try it. On Sunday there’s only one band in my rifle’s eyesight: Iceage. I feel horrible for promoting them in my preview coverage and saying it was going to be a “wild time.” The only thing wild about their set was when they blew out an amp. Even that probably connects back to having their gear stolen just a couple days prior. They probably borrowed the amp that broke. But yeah, listening to their album of speedy punk rock songs, and seeing footage of live shows where they crowd surf and somebody “accidentally” gets hit in a mosh pit makes me wonder if it was all just propaganda to generate some hype for the band. They absolutely looked like they didn’t want to be there, and their overly lackluster performance pretty much confirmed it. Rarely has a band disappointed me so much or sounded so unlike their records.
In Conclusion
So there you have it, my final thoughts on this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. In a short bit I’ll be posting a selection of the photos I took over the weekend for you to browse through. The best place to see everything though is through the site’s Facebook page, where I’ll have 100% of the pictures available. If you’d like to read all the pieces I wrote as part of Pitchfork Music Festival week last week, all of them will come up if you follow this link. I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing things about the festival this year, and if it were up to me we’d do it all again next year. We’ll have to play a little wait-and-see on that one though. In the meantime, thanks for bearing with me, and we will return to our regularly scheduled music programming in the next day or two.
Well my friends, we made it. Let’s put the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival in the books, because it’s finished. It was a wild and crazy weekend, one that you can read about in depth via the daily recaps I’ve been posting. This is the third installment of such recaps, and essentially the final one. Tomorrow I’ll be posting a final wrap-up of the entire weekend, along with photos from the many, many sets I bore witness to, but in the meantime we have Day #3, aka Sunday, to discuss. Let’s dig in.
Unlike the last two days, there was no threat of rain or storms when I arrived in Union Park on Sunday. Nope, just nothing but sunshine and a few white clouds. My day started with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who seemed more than willing to take the low 90 degree temperatures and sun as a sign they should get as bouncy and funky as possible. Their performance was actually a welcome distratction from the heat, as they ran through their debut album and a couple new songs with lighthearted joy and effortless three-part harmonies. Overall I consider their set to be well balanced and nice, even if there wasn’t a whole lot memorable about it.
For a minute right before they started their set, I was hoping that Iceage would be the best show to come out of Sunday at Pitchfork. The band is known for their explosive performances in which much moshing and injury tend to occur. To make matters worse, Iceage suffered a setback just a couple days earlier when all of their gear was stolen out in the Wicker Park neighborhood. Whether it was because of that unpleasant experience or the heat or a combination of things, the band’s set was anything but cool. They play super fast and super energized punk rock, but none of that was on display in Union Park. They looked like they absolutely did not want to be there. Two songs in, one of their amps blew out, and they spent a few minutes trying to replace it. Instead of trying to entertain the crowd or even apologizing, they simply sat there patiently waiting while somebody scrambled for a new amp. Things really weren’t any better once the performance started again, as they thew out very standard and relaxed versions of the songs on their debut album New Brigade. They were even less entertaining than your average punk band, which is saying a lot. Talk about a let down. I just want to know what happened to this band.
You know who put on the show I expected Iceage to put on? Thee Oh Sees did. I had heard good things about their performances, but didn’t anticipate it’d turn out even better than expected. Each band member has their own distinct personality on stage, and it’s fun to watch them all do their own separate things yet come together to make such sprawling and fun garage rock. As the proverbial frontman of the group, John Dwyer kept tearing off into these inventive guitar solos while also head banging, frequently spitting, and sticking his tongue out like Michael Jordan. Come to think of it, some of the great moments during Thee Oh Sees’ set were rock and roll MVP-worthy, so maybe such a comparison isn’t too far off base.
A day before the Pitchfork Music Festival started, I saw Ty Segall play a shortened performance at the 500-capacity Lincoln Hall. It was so loud that my ears were ringing for the rest of the day. It was a good, punishing sort of loud though, and it made me anticipate his festival set that much more. What he delivered was the same, only longer and on a much larger scale. Before his band’s set though, the always controversial Rockin’ Rian Murphy came out to introduce him, earning both cheers and jeers from the crowd, some of whom probably remembered his infamous introduction of Pavement at the festival 2 years prior. He was much more brief and a little less controversial this time around, but that sort of humor is exactly what Segall was hoping for when asking Murphy to do the introduction. As for the set itself, it was again punishingly loud, but has such a manic pop energy you almost can’t help but be sucked in by it. There’s a certain surf rock element mixed in amongst the garagey, fuzz-laden reverb that makes it perfect for summer, too. Somehow a cover of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Dome Dirt Cheap” found its way into the set list too, and it fit right in. Later on he’d do some crowd surfing, simply because he’d earned it. Kudos to Segall and the band for having an absolute blast on stage while blowing out everyone’s eardrums.
If you’ve heard The Men‘s new album Open Your Heart, you know it has a fairly wide set of sonic influences it draws from. They’re not afraid to do heavy garage-psych rock or ’90s style alternative rock one minute, then be hammering on blues riffs or exploring some alt-country the next. In other words, The Men are a band of many hats, and they wear most all of them well. Watching them perform live, you get more of a sense as to how that works out, with individual members taking turns singing lead vocals on songs. The whole thing is a very technically impressive show, and they’ve got just the right mix of energy to keep a crowd entertained. What I failed to see was the crowd giving the same love back to them. There were cheers and applause, but no energetic jumping, hands in the air or exuberant “woos” that you might expect for such a solid set. Maybe the heat was getting to more than just the bands.
After a couple hours of energizing and fun rock music, Real Estate came out to calm everybody down for a bit. Their music is the perfect soundtrack for a day at the beach, and a 90 degree, mud-caked Union Park was about as close as you could get for their set. Actually, the hard-crusted softball diamonds might have been even better. The last time I saw Real Estate at the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival, I was in the middle of a hot and sweaty crowd bored out of my skull. I had high hopes that this time would be better, as their latest album Days is particularly excellent. Even as they didn’t do much beyond stand there and play their instruments, I felt like just listening to their performance while spread out on some grassy area in the shade was enough to make it enjoyable. Turns out I was right, and it was a delight. Only one guy had a better idea, I think. When I was taking photos of the band, I saw a guy underneath the stage, sitting in a hammock drinking cold water and eating pizza. His idea was just a little better than mine.
I wish I could say something exciting about Kendrick Lamar. I really do. At this point in the day I was meeting up with some friends over where he was performing, and part of me was intrigued to see how he’d stack up against an A$AP Rocky or Danny Brown from previous days. After a DJ played popular hip hop songs for the first 15 minutes of his set, Lamar finally came out, no hype man or huge crew with him. I respected that, and I respected the few songs I heard him perform. Part of me wishes I would have picked another location to stand, as the sun was hitting the stage at such an angle I couldn’t see anything happening, but just the audio was good enough. What really disappoints me is that Lady Gaga apparently showed up and watched his set from a backstage area and I didn’t know about it until hours later. It’s always fun to spot a hugely famous person at a music festival, even if that hugely famous person is Lady Gaga.
After feeling only okay about Kendrick Lamar’s set, I felt like Chavez might return some heavier rock music to my day. I’m always interested in seeing how well a reunited band functions on stage, and whether their performances improve with time. Others were not as interested, I think. For being on the large Red stage, the crowd for Chavez was surprisingly small. Those watching weren’t so much engaged with the music, and the band was met with polite applause rather than overt enthusiasm. Thinking about it, I wonder how many in that crowd or at the festival on a whole know who Chavez are given their meager two album and one EP output from the mid-90s. In spite of the somewhat tepid and minimal crowd, Chavez seemed dedicated to putting on an excellent set. They recreated the songs from their records with ease, even if their performance was anything but. Guitars got heavy and muscular competing with one another for space, and Matt Sweeney’s vocals held just the right amount of tension to create a foreboding and dark atmosphere. On a hot and sunny day, that’s a pretty monumental task to accomplish.
The word part about AraabMuzik‘s live performance is that there’s nothing and everything to look at. On the one hand, the guy is by himself on stage, armed with a laptop and an MPC drum machine. He would not move from that spot for the entire set. Rather, he wouldn’t move his FEET from that spot. His hands, however, did all the work. If you need a lesson in AraabMuzik, simply watch this video and you’ll understand everything. You couldn’t see that well simply staring at the stage, but for this one watching the big screen video monitor was supremely advantageous so you could best see the technical and physical prowess it takes to make such dynamic dance music. Sure, it’s DJ and dubstep essentially, but it’s so fun and impressive I wish I could watch him all day long. And yes, the crowd was absolutely into it as Union Park erupted into a massive dance party. Chicago rappers Chief Keef and King Louie came out and added some live vocals into the mix near the end, and as much as I like those guys, I think the set was just a bit better before they showed up. Still, it made for one of the most impressive sets not just from Sunday, but the entire festival.
Beach House is pretty much the polar opposite of AraabMuzik, yet at Pitchfork Music Festival they performed back-to-back. I wonder how many fans there are of both artists. Given that Beach House’s new album Bloom is one of 2012’s finest, I was excited to hear some of that material performed live. The band was pretty varied in their set list though, pulling a lot from their back catalogue and most notably their previous album Teen Dream. Not that anybody minded, of course. There were sing-alongs, and the crowd was huge and enthusiastic in spite of the drifting and relatively quiet material. With the sun setting, shade was covering almost all of the area around the Red stage where the band was, and the weather cooled down a bit too, so conditions were just right to fully enjoy all they had to offer. Beautiful and soaring as the material is, and Beach House performed it perfectly, they’re not the most exciting band to watch live. Victoria Legrand never moved from her keyboard, and Alex Scally sat on a stool most of the time, only getting up on occasion and wandering a few steps. I suppose it was an appropriate on stage demeanor for the manner of music they were making.
It’s been four years since Vampire Weekend played at Pitchfork Music Festival, a fact which they reminded everyone of during their Sunday night headlining set. Back then, they were just a hotly buzzed about band with a brand new debut album, and performed an afternoon set. They like performing at night, singer Ezra Koenig said, because the weather is cooler and they can get a little looser. They were very loose and very fun this time around, and the massive crowd was there pretty much for that explicit reason. I saw a lot of dancing happening at sets this weekend, but right in the middle of Vampire Weekend’s set I looked around the park from a pretty far distance away from the stage and noticed that almost everybody was dancing at least a little bit. They breezed through songs big and small, everything from “Holiday” to “Oxford Comma” to “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” and “I Think UR A Contra,” while also slipping in one new song without really saying a word about it. Overall it was a pleasant and delightful way to end the festival, and I think that just about everyone left with a smile on their face. Chalk up another win for this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival.
