Well, it’s over! After 3 days and 40 artists, the annual Pitchfork Music Festival is now officially in the books. Without doubt, this was the highest attended Pitchfork since the festival’s conception three years ago (four if you count the Intonation Music Festival curated by Pitchfork in `05). With cheap tickets and headline acts such as The Flaming Lips, Built to Spill, and The National, it’s easy to see why the festival was sold out.
While it would be an extremely long post if I started reviewing each act from this past weekend, I will mention a few of the highlights. So here we go:
Day 1 had a gimmick behind it. Labeled “Write the Night,” all four bands’ playlists were predetermined by the fans who were able to vote on what they wanted to hear that evening beforehand. Theoretically, the idea seemed strong, but with only an hour on stage, there were a lot of requests that had to go unfulfilled. It also lead to some disappointing choices such as when Yo La Tengo played “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”. Sure, it’s a great song, but it was on their last album and had been played numerous times on their last tour. On top of that, it’s a long song so it took up a chunk of Yo La Tengo’s playing time. It didn’t help that the group cheated and added three new songs into the mix.
Yo La Tengo rockin’ it out!
The strongest set was probably from Built to Spill, despite the fact that it contained very little material from the band’s early career. Built to Spill are just an amazing live band, and it was great fun hearing so many of their classics in a row. It also didn’t hurt that they played one of my all time favorite songs, the Halo Benders’ “Virginia Reel Around the Fountain”. The experiment probably worked the best for openers, Tortoise, making their set an almost “best of” collection. However, I had to overhear the majority of their set while standing in line for Will Call. More on that later.
Doug Martsch of Built to Spill gives the fans what they asked for.
On Day 2, I was excited about seeing Final Fantasy, Beirut, DOOM, and The Black Lips. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself the most impressed with Plants and Animals, Wavves, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. (OK, Final Fantasy was just as amazing as I had expected.)
The first group I caught on the second day was the Canadian group, The Plants and Animals. The band is clearly an indie band but one that was raised on classic rock. Their 2008 release, Parc Avenue, even has an album cover that reminds me of a cross between the Allman Brothers’ Brothers and Sisters and Bob Dylan’s The Basement Tapes.
The Plants and Animals are from Montreal though the singer dons a Yankees cap.
The Wavves, which is basically a moniker for the 22 year old skater Nathan Williams, are a group that take lo-fi to the extreme. The Wavves’ sound consist of Williams’ highly distorted vocals drenched in noisy, pop guitar strumming. And as if the songs shouldn’t be taken too seriously, 5 of the 14 tracks on the self-titled debut (out on Oxford’s Fat Possum Records) include the word “goth” in the title. Despite Pitchfork’s high rating for this album, I was immediately put off by the amateurish production. The live version of the Wavves shines out a bit of the studio’s rough edges even though Williams’ vocals are still completely muddled through an effect pedal. At one point, Williams forget to step on the foot pedal after talking to the crowd without effects, and his lyrics came through clearly. It was nice, but I guess not the Wavves. Realizing his error, Williams immediately tapped his pedal, and the Wavves sound was restored.
The young Williams kid is also a bit of a loose canon, and his recent antics in Barcelona have been well publicized. I’m not going to go all into that but there certainly was a feeling around the crowd on whether or not Williams would have a breakdown. This feeling was heighten by the fact that the Wavves’ set was delayed starting due to technical issues. The most alarming part about the Wavves set was the shock of seeing Williams playing a guitar with a cast on his right hand. It seems he hurt it falling off his skateboard. Ah, kids.
Wavves, frontman Nathan Williams, performs happily with cast and a Chicago Bulls cap.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have a horrible name but they create wonderful songs that are short, noisy, and poppy. The whole sounds reminds me of a marriage between My Bloody Valentine and bubblegum music. Too bad it took me seeing them onstage before I started to really appreciate them. But hey, that’s why bands tour, right? One of my favorites performances of the entire weekend.
On Day 3, everyone’s minds were set on The Flaming Lips. Without argument, the Lips are the largest booked act in Pitchfork’s history. With a reputation of over the top performances, just what did the Oklahoma boys have up their sleeves for the festival’s finale? We would all have to wait, but luckily we were given plenty of great music to tide us over.
Can you pick out The Flaming Lips fans?
The biggest surprise on Day 3 was Blitzen Trapper. Like Built to Spill, Blitzen Trapper are a great live band. And also like Built to Spill (and Plants and Animals) a lot of their influences are grounded in classic rock. However, on top of the classic rock, the group hodgepodges an assortment of genres that include indie, hard rock, and jam band. Even the band members themselves all look like their all different bands. Somehow it all works!
Blitzen Trapper aren’t a band I would typically seek out but there they were blowing my mind!
Another highly anticipated act was M83. The French group are getting a lot of exposure lately after their music was included in the new Palm Pre Flow commercial. Of all the acts throughout the weekend, I don’t think there was another band that was more appreciative of being a part of the festival. Though their set seemed short, they still managed to play a lot of their favorites (“Couleurs,” “Kim & Jessie,” “Don’t Save Us From the Flames,” etc.). Unfortunately, the guys didn’t cover any material for their debut, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. Still, great stuff.
80’s fashion was very popular for concertgoers as well as M83.
The best dance act I saw was DJ/Rupture who entertained a smaller crowd than usual since The Thermals were also performing at the same time. Typically, I don’t care for watching DJ’s since it’s basically watching a guy in front of his computer. However, DJ/Rupture is so creative that it’s amazing to watch him. My favorite number was one where he slowed down Joy Division’s “She Lost Control” and created a trance version out of it that had all the hip kids dancing.
The hipsters shaking their hips!
As the sun went down and Grizzly Bear’s set came to end, the crowd got ready for the Lips. Like Phish (and at once, The Grateful Dead), the Flaming Lips are a group that have a traveling fan base with many of them dressed up as animals or space aliens. A Lips’ show is all about fun and fantasy so it makes sense that folks would want to go out of their way to be a part of that. There was no doubt who were the most loyal of the loyal.
Aliens.
As for the show, The Flaming Lips didn’t disappoint. I was afraid they were going to have to scale down the theatrics because of the park setting, but little seemed to be spared. Everything about their performance (art) was grand, including the band’s entrance where each member was “birthed” on to the stage. I’ll let you leave that one to your own imagination.
If you’ve seen a Lips’ show in the past couple of years, you are familiar with a lot of their antics such as Wayne in the bubble. Still, it’s always funny to see Wayne rolling over the crowd.
Wayne Bubble!
One of the main attractions on stage is a large screen that plays video that is often in sync with the rhythm of the music. Also, the screen is used to show an upclose image of Wayne as he addresses the fans.
I like to call it “Wayne Cam”.
For some reason, Wayne had some misconceptions about the Pitchfork Music Festival. Now, it’s true the fans picked the playlist for the bands on Day 1. But Wayne was under the assumption that all the bands throughout the weekend were bound by these rules. So, the Lips also participated in the online fan requests. However, Wayne was quick to point out that the Lips always played what the fans wanted to hear. And then the band followed with the requested “Bad Day,” which Wayne confessed they hadn’t played in 10 years!
Due to time constraints from the park, the Lips taking a long time talking to the fans between each song, and the addition of a few new songs, the Lips didn’t make it that far through their fans’ list. Still, it really didn’t matter. It was the “awe” that everyone came to see from the Lips. And the “awe” is what everyone got!
The Flaming Lips making everyone smile!
However, the real story for this year’s Pitchfork was the weather. Typically, the temperatures are in the low nineties but this year the highs never even broke the mid 70’s. At night, it was time to break out the sweaters and blankets as temps averaged in the mid 50’s. Because of this, I’m not even sure this year’s Pitchfork should qualify as a summer music festival. Not that I’m complaining. I thought it felt wonderful. I can only hope for such agreeable weather in August while I’m working at the Lollapalooza festival.
Obviously, at a festival the size of Pitchfork, not everything is going to be perfect. For one, Will Call was a mess. It took 40 minutes to obtain our holding tickets! I blame this one on a lack of direction for the folks in line as well as an understaffed Will Call booth.
Thankfully, Will Call was right next to the stage where Tortoise was playing or I would have nearly missed the first act completely!
Another misstep was the lack of food vendors on the opening night. Now while the first night is the shortest, the evening (thanks to the strong lineup) is still well attended and coincides with dinner time. So, obviously there’s going to be a lot of hungry people. Unfortunately, there were only two vendors opened and food was going fast. I should note that on Saturday and Sunday this wasn’t an issue, and I hardly saw a wait for grub.
There was an issue with a lack of port-a-johns on Saturday creating extremely long lines full of nervous folks. Seeing this as a problem, more port-a-johns were added for Sunday. Highly commendable.
One final gripe. The sound was a bit sketchy. A lot of this depends on where you are positioned from the stage. However, there were multiple occasions when the sound was too soft or there was too much bleed from another stage.
I suppose you could also suggest the idea that the festival is growing too fast. Compared to Lollapalooza where one can get worn out just walking from one stage to the next, Pitchfork is easily manageable. Obviously, there will come a day when the Pitchfork will outgrow Union Park and when that day comes it will be a real shame. Especially since, this is one of the few music festivals Apryl is able to manage crowdwise.
Apryl and I lying under our favorite tree.
Still, any qualms I have about the festival are almost trivial when it comes to the chance to see so many great bands all in one place for such a bargain price.
See you next year, Pitchfork!
– Check out all my photos and videos from Pitchfork here.
