Yeah, yeah the Pitchfork Festival happened a week ago but now that I’ve put up my reviews and photos from that weekend up at Indietastic, I just had some more fun times to share from that weekend in Chicago. So, I’ve got a quick play-by-play of the spectacle in Union Park so that those who weren’t there will have a vague idea of what they missed and those who were can relive some of those memories.
Friday:
6pm: Slint plays. Spiderland = still haunting.
7:45pm: The GZA takes the stage.
7:55pm: The GZA kindly reminds the audience that he’s missing a gig with the Wu-Tang Clan in Europe to be here and to give him some love.
8:05pm: I see Thurston Moore stick his head out from behind the barrier. Inward squealing! Meet cool people from Kansas who are also partaking in the inward squealing.
8:35pm: Ooh baby I like it raaaaaaw.
8:45pm: Hey cameramen…get down off of your ladders! You’re blocking our view of the stage.
9pm: The teenage (or twenty-something riot) begins.
9:15pm: No, seriously. Camera dudes – you’re blocking my view of Lee Ranaldo. Still won’t move? Fine – hope you don’t mind my friend beaning you in the head with a beach ball.
9:30pm: I see London! I see France! Kim Gordon. ‘Nuff said.
10:30pm: Encore! Love love love Sonic Youth.
Saturday:
12:35pm: The gates still aren’t open. Really, Yoko Ono, does your sound check need to take that long?
1pm: The Twilight Sad gets on the stage. Are very intense and very Scottish.
2pm: Voxtrot gets onstage. Are an early contender for performance of the day with their brand of bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy fun fun fun fun fun. Make friends with people from St. Louis who have actually heard of Indietastic.
4:10pm: Go to the small stage in the back for Fujiya & Miyagi. Have to wait since a girl behind me just fainted. DRINK YOUR WATER, KIDS!
4:15pm: Make a new friend from Michigan. Enjoy dancing to sexy whispery British vocals.
5:15pm: Professor Murder reminds us repeatedly to DRINK YOUR WATER, KIDS! Play a set that isn’t very conducive to us staying hydrated. Become Saturday’s great new discovery.
6pm: I forego Mastodon and/or Oxford Collapse for bbq. A girl’s gotta eat.
7pm: Clipse takes the stage. We are still waiting for that bbq.
7:30pm: Clipse has the whole audience yelling “Wamp Wamp.” Many more hands in the air than there were for the GZA set. Not sure why that is but not complaining.
8pm: Cat Power takes the stage/is gorgeous. Plays mostly songs from The Greatest or of similar tempo.
8:20pm: “Satisfaction.” That’s more like it.
8:45pm: Chan Marshall thanks us for listening to them despite horrible sound problems (what horrible sound problems?) and her horrible singing (what horrible singing????)
9:00pm: Video shows up on the jumbo screens of Yoko Ono talking about love. With flashlights.
9:10pm: Video finally ends.
9:15pm: Impromptu equipment fix finally ends and she starts singing. It takes one line for us to decide to promptly exit the park.
Sunday:
1:20pm: I can hear Deerhunter as I walk into the park. Good thing I’ve seen them before and will be seeing them again.
1:30pm: The Ponys take the stage. Their sound immediately craps out. They keep playing.
1:36pm: The instruments come back through the PA but not the vocals.
1:38pm: The vocals come back. And there was much rejoicing.
2pm: Menomena break out the saxophone, xylophone and kitchen sink.
2:25pm: The bassist from the Oxford Collapse recognizes my friend from Atlanta’s own MJQ. We run into him periodically throughout the day.
3pm: The Junior Boys take the stage. Holy shit that’s a lot of people in the audience. Magic ensues.
3:45pm: The beer vendors nickname the three of us “The Happytime Crew.”
4pm: We intend to be excited about The Sea and Cake.
4:10pm: We realize that we really aren’t getting excited by The Sea and Cake.
4:17pm: We cease trying to be excited and make a new friend from Atlanta who works with the people I used to work with and has a sweet camera.
5pm: Half-heartedly listen to Jamie Lidell. Ask Dan Deacon about the location of his afterparty (which I end up not going to. Yay exhaustion.) Reaffirm my status as member of The Happytime Crew. See Bradford Cox from Deerhunter. For what must be the 10th time this weekend.
5:45pm: Head over to the Connector Stage for Stephen Malkmus.
6pm: Realize that Malkmus sounds oddly spectacular considering that it’s just him and his guitar playing to thousands of people.
6:20pm: “Spit on a Stranger.” I can die happy now.
6:35pm: “Trigger Cut” and “In the Mouth of the Desert” with the former Pavement drummer. Now I really can die happy.
6:50pm: Run into the drummer of Voxtrot for the third or fourth time this weekend. Try to strike up a conversation about the awesomeness of Stephen Malkmus. Discover this to be somewhat difficult. This is what I get for being a member of The Happytime Crew.
7pm: Of Montreal puts on the most flamboyant, crazy, odd, headscratching and entertaining performance of the day…if not the entire weekend. Complete with tackling in football helmets, the lobster claw, a guy in a Cerberus costume and “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal.”
7:45pm : An encore! They perform The Kinks‘ “All Day and All of the Night.” Kevin Barnes shows up only wearing a thong. Well…let’s remember whose festival we’re at and let’s remember where we all saw those pictures. Yes…all. You looked. Don’t pretend you didn’t.
8:05pm: Head over to the stage that time forgot. The Field is doing his thing. People dance. I still fail to understand the appeal of The Field. My friend and I appear to be the only ones who fail to understand aforementioned appeal.
8:50pm: The Klaxons enter the stage. Everyone is now up on top of and running into everyone else. And it’s amazing.
9:55pm: Catch the last of the partying with De La Soul. Truly a fitting way to end the weekend.
10:30pm: They kick us all out of the park. That was fun – let’s do it again next year!
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Cool review. I also didn’t understand the appeal of The Field. Klaxons more than made up for it tho…