In The Buzz

Where Hip Comes to Die

Pitchfork Festival: Day 1

Saturday at noon the Pitchfork Festival officially kicked off with a set from Hot Machines. I skipped both their set and Chin Up Chin Up’s. Instead I checked out the Graphic Noise: Art at 1000 dB’s exhibit of concert poster art and get some food from Ina’s a restaurant I discovered last year at Intonation and had to make the trip back to this time… twice.

The gallery was pretty dead, but definitely worth checking out. And its location is perfect, right outside the State and Lake stop on the red line on my short above ground walk to the green line to head to Union Park. Many of the artists appeared at Flatstock at the Pitchfork Festival, hocking their wares and signing posters.
After that it was on to Ina’s which due to the festival was a tad on the busy side. Ina’s has by far the best breakfast foods I’ve ever had. The Vanilla Bean Waffles with fresh seasonal fruit and absolutely amazing, and the baked French toast with apple compote will ruin all other French toast for you.
After rushing through my meal it was time to walk down the block to Union park to catch Man Man’s set at 2pm. In case you missed my previous post, Man Man was one of the acts I was most excited to see, and I was not disappointed. Man Man emerged clad in their trademark white outfits and face paint and proceeded to have themselves a Captain Beefheart style musical freakout. They skipped their quieter more contemplative songs in favor of all out craziness. Toy horns and pans played central role in some songs, and they even showered the audience in brightly colored feathers.

Band of Horses followed and I took a seat in the shade across the park. I’ll admit that I didn’t pay much attention but the set seemed enjoyable. I was trying to stay cool and was chatting with some friends. Mountain Goats followed, and while I’m a huge fan of The Sunset Treethe material simply didn’t come off live. Maybe if I had camped out in front of the stage and baked in the hot sun I could have gotten a decent spot and been more engaged, but half way through the set I took a seat on the ground towards the back of the crowd. Part of the problem may have been that I was simply unfamiliar with most of the material as John Darnielle barely touched upon The Sunset Tree.
Following The Mountain Goats is when the show really took off. Destroyer wowed me infusing their set with much more enthusiasm than I assumed Dan Bejar could muster for his theatrical prog-pop tunes. A good mix of Your Blues tracks and Destroyer’s Rubies song made up most of the set.


Art Brut followed and as usual was mind bogglingly fantastic. Eddie Argos ranted and raved and boasted, while the rest of the band played the best ‘so dumb its brilliant’ punk rock to come out in ages. The usual set of tracks off of Bang Bang Rock & Roll was augmented by a number of new songs including “Nag Nag Nag” and an as yet untitled song that was only half finished. If you’ve never seen Art Brut I suggest you do it ASAP, you won’t regret it.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were in a spot that no man would envy. Following Art Brut is no easy task, but Ted Leo and crew were more than up to the job. They played a nice cross section of material from their career and didn’t shy away from the crowd pleasers like “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone” and “Timorous Me”. Pat over at Pop Tarts Suck Toasted referred to the Ted Leo set as the biggest surprise of the weekend, so there’s one more Ted Leo convert.
Next were The Walkmen who sounded good, but a bit too much like someone was simply blasting their CD over the PA. I sat back and listened from the distance recouped some energy from standing in the sun all day and staked out a spot for The Futureheads who were fantastic.

They plowed through their set with minimal filler and banter but maximum energy. The Futureheads also played to the crowd more than any other act on the 1^st day and even led the audience through a sing-along of their amazing Kate Bush cover Hounds of Love

The Silver Jews ended the night on a more mellow note, winding through their set at a deliberate pace. The rumored Pavement reunion didn’t surface, but to be honest I never seriously considered it a possibility. The intricacies of the The Silver Jews recordings were amazingly well preserved in a live setting.




All in all a fantastic first day for the festival and I couldn’t wait for more.
I’ll post my coverage of day two soon.

posted by Unknown at 1:08 AM