Pitchfork Music Festival
By: June Garry |
Sunday July 29, 2007 |
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Hipsters Hold Their Own |
| 48,000 people attended the three-day Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park on Chicago's west side, and some of the Utopian ideals for the weekend expressed at the press conference Friday afternoon may just have come to fruition. The weather was delicious, the music was rich in talent and variety, the prices were cheap, and the crowd was massive but friendly. A couple of things went wrong - there were some sound problems, and in the throes of a much-anticipated Girl Talk set the fence enclosing the Balance stage literally fell over onto Ogden Avenue Saturday night. Outstanding performances included Sonic Youth, Mastodon, The Ponys, Junior Boys, Jamie Lidell and Of Montreal. And all of the aforementioned were enjoyed amidst a wash of skeleton and tuxedo t-shirts, accompanied by the soft thud of the portable toilet doors continuously, rhythmically clapping shut. Day One was comprised of three acts performing three acclaimed albums. Slint did 1991's Spiderland. Their stuff really is guy music; the forerunners of the post-rock movement, they're thoughtful and enjoy toying with volume and tempo. GZA did 1995's Liquid Swords and cracked us up when he said "Don't mind me; I'm not sweating, it's just liquor!" Sonic Youth sounded intense; experimentally revisiting 1988's Daydream Nation. After that first night, the Captain and I headed over to Lincoln Park to catch local heartthrobs Buglette perform a very good set of intelligent, moody rock; a perfect extension of the music we'd just enjoyed. Debauchery Friday night resulted in a regrettably late start on Saturday, and on Day Two I'd arrived and was settled at the park by early afternoon. The weather was a perfect, sunny mid-80's. Among the day's best performers were the avant garde roots rock of Califone and articulate hip hop of Clipse, two bands that demonstrate the expansive musical taste of Pitchfork and the festival's promoters. Iron and Wine were light, spiked and breezy, with busy bright guitar where wisps of Santanna fluttered in. My favorite stuff is heavy, though, and I wasn't disappointed. Battles performed muscular, mathematical Prog rock from their abstract, literate new album Mirrored and Mastodon provided manic thrash metal for all. There's something about the strength of a heavy band that's magnified by an outdoor festival; despite the fact that they were playing in the middle of the day, Mastodon came off snarlingly fierce. The Balance stage sort of scared me; like a cage of link fencing. I am very claustrophobic in there so I didn't make it to Girl Talk, who'd drawn a lot of buzz. Cat Power, sounded fine, but nothing spectacular. I have to admit that I really don't get her appeal. The evening ended with the mold-breaking Yoko Ono, who took the stage looking very much like a boy in a fedora, signature oversized sunglasses and black suit. She'd handed audience members little flashlights and led them in flashing out a pattern for "I love you." Over this conceptual backdrop she started a soft chant of "War is Over (If you want it)," an all-too relevant sentiment today. Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth joined her on guitar for "Mulberry", pushing her on through the best song of the set with his extensive range of manipulated guitar sounds. I behaved myself on Saturday night and so got a good early start to the day on Sunday. The Ponys' first song went okay but they had to contend with sound problems starting with the bass. Once that issue was resolved, the lead's mic went out during the second song. They never stopped playing though, and the vocals carried impressively. The energetic "Let's Kill Ourselves" from 2006's Laced With Romance was absolutely the set's standout. The crowd was cool and really patient with the sound problems; when things came back to life there arose polite laughs and cheers. Yeah, true they're not very interactive with the audience, but they're a great rock fantasy way to start the day. Multi-instrumentalists Menomena introduced to the day some disparate, howling indie rock incorporating saxophone and electric piano, guitars and aggressive drums; some moody stuff with some grumpy vocal harmony and interesting percussion. Ontario's electronic-pop group Junior Boys played some keyboard-driven rock which in some respects reminded me very much of Foreigner-type 70's rock. They were relaxed and sexy at once, with a sense of humor to boot. Laidback Chicago indie star composite The Sea and Cake started out with mic problems too, but ended up with a really good sound after adjustments were made. To me, they're sort of the Kinks meet Modest Mouse, with some Allman Brothers Band-length fussy guitar jams and Steely Dan jazz chords thrown into the mix. They played a good chunk of their new album Everybody. Jamie Lidell worked us into a frenzy with his Japanese Steakhouse style of multi-layered real-time recorded sound loops. Well, his luxurious shiny robe and metallic ribbon headband didn't hurt the mood much, either. He has a really nice solo singing voice too; in fact I'll go so far as to say he sings comparably to Stevie Wonder. Yep. What fun, truly, with the possible exception of the bass being loud enough to throw one's equilibrium off. Five people (ahem - Franz Ferdinand) should do so well together as Jamie pulled off all alone. Stephen Malkmus' guitar sounded great; however in my opinion he needs a band...the former Pavement frontman's solo stuff is reflective but sort of boring. Of Montreal got the biggest crowd reaction of the entire festival and in a lot of ways they really took things to a new level, bringing an as yet unseen air of professionalism and performance. Even with the band dawning angel's wings and football pads, the sound was exemplary. Great showmanship was very involved, naturally, which had been the only missing element of the festival and the audience was really ready for it . They played a long, satisfying set and they were the first band to do an encore - a hyperactive cover of the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night". The New Pornographers played well but didn't rev my engine like Of Montreal, though they did say something something funny about the good price of the festival and compared that to being "fucked up the ass by a cello at Bonnaroo". All in all, Pitchfork 2007 was musically satiating; a cheap ticket providing accessibility to some of the most talented, avant garde bands performing today. The weather all weekend was as kind as the thoughtful, artsy crowd; the musical genres represented ran the gamut from hip hop to thrash with plenty of introspective, intricate, softer-touch indie rock providing the bulk of the weekend's sound. Despite a few technical snags and some really long lines, Pitchfork continues its streak of success; third year (technically) and counting. |
