Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I spent the past weekend in Chicago at the Pitchfork Music Festival. If you've never been to the festival you're missing out. It's extremely well run and the lineups are always top notch. Add in the fact that Chicago is an amazing city and you have the makings of an awesome road trip.

Dan's Pitchfork Music Fest Review

- Good -

Kurt Vile - Perhaps I'm spoiled since I've seen him perform in very small venues, but Kurt wasn't as devastatingly awesome as I hoped. It was still a solid set and I have no doubt he won over many new fans.

Neko Case - Just lovely.

DJ Shadow - Does anyone NOT like Entroducing? Easily one of the most influential records ever. He looked funny standing in a huge hallowed out egg, but it was still a funky set and a good reminder of why he's a legendary DJ.
 

- Great -

Guided By Voices - This was my first time seeing the band live, but they fulfilled all my expectations. I've had a number of their records for a while, and I'm now inspired to finally dive in and see why they are so revered by indie music fans.

Battles - This was a little odd since there was no lead singer and they piped in the vocals for tracks that included guest singers. Nonetheless the band is freakishly talented and since I prefer many of their instrumental tracks, the lack of a live singer didn't bother me much.

OFF! - If you could muster one complaint about the festival lineup, it's that there wasn't enough punk and metal bands. Only a few groups really had a hardcore edge and OFF! was definitely the best of the lot. Perhaps Pitchfork needs to steal a page from the FunFunFun playbook and have a Black stage dedicated the heavier stuff.

The Fresh And Onlys - My only real discovery of the weekend. These guys kicked things off on Sunday and left an immediate impression. Hopefully they make their way to Austin in the very near future.

The Fresh And Onlys





- The Very Best -

Superchunk - How are they still so great after all these years? They ended their set with Slack Moherfucker, which alone was worth the price of my plane ticket to Chicago.

Superchunk
 

No Age - After becoming enraged by delays caused by technical difficulties, No Age performed a blistering set which instantly set them apart from the other bands. The crowd was with them 110% as they moshed and sang in a frenzied delight. Backstage I asked friends which act was the highlight and the most common answer was No Age.

No Age
 

Dismemberment Plan - I've known these guys since they first formed the band, so to see them playing in front of 15,000 kids was incredible. In fact, of the two dozen or so times I've seen them perform, their set on Saturday will easily go down as one of my favorite D-Plan shows ever. They were just obviously having a blast up there.

The Dismemberment Plan





- Disappointments -

Animal Collective - Meh. Didn't hate them but didn't mind leaving during the middle of their set. Maybe I was just exhausted after a long day, but I didn't find them very interesting whatsoever.

Yuck - You'd think a band playing music inspired by mid-90s alternative rock would be right in my wheelhouse, but their set lacked any spark. I wanted to like them but there wasn't much to get excited about.

Yuck
 

Thurston Moore - BOR-ing. The string section was pretty but the overall set made me want to nap.

Odd Future - I respect their right to have offensive lyrics and I'm sure they respect my right to say they're fucking terrible. I honestly tried to find the appeal of their music, but I was at a total loss.

Odd Future

Special thanks to my friend Steve for the VIP tickets and for snapping so many great photos from the weekend.

- Dan Corbin -



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