Pitchfork Music Festival is held annually at Union Park in the near West neighborhood. It's known for being more "indie" than Lollapalooza, and as such you'll find a majority of plaid-clad hipster boys or girls with hideous high-waisted pants, but there's also lots of regular people too--and with only three stages and the chance to see some "small" acts before they get "big," it's definitely a highlight of my summer.
Some of the stand-out acts for me were:
1. The Tallest Man on Earth. By now everyone and their mom has heard of Swedish crooner Kristian Mattson, but as of line-up time I guess not, because he was stuck in the first slot on Friday afternoon. Still, he drew a modest crowd, and despite his repeated apologies for lack of energy due to jet-lag, his five songs were some of the most enjoyable moments of that day. He is a really strange person on-stage, and really fascinating to watch. He manages an intense wild-eyed persona, with an undercurrent of a quieter passion. Fans of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and The Magnetic Fields will be attracted to him initially for his signature voice, but if you stick around a bit longer, you'll notice an obvious musical talent on the guitar as well.
2. Robyn. Also on Friday, and also Swedish, this former pop-princess turned euro punk rocker put on an AMAZING show. Friday afternoon was relentlessly hot, and even the shade provided little relief, yet she managed to get everyone dancing and singing along. In the States, she's best known for her 90's hit "Show Me Love," (which I was a little disappointed she didn't reprise for old-times sake) but she proved she's moved beyond the sappy into the super-happy. For such a small girl she commanded that stage, and kept moving for her entire set.
3. Local Natives. I had to skip St. Vincent for this one, which I was bummed about, but felt that Local Natives' style might be better suited to the festival environment, and they came through for me. I worried I might just be waiting for the hits I knew, and some more intense heat drained the energy from this crowd a bit, but they held their own and I was glad to have been there.
4. Sleigh Bells. Rounding out my Sunday afternoon, Sleigh Bells was a surprise hit as they were pitted against the main act, Pavement. Theirs isn't the type of music I usually gravitate to, but their electronic/rock/hip-hop style is so engaging I couldn't help myself. I started this set at the back, not feeling well, but even three days worth of dehydration and exhaustion couldn't keep this crowd (and this fan) from moving forward and dancing until the very last song--which actually didn't take all that long since their entire first album was only about a half an hour long. Looking forward to more from them.
Lollapalooza was kind of miserable last year. It rained on Friday and was sweltering the next two days, and I left without any plans to return. However, we were lucky to score some "golden tickets" and once we saw the line-up the idea of selling them for profit was out the window.
Here are some of my favorite Lolla 2010 moments:
I'm not too familiar with Cymbals Eat Guitars, but I really enjoyed their set, it was smooth, easy to listen to, and had a nice bouncy beat, plus their stage was off the beaten path and shaded. Not a bad way to start the weekend.
I was looking forward to seeing Frightened Rabbit and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, but found that neither act compared with the first time I saw them (FR at Pitchfork last year, and ES at Schubas). Although both sets were enjoyable, it's hard to replace the first time you see a great band live, especially if you were at the tiny Schubas stage, and particularly if you are now surrounded by high-schoolers who only know the hit from the Ford Fiesta commercial, and talk the rest of the time. I had also seen Yeasayer at P4K the previous year, and I was far from the stage and sweating this time, so again, not great.
Metric and Gogol Bordello were two acts who I was also pretty unfamiliar with, but who drew enormous crowds, and it was easy to see why. Metric's instrumentation is super tight, combined with an interesting and talented lead singer, no complaints there. Admittedly I only knew GB's "Start Wearing Purple" from the credits of the movie version of "Everything Is Illuminated," but sitting on the hill above the stage was very pleasant.
Easily one of my favorite acts of the weekend was The New Pornographers. I was surprised at how many of their songs I knew, and it was a treat to hear Neko Case live. They are such an interesting sound, it's very complex because of the combination of lots of different and interesting instruments, along with their off-beat lyrics, but the product is catchy, fun, and thoroughly entertaining.
Okay, almost done, time to mention the headliners:
Lady Gaga was pretty much exactly what I expected - crazy, over-the-top, flamboyant, loud, and a lot of fun. Despite being a self-proclaimed pop-hater, I really kind of like her music. However, her set quickly became obnoxious, as she stopped several times to go on mini-rants about how she had sung the same songs at Lolla four years ago and no one cared, and now she's a star, and how she was ugly in high school, but now she's hot (at one point screaming at the crowd while half-naked covered in blood, "DO YOU THINK I'M SEXY??!!!"). I wish she would have performed more and talked less.
Phoenix put on a great show, and I definitely had a lot of fun. They definitely did too, and it became especially apparent when the lead singer thanked us at the end of the set, you could tell he was overwhelmed by the enormity of what had just happened (the crowd was MASSIVE). I did feel however, that they weren't quite prepared for their sudden burst of fame. The songs sounded good, like they always do, but they didn't bring much new to the table. Still, a really solid performance. If you don't think you know them, you do, "1901" was the electro-pop background in that Cadillac commercial that played non-stop for about three months last Spring.
What can you say about Arcade Fire that hasn't been said a billion times? They're simply brilliant. I knew only a small amount of their music, and had, to be honest, kind of the wrong impression of them going in, only owning "Neon Bible" (their sophomore album) at the time. I hate to use the word, but it's hard to think of another adequate descriptor for their epic set. They are truly a rock band in the grand old tradition--they have great stage presence, know when to talk and when to sing, and are supremely talented musicians, lyricists, and performers. Even the order of songs in their set was impressive, it kept us guessing while pleasantly surprising us, and then rewarded us for our patience by false-ending with "Keep the Car Running," and giving us "Wake Up" in the encore. Simply put, they rocked.
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