Pitchfork...who's going....

[LouieB]

Gotta go to work, but what an exhausting weekend. Sunday seemed less crowded than Saturday, not sure why.

 

I caught a handful of acts and sold a bunch of LPs and had a good enough time I guess. I would have to say that both M. Ward and Dinosaur Jr. put on good sets, both sticking to tried and true and delivering on both, including lots of good songs and musicianship. I saw some of King Khan, who was entertaining enough, but I wish I had seen him in a club rather than in a huge crowd outside. I don't think his raunchy soul act, which I am sure would have been very entertaining in a club worked so well during the day with thousands of people and not always such hot sound. (I guess you can expose yourself in public in Chicago and get away with it.. ) Meanwhile Bon Iver's set at the same "small" stage was equally as hard to translate to a festival setting. What I heard of Jarvis Cocker was good, but by Spoon I was pretty well done in. Plenty of other loud music all day long.

 

I doubt I will go back to Pitchfork again with the sole intention of seeing the music (I didn't really this year, but I did buy tickets that were unneccessary.) Selling records and catching a few acts will be plenty for me. I had a great deal of fun both selling and buying from other venders (particularly enjoyed talking to the Thrill Jockey folks) and simply talking to the attendees from all over the country and world.

 

Last note this morning to bbop....you were correct. The copy of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation DID sell before the day was out, to a young African American woman who said it was one of her fathers favorite albums. She was extremely pleased to get it. Also the original, but somewhat beat-up original copy of the Nico and the Velvet Underground that had been sitting in the bin and looked at by hundreds of people was bought at the very end of the night by a nice guy who decided having even an imperfect copy of the most famous album in history was still worth it for $40.

 

The economic power of a festival like this and Lolla can not be underestimated by Chicago. I would say at least 2/3 to 3/4 of the people I spoke to both in the record tent and by the stages were from somewhere other than the Chicago region.

 

LouieB

[sureshot]

Boris. Nuff said. Spiritualized was tops as well.

 

I strongly dislike Spoon. Same goes for Animal Collective. So headliners held no interest for me.

 

Sucked that Cut Copy didnt get a full set (showed up very late). But they made the most of their 20 minutes.

[MrRain422]

L-E-S S-A-V-Y F-A-V

 

[sureshot]

L-E-S S-A-V-Y F-A-V

 

I just about lost it after Tim Harrington went crowd surfing. Inside a garbage can. "I feel like Oscar. This place stinks!"

[solace]

LSF are so f'n awesome live... sadly i haven't seen them since '01 or '02, as they haven't been back to the Twin Cities since

 

weird too, cuz i saw them here 4-5x between '99 and '02 or whatever.

[uwmryan]

Spiritualized was great and King Khan was a pleasure as well. Spoon played for 55 min.

 

Cut Copy sounded good from a distance.

 

M Ward was a lot of fun, probably my favorite.

[WaronWar]

I had a pretty good weekend. It was nice talking to LouieB a couple times at the record place.

 

Sunday seemed less crowded, but it was hot out. King Khan was great, but I do have to agree that his act would have been better suited for club rather than at a festival mid-afternoon. M. Ward was good too, and I heard Dino Jr. while I was waiting for Spoon and they sounded good too. I also thought Spoon was pretty solid.

 

So I think Caribou and King Khan were the big highlights for me this weekend, and all in all it was a good weekend. I am just tired now.

[pnêyu]

I'm trying to remember why I opted not to see one of Jarvis Cocker's rare U.S. shows...? Oh right, no good reason. But glad to hear he dazzled Chicago.

[Dr. Steve Brule]

thankfully all the bands I care to see are playing club shows. Saturday night at Bottom Lounge is gonna fucking rule with King Khan and the Shrines...

 

 

I saw some of King Khan, who was entertaining enough, but I wish I had seen him in a club rather than in a huge crowd outside. I don't think his raunchy soul act, which I am sure would have been very entertaining in a club worked so well during the day with thousands of people and not always such hot sound. (I guess you can expose yourself in public in Chicago and get away with it.. )

 

 

King Khan was great, but I do have to agree that his act would have been better suited for club rather than at a festival mid-afternoon.

 

 

I TRIED.

[bböp]

Last note this morning to bbop....you were correct. The copy of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation DID sell before the day was out, to a young African American woman who said it was one of her fathers favorite albums. She was extremely pleased to get it.

 

I told ya, didn't I? I wasn't entirely optimistic with just a few hours to go in the fest, but I'm glad it went to a good home. Hope you cut her a good deal. It is a pretty awesome record.

[LouieB]

M Ward was a lot of fun, probably my favorite.

I agree, or did I say that....well actually seeing Public Enemy was probably the highlight of the weekend, but of the indie groups he was my favorite, although (also repeating myself), Dino Jr won me over.....

 

Yea I gave her Janet for $5. She was very pleased. But the guy who bought the Nico and VU was very pleased, as was the couple who realized later they were getting 4 singles for $2 in the grab bags and came back for several more at the very end. We sold so much good stuff I sure hope we can find more for the next Pulaski Field house sale in the winter. Carter is pretty good at finding stuff.

 

Hey as far as getting to see Khan in a club, I was lucky I dragged my ass to the fest every day and stayed all day all weekend. I have been also getting up and going to work every day this week so far when I definitely would prefer to stay home and play records.

 

Did anyone else notice that the Pitchfork banners around the stages were gone this year? There was very very little PR for Pitchfork anywhere to be seen except for the programs. I also didn't notice Tim Tutten doing openings either. I know he did a few and I saw him (passing out Hideout material on Sunday night also). His role seems to have diminished as well.

 

LouieB

[MrRain422]

Yeah, I only saw him do a few intros this year.

 

Goose Island and Boost were far more heavily advertised than Pitchfork. I got pretty tired of seeing things with the 312unes tag.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Not sure where I stumbled on to this, so apologies if one of you posted it somewhere:

 

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2008..._missed_con.php

[tangara]

Friday:

 

Public Enemy set the tone for the weekend. It was everything I dreamed it would be.

Mission of Burma was solid, but easily trumped by Public Enemy;

Sebadoh was sadly kind of unmemorable.

 

Saturday:

 

I fully enjoyed Elf Power's set (they're one of my favorite, favorite bands);

thought Jay Reatard was great fun;

thought Titus Andronicus was okay;

loved Fleet Foxes, but I think they're not the best choice for a festival act; I've seen them four or five times this year, and I think they need to mix up their setlist a bit and play more off the new record (Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, especially!)

on the other hand, I thought that despite the overhype and subsequent backlash, Vampire Weekend was a great, light, fun festival act; perfect carefree summertime music

I wasn't too thrilled with either Jarvis Cocker or Animal Collective. Eh.

 

Sunday:

 

King Khan put on the set of the festival, IMO. I thought the B stage was a great setting - huge crowd of sweaty folks shakin' it! I was particularly inspired by their dancer, and think I might try out that go-go class at the Old Town School this fall...

Dodos were lively and always put on a good show. Their percussionist is fantastic.

Bon Iver was totally drowned out by Spiritualized (I think?). A shame, but Spiritualized was actually pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of theirs but there were some nice melodies going on. It was an easy set to take in from the back of the crowd.

Underwhelmed a bit by Dino Jr.

M. Ward seemed to bring it towards the end of the set, though (can you tell I was losing steam at this point?)

Spoon = Most Boring. Headliner. Ever. Ugh. I know they have better songs; why didn't they play any of them? I was a bit surprised to see that they only played 55 minutes; I left early.

 

Overall, I'd give the weekend a 7.8