It’s obligatory photo recap time! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a press pass this year, so many of the following photos prominently feature the back of people’s domes. Click on the photos to see a larger, higher resolution version.
After two months of flawless weather in Chicago, the climate waited until the most excellent of weekends to unleash her fury, with downpours on Saturday and oppressive, Biblical heat on Sunday. Despite that, Pitchfork Music Festival, by and large, ruled. Though we were all very privileged to see some excellent performances (sans Vampire Weekend… the Decibel Tolls is the only blog with an official “VW sucks it” philosophy), this whole festival belongs to one man, in my opinion.
And that’s Mr. Jason Spaceman…
Remember when I said Boris would be the loudest band at PMF? Wrong! Spiritualized was loud enough to decimate the festival’s PA system in the middle of “Take Me to the Other Side.” Mr. Pierce was so distraught over the whole predicament that, well, he took it upon himself to knock over their mic stands with his guitar and send his vintage (I think it was a) Telecaster through his amp head. It’s good to see psych dudes go delightfully apeshit every now and again. He wasn’t too upset about the whole thing, as he came back on stage to wave bye to the crowd and take a humble bow.
I was hoping that Spiritualized would roll through with an extra ensemble or two, and they delivered. The crowd roared when the Spritiualized gospel singers took the stage for some very intense, wall of sound plus gospel renditions of “Come Together,” “Soul on Fire,” and more. Pierce even brought out the big guns and dusted off “Shine a Light” from 1991’s Laser Guided Melodies (my favorite Spiritualized album)! This is the closest I’ll ever get to taking drugs inside a church.
Animal Collective brought a whole slew of new material during Saturday night’s performance. Actually, they premiered one song in the middle of a 20-minute rendition of “Fireworks” come to think of it. AC also brought out one of their newest fan favorites, known as “House” and “Simple Things,” depending on what you read. Avey Tare sported an awesome bucket hat. Unfortunately, none of my photos turned out that well, so I won’t post them. I had amazing photos of their performance last May at The Dame in Lexington, but unfortunately, my camera went AWOL shortly after. Moral of the story, unload your shit early and often.
Caribou was the other sick performance that stood out from the weekend. The rain hit right when Caribou started at 2:15, but the music was too sunshine-saturated to make you take notice. As I discussed in the Pitchfork preview, Caribou is an exercise in percussive fortitude. Dan Snaith performs with a full band, and bangs the shit out of the drums for each song’s climax.
The highlight for me was hearing an old favorite, “Skunks” off of 2003’s Up in Flames. Just like the recorded version, Snaith and Company laid the booty bass on thick. Though the Left Banke never received their due credit in the ’60s, their body of work is alive and well in Caribou. One interesting side note – Caribou seems to get 86 love in Chicago. At their Metro show back in November, they were opening for Battles (though they were great, Caribou was better). Otherwise, for their headlining shows, they’re generally plunged back into smaller clubs like the Empty Bottle. Their Saturday afternoon super-stoked psych-pop explosion blew the crowd away. You heard it from everyone in attendance, so methinks their Pitchfork appearance will reverse that current, and Snaith will receive his due props in the Windy City (though I do enjoy seeing Caribou in smaller rooms, he deserves a wide audience). Though the music was still sweeping and gorgeous as well, it’s the two drummer assault that takes emphasis live.
Also during Caribou’s set, hometown drank heroes 312 Ale / Goose Island flung about a bazillion beach balls into the crowd.
Though not related to the focus of this blog, my girlfriend (much to her delight) and I got to see our lil’ friend Jarvis, too.
