P4K Day 1
The term "Pitchfork", for those of us in the know or whatever, carries with it quite a stigma. Pitchfork has quickly become the face and the butt of indie and hipster culture. Thousands of kids silently put a lot of weight in what that silly website has to say on a daily basis. I won't deny that I read it everyday, I do. It's a good source for news more than anything to me, and occasionally I find myself intrigued by a review. That is if I happen to read passed the first paragraph. But, regardless of your feelings about the big nuts the fork swings in this strange culture of ours, there is only one thing that can make us put our reservations aside and say "up top!" to Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork Music Festival.
So, here is my brief account of the happenings of this past weekend in Chicago.
Day one. Fuck was it hot. The first band we saw when we got there was Man Man. You might remember them from like two entries ago when I posted the video for Engwish Bwud. These dudes... these dudes are fucking nuts and hilarious. They wore white clothes, head bands, and war paint. The show was as interesting and awesome to watch as it was to hear, they screamed and yelped their way through their set, finding time to bang on anything they could find in the midst of opening bags of multicolored feathers and tossing them in the air as well as throwing spoons at a metal bowl as a form of percussion. Yeah, I don't know either. But it was awesome.
The second real highlight of the day was Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I'd seen them the night before in Lansing so I wasn't too pumped for their set, but fuck me did they rock. The set was very similar to the night before, the obvious highlights of "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?", "Me and Mia", and "Timorous Me" were all there and rocking real hard. But the shit really hit the fan during the set closer "The Ballad of Sin Eater", in which Ted ditched his guitar to holler his ass off into the mic. I mean this guy went off and decided to show the crowd just how kick ass he was when he repeatedly bashed his forehead on the microphone, on beat mind you, until his face was covered with blood. And he just kept on rocking. It was probably the most rock and roll moment of the weekend.
Unlikely headliners The Silver Jews closed out the night with a suprisingly near flawless set. With all that I'd heard about frontman Steve Berman's mental instabilities and fear of crowds I thought we were in for some serious social awkwardness, but Mr. Berman kept it together extremely well and put on an awesome show. They played "Random Rules", one of my favorite songs ever, so I was smitten. That, and Steve's wife, the bass player, is about the sexiest woman I've ever seen.
I'm not saying that Destroyer, The Walkmen, Futureheads, Art Brut, etc. weren't good or whatever. This atmosphere at the fest made it hard to enjoy a set unless you had a good spot, and it was impossible to do for everyone. I will say Destroyer impressed even from a distance though.
Day two was better. That little piece I'll do tomorrow I guess. It's getting late and I have to get drunk. But here are some downloads and pictures of the dudes I talked about in this entry.
Man Man - Black Mission Goggles
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?
Silver Jews - Random Rules
Man Man:
Ted Leo:
Silver Jews:
So, here is my brief account of the happenings of this past weekend in Chicago.
Day one. Fuck was it hot. The first band we saw when we got there was Man Man. You might remember them from like two entries ago when I posted the video for Engwish Bwud. These dudes... these dudes are fucking nuts and hilarious. They wore white clothes, head bands, and war paint. The show was as interesting and awesome to watch as it was to hear, they screamed and yelped their way through their set, finding time to bang on anything they could find in the midst of opening bags of multicolored feathers and tossing them in the air as well as throwing spoons at a metal bowl as a form of percussion. Yeah, I don't know either. But it was awesome.
The second real highlight of the day was Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I'd seen them the night before in Lansing so I wasn't too pumped for their set, but fuck me did they rock. The set was very similar to the night before, the obvious highlights of "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?", "Me and Mia", and "Timorous Me" were all there and rocking real hard. But the shit really hit the fan during the set closer "The Ballad of Sin Eater", in which Ted ditched his guitar to holler his ass off into the mic. I mean this guy went off and decided to show the crowd just how kick ass he was when he repeatedly bashed his forehead on the microphone, on beat mind you, until his face was covered with blood. And he just kept on rocking. It was probably the most rock and roll moment of the weekend.
Unlikely headliners The Silver Jews closed out the night with a suprisingly near flawless set. With all that I'd heard about frontman Steve Berman's mental instabilities and fear of crowds I thought we were in for some serious social awkwardness, but Mr. Berman kept it together extremely well and put on an awesome show. They played "Random Rules", one of my favorite songs ever, so I was smitten. That, and Steve's wife, the bass player, is about the sexiest woman I've ever seen.
I'm not saying that Destroyer, The Walkmen, Futureheads, Art Brut, etc. weren't good or whatever. This atmosphere at the fest made it hard to enjoy a set unless you had a good spot, and it was impossible to do for everyone. I will say Destroyer impressed even from a distance though.
Day two was better. That little piece I'll do tomorrow I guess. It's getting late and I have to get drunk. But here are some downloads and pictures of the dudes I talked about in this entry.
Man Man - Black Mission Goggles
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?
Silver Jews - Random Rules
Man Man:
Ted Leo:
Silver Jews:
posted by Kyle Funk at 8:16 PM
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