No classic albums played in their entirety, but any fest day during which your mind is blown thrice is indeed a good fest day. As noted, there’s a hipster agenda at play at Pitchfork Music Festival (duh), but the lineup is anything but hegemonic: Scottish shoegaze, coke rap, psych-folk, Yoko … Saturday’s bill had the bases covered. Along with Battles, Clipse, and Mastodon, post-show chatter gave big ups to Stereofaves and OKX alum the Twilight Sad (we caught the tail end of a typically blistering “And She Would Darken The Memory,” so so good — that’s the band above with Battles’ Dave Konopka) and Grizzly Bear (you’ve seen ‘em, we’ve seen ‘em, but folks here hadn’t — and they fell head over paws). Cat Power sounded great (and looked like a Chanel model), but sound issues took their toll. Califone‘s early day set was ace, which we chased with an infectious and excited set from Voxtrot, showing off road-honed popscapes and stage-hopping, serving up a welcome combatant to festival fatigue. Iron & Wine … not so much. Sam’s put together a very fine new record, and he delivered it with lovely delicacy, but the low sound and hushed Beam-ing sent us straight to Rehab (the energy drink of choice this weekend). Yoko Ono closed out the night, and it was a lot like we got at Øya last summer: a ten-minute videotaped intro/lesson on how to flash “I Love You” with the provided “Onochord” penlight; performance pieces seeing her act out both sides of an abusive relationship; and a lot of slinky-grooved rock/Ono caterwauling. And as last time, we spent half the set staring in amazement, half pondering if we’ll have a fraction that cool when we’re septuagenarians. Probably not.
And then there’s the stuff we’re kicking ourselves for having missed: Ed Droste joining Girl Talk onstage with a live vocal for Gregg’s “Knife” remix, and the fire marshall shutting down Dan Deacon for his (literally) smoking setup and crowd management issues. Probably won’t see the live Grizzly Talk mashup again anytime soon, but there’s still chance to see the authorities shut down Mr. Deacon in Chi town. If you’re in the city, join us at the “secret” Deacon/Deerhunter show at 217 Wolcott St. Starts at midnight CST! Get in a cab, or if you’re feeling lazy, click below for Saturday’s pictorial platter.
THE TWILIGHT SAD
CALIFONE
VOXTROT
BEACH HOUSE
GRIZZLY BEAR
IRON & WINE
CAT POWER
YOKO ONO
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so i would suck on yoko’s tits.
godamnit. chan marshall isn’t hot anymore.
Man, all this PLUS months of post-show coverage at Pitchfork?
That’s a bargain.
hey, thanks for the photos of Yoko. does anyone have the set list for her show? did Thurston play the entire gig with her? Thanks so much!!
No. Cat Power is still hot
beach house was super disappointing.
Thurston didn’t play the whole time, it was probably half of it which he played.
Rehab was amazing, I seriously want to buy truckloads of that.
really? yoko ono? even in “she probably didn’t really break up the beatles” hindsight, he music is pretty awful. yes, i know shes weirder than our own grandparents but that doesn’t make her good.
A Deacon/Deerhunter show? I wanna see that.
dan deacon and deerhunter?? everyone in attendance will be embarrassed in t-minus 7 months.
Whatevs, Yoko ruled–she’s the only reason I even showed my face at Union Park AT ALL this weekend–and you’re all just jealous.
Well thxs for the wonderfull pictures of Yoko Ono and to the people here who post silly comments about Yoko just shut your mouth !! you do not even know her !! she represent everything for me…her music/art is one of the most fantastic things ever i even wanted to fly over from Europe to be there !!!
Cheers Christ
any more downshirt pics of chan?
Sam Beam looks cool with longer hair. That said, I’m wary to attend his live show for fear of it seeming too boring.
BEAUTIFUL autoharp on that dude from Grizzly Bear!
Also, I have never understood why anyone would book Sam Beam for a festival. His shows are beautiful and intimate when they’re indoors, but everything gets lost when he’s out in the open, playing to a bajillion-strong talking, jostling crowd of people.
The soung issue is forgivable, they haven’t been doing this festival for THREE YEARS ALREADY.
Nice wrap up — I agree on nearly all points.
I can’t explain why Califone and Grizzly Bear can come off so well at a festival and Iron & Wine are such a snooze. I left to go see Professor Murder.
And I still have that freaking “Atlas” song with the alien voice in my head.
Uh, so is the deacon deerhunter show, sunday night? or monday night? It wasn’t very clear in the editorial. Judging by the time posted it would be monday night. Anywho, I am rarely embarrassed by a concert, other than the one time when I saw bon jovi and aerosmith.
sam beam really masterering that jesus christ look = 9.2
yeah califone and grizzly bear were totally great and yet iron and wine, hmmmm
Califone could have had a bit more dynamics, but Grizzly Bear brought the peaks and valleys. Deerhunter a definitely highlight, as was Battles and Girl Talk (the cameo for knife was fucking awesome)
Loved what I saw of Jamie Lidell too!
Let downs—THE PONYS
fucking sucked hard nuts
I wish I could’ve gone, if only to see Grizzly Bear. I am so jealous of everyone right now. Chris Taylor’s shirt matches with Bear’s hat! I want to hold them all forever and ever.
cat power looks delicious.
the deaconhunter show was last night! and it was pretty fucking unreal. post tk. my ears are still ringing.
the voxtrot keyboardist is super effin cute
my sister wrote a review about cute bands at pitchfork. hahahaha.
http://www.mkeonline.com/people/blogs.asp?id=359&entry=40921