Parquet Courts Find Their Crowd

Parquet Courts Find Their Crowd

One of the fun things about the Pitchfork Festival is figuring out which of these internet-popular bands are real-life popular. I’d been surprised that Parquet Courts had a plum main-stage spot; I saw them play a tea shop to 40 people a year or two ago, and their Coachella set was marked by bad sound and a sparse crowd. I had them pegged as one of those great bands who, for whatever reason, just don’t project. But there’s a difference between the Coachella crowd and the Pitchfork one, and the Pitchfork crowd treated them like stars. It probably helped that their main competition was “waiting for A$AP Ferg” and that everyone was euphoric after the whole festival-not-canceled thing, but Parquet Courts drew a huge audience, one who was absolutely down to go off for some twisty, sardonic punk rock. If a festival crowd can treat a band like Parquet Courts as conquering heroes, there’s hope for all of us.