Pitchfork 2009

This was another amazing year at Pitchfork. For my third year, we were a trio... my roommate as well as Ken from Brooklyn. Neither Andrea or Ken had been to Pitchfork and I think I can speak for them and say they had a GREAT time as well. It's hard not to when you're surrounded by great music, amazing people watching, phenomenal beer & food. All in a festival that's not too expensive and isn't too large. The hardest part to deal with this Festival is knowing that you just have to give up on some good music for other things. You get used to it... sort of like how I have to just briefly gloss over the events of the weekend - it's just too much (for you and I).

Day 1 - Saturday

As you've probably already heard me lament, I missed the Kid Cudi / Asher Roth show on Friday night. But it was entirely worth it. We hit the road and made good time to Chicago. As usual, we stayed with our gracious hosts, Sal & Chris in the Gold Coast. On Saturday morning Andrea insisted we hit the Bongo Room for breakfast. Wow. Best. Breakfast. Ever. We still made it in time to see Plants & Animals. They had some good songs, but I couldn't say the same about Fucked Up, though it seemed like so many other people liked them. Then hit some Pains of Being Pure at Heart, which sound very much like their name, but not for long before going to see some Bowerbirds. Then we discovered the problem with the B stage. If you can't get close, the sound sucks, which was the case for the Bowerbirds. Headed back over to the PABPAH. Took a break and heard some Final Fantasy from the distance, who I wasn't really excited about, but who Andrea just loved. Saw some Yeasayer which impressed me more than I was expecting, but then I migrated over to check out Lindstrom. Now that was some GREAT dance music. I wanted to stay and wait to see Matt & Kim, but they were running late. Just as I was about to ditch them for Beirut, they began. Watched for a little bit, but I was already in the bad-sound area. Beirut was great! I hadn't had much experience with them, and not sure I'm a fan of their recorded stuff as much as their live performance. Ended the day with some corndogs and The National.

Day 1.5 - After Party

This was a Pitchfork first. Hanging out with the cool kids means you get to hear about the cool after parties. We hung out a little bit around Wicker Park before heading over to this after party, which was in this random building on some random side street. The fucked up kids out front encouraged us to go in and assured us there was plenty of coke and something else... Maybe there was. We walked up a couple flights and entered this "apartment" that was T-RASHED. A band was playing and they were selling $1 PBR cans. Just a wild mix of people, music, beer, and probably a lot of illicit substances. I really have no idea if they had a landlord, but I'm sure they couldn't be happy. I also couldn't imagine waking up in that place the next day. Still, it was a blast.

Day 2 - Sunday

Another great breakfast, this time at the Wishbone. Unfortunately we didn't get an extra ticket for Ken, but he was able to hang out and explore Chicago for the first time. He dropped us off just in time to see Frightened Rabbit, which was definitely one of the bands I wanted to see this weekend. We got called away early because Rebecca was hanging out for Press access to Blitzen Trapper, who has become a new favorite of mine. So we decided to listen to the rest of the FR from the other stage and get a good spot for Blitzen Trapper. They only solidified their spot as a favorite after that performance. We took another break to look around, but was back to the stages to see the Thermals. I've seen them enough, so I wasn't really excited, and it seemed like we just couldn't find a good spot to hang out. I suggested we head over to DJ/Rupture, and I'm so glad we did. Andrea and I first hung back and were just loving the beats he was putting down. Finally we couldn't take it any more and had to move closer. I think Andrea had a spiritual moment. One of the most impressive parts was that I didn't see a laptop on stage with him, but did see the 4 turntables he was workin'. A definite highlight of the weekend. We walked around, got some amazing food, heard the Walkmen from a distance, then headed over to see M83. We kinda hung back because we were getting tired, but really liked what I heard. We ended with some Grizzly Bear (which for some reason, I just can't get in to), and watching some of the opening of the Flaming Lips show before we headed out. Whew.

Click below for my Flickr Photostream of the event.

Of course there are many better photos out there if you're interested. In particular, check out Rebecca's (who had a press pass). Seriously, these are amazing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirty_black_chucks/sets/72157621520146603/