For the life of me I can’t figure out where this week ended or began. I’ll guess it had something to do with driving from New York to Chicago for Pitchfork Festival. Technically you can do that jaunt in one day but we like to stop in Cleveland to visit our Jakprints friends. As we rolled into Chicago we got there just in time to catch a performance of Blue Man Group which made for a good time.
Pitchfork Festival is one of my favorites. A lot of people are surprised when I say this but they always have a lot of bands that aren’t playing other festivals, it’s not too big, it’s city center so it’s easy to get to by bike or train, and it’s cheap (a three-day pass is only $75).
Friday night’s lineup was right up my alley with Built to Spill, Yo la Tengo, Jesus Lizard, and Tortoise performing songs chosen by the folks who bought tickets. I swear Built to Spill played pretty much the same set as when I saw them the last two times but there were no complaints from my end. I was pogoing solo out in the crowd when they broke into “Virginia Reels around the Fountain” which is one of my all-time favorites. Even though the weather stayed in the 60’s or 70’s we still went through almost 1000 creams in only a handful of hours.
Saturday always seems to be the biggest day for festivals and even though there wasn’t a huge headliner (The National…who put on an energized set) there were still tons of great bands on board which would explain why it was sold out. I had resigned myself to not seeing any bands during the day but got to hear a bunch of bands from where we were parked. On top of that we had some bands come by the truck to play a song. Plants and Animals, who’s Parc Avenue album from last year was one of my favorites, brought over an Autoharp with them. A band I had heard of but not yet listened to, The Antlers, also stopped by the truck and it was one of my favorite performances yet. Can’t wait to check out their record.
On Saturday night of last year I went to my favorite party all summer where No Age and Abe Vigoda played in a basement that ended up getting flooded with over a foot of water. I didn’t think we’d be able to come close to that at all for a party this year but I was wrong. The BitchPork party on the south side of town at the Electric Company was exactly what an after party should be like. It definitely helped that the dudes that lived there were friends with Times New Viking who were playing last. We walked in as GA’AN was on a small stage and then we loaded up on cheap beers before TNV took the stage in the second floor warehouse. The party reminded me of how and why I got into going to shows when I was young. The energy was through the roof and close to half the people there were dancing and/or freaking out. I was bopping along in the back until they played “My Head” which made me head straight for the pit in my white linen pants and new sneaks. Wow… what a blast. Luck have it we got TNV to stop by the truck the next day to play a song.
Sunday was a busy day because we needed to do our best to get some bands to play some songs and we needed to make sure Wayne from Flaming Lips was going to have time to help us give away some ice cream. Jonas from Mew also stopped by to help with some slingin’ which was a bit funny. He had recently flown in from Denmark and had never seen or heard of us before so he was a bit uncertain of exactly what was going on.
Wayne Coyne is a guy who loves to talk and if you ever get an interview slot with him, shoot for as early as possible. He was tied up with a bunch of things but we finally got him over right before he took the stage to work on sound check. We asked him about what magic events might be happening that night and what different songs they’d be playing. For some reason I was a lil shocked at how many people flocked to the truck right then as he handed out lime and bomb pops. We just got OK’d to be at All Tomorrow’s Parties in NY on my birthday weekend (Sept 11-13). The Flaming Lips are curating it and Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, The Jesus Lizard, Panda Bear, Shellac, and a bunch more are playing. Having been to six ATPs so far I highly, HIGHLY recommend you make it out to Kutsher’s Resort in the Catskill’s. Get tix at www.atpfestival.com
I split for a few minutes to catch some Grizzly Bear and Mew and by the time I got back the Vivian Girls were already done playing behind the truck. Since then I’ve heard the production crew rave about how much they loved their performance so I can’t wait to check it out.
Flaming Lips is the band I’ve seen play more than any other and they always amaze me. I did sneak out for a bit to catch The Very Best who I was into. They had the crowd dancing more than any other band I saw all weekend. Once they were done I headed back and danced for a bit before singing along to “Do You Realize?” with my hands in the air, a fitting end to another memorable weekend. If you’re looking for an excuse to visit Chicago during the summer you should try to make this next year.
