Pitchfork Music Festival 2009 - pt. 1

I'm the guy everyone else behind me hates at concerts - tall with a big head. But that also means I get to see everything and have a heads-and-shoulders advantage for taking pictures and video. My camera doesn't do justice to any of the guitar sounds, mostly all you can hear are the vocals and drums, and typically my pictures are mediocre at best. Just take my word for it that it was one of the best, and most exhausting weekends of my life. The festival crams about a dozen bands into 10 hours each of Saturday and Sunday, and a few bands on Friday. (I did not go on Friday.)

Acts I wish I didn't miss: The Walkmen, The National, Pharaoh Monch, Vivian Girls

Worst show: Doom

Most annoying hipster accessory I'm guilty of: Wayfarer shades

Good shows I don't have pictures of and therefor aren't covered below: M83, Matt and Kim

The following clips and videos are ranked with my favorite show of the weekend first.
Black Lips
Saturday, July 18
The Black Lips are a bunch of deviants. After a lengthy sound check, guitarist whats-his-face immediately smashed the shit out of his Gibson on the first song, tossing the broken neck into the crowd, asking if anyone needed a pick-up.
Known for their onstage antics, the boys didn't do anything illegal this time around, but they did a fine job of letting the world know that they, in fact, do not give a fuck.
Standing in the first few rows for the Black Lips, it was too rowdy to take any video, and the stills I took before we pushed our way to the front are mostly garbage 'cause it was nighttime. Needless to say, the Black Lips put on a raunchy, awesome show, full of crowd surfing, band-member drinking and fan behavior-bating. Over the course of seeing more than a dozen bands, the dirty bastards in the Black Lips still find a way to standout as the grimiest bunch of rock n' rollers in the group. They had to play a short set - Pitchfork agreed with the Po to shut everything down by 10 p.m., and the band before the Black Lips played late. I should feel guilty for skipping the National for the Lips show, they were, of course, every critic's favorite, but I can listen to the National at home. I can't jump and sweat and scream with kindred idiots at home. The set hit all the favorites - "Oh Katrina," "Bad Kids," "Starting Over," but they could have easily played for another hour and not run out of titles I wanted to hear.

The Thermals
Sunday, July 19


The Thermals mixed in several covers, opening with Sonic Youth's "100%," (a song I didn't know) along with some others easier to recognize - Green Day's "Basket Case," which they played without a hint of irony, giving it the same level of enthusiasm they imbue any of their own political indie-pop punk. This was probably the closest I got for any show, and left without most of my voice, and several ounces of sweat. This video is lame, one of my least favorite songs they played, but the crowd wasn't going as crazy so I could pull our my camera without risk of breaking it.



Japandroids
Sunday

This buzz band blew up quick as hell (and without backlash, so far), from recording on a bedroom record label to playing for thousands at Pitchfork. And they rocked. Dude's got one guitar feeding 12 12-inch fender speakers (in 4 cabinets), mic'd for the PA of course, and gets the crunch only a pile of hot glowing tubes can get. His confidence borders on cockiness, but the guys from Canada know how to put on a rock show. Did I mention/brag that I had the vinyl before anyone else? Sorry.

Pitchfork Music Festival 2009 - pt. 2

Blitzen Trapper
At a hippie music festival, they are the indie band, at a indie festival, they are the hippie band. use whatever label appeals to you, but Blitzen Trapper make timeless rock and roll, with touches of folk, psychedelia, blues and even glam rock. And dudes got some pipes you don't notice until you see them live. The drummer looks like cousin it, has one of the most righteous beards of all time, and the Garfunkel-esque rhythm guitarist applied about a gallon of sun screen to his forehead.



Couple pictures:














Fucked Up
Art-damaged hardcore outfit Fucked Up have one hell of a front man. Damian Abraham made the typical stage banter actually humorous, telling the crowd the crown they are better than "that Animal Collective record, they sound like Phish." Too easy? Maybe, but shifting one's jokes to the crowd at hand isn't always easy at is it probably seams. He was grabbing the beach balls out of the air and deflating them with his teeth, eventually wearing one as a hat. Here's a quiet moment during "Crooked Head."
















The Flaming Lips
The last show on the last day. Word has it they spend $5,000 on confetti, that about sums it up. It's the second time I've seen the Lips. They played a couple new songs, and some super rarities, not of which translated live that well. And they let the crowd decide (by applause) between "She Don't Use Jelly" and "The W.A.N.D." The crowd chose "Jelly." I wanted the other. Why can't we have both? They also didn't play "Free Radicals," so that sucked. But otherwise the Lips were as entertaining as ever, even if i was a mile away.















Ponytail
I don't care what my friends think, Ponytail is awesome, especially live. The post-punk guitars absolutely destroy. Sure, "singer" Molly Siegel's lyrics are all ecstatic yelps and "whooos!" and "whyatcha!" But that's the point. She is just pure joy and energy on stage, personified. The band started as an art school project that took a life of its own, after all, and her voice is just an abstract instrument. I couldn't help but smile the whole time. (Insert joke about wondering if she's a boy or a girl .... that shit's tired, grow up).




Yeasayer
before the show, I was sort of ambivalent about Yeasayer. Now I get it. Polyrythmic without losing it's groove, soulful while still digitally relevant - the band finds a happy area somewhere between TV on the Radio's poppier moments and something actually on the radio. One of the more amazing moments of the festival happened during their set, when it started dropping buckets of rain, only to stop when the band reached the chorus of it's indie hit - "Sunrise" - and the big yellow guy actually peaked his out from behind the clouds.















Grizzly Bear
I only saw part of this show. Another bedroom/ear phone band.
"Two Weeks"


Cymbals Eat Guitars
This was the first show on Saturday, and I only saw the last three songs. it was impressive enough to prompt me to order their CD. It's not only one of the best debuts of the year, it's one of the best records of the year. Not immediately as engrossing as seeing the band's energy live, the album "Why There Are Mountains" is a grower, and it's been in my car nonstop since its purchase.