The DePaulia

Issue date: 7/29/10 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: J.V. Siegel Large crowds attended Pitchfork despite the heat.

"Listen kids, you will not be doing any drugs today," a bearded man explained to a group of junior-high school aged journalists.

The scene at the Pitchfork Music Festival 2010, in which the online music publication turned Chicago's Union Park in to a three stage, weekend long event, featured some of the most talked-about performers of today.

Hardly in the same realm as Coachella or Lollapalooza, the Pitchfork Music Festival featured a more subdued lineup, and a much smaller location. Despite this, the festival lived up to both of the aforementioned festivals, and surpassed them with integrity, substance, and killer sounds.

The headliners were the talk of the indie music world: Broken Social Scene/Modest Mouse (Friday), LCD Soundsystem (Saturday), followed by Big Boi/Sleigh Bells/Pavement (Sunday).

But the heralded main items of the event did not steal the show, as assumed. The festival, in fact, belonged to the bands that led up to the main events.

The First Day

Arriving thirty minutes before artists began playing Friday evening was tantamount to arriving four hours early to any sporting event. By no means was the festival crowded at this point in time; there weren't more than a few hundred attendees.

At 3:30 p.m., Sharon Van Etten kicked off the festival with her remarkably grungy-sounding solo act. She played on the festival's main ("A") stage, while the majority of festival-goers lined up 100 yards away (at the "C" stage) for the 4:00 act: Swedish musician Tallest Man on Earth, aka Kristian Matsson.

After being serenaded by Van Etten's dulcet tones, and feeling markedly daunted by the breakup-driven songs, Matsson was greeted by a roar from the crowd as he ambled on stage, copiously apologizing, for he was very jet-lagged ("I haven't slept in two days"). Matsson needed only an acoustic guitar to create his sound, which has drawn comparisons to Bob Dylan, driven by fond notions of nature.



Matsson chicken-walked (a la Mick Jagger) in a very pre-meditated route, before slouching into a chair. Every member of the audience could swear he was staring directly into their eyes, as he looked intently in into the audience when not singing, slouching, or stumbling around stage.

Despite his exhaustion, Matsson's excitement was evident, and he delivered a set that would be among the best at the festival. When he told the crowd, "they only gave me 35 minutes, so I can't play forever," he was greeted with a chorus of boos, and at the culmination of his performance, he received a resounding ovation.

The fact that such a strong performance could kick off the festival made the following acts quite difficult for the various performers to live up to. Indie hip-hop artist El-P attempted to find the brown note, and his bass was felt 200 yards away. Matsson's self-professed "sister" - the two are not related beyond sharing the same country of origin - Swedish electronic-pop artist Robyn, attracted quite an eclectic crowd, but failed to live up to her "brother's" set, despite the complete dissimilarities in their brand of music.

Broken Social Scene's set was marred by technical problems. Despite this, the Canadian-based band played a driven set, amongst the best by the headliners.

Finally, the most anticipated group of the day: Modest Mouse took the main ("A") stage at 8:30. The group spurned their newer songs in favor of playing many old songs, but still underwhelmed; perhaps due to the hype.

Day of the Cutoff Jean Shorts

Saturday afternoon had one recurring theme that could have marred the festival for any performer or attendee: cutoff jean shorts. It appeared as these were required for entry, as a solid majority of the attendees were wearing their own variations.

Despite the distraction presented by their self-professed "indie" audiences' uniform style, Free Energy took the main stage at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and defied metaphors like "blowing the roof off the joint," and quite simply rocked. The Philadelphia-based band, taken under the wing by DFA Records' James Murphy (front-man for Saturday night headliner LCD Soundsystem) was widely considered a band on the verge of going "big time" at the beginning of the year.

The quintet, often likened to bands like Thin Lizzy, Journey, and Cheap Trick, performed a set that could have headlined any music festival in the world. Their rendition of their own single "Something In Common," was the best five minutes at the festival. Guitarist Scott Wells showed that he is fully capable of shredding his guitar, and soon will be considered among the best touring guitarists in the world.

With the culmination of Free Energy's set, it became evident again that the rest of the performers at the festival had quite the uphill battle. At 3:20, Jersey rockers Titus Andronicus began their set. The band's 2010 Album The Monitor influenced Rolling Stone into calling the band one of the 7 best new bands of 2010.

If there was an anti-American sentiment in the air, Titus Andronicus dispelled it with their flag-strewn stage.

"Holy [expletive], that's me over there," exclaimed frontman Patrick Stickles, pointing to a large video screen. "There's me over there. I think that's a metaphor for our post-modern condition. Anyways, let's go."

Stickle's style of singing was that of a pirate leading a chorus of "Yo Ho," and his beard did nothing to dispel the comparison. As his band launched into their album loosely based on the American Civil War, the symbolism of the beard, and the flags became quite evident. The fury and angst the band unleashed was subdued compared to their first album, but the band rocked through their collection with added anger, due to the heat.

The entire weekend consisted of mid-90 degree heat, coupled with humidity fluctuating between 30%-50%. On Saturday at 3:30, it was 93 degrees with 35% humidity. It soon became ostensible why the cutoff jean shorts, sundresses, bikinis, and tank tops were so prevalent at the festival. The weather defined the term 'sticky-heat,' and no one was immune from it, despite the attempts by the staff to create 'cool zones.' It was tough deciding who had the festival more locked down: sponsor Beck's beer or the security (coupled with the volunteers). But there were no fights or major altercations either way.

At 4:15, on the "A" stage, Wu-Tang Clan veteran Raekwon took the stage to the largest mid-day crowd of the festival. But a 30-minute delay and the heat marred the set for the hip-hop legend, and it was underwhelming to say the least.

"The problem was that they put him at the hottest part of the day," New Orleans DJ Darryl Williams said. "It was so hot, his electronics weren't working, and he's old."

After the Raekwon debacle, Chicago natives The Smith Westerns were playing at the much smaller "B" stage. Nestled behind a row of food vendors, with only small room for entrance, the "B" stage was meant to showcase comedians and the smaller bands booked for the festival. It was also the shadiest area at the park, as this was where all the trees were located. Fans sick of standing out in the sun laid in the relative coolness of the large shade trees, hindering entrance and exit from watching the "B" stage. It became obvious that seeing The Smith Westerns was not going happen due to loungers.

At 6:15 on the "A" stage, Canadian rockers Wolf Parade began their set. The band, who just released their third album entitled "Expo 86" were by far the best act following Free Energy, even from 200 yards away.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Sunday featured the best lineup of the weekend. At 2:30, San Francisco psych-pop rockers Girls started their set. Featuring lead singer/guitarist/Culkin-brother lookalike Christopher Owens.

Owens was in the cult Children of God until he was a teen, and due to the restrictions placed upon him in the Children of God, his music style is quite diverse. At times the band sound like a surf rock band, only to go into doo-wop songs, and finish off with a psychedelic rock-touch. The band received a 9.1/10 by Pitchfork, and their debut album "Album" was named the tenth best record of 2009 by Pitchfork.

Girls' set was a bit subdued, until the end of the song "Hellhole Ratrace," when the band shocked the whole festival and launched into a minute long noise-rock-esque diatribe that resembled a 747 jumbo jet up close. Somehow, this fit the set perfectly.

Just as Girls was finishing up, on the "C" stage, dream-poppers Beach House were getting ready. As soon as Girls finished their set, organist/vocalist Victoria Legrand announced, "It's so good to be back in America," and launched into the set. The odd part of the set was just how well the band played, despite their subdued personas, and dreamy style of music. The setting of the concert even changed; cool breezes picking up, and clouds moving in to create a beach-like atmosphere.

50 minutes was certainly not enough, and the crowd gave quite an ovation as the best performance at the festival finished.

Solid performances from Surfer Blood (who played at the "B" stage), St. Vincent, Major Lazer ("guns don't kill people, lazers do") and the triumvirate of Big Boi, Sleigh Bells, and Pavement put the cap on the festival, and ended the strongest day.

Despite the heat, crowds, and expensive food, the Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 showed that one doesn't have to spend $200 a day to get into a hot venue where the headliners are among the top-40, and not artists that labored to get a record deal with a small company that eventually led to subdued stardom. Pitchfork proved its festival to be among the best in the world.

"Skinny jeans, sundresses, dark sunglasses, general disdain for society, faint smell of marijuana," geologist/indie music station head Nivas Vijay said. "It's a hipster's paradise."

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