pitchfork music festival recap

So, yeah! Pitchfork! It was awesome! And also kind of a blur. Here’s what’s great about going to the Pitchfork Festival: things are cheap (no $5 bottles of water — hi there Lollapalooza), I always see lots and lots of friends (you know who you are) and there’s a real sense of community at the festival. Case in point: opening night, patiently waiting in the Chipotle line — Britt Daniel. Walking around you’d see Tim Harrington (giving $2 haircuts; see below) and the High Places and the Abe Vigoda kids and Vampire Weekend and No Age and Bradford Cox and whoever else. Though it is only true in a very limited sense, it felt like a community there, and that’s not an easy thing to come by.

Other things: every kid in America owns that red and black No Age shirt. I saw 34,000 at the festival and four more at the airport. Bradford Cox is apparently the nicest dude in the world; he played as Atlas Sound, played “Mountain of Sound” with Spoon and teamed up with Ponys dudes and King Khan (no comment on that dude) when Cut Copy were late. Something else to love about Bradford: he invited our own Crystal Stilts to open for him at the South Street Seaport here in NYC on Friday! Kisses!

Best band I saw: Fuck Buttons. And it wasn’t really close. So much of the festival is spent bopping around from spot to spot, getting more beers, saying hi, etc. The only set that kept me firmly planted in place was Fuck Buttons. Such great performers, the music so loud and pummeling and enveloping that I was totally rapt. I will happily see them again.

Also great: Bon Iver. I was down on him at SXSW, but he was great in Chicago. What’s funny is that the staging area was packed with ticket holders, but the VIP sidestage was empty — maybe the emptiest of any of the shows I saw. What this says to me is that “normal” people love Bon Iver, but the gliterrati is over him or thinks he is, to quote Amishi, “boring.” Lemme tell you that the VIPs have it way way way wrong. Apparently there was a massive singalong to “Skinny Love” that I missed, but my friend who told me about it seemed close to tears in describing it. I was infinitely jealous that I missed it.

Also also great: HEALTH. Which surprised me. I’ve seen them a couple of times in NYC, and was never struck by them. That kinda music used to be my scene, and I felt a bit like, “I saw early Black Dice shows and A Minor Forest. Why do I need this?” And I still don’t need it exactly, but it was better than I expected.

Also also also great: Spiritualized! This one surprised me, but after four exhausting days the familiar and massive sound felt absolutely perfect. The sun was out and setting after a soggy weekend, the music epic… I dunno. It just felt right. Atlas Sound were also very good (some not-so-hot moments, but stuff like “River Card” was awesome), and of course I have to bro-up for the High Places, who I adored even if this wasn’t the best setting for them. (Because of a church across the street and it being an early Sunday afternoon, they couldn’t turn up. High Places sound best very very very loud.)

Oh and Animal Collective! I last saw them at Tonic maybe four or five years ago, just four dudes cross-legged playing acoustic guitars and percussion with a little tape machine. Now they put on a massive show, complete with a Daft Punk-like LED light show. I was shocked. I definitely need to see them in a real space now.

And in terms of other stuff, I dunno! I can’t remember all that well, to be honest with you. There was plenty I didn’t like, but why ruin the positivity. If you have some Pitchfork reactions to share (and I know people already did here and here), please do!