Chauncey and Chumley's Dad

Day 3 at Pitchfork! Finally getting to my summary after having to get back to reality on Monday. Here is a summary:

Transportation – Another flawless day with the CTA.

Weather – This was supposed to be the day with the highest chance of rain. Apparently, yesterday’s rain was supposed to be for today but came early. Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day; sunny, breezy, tolerable humidity levels and not a drop of rain.

Facility – The park held up well from the storm on Saturday. Unlike Riot Fest last year, when Humboldt Park turned into a muddy swamp after rain on the first day, Union Park seemed to soak up most of it. I was viewing some photo sets on line from some of the local papers. They had a lot of photos of people in muddy areas on Saturday, but that gave a false impression. While there were some bad areas, there were only parts of the park that got wasted, and I’d guess the amount of wet land was only around 10% of the park.  Carpet company FLOR was giving away 18” x 18” carpet tiles for anyone that wanted to use them for sitting during the festival. All the carpet tiles that were left in the park from Friday and Saturday were used to cover some of the muddy areas on Sunday so you could walk just about anywhere without having to walk in mud.

Fare – I’ve been out of town so much, I almost forgot about El Famous Burrito, so I stopped there before I headed down to the fest to fill up on tamales, beans and rice. During the festival, I went with the red beans and rice again which was just before I left the grounds. I guess I should have explored a bit more on the first two days, but the heat kept me from wanting to do any unnecessary walking. After two days of drinking canned Goose Island beer, I discovered that they had draughts in a vending area that was a bit hidden away from main vending area. The Green Line draughts were much more refreshing than the canned IPA’s!

Music – Again, I saw some entire sets and caught bits of other sets. Compared to the other 2 days, I thought Day #3 was a little weak for my personal tastes, but still had some good moments. Here is the list:

o   Viet Cong – I arrived as they started their set. They had a good punk sound but I wanted to pace myself in the sun and heat, so I headed over to the shadier Blue Stage area.

o   Mourn – Good young ¾ female alt/punk band from Barcelona.

o   The Julie Ruin – Another ¾ female punk band and in this case, hailing from New York. Female lead singer Kathleen Hanna has a nice personality. At one point, she was setting the stage for a song and noted that she is 46 years old. She was talking about life and how sometimes women demure and accept situations when they shouldn’t. Again thinking about her age, she quipped, “I sound like a camp counselor.” Though I wouldn’t compare Kathleen’s voice to Kate Pierson, the vocal trade offs between her a Kenny Mellman struck me as sort of a punk rock version of the B52’s.

o   Madlib & Freddie Gibbs – I caught about half of this show because they were playing on the Red Stage while I was waiting to see the next act on the Green Stage. It was negative, repetitive, pointless drivel and a waste of good stage time.

o   Courtney Barnett – This was by far my favorite of day 3 and possibly may fav for the entire festival. Wow, can she rock! I love her debut album and I can’t say enough about how awesome this young lady is as a performer. Her band is a power trio with Courtney handling all the lead and rhythm guitar and, of course, vocals. One review I read said something to the effect that she would have been well received by just going on stage and playing the part of the female indie singer/song writer. But in addition to that, she plays a screaming guitar and prances around stage with unfurled energy. She started her career with a couple of other bands (including Immigrant Union with The Danday Warhols drummer Brent DeBoer). But with just one solo album out, most of her set comprised the songs from that album which was fine with me. She was one of the reasons I attended Pitchfork this year and I was not disappointed.

o   Various Artists – Not having any particularly act that I wanted to see after Courtney Barnett, I spent the rest of the day just wandering around a bit from stage-to-stage. Most of the music during that time was electronic but I did not focus on any one artist so I can’t really say what I liked. In general, a lot of it sounded good but got a bit tedious after awhile. I spent some time at the Vans tent again and met nice couple from Finland who were passing through Chicago on their way to a wedding in Missouri and decided to take in the day at Pitchfork.

o   Chance The Rapper – The Chicago native was the Day 3 headliner. I was not familiar with his music and facing work and travel the next day, I bailed out after a few songs. I can’t say I’m a Hip Hop fan, but he sounded good live and in general, I liked what I heard.

Photos – Mourn (1 & 2), The Julie Ruin, Blue Stage from the Van’s tent (3), Courtney Barnett (4-6).

Courtney Barnett will be my numero uno artist at Day 3 of Pitchfork Festival!

Day 2 at Ptichfork Festival 2015 was incredible! Here is a summary of the day:

Transportation – Again, the CTA was spot on! Trains ran on time and the staff kept things orderly and efficient. (Please do the same for Riot Fest and any future Pearl Jam concerts at Wrigley Field!) Waiting for the trains, I particularly enjoyed giving Chicago Police officers a fist pump and thanking them for their service.

Weather – A mixed bag. Of the three days, this was supposed to be the hottest day and the lowest chance of rain. It started out hot and humid, and we ended up getting a storm around 3:00, and it later turned out to be clear and breezy. Typical Chicago weather potpourri! Some lightning forced the festival to shut down for about 40 minutes.

Facility – I did a 180 on the food and beverage lines on day two. Maybe I hit it at the right time, but around 7:30, I got food and beer with virtually no wait. I found a Cajun stand and had some excellent red beans and rice; a generous portion for just $5.00. Did not buy as much beer today due to the fact that I smuggled in 12 ounces of Jack Daniels in a hip flask. While seeing Parquet Courts and standing near the center aisle, I also discovered that Pitchfork volunteers supplied free bottles of water for the asking. That beat waiting in line and the water station. And there was a stand that had free fruit where I got a delicious apple.

Post Festival Fare – Stopped at Gene and Judes on the way home after exiting the Blue Line. Chicago style hot dog, fresh cut fries and a Supreme tamale. Dynamite late night munchies!

Music – As with Day 1, I saw some entire sets and caught bits of a couple of other sets. Here is the list:

o   Protomartyr – This band was playing when I entered the park, so I heard just a small sampling. One of the Parquet Courts band members mentioned that they played a great set, so they are on my radar for a future opportunity.

o   Mr. Twin Sister – Wanting to pace myself in the heat, I went to see this band at the Blue Stage which was the area with the most shade. I came across a tent sponsored by Vans and sat down on the front step. I really enjoyed the rather ethereal electronic sounds of Mr. Twin Sister, and I thought the lead singer was excellent. I spent part of the time talking with a couple from L.A. that I met at the tent. During the set, it started to rain, and it turned into a heavy rain. I was fortunate and lucky to be in the tent! Then lightning started and because there were live wires in the tent, they kicked everyone out. But within minutes of leaving the tent, the rain stopped, the storm moved on and the festival eventually got restarted.

o   Kurt Vile and the Violators – Good rock band. They played on the Green Stage and I mainly saw them because I was at the Red Stage waiting for Parquet Courts.

o   Parquet Courts – This is when the day really amped up for me. Parquet Courts was my #1 band to see today and they were great! They rocked loud and hard with their post-punk garage rock attack. They played a lot of their material including most of my favorite album, Sunbathing Animal. They were so much fun to see and the fans were really into it, including a few crowd surfers.

o   The New Pornographers – This was the only band in the line up that I had seen before. I like the band but I can’t say that I’m a huge fan. I have just two of their albums and only listen to them occasionally. However, I really enjoyed them the first time I saw them and today was no different. They are just a wonderful live band. They play a brand of power pop that includes beautiful harmonies, lush instrumental layering and complex chord structures. I’m not saying they sound like a Phil Spector production, but they do create a sort of “wall of sound” that sucks you in. No, Neko Case was not with the band, but Simi Stone was added as a second lead female vocalist and she and Kathryn Calder meshed really well. They played a great set which included, Sing Me Spanish Techno, my favorite song that I did not get to see them play the last time.

o   Sophie – After TNP’s, I went to get some food and decided to low-key-it at the Blue Stage for a spell. Again I retreated to the Van’s tent where I listened to Sophie. Basically synth-pop, they played a nice set with Sophie creating some beautiful vocals.

o   Future Islands – I only saw two songs while I was waiting for Sleater-Kinney. Hard to judge by two songs, but I was not impressed. They had a monotonous beat that was permeating throughout the park and the two songs I saw them play featured the same tired beat.

o   Sleater-Kinney – Oh my God was this band great! I just thoroughly enjoyed their brand of Punk or “Riot Grrrl” rock that these ladies played. Great songs and hard driving guitars and drums along with passionate vocals. I wish they could have played a longer set. I wanted them to play all night!

o   Photos – Parquet Courts (1 & 2), The New Pornographers (3 & 4), Sleater-Kinney (5 & 6).

My main attraction for Day 2 at Pitchfork Festival 2015!

What color is blood, still the same as it was, does it still do what it does, (bleeding), cuz I’ve been needing a new vein line, going from my heart to my guts to my mind...

Pitchfork Festival 2015 – Day 1

I had a very enjoyable first day at Pitchfork. Here is a summary of the day:     

Transportation – No complaints about the CTA whatsoever. In fact, service was outstanding! I rode the Blue Line and the Green/Pink line to Ashland Ave. Trains were quick on the way there. On the way back, CTA personnel did an excellent job of moving the crowd onto the Lake/Ashland platform and the trains were frequent, so there was not much wait time.

Weather – Hot and humid! But the good news is, we avoided rain. An ominous looking storm with lightning was looming to the southwest around 5:30, but it somehow swirled around to the northeast and we never got a drop. The temporary cloud cover and breezes generated by the storm provided some relief from the heat.

Facility - Nice set up at Union Park with two main stages (Green & Red) in the main part along Lake and Randolph, and the smaller stage (Blue) in the corner by Ashland and Warren. As for facilities, my point of comparison would be Riot Fest. Pitchfork is a much smaller festival, but the facilities were really not adequate for the number of people. At times, the food, beer and bathroom lines became very long waits. By default, I had some Asian noodles because that was the shortest line when I got hungry. Otherwise, I subsisted on beer and water, which works well on a hot day. The line to get into the park was long but moved reasonably fast. There is also a CTA bus idling near the Blue Stage if you need to get into some air conditioning for a bit.

Friends – As often seems to happen at Chicago festivals and concerts, I ran into my godson, Matt. (At 6’ 9”, he’s easy to spot!) So I got to hang out with Matt and his girlfriend Kelly and their friends which made for a fun day.

Music – I saw for entire sets and caught bits of a couple of other sets. The main acts I saw:

o   Mac Demarco – Great songs and Mac and his band have a lot of fun on stage.

o   Panda Bear – He is an electronic, neo-psych, experimental artist who plays a synthesizer – basically a machined with a bunch of wires plugged into it. While I do enjoy electronic music at home, I wasn’t sure how I would like it live and at a festival where I generally gravitate more to the rockers. But I did find it to be an enjoyable set. He sings with his music but his voice is more like another instrument. I really could not make out any lyrics. He has some interesting video collages that would be more effective in a dark setting, and strobe lights while performing in the sunlight were completely pointless. However, he does produce a nice sound and in general, I enjoyed the performance.

o   Chvrches – Seeing this band was a real treat. A Scottish synthpop trio, they played some wonderful sounds. As lead vocalist, the petite Lauren Mayberry has a beautiful voice tremendous stage presence.

o   Wilco – Wow! This was a fun set! Matt mentioned that he has seen Wilco several times, but this was a first for me. They played their entire new album Star Wars (which was a surprise release the day before and temporarily available as a free download). They also played an wonderful assortment of older material. They are not flashy performers, but they are all excellent musicians and a tight band and Jeff Tweedy is the best laid back front man you will ever see. We were able to find a spot near the video board, reasonably close to the stage, which really enhanced the experience. Pitchfork is a festival that emphasizes local bands, so it was awesome to see such a fine Chicago band as the headliner for the first night.

Photos – Mac DeMarco (1 & 2), Panda Bear (3), Chvrches (4-6), Wilco (7-10)