tonyballinger.com

NOTE: I’ve edited this down from my original post, because I was being childish and unnecessary.

It was incredibly hot the weekend of Pitchfork Festival. But it was worth enduring the heat.

Art Brut, The Walkmen, The Futureheads, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Danielson, Jens Lekman, The National, Devendra Banhart, and Spoon put on great sets. Yo La Tengo was the only set I was looking forward to ended up being disappointing. Their set suffered from the same problem as the first time I saw them: their soft songs are barely audible above the crowd and their loud songs tend to drone on and on. But that didn’t matter. Because the other sets I mentioned were great. I particularly enjoyed Danielson, Jens Lekman, and Devendra Banhart.

I didn’t think Danielson would pull off the sound from the album “Ships” in a live setting, but the performance of “Did I Step On Your Trumpet” quickly confirmed they had the goods. By the way, I think they were all dressed in matching blue flight umpire uniforms. Perhaps they were flight attendent uniforms.

Jens Lekman put on an effortless set, supported by his new all-woman backup band in matching white dresses. The more I hear him live, the more I want to hear him live again.

The high point for me for Pitchfork Festival might have been Devendra Banhart’s performance. He played a small collection of tunes from his recent album “Cripple Crow”, and sang background vocals on a Vetiver song. As is usual, he invited up someone from the audience to play a song of their own. Unfortunately, the guest appeared a bit too comfortable with the limelight and played to the point where they may had overstayed their welcome.

In short, Pitchfork was a good time and well worth the money. I think I only paid $35 for the two day ticket and saw plenty of great sets. It was easy to get around the grounds, and plenty to see: a record fair, a collection of handmade gifts and crafts, and Flatstock – a exhibition of poster art. Water was cheap ($1) and plentiful, and the lines were managable. Even at it’s most crowded points, food, drink and movement were easily had.

Which will bring me to my next post: Lollapalooza.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 6th, 2006 at 11:08 pm and is filed under Concerts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.