Chicagoist: Pitchfork Day 2: Slipping Into Place

Reed

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:51:07 -0600

I thought Saturday was a great day, though the crush of people at the Balance stage was far from ideal. I wrote a full review which you can find here. Sunday review is on its way.

glamabella

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:04:44 -0600

Day 3, for the side stage was handled much better than Day 2. The Cool Kids were much louder than Girl Talk the night before. However, I suppose using a mic can have different results than just having a laptop.

Bill V

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:38:31 -0600

Day 2, I'll agree with the poor sound complaints and crowds at some of the stages. Fuyija & Miyagi's set was wrecked by a long setup and terrible sound problems. What was up with Deacon doing his set from in the crowd? He sure should have known only the people right around him would be able to see him, no? I did like Twilight Sad, Voxtrot early. Got a choice spot for Girl Talk and that kicked ass. Outside of that I liked the Day 3 lineup a whole lot better.

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:07:05 -0600

How did Yoko sound? Couldn't bring myself to stay and listen after my disappointment with Cat Power's set.

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:05:55 -0600

To Guest 19: Of course the whole situation could've been avoided if my friend wasn't "enjoying" himself so much. However, notice my use of the word "escalated" my second sentence. Look it up. It doesn't have to do with moving stairs. -Gee, Guest 14 can be just as condescending as you

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:39:15 -0600

I agree the festival had some serious sound problems, but it was definitely not oversold. I never waited more than two minutes for a beer or more than ten minutes for a bathroom, and I was at the festival from 1 to 10 Saturday and Sunday. If Connies pizza has a thirty minute line, maybe you could settle for a sandwich from Wishbone (which had like a five minute line at most anytime I went by it). De La Soul was great, as was Grizzly Bear, Battles, and Menomena (excpet for the apparently pitchfork impossed shortened set--which was bulls**t). Unfortunately, sound problems were pretty consistent on all of the stages. Cat Power, however, suffered froma lack of confidence rather than sound problems in my humble opinion. Chan is notorious for her fickle perfomrances, and you could tell she was uncomfortable from the start. Maybe something didn't sound right to her, but the sound wasn't so bad that she couldn't have kept going with a a little more spirit. It is ashame to hear Girl Talk ended up the way it did. I love his Night Ripper CD, but I have to say I saw the s**t show coming and got out of there fast. Acts that make people go nuts in a good way and dance there asses off (which Girl Talk has an established rep of doing) do not belong in confined spaces with multiple choke points!!!

j_am

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:38:45 -0600

I couldn't even SEE the side stage, not wanting to fight through the mass of people crowded in there. The massive amount of smoking got to me, as well - at one point a breeze came by and made me realize how I'd missed fresh air. Those gripes aside, the evening was beautiful, we still found a place to spread a blanket and listen to music, and Flatstock was amazing.

jm

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:54:15 -0600

Reading that, I should have prefaced my first comment by saying I couldn't hear anyone before Clipse either.

jm

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:52:51 -0600

Granted, I was closer to the stage for Clipse than anyone else I saw Saturday, but how come I came away from their fucking badass set nearly deaf, but I could barely hear any one else the rest of the day? The Girl Talk fiasco was something I knew was going to happen as soon as I saw the schedule. It's Saturday night, you've got Clipse, then two soft, low-key acts on the main stages, and you put the two high energy acts on a stage where the audience is packed into an area the width of an alley with fences on both sides. We ended up watching Girl Talk from across Ogden Avenue, where we could kind of hear it, and see the first 10 rows of people listening to it and having fun, and the last 90 rows of people looking pissed off.

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:17:24 -0600

#14, obviously I can't dispute the account of your friend's travails, but gee, think a bit about how that all could have been avoided in the first place.

JoeM500

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:00:27 -0600

Beach House had a nice little set. Iron & Wine made the crowd go nuts until they came out for an encore... I will agree that the sound wasn't very loud, but outdoor shows get that treatment a lot. Also not sure if I get the #10/#11 comment... I didn't know the bassist's name. Big f'n deal, I stil think they were the best band of the whole fest!!!!

Rubber Shark

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:45:55 -0600

Also, the sound was too quiet. It ain't rock if you can't feel it in yer bones. Didn't help that P-Fork booked a lotta 'mellow' acts this year (Beach House? Iron & Wine? Brightblack?, etc...) Just sayin'...

Rubber Shark

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:43:59 -0600

I'm in total agreement with the last poster. This year was a wash for me. I'm psyched that so many people are turning up to see some of my fave bands but i'm disgusted that i wasn't able to get anywhere near close enough to enjoy the show without risking life and limb. There were WAY more people packed into Union Park than in previous years and it got to be pretty claustrophobic, especially regarding the handling of the B stage during the beginning of the Dan Deacon set. Seeing Dan Deacon was one of the reasons i decided to attend this year in the first place. I'm no old fogey, but it was making me really nervous to be so packed into such a small space with nowhere to go. There literally was no way away from the stage as people were packed so tightly together that nobody could even turn around. And yet a-holes were still trying to smash their way to the front for a better look at an act (Dan Deacon) that couldn't even be bothered to set up on the f-ing stage so people might be able to see them which just made everyone waiting for Girl Talk more antsy. That's just irresponsible on the part of the festival organizers. I have no intention of going next year, and i've been a HUGE supporter in years past. This was just sad and disappointing for the real music fan. I was so disillusioned with the weekend that i didn't even bother going on Sunday, and i'd been looking forward to seeing Deerhunter and Of Montreal. How about better security/allowing re-entry in the future, guys, whaddya think?

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:49:14 -0600

The sound on Saturday totally blew.. The two main draws for Saturday for me were Girl Talk and Cat Power. Neither of which I was able to enjoy because I wasn't able to hear either. Isn't the point of going to a concert to hear music. Get your shit together Pitchfork. Girl Talk should have been on main stage and the sound for Cat Power should have been better. I agree, the vibe last year was way better. If I hadn't gone to see Chromeo and Flosstradamus at Empty Bottle after the fest, my Saturday would have been a total bust. By the way, that show was friggen awesome!! Anyway, I dont plan on going to Pitchfork next year.

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:36:02 -0600

0.7/10 i'm good friends with the guy that got pushed off the Fuze truck. he wasn't hurt, but some douchebag security guard escalated the situation and decided he was going to get revenge on my friend (to impress the trixieish Fuze girls that he was flirting with). after a bunch of yelling, (none by my friend, lots by the security guard and the worthless lying POS Fuze girls) our friend was slammed against the Fuze truck, and whisked away to the VIP area. said security guard never provided his name or badge number (after claiming he was a cop. yeah right.) and threated to have us arrested if we continued to demand to know what my friend was being charged with. 7 hours, one holding pen, and 2 police stations later, my friend was released with a trumped up assault charge. that's right. the security guard claimed he took a swing at him. if you knew my friend, you'd know that this is about as likely as a timy baby counting all the grains of sand in the world in 10 minutes. plus, the sound on the side stage was a joke, esp. during fujiya and miyagi and dan deacon. couldn't hear a damn thing. and cat power/iron and wine sucked. plus, i get it, various lefty groups: bush should be impeached. stop following me around and yelling at me about it. it only makes me want to vote republican when you do that. battles' set and the lovely weather were the only redeeming things from this day.

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:54:01 -0600

Man, I totally knew of Prof. Murder, and I live here in Chicago. He really did try to give a great set, despite the sound issues. Also, the Girl Talk fiasco was HORRIBLE. I felt so bad for him. I gave p-fork a .25 for planning in my review. Today was somewhat better, but Pitchfork sure did drop the ball on planning this thing. Something was missing this year that was so nice about the past two years. Just something wasn't the same. Lisa heavemedia.com/blog

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:53:19 -0600

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:08:57 -0600

JoeM500: "Wow, so far nothing has matched the opening set by Ken Vandermark, John Herndon, Jeff Parker and the dude from Dirty Three!!!" Huh? I don't get it. Anyway... The fourth member of Powerhouse Sound is bassist Nate McBride.

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:06:21 -0600

Joe M: "Wow, so far nothing has matched the opening set by Ken Vandermark, John Herndon, Jeff Parker and the dude from Dirty Three!!!" Huh? I don't get it. Anyway... The fourth member of Powerhouse Sound is bassist Nate McBride.

Tankboy

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:43:01 -0600

#8 That last paragraph was a result of speedy typing as I was trying to get out the door for today's festivities! And #7, my comments about Slint were in no way meant to be negative towards the crowd, it was merely an observation. Not everyone has to have heard every album by every obscure / seminal band in order to appreciate them ... that's the point I was trying to make. Sorry if that wasn't clear. And, like Gothamist, we seek to illuminate our audience, not alienate them. But reviews are reviews, and will often contain some criticism of some element of the concert experience. In this case I wasn't criticizing the crowd, but I do believe that crowds are fair game when compiling a review of a show.

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:06:21 -0600

Embrace concise writing for the internet, Chicagoist, it is your friend. And Jim, what is up with that last paragraph?

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:05:19 -0600

Who the hell is Chicagoist to say things like "we're willing to bet that this was almost every person's first time even hearing the New York based band" or "one of those bands everyone name-checks, but almost no one has actually heard" (from day 1 review)? It is this sort of cheesy elitism that makes Chicago look bad. My friends and I (5 total) have seen both bands several times, and afterwards had several conversations with others who were fans as well. Please take a hint from your parent blog Gothamist and quit assuming that you are more enlightened than the rest of us. There is a reason those bands were booked for this year's festival. It could have something to do with them having fans.

Griffin

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:44:24 -0600

This festival was way oversold. There was no water in the hand-washing stations by 4:00. There were lines for food stretching back to the toilets. And Girl Talk, that's a whole different story: Some guy jumped on top of a Fuze truck and got shoved off by an angry vendor. A bunch of idiots climbed onto the fence and were yanked down by a poor staff woman who was verbally abused for trying to keep the peace. Others tried to shove their way out of the crowd and nearly got into fistfights. Ridiculous. And the day started off great with a nice set by Battles, but after Clipse it all terrible quickly. Today I'm skipping Deerhunter and Menomena -- who I'd really like to see -- just to preserve sanity. If Pitchfork would allow reentry, like every other competent festival, that would be helpful. I am so disappointed in their lack of organization and foresight.

Justin Sondak

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:29:40 -0600

No sound problems, transit problems, or washed up novelty acts at the Old Town School's fest. No whiny wannabe-VIPs, no lack of enthusiasm from the crowd. I no longer regret skipping Pitchfork.

JoeM500

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:23:28 -0600

Guest, I think it's retarded to lump a few thousand teenagers and several hundred of us older music freaks into the "hipster" category. Maybe you don't understand the fashion of today's youth or feel threatened by anything other than your dozen Chicago classic rock stations.

guest

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:19:14 -0600

now that i think about it, the taste of chicago bands, espec. cheap trick, were so much better than this year's pfork lineup. they may not fit the hipster's definition of "cool", but at least they know how to hold a crowd's attention.

JoeM500

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:18:55 -0600

Wow, so far nothing has matched the opening set by Ken Vandermark, John Herndon, Jeff Parker and the dude from Dirty Three!!! Herndon's amazing drum skills were put to the test and he was OF FIRE for the whole set! Iron & Wine was actually a nice set and sounded great up in front. That was the first encore performed, followed by huge cheers! Cat Power had major sound problems, but still managed to get through her set, which I think was quite good. Battles was quite the crowd pleaser, too. Clipse sounded terrible from beyond their stage, just thumping bass and the occasional, "uh..." yelled into th mic between thumps. From our view, the crowd near the stage was going crazy, though. The lines for food and beer (and even bathrooms) was very short for most of the day. It seemed half of the crowd didn't show up until 3pm!!! Another highlight was Thurston Moore joing Yoko Ono for some major noise attack!!!! AMAZING!!!!

matty

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:16:36 -0600

So would you say that chan marshall was a 5.3? and girltalk like a 8.4? Please let me know cause pitchfork-style quantified ratings are the only way i can understand if music is good or not.