O.K., given the coverage we've already lavished on the little indie fest that could, we're going to keep this brief. Overall we would rate the entire experience a good one, but we agreed with one of our colleagues when he said, "there was a sense ... that the fest was starting to experience growing pains." We don't know if this is because indie rock has become so fully integrated into the mainstream that this third festival curated by Pitchfork seemed different than the first two, or if it's just that the natural progression of things is to grow larger each year. Either way we admit to being a little confused since last year's fest was also sold out, yet none of the things that created hitches last weekend (well, almost none) were a problem before.
The biggest problem was with the sound. Sound checks would erupt in the middle of other band's sets, and the volumes were disappointingly low for many of the acts. This was a problem on the main stages, but it all but paralyzed the effectiveness of the side stage. And speaking of the side stage, this was a problem last year, but it was REALLY a problem this year ... it is terribly placed. The narrow alley can't hold the thousands of kids trying to funnel through. Pitchfork could utilize the space to book more avant garde acts that might not have a huge following built in, since it would be a nice area to be exposed to new music, but for acts that already have a large following, it's just untenable.
In the area of minor inconveniences, we noticed folks irked for long lines to beer tents and bathrooms. We're assuming that the two go hand in hand, but it's worth noting that this wasn't an issue last year. Was this because of the shifting demographic of attendees more interested in booze than hydration (none of the long water lines of last year were visible)? We did notice that these two were larger issues Friday and Saturday, but not so inconvenient Sunday. It would be interesting to see if, even though the show was technically sold-out, attendance was down on the last day.
The biggest complaint we heard from festival-goers, though, was the rule against re-entry. Personally we remember the bad ol' days of the original Lollapalooza when there was no re-entry, and beer / food prices were astronomical, but in today's climate, most folks expect to be able to leave and return to an outdoor festival at their leisure. pampered kids. We kid, of course, and come down on the side of allowing re-entry. It'd be better for the bands to have refreshed fans, better for nearby businesses who would benefit from the revenue, and better for organizers since the bathroom lines might be slightly alleviated by folks taking a breather off the grounds.
On the plus side, the music was pretty great, the security guards more pleasant than usual, everyone seemed ready with an "excuse me" as they made their way through the crowd, and the volunteers and other folks working the festival grounds were friendly and readily forthcoming with information whenever we asked. The festival as a whole is a can't-beat-it value for the amount of entertainment you get for your buck, but Pitchfork is going to have to make a few adjustments to regain the heights they experienced their first two years as far as the total experience is concerned. We suppose that's inevitable as you grow in popularity.
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me wonders if the swealtering heat of last year evaporated everyone's intake of liquid (i.e. pee) and thus the toilet lines were less last year.
or maybe there were more people this year. that'll do it.
Yes, they did sell 2,000 more tickets this year, but even that leap doesn't explain why it took less than three minutes to get a bathroom last year, and was at time upwards of 20 minutes this year.
Though, and I think you mean it facetiously but it actually has some merit, it was frickin' hot last year.
I blame the nice weather on the longer beer lines. Last year it was so hot that everyone was dying for water, but this year it was so much nicer that everyone just wanted to throw back a few cool ones.
I'd put my money on attendance being down the second day, I heard of a lot of people not coming back after the issues with Saturday.
despite all the hating on Chicagoist, thanks for the awesome coverage!
Last year I drank live five bottles of water per day and never peed.
I had a lot of fun all weekend, and kind of dug the fancy shmancy micro-brew and the curry stands ($4 for a 312? When they charge $6 for a Bud at The Taste? What deal!) But it would have been better if the bands were scheduled smarter. Like, why did I go from Clipse to Cat Power, to Girl Talk? Or from Of Montreal to The New Pornographers to De la Sol? It seemed like the line up at Lolla last year was tailored so that you could follow a groove.
Anyway, just my two cents....
Blame Yoko One- she broke up the Beatles AND caused this fest to go downhill.
THIS is why I didn't go to Pitchfork this year. I didn't feel like dealing with dipshits like these:
http://video.feber.se/feber/art/24440/thats_pretty_underground/
That video is pretty underground awesome.
Blame Yoko One
KRS-One's sister?
I blame the guys in short shorts.
KRS-One's sister was there!
I didn't even know he had a sister! I wish I'd known or I wouldn't have spent all my time at the left center stage listening to the Grape Yoop Yoop Trees. Great Band acoustics, big ups to the key grips!
p.s if you see my on the train with my Grape Yoop Yoop T Shirt, say hello if you're like cute in a hipster sort of way, o.k?
p.s as a hipster I don't really like Hip Hop, except to like separate myself from the rest of the hipsters, because I'm you know, Um very individualistic, so I shop at Urban Outfitters
FWIW I never waited more than 5 minutes for a bathroom this year. If you went to the middle of the lines they were always shorter and had access to as many as 5 port-a-potties per line. The bathroom was never an issue for me all 3 days at any time.
It seems to me all weekend long people were waiting for services (beer, bathroom, food, water etc..) in long lines that if you stopped and looked you could see another drastically shorter line offering the same service not 50 feet away.
The worst, and most amusing, example of this is when we showed up around 2:30 on Saturday there was a line to get into the festival grounds that stretched down Ashland and around the corner East onto Lake street. I walked by everyone telling them there was another entrance and no one followed us. And sure enough I walked right up to the entrance south of the Will Call which had not a soul in line. It seem to me like a lot of people were at their first music fest.
As far as getting in, that second entry wasn't open Friday night, so folks can be forgiven for not being hip to that.
And I was using those center bathroom lines on Saturday, because you're right that they were shorter, but I still never got in there in under 10-15 minutes.
Person who posted the underground vid and the other "anti-hipster" posters: very funny video but the point of this (and any other live show) is to go see a bunch of good bands and have a good time. If you're so bothered by what someone else is wearing or their hairdo that you can't enjoy some live music and sunshine, perhaps sitting at home with a nice copy of Vogue or GQ or something is more your speed than a music festival.
Great coverage, Chicagoist!
I thought the fest went pretty smoothly! I've been to many larger (and smaller) fests that were total nightmares. I never waited more than 5 minutes for the bathroom (you just have to time it right, going between bands on the big stages was your mistake), and the food/beer was much better than most fests in Chicago (goose IPA & cevopcici!). At this point, people have no idea what a 'hipster' is. I'm starting to see that it's the tag being used by anybody that feels old and threatened by things they have never heard of or clothes they haven't seen at their suburban shopping malls. Who cares what people wear or what music they like, you are starting to sound like your parents!
At this point, people have no idea what a 'hipster' is.
Hahaha, funny you come dangerously close to using the word "suburbanite" in a rant about labels.
Oh, and Guest more than willing to switch from hipster to Guest's previous suggestion of "douchebag".
"Sweartagod", nice. Lots of good times at Pitchfork, also a lot of complaining.
I understand issues with long lines for the bathroom and maybe water and beer at a festival (short lines are pretty much the key to a good festival), but people were waiting 30 minutes for a crappy piece of pizza when they very well could have had something else and got back to the music.
Seems other comments focused on the people. How they dressed, acted, etc. There are lots of different types of people at festivals and most of them won't be acting or dressing like you and your friends. I think it's time to get over this whole Hipster thing. At some point you were one, are one, or will be one, and I'm not even sure I know what one is :)
Clearly, the problem with the 'hipster' is that it hits too close to home.
It belittles the their culture: "let's all drink crappy beer because, you know, its ironic and listen to awesomely original bands that sound just like music did in 1984."
And I'm not old and threatened by your crappy music and literally threadbare fashions. The word you are looking for is "contemptuous" or perhaps just "bored."
hey, anyone ever run a festival before? i have and it's not easy. how many beer tents do you need? how many toilets? what's the weather going to be like? these are all questions that you start asking 6 months out. very tough to answer them. how do you do sound checks for that many bands? do you think all the bands want to show up before gates open at 1pm? i wish the sound was better, but overall it was a great festival, ridiculous value for the price. friday night alone was what, $15 more than waste of chicago?, which was a rip off even though it's free. i hope they do it again. i miss intonation, we were lucky to have both last year.
Can't wait to see what everyone has to say about Lollapalooza!
Trolls posting rants against a certain group of people using straw man arguments is so over and done. Seriously, whether it's hipsters or surbanites, it's fucking boring. Get over yourself.
As for Pitchfork, the side stage was completely blowing it. The sound, the space, everything was wrong. Girl Talk should have been the headliner Saturday night. Klaxons (and Fujiya and Miyagi) should have been on one of the main stages.
I think the festival would be better served by a few less bands and a little more preparation on the sound system. For the third year, there shouldn't be these kind of newbie mistakes.
"The sound, the space, everything was wrong."
I saw the Field there and that space was perfect for him. But I agree that Girl Talk, Klaxons, etc had no place being crammed in there.
I agree with the posts concerning choosing the right line and right time for services. On Saturday, I walked up to a beer tent and saw a line of at least twenty people. I walked not more than 50' towards the center of the vendor row and another beer tent had around three people in line. Same for the food. Do you really need a shitty piece of pizza, or could you settle for something else that has a line 1/2 as long? People were acting like Robinson's and Connie's were their only opitons. Maybe they need volunters to usher people a little better, but still the lines were not as bad if you checked things out a bit. The only lines that were inescapabale were the lines for the ATM and toilets. If you needed to pee or get cash at Pitchfork, you were screwed.
Not too mention all that beer you didnt have to wait in line for....
i'm a local attorney who isn't big on the ironic t-shirts and girl pants thing; hardly a hipster by anyone's definition.
i went to pitchfork like i have each of the previous years, and i felt they did a really remarkable job. the festival is still one of the best deals in the nation in terms of bang-for-your-buck. no matter what you were into (for the most part) there was something for your tastes.
i ate food several times and drank more than my fair share of beer. i never waited in a line for more than 5 minutes. i went to the bathroom multiple times. i never waited in line for more than 5 minutes. most people who faced lines did so because they decided to go get food during peak hours. it's like the old rule of amusement parks; never eat lunch at lunch time, because that's when the lines for the roller coasters vanish.
i for one congratulate pitchfork for a great festival. i brought my little brother up from tennessee to attend and we both had an incredible experience.
problems, to me:
1) ATM lines. seriously. get a few more in there.
2) side stage, and stupid ways you had to get in there, like that little door-width opening in the fence by the basketball court.
3) no blue line? seriously? and we walked from division w/o an ashland bus ever coming. sucked. out of their control, but.... yeah.
4) not enough garbage cans in well-trafficked areas
5) re-entry. i don't want to get a bunch of stuff at flatstock and then be stuck holding it all day. even if they had, like, a "merch check" booth or something...
The complaint about the bathrooms seems legit, at least later in the day there were lines. However, they definitely need more ATMs. If you're going to make it a no-rentry fest with 12,000 people, you need more than 4 slow ass ATMs.
"5) re-entry. i don't want to get a bunch of stuff at flatstock and then be stuck holding it all day. even if they had, like, a "merch check" booth or something..."
i thought the exact same thing, and thats why i didnt wind up buying something.
making fun of hipsters is like shooting fish in a barrel. However, that doesn't make them any less annoying or hypocritical.
p.s. thanks to whomever posted the "that's pretty underground" video.
that being said, I'm going to put this out there:
hipsters=hippies with more trite irony
Six Most Exciting Bands in America
I always thought that festivals like this were only meant for the very young and the very old and I don't get why so many twenty- and thirty-somethings have been excited about Pitchfork.
I mean, if you're young, too young to go to Smartbar or the Empty Bottle to see Of Monteal or Girl Talk or Grizzly Bear or whomever, and not independent or tuned-in enough to make it to the party spaces that Dan Deacon or the Cool Kids play at, I can see you getting excited about Pitchfork (of course these crowds are the only reason package festivals like Warped Tour and Ozzfest can still continue these days). And if you're an older indie rocker, the type of guy/gal that used to be down but has a real job or a family now and can't make it out to shows so often, I can see this show as something really exciting.
I just don't get its appeal with anyone inbetween. Am I the only one that thinks that outdoor festivals are terrible?
You're out there all day in the sweltering heat with the sun in your eyes. The sound is usually terrible. Everything is overpriced in a way that make overpriced joints like The Abbey Pub and the Metro seem reasonable. The bands are all playing shorter sets, they're harder to see, and for most of the day everybody is too tired/hot/confused by the brightness of the sun to actually get into the music and dance.
At Pitchfork beer is $4, water is $1 & food is all in the $5-$8 range. All much more reasonable than the Metro or Abbey.