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Day one of the Pitchfork Music Festival went off with nary a hitch. Mission of Burma turned in an energetic and well received set, even thought the grounds were still slowly filling with attendees. Sebadoh's revisiting of 1993 brought back lots of fond memories to this writer, while pumping up and amplifying their classic tunes to great effect. We did notice that the majority of the crowd seemed into it, even if the age bracket was one that was unsure exactly who Sebadoh was. Gimme classic indie rock?
The highlight of the day was easily Public Enemy, who when held to the template of their classic It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back was simply electrifying. Chuck D and Flava Flav pummeled the crowd with their beats and their rhymes, and the masses returned the energy with a focused glee that was stunning.
So far this year the organizers seem to have solved the sound issues that plagued them last year, and aside from the dinnertime rush, accessing the various concessions was never a problem. Now we're throwing on our ponchos, wrapping up our camera, and readying ourselves for day two!
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I wouldn't say it went off with nary a hitch. PE was plagued with mike problems for almost the full first half of their album. At times it was impossible to hear Chuck D or Flavor Flav. Hence that moment caught in the pictures where Chuck D is holding two mikes. The second half was much better, but regardless, the whole show rocked.
How about DeRo's allegation that Flavor Flav's raps were actually on tape? That would shock me, but maybe someone who attended can refute it.
There were times where it seemed Flav's raps were on tape (most noticeable when the band worked through "911 is a Joke" during that fierce encore), but it seemed as though for he was using them as guide tracks than anything else. At least when they were running through ...Millions.
That said, Pitchfork and ATP better start working now on bringing them back for the 20th anniversary of Fear of a Black Planet. PE stepped up and nailed it Friday night.
Public Enemy definitely suffered from sound problems at the start of their set. First the vocals were muddy. Then they seemed to get EQ'd alright but the sound overall was too quiet. Then the vocals got boosted but the instrumentation was too quiet. Unless you were right down front, you could hear every third lame ass within a ten foot radius talk bitch about how Chuck D. and Flavor Flav "looked old" (duh) or complain about how nobody was into it (yeah, smart thing to say when you're the tool talking in the middle of the set). Just another sign that live hip-hop in the festival setting is super hit and miss even when there's serious talent behind it.
As for the rest: didn't get Sebadoh in the early ninties, and I still don't get them now. But maybe this was colored by the fact that they play loose, sloppy rock and were on *after* Mission of Burma instead of before, like they should have been. Talked to lots of folks there who agreed that some other genre should've been represented that night to give a more level playing field.
Not that I minded Burma at all. One of the most solid performances I've ever seen. A fair chunk of the crowd singing along to "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" was a nice bonus, as was their sense of humor about playing an entire album front-to-back. They've always seemed like nice guys who also happened to be smart and have a buttload of talent. Let's hope they tour a few more times before packing it in for good.
I thought the Public Enemy set dragged horribly. They maintained no flow, and really sucked the life out of the crowd. Oh well, to each their own I guess.
Flavor Flav definitely had a guide track that he mostly rapped along with, but there were certainly more than a few parts where he let the pre-recorded vocals do the heavy lifting.
One of my favorite moments in the PE show was when they introduced Griff and boasted that they could finally do the intro to one of the songs live ("Caught, Can I get a Witness", maybe?) and he just shook his head and told them to play the sample. Obviously Griff was unprepared.