Photos: Chance The Rapper Pops Up At Pitchfork Day 3
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 18, 2016 3:48PM
We had heard Chance the Rapper was backstage at Pitchfork on Sunday, and we hoped he'd make a surprise guest appearance during Jeremih's set. When he actually did, the entire crowd lost its shit.
Jeremih's late afternoon set already had fans riled up. Everyone was singing along and dancing to Jeremih's odes to hooking up and making love. In fact, his set was the only time in the whole weekend that we could see the entire VIP section dancing from our vantage point in the middle of the field. But when Chance came out, things jumped to yet another level. Screaming fans rushed towards the stage. Chance guested on Jeremih's "Planez" in place of J.Cole, and did a verse of "No Problem," but he spent most of his time dancing onstage and taking in the Jeremih vibe. Near the end of his appearance, he kicked out a brief snippet of "Angels,"then gave the spotlight back to Jeremih.
In fact Jeremih was so smooth and in control that when he jumped off the stage to interact with the crowd he fell—but kept singing without missing a beat. Amazing.
We didn't think it was possible, but Miguel's set, after Jeremih's, took the sexy up a level higher. Miguel's ballads took on a more muscular form with the aid of his band that seemed more intent on rocking than ambience. It was exciting to see a man so in control of the crowd—at one point, he even walked up to one of the stage cameras and winked at the crowd via the Jumbotrons. Halfway through, Miguel spoke about the number of black people killed by the police, and begged the crowd to fight the injustice. It was a moving, thrilling moment.
Earlier in the afternoon the highlight was definitely Holy Ghost! and their set of sublime dance-rock. Burbling synth and infectious grooves mixed with primary vocalist Nick Millhiser's vocals. The group kicked the crowd into a mid-afternoon dance party, and we even saw a group of coordinated aerobic dancers kick it into gear during this set. Pitchfork: why drink beer when you can exercise?!
Kamasi Washington's set was perhaps the biggest surprise of the day, and drew a massive crowd. His adventurous jazz enraptured the crowd—his large band would turn to familiar riffs and refrains to ground listeners, before launching their sound back into the stratosphere again. The Hotelier also played earlier in the day and delivered a solid emo set that was only marred by the terrible mixing—and inexplicable delays—that seemed to plague the Blue Stage all weekend long. Woods' early-afternoon set was a wonderful collection of laid-back and light psychedelic pop that felt pretty much perfect. Blood Orange's Dev Hyne's also joined Porches—who we couldn't help but think presented like a John Hughes soundtrack just waiting to happen—onstage for a tune, thus cementing his run of appearing on at least one stage all three days of the fest.
FKA twigs' headlining and weekend-closing set was quite the spectacle, half performance art piece and half live show. While her music left us unmoved, we couldn't take our eyes off the the spooky and exotic choreography. At certain points it seemed as if she was drawing ethereal inspiration from another dimension, so while the songs didn't really grab us in a huge festival setting, we could appreciate the performance as a whole.
And as the final notes of her set faded over the park, we exited and bid farewell to another fine edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival.
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