Most Fun Ever … Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago – July 16-18, 2010

Dare I say it… I think I have found another American city that I’ve fallen in love with.  Yes, Chicago.  I am talking about you. Not only does it seem that you have a very culturally diverse and architecturally beautiful city.  You’ve got some serious food lovers and smokin’ hot babes.  Oh, plus – Chicago, you’ve got some wicked taste in music.  No Toronto, I’m not divorcing you JUST yet.  But Chicago did steal me heart for this weekend while I traveled to the Windy City (which I’ll have to re-name the Sweaty City, but more on that later) for Pitchfork Music Festival.

I was lucky enough to have some friends who lived in Bucktown in Chicago who took me in for the weekend as I flew out on Porter on Friday afternoon.  I was excited and nervous, making my first real trip to Chicago.  The short ferry ride across to the terminal was fantastic.  Let me say this about Porter, FLY WITH THEM! Not only is the Porter Lounge amazing.  You get free food, free drinks and free wifi.  But on the flight, they give you a free wine or free beer.  Now that’s my idea of SERVICE!  The only downside is you fly into Midway Terminal, which is pretty far out.  However, you take the good with the bad.

As I arrived so late into the day on Friday, my wonderful hosts Joseph, Vicky and Anajli decided to treat me to a Chicago staple of Deep Dish Pizza from My Pi and then take me out to a couple of regular haunts in Bucktown.  One of which had punk band General Patton and his Privates playing and $5 Pitchers of beer.  This was up my alley, so we decided to check it out.  The bar was called, “Gallery Caberet“.  Upon arrival, there was a half-naked dude wrapped in a American Flag and a guy dressed up in a Dinosaur costume.  I was told that these were both part of the ‘act’ for the band.  Pretty amazing.  Great intro to Chicago dive bars!

Next up was The Charleston.  Apparently, this is a staple in the area however new owners took it over and made it shitty.  Well, I got that vibe from being in there for two minutes.  The bartender was suck-tastic.  I did however get to try an Urban Wheat beer from Chicago called 312.  I felt like a local.  Rad.  Plus, they had $3 Pints of PBR.  Oh, and the DJ was spinning off vinyl.  But the bar was filled with ‘bros’ to the max.  So you know, not total suck.  Only half suck.

We didn’t stay out too late as Joseph was working at a cute little cafe in the neighbour called Red June on Saturday morning and I had a busy day at the festival.  I highly suggest you check out Red June.  I had this tasty breakfast sammich there before attending Pitchfork on Saturday.  Plus, the iced coffee is amazing.

I had two interviews scheduled that day with WHY? and Netherfriends (those interviews to be featured in tomorrow’s Best In Show).   All in all, Saturday was pretty packed. Apparently, I suck with directions and trying to get to the Chicago Transit Authorities Blue Line (or the L).  Somehow whilst walking there, I ended up at George’s Hot Dogs to grab myself a World Famous Chicago Style Hot Dog, see picture below:

So yea, eventually I made it to Pitchfork.  Can you believe it?! To keep things short and concise about the bands (cos there were many), I’m going to write lil’ blurbs about each one and post some photos.

REAL ESTATE @ 1:45PM – CONNECTOR STAGE
These boys from New Jersey played a seriously solid set.  I was not very familar with them prior to Pitchfork.  Simple, easy and beautifully played indie-pop.  While I don’t think they would be my next favourite band, I think that Real Estate is the poppy, easy-going music that I would want to listen while I was on a road-trip.  A great band to start the day off with and clearly, a winner with the crowd.

DELOREAN @ 2:30PM – ALUMINUM STAGE
So apparently I’m pretty late to hopping on the Delorean train because when I came back gushing about how great these guys were, my friends were all like “You didn’t know about them?”.  Ha.  I guess not.  I fail as being “indie cool”.  Anyways, Delorean blew me out of the water and then some.  For it being so early, they brought the party and got people rocking on.  Don’t trust me, look at the crowd.

TITUS ANDRONICUS @ 3:20 PM – CONNECTOR STAGE
Well, I had heard just before I left for Chicago from my good friend Ian that he went to the Titus Andronicus show at the Horseshoe and it was the “loudest show he had been too”.  So I knew, I couldn’t miss this band.  Whoa, Titus definitely knows how to put on a show.  With the wailing guitar, dedication of a song for someone in the crowd who had traveled from Ohio and making a shout out about being ‘Proud to Be American’ — well, I’d have to say the show and the music raw and wild.  I’ve added Titus to my downloads list.

RAEKWON @ 4:15PM – ALUMINUM STAGE
Raekwon is a funny ass dude.  Why you ask?  Well, it could have been one of many reasons.  One: he called out the audience for being a fat, sweaty man on stage and them not cheering loud enough.  Two: He was wearing a funny small chain.  Not one of those big, gnarly, gangsta ones.  Either way, it was freakin’ RAEKWON THE CHEF!  He murdered it right off the bat with C.R.E.A.M and then kept it rollin’ with his own joints like “Heaven & Hell”. Bonus: he brought out lil’ kids to breakdance with him.  Amazing.

FREDDIE GIBBS @ 7:40PM – BALANCE STAGE
So here is the thing, I didn’t know about Freddie Gibbs prior to Pitchfork.  But my best friends boyfriends knows my affinity for all things hip hop.  So he told me if I knew what was good for me, I wouldn’t miss Freddie Gibbs.  Man, am I glad I took his advice. I want to say that he reminds me of Gucci Mane, but I don’t know if that would be offensive in any way.  Either way, his beats and rhyming style is untouchable.  This is definitely an MC to watch.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM @ 8:30PM – ALUMINUM STAGE

This was the perfect way to end off the Saturday evening in Union Park because although it had been hot and sweaty all day, everyone bonded together to have one big disco dance party.  It was like James Murphy bonded us all together through the gospel of disco.  Everywhere I looked and turned, people had glowsticks.  People were dancing.  People were singing along.  I was stuck in a sea of people and even if I wanted to get out and leave, I in theory could not. Thank you LCD Soundsystem for making Saturday evening, amazing.

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But what else happened on Saturday in Chicago?  Well, I got my photo taken in the AMEX air conditioned tent where I was chilling between sets and resting.  I think considering the temperature was between 48-50 degrees with the humidity (possibly higher), I didn’t look all that bad.

That night, I had my friends take me out to Lazo’s Tacos for some pre-Boys Town eats.  I decided upon a delicious Beef Burrito, which was only $5 with everything on it.  Holy eff!  Look at this monster sized burrito.

We loaded up the mickeys and headed out to Berlin Nightclub, which my friend assured me was the “go-to” bar in the gay district.  It was pretty bumpin’ however I was shocked to see so many straight hipster couples in the house.  There were lots of beautiful drag queens with whom I wanted to become acquainted with and normally would have, however I think I had a touch of the sun stroke. I did however enjoy watching this dude dance to the horrible techno music they kept playing (which was killing my soul and brain):

If you can’t tell by his eyes… he is definitely high on something.  I’ll tell you this much folks, it ain’t life!  From there, since the techno was hurting my brain,  we went over to The Closet, what is suppose to be a small lesbian bar.  This felt like more my speed.  Kind of dive-ish.  Kind of small.  Playing indie and top 40 music.  Cheap beer.  Plus, I didn’t get the lesbian bar vibe from the place except that it had lesbians behind the bar.  Either way, I liked this place.  Holla!

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The lovely host Joseph not only was a gracious host to me while I was in Chicago.  He did things like packed me a lunch for when I went to the festival on Sunday.  How presh, right?

First, I had to brave the CTA to get to Union Park where the Festival was taking place. Let me tell you this, I know us Toronto peeps bitch about the TTC all the time.  But seriously, don’t.  Not until you’ve taking the CTA.  Case in point:

Getting to and from the festival was a hellish experience to say the least. So seriously, count your lucky stars you weren’t there.  But yes, I finally did make it to Sunday.  To keep things short and concise about the bands (cos there were many), I’m going to write lil’ blurbs about each one and post some photos.

GIRLS @ 2:30PM – ALUMINUM STAGE
I’ve heard a lot of hype about Girls however I didn’t feel like a lot of the hype lived up to their live performance.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.  A lot of tweets that I read afterwards felt that their performance was very underwhelming.  If I judged Girls solely based off this performance, I’m not entirely sure if I would check them out again.  However, I’m willing to let it slide.

Beach House @ 3:20PM – Connector Stage
Everything about the performance by Beach House was haunting and incredible. Lead singer Victoria knows how to capture an audience with her piercing vocals and the energy was just great. I think the was one of the larger afternoon crowds that I saw for a Pitchfork performance.

Local Natives @ 3:35PM – Balance Stage
What I really loved about Local Natives is that they were upbeat and seemed like they loved every single moment of being on-stage.  The thing is, the crowd loved every single moment of them being on stage.  For that, I enjoyed every single moment of their performance.  It just didn’t seem like there was enough of it. Thankfully, I’ve been won over as a fan.  I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that day.

St. Vincent @ 5:15PM – CONNECTOR STAGE
Everything about this performance was just magical, it made me happy that although I had spent a good portion of the day tucked away hiding in the shade / air conditioned tent trying not to die, that I had come out for this.  It was one of those ‘had-to-be-there’ kind of moments.  It’s too bad you weren’t there.

MAJOR LAZER @ 6:15PM – ALUMINUM STAGE
Holy hell.  This is the third time I’ve seen Major Lazer live.  But this time does NOT compare to all the other times.  I know their festival shows always differ to their regular shows, so I knew I was in for a treat.  But Chinese Dragons.  Ballerinas.  Showers in Champagne.  Skerrit Boy saying that everyone was going to get drunk, smoke a lot of weed and the ladies were going to “GET PREGNANT!!”.  Wow.  Just wow.  Major Lazer blew me away.  I didn’t think it was possible.

Big Boi @ 7:25PM – Connector Stage
Dear Big Boi.  Thank you for giving the crowd exactly what they wanted to hear.  A perfect mix between your newest album and of course, what you knew they wanted… Outkast classics.  I swear, it was the perfect end to the day for me.  Hearing classics like ATLiens and Bombs Over Baghdad performed in a huge festival setting like that just was killing.  Also, apparently they were live video mixing everything.  Craziness.  Big Boi murdered everything and put on a hell of a stage show while doing so.

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So that was Chicago.  So much music.  So much food.  So much cheap beer.  So much amazingness.  So when do I get to go back??