Pitchfork 2021

oh wait that means Kim and Jamila don’t conflict anymore fuck yes

Great first day all around. We somehow ended up backstage in the area for the artists’s guests for AnCo. We were able to sit in the bleachers by the Red Stage and had a great view of the set. A little disappointed for missing KLO (especially after hearing the rave reviews) but I really enjoyed AnCo’s vibes for my come up and it’s not everyday you find yourself backstage (The grass also wasn’t dead and we ended up with some free drinks too).

The Weather Station after show was incredible. Super intimate venue and the show translated better live than I was expecting (especially with the keyboardist having never played with them before). Probably prefer the recorded sound but with the show being stripped down somewhat I think she did a great job bringing that sound to a live setting.

They really need to work on the sound washing from Blue though. I feel like I could only hear the base during Big Thief and for Phoebe’s first couple songs. Was most excited for Phoebe going in and I think my overall takeaway from her set is “whelmed”.

Damn, I’m a need a surprise SVE solo set

Hopefully the food and drink lines will be shorter today lol

Someone say hi to Nathan for me

Bartees Strange did an incredible cover of “Lemonworld”…an absolute king

Did you make it in time for Horsegirl?

iirc they're all still in high school, that's pretty funny

its a very good show on the stream, he's really getting into it

Angel Olsen. Wow

This St. Vincent set is bringing me to my fucking knees right now. My god

To follow up about Friday: so happy that my wife and I arrived at the same time, because we would have never been able to find each other had we shown up separately with all the shitty cell service that was ongoing. Objectively, the organization was a total mess with all the lines, soundbleed between stages, and cleaning stations at the bathrooms running out of water. Luckily, having arrived at 1pm right in time for Armond Hammer made all the difference, in that we were able to prepare and pace ourselves for the whole day (e.g., buying a half dozen water bottles instead of bothering with the stupid water line). So the above mentioned issues ultimately didn't affect our enjoyment of the acts that we came for.

The big draw of course was Phoebe, and we ended up getting within the first ten rows up front. The crowd there was excellent, as was the show. From the little bits I could see and hear of Big Thief in the background while waiting, it looked really intense so definitely gonna aim to see them some other time. 

Soft Pink Truth was also fucking awesome; never expected that second half plot twist when it turned into a queer metal show with danceable beats. FUCK NAZI SYMPATHY!!!!!!!

AnCo was neat too, despite not knowing any of the tunes it felt like the right music at the right time. What else... Armand Hammer was chill, didn't care for what I could hear of DEHD, Hop Along, and Dogleg, although I heard the latter act were doing cartwheels and all sorts of circus tricks on stage. Make that a note for next time to actually pay attention to their set, rather than just chill in the shade. Also, we caught the last twenty minutes of Black Midi after seeing Soft Pink Truth and I frankly couldn't stand it. The goddamn saxophone just got on my nerves and the bandmembers came across as total arrogant twats. But I concede I would have probably enjoyed it better had I been moshing along in the pit with all the fans.

Would consider returning again in the future with the right headliner, also because it'd be a great excuse to visit Chicago again. But for real, the aforementioned issues need to be addressed! No excuses.

Damn, that's unfortunate.

Also, I wonder whether the festival sprays down the entire festival site each morning with water to alleviate the crazy dust. We wore masks for most of the day, but even then our lungs were fucked this morning.

Saturday (*extremely robert smith voice* ......wait) reviews:

-Divino Niño: This was very good sitting down music.
-Amaarae: Was very pleasantly surprised by this; she's an incredibly charismatic performer and I think (or at least hope) she'll go pretty far. She'd be a great fit at Coachella if they haven't already booked her.
-Waxahatchee: We had a debate on here a while ago if Waxahatchee is country now. Saint Cloud is still definitely not a country album, but live, with those harmonies.......yeah, they're definitely a country band now.
-Ty Segall: Earlier today, I thought about coming on here and posting "Ty Segall is a gay icon" because I love saying dumb shit like that. Anyway, obviously I would never actually say that here.
-Kim Gordon: I told my dad as we were leaving "I think that was the right amount of avant-garde for you." He agreed.
-Jamila Woods: She did a smooth jazz cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". What more can I say?
-St. Vincent: Unfortunately, the rumors are true: St. Vincent followed up her most atrocious album with her best live show to date. She's saving all the choreography for her backup singers now (thank god), so now she's got all the old guitar freakouts you remember and love plus with an incredibly cool stage production. The new songs are still........the new songs, but she does a good job of mixing in her classic songs so it still feels fresh.

all right, see you all later, I'm going to go to Smartbar like a dumbass