Pitchfork Music Festival - Day Two 7/14/07 via Stacy
Source: morecowbell.net
Neil Olstad gave you his take on Day Two of the Pitchfork Music Festival, so here’s mine. Yes, we missed/skipped Sonic Youth. Yes, we’ve been getting flack for it. But neither of us own any albums, and neither of us had a strong desire to see them. I know, I know… I heard it was great, and blah blah. But we chose instead to leave a bit later on Friday to drive down to Chicago. We didn’t reach our destination until around 10pm, and our hosts for the weekend weren’t home yet. We sat in a parking garage and ate processed powdered and chocolate donuts, ok?
As far as yesterday is concerned, I really enjoyed Voxtrot - even though this was the third time I’ve seen them I still have such a big place in my heart for them. They were a lot better than when they played here in Minneapolis… more energy and they seemed like they were having a better time. Plus, they did choose to play much of the music from their EPs. They mixed in a few songs from their new album, but over all it was “Your Biggest Fan,” “Soft and Warm,” “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives,” mixed in with “Kid Gloves” and “Your Brother in Conflict.” It was a good, poppy, upbeat set and I got to watch Ramesh hop around the stage again, which is always nice. They are coming back to Minneapolis in October (Triple Rock - Oct. 
so let’s pack that show!
I looooved Fujiya Miagyi despite what Neil thought. They said they will probably be hitting up Mpls again in September, and I would recommend them to everyone. Pat O’Brien from HowWasTheShow.com and I saw them open for Peter Bjorn & John a few months back at First Ave and we both commented on how if they’d just kept going and played through PB&J’s set, we’d have been fine with that. Not that we don’t like PB&J, but Fujiya Miagyi was where it was at. They are entertaining, but maybe with never hearing them before that show in Mpls I had no expectations, and thus was fully surprised. I love when that happens, but Neil’d heard the album and wanted more than Fujiya gave. I still enjoyed it and the girl behind me at the show had come from NYC just to see them. It will be one of the highlights of my experience at Pitchfork.
Oxford Collapse is always fun, played a solid set and I enjoyed watching them bounce around the stage. They always make me laugh with their facial expressions too. So much energy in three people is enough to make you stare, and their music is a great blend of sounds that bring me back to the end of the 90s alternative scene, mixed in with that newer indie pop. As far as Professor Murder, Neil was dead on - awesome and hilarious. He was just wonderful to watch on stage - having such a great time up there it was like it didn’t matter if anyone’d shown up for his set. He was there to have a good time, and dammit, he was going to.
The other thing Neil didn’t mention is that for Dan Deacon’s show Deacon asked to have his equipment in the middle of the crowd so everyone could dance around him. All of us in the crowd during Fujiya had been talking about how this was going to work. The stage was literally at the end of an alley, and the crowd was boxed in by giant chain link fences. Of course, this created a huge issue for the Chicago Fire Dept and they were not happy. This affected Girl Talk’s set right afterward, delaying set time and pushing restrictions on the venue. All press (including me) for GT were relegated to the side of the stage behind a large chain link fence. It was squished, hot, and terrible, so I left before Girl Talk started. I was pretty sure that if I stayed there I’d get trampled and/or not be able to move at all. It was ridiculously crowded and took a lot of time and effort to make it about 100 feet to the gate to get out. There were around 60 people still trying to get into that stage’s area when I did finally pop through. Insanity. Apparently it went ok though because there was no fire engines or festival shut downs - whew!
Yoko is Yoko. I mean, I expected what I got. I’ve never been a fan and tonight didn’t change that for me. I’ll out myself as a Barenaked Ladies fan and say that in the song “You Can Be My Yoko Ono,” the guys in BNL squeal like pigs in imitation. Well, that’s not far off from the real Yoko’s vocal stylings. Oof. After sitting through a long, drawn out video intro to her set, I stayed for one song and pushed through the other press to go home. I agree with Neil - Why would you close out an alternative indie-rock festival with Yoko. Who made that decision?
Today promises to be a great day as I look forward to seeing Deerhunter, Menomena, Of Montreal, & The New Pornographers. Afterward Neil and I will undoubtedly hit up a local breakfast nook here in Chicago, just like yesterday. mmm… late night pancakes!
Til’ tomorrow…
Stacy with members of Deerhunter & Grizzly Bear… it’s nice to be a girl.
Ramesh Srivastava of Voxtrot
Pitchfork Music Festival
Califone
