Polyester Heart's Music Blog

Summer Festivals Series: Episode 2 - Pitchfork Music Festival

Better late than never - I know I am a few weeks late but I am hoping you folks will still enjoy some pics and audio from the Festival... 

Festival: Pitchfork Music Festival

Location: Chicago, IL

Venue: Union Park 

Date: July 17th - 20th 

Line-up:

FRIDAY

Built to Spill • The Jesus Lizard • Yo La Tengo • Tortoise

SATURDAY

The National • Beirut • Doom • Yeasayer • Final Fantasy • The Pains of Being Pure at Heart • Fucked Up • Plants and Animals • Cymbals Eat Guitars • The Black Lips • Matt & Kim • Lindstrøm • Wavves • Ponytail • Bowerbirds • The Dutchess and The Duke • The Antlers • Disappears

SUNDAY

The Flaming Lips • Grizzly Bear • M83 • The Walkmen • The Thermals • Pharoahe Monch • Blitzen Trapper • Frightened Rabbit • The Mae Shi • The Very Best • Mew • Vivian Girls • Japandroids • DJ/Rupture • Women • Killer Whales • Dianogah • Michael Columbia

Overview

This was an incredible weekend. First of all Chicago is such a great city to be in and we were lucky enough to get some time to explore (we even found the trendy Ukraniun Village - check out Stella's and the Empty Bottle if you get there!).

As you can see from the line-up above this was a festival so packed with great bands it was hard to see them all. I found it was easy enough to catch at least 15 min of every band if you wanted too, but I had a few favourites that I wanted the full show so I passed on the 'drive by' method. Food was amazing, lots of choices and quite a few vegetarian for those who enjoy that sort of stuff. Drinks were reasonable and the line-ups all in all were good. Bathroom line-ups were incredibly long the second day but more 'provisions' were made on the last day so I was pleasantly surprised.

The only complaint I did have is that I feel it was a bit oversold. It was very hard to get close to a stage unless you waited a half an hour before the band went on, which meant you would miss the other acts. You will see from my pics and the recordings that I was most often too far away to catch good images or sound. If you like amateur hour...see below...I have only posted the half decent material - so no I am not showing favouritism (ok maybe only to Wayne).

Tortoise