2008 Woodie Awards
Summer Music Festivals: Pitchfork
Issue date: 7/24/08 Section: Variety
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Pitchforkmedia.com is commonly known in the realm of hipsterdom as the online resource for uprising independent music. A good review on Pitchfork often spells success for an independent band. For the past three years, Pitchfork has also hosted the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, highlighting some indie favorites and boasting, as always, some band you've never heard of.
Located in Chicago's Union Park, the Pitchfork lineup this year really outdid itself, showcasing some big names like Spoon and Ghostface Killa of the Wu-Tang Clan. This time, however, it was the less-anticipated bands that really stole the spotlight.
Jarvis Cocker, formerly of Pulp, danced like he had the park to himself, shedding his tie halfway through his set and unbuttoning his shirt, showing even more energy (and booty shakin') than many of the younger performers of the festival.
Freak-pop favorites Animal Collective captivated the audience with a blinding, "Close Encounters"-esque light show that left the crowd in a trance. The show was unfortunately cut short by the local curfew, disappointing the audience with not a grand finale, but a simple fade- out and goodbye.
The Les Savy Fav show involved numerous elaborate costume changes (including a 200+-pound man dressed as a taco), random romps through the crowd, and threats of causing all nearby trees to explode. Even if you aren't a fan of the sometimes heavy riffs of Les Savy Fav, for entertainment value, they stole the show.
Pop group Spoon brought in a huge fan base to the festival, but failed to put on a show as impressive as its TV show and movie sound track resumé. Lead singer Britt Daniel seemed to be the only person there enjoying what he heard. Even the band's keyboardist and drummer seemed tired and bored. The group's hit songs seemed to be moving in slow motion, and the colored lights and smoke machines seemed to make the stage more like a strange dream than a rock show.
Fifteen minutes before the festival's scheduled conclusion, Australian electropop group Cut Copy finally arrived to save the night. Arriving from Australia after a severe flight delay, Cut Copy only had time to play a few songs, but the result was arguably the best 15 minutes of the festival. No better conclusion could have been asked for - even those who had never before heard of Cut Copy were soon jumping in unison, screaming along. No other set this year had a crowd quite like Cut Copy's.
The overall feel of Pitchfork was one of excitement - the excitement of hearing a song you know and love, the excitement of hearing something new, and the excitement of being around thousands of other people who know the words and are singing along right beside you.
- Jeremey Pohl and Erin Lovett
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