Musical Highlight:
Dave Yow’s stage dive (the second of many) while singing “I can swim/ I can’t swim,” the opening line of “Seasick.”
Musical Lowlight:
The notable lack of good humor from Yo La Tengo.
Non-musical highlight:
The Omar Little-style scar across the face of the first person I saw at the Jesus Lizard set. Clearly something was about to go down.
Non-musical lowlight:
The weather was particularly cruel on Friday. After optimistic forecasts, clouds overwhelmed the sunlight Friday, promising rain that almost never came except in a handful of bursts. It was unseasonably cold and windy, even by Chicago standards. It made everything a little less exciting.
WTF Clothing of the Night:
A McCain–Palin 08 shirt at Yo La Tengo’s set. Was it ironic, sincere, trying to be edgy, or just generally obnoxious, or meant to point out the flaws in Pitchfork’s audience? I don’t know, nor do I want to.
Most notable clothing trend.
A significant drop in ironic t-shirts, and a significant rise in band t-shrirts.
Best in Show
The Jesus Lizard. They may hold this title for the entire weekend.
Worst in Show
Tortoise. Not their fault, but the atmosphere was so dry, I was half expecting to become a PBS member by the end of the set.
Saturday brings the bulk of the new exciting acts, and I will be doing my best to keep up. Again, follow me on Twitter @tynansager. This time, the cell phone will be charged.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Good shit Ethan. I hate Pitchfork on principle, but keep it comin'.
-Glen
2 - blackbrown
While I agree with most of the details in this review. 2 things:
1. No way was Tortoise worse than Yo La Tengo. I know you're trying to be kind, but let's call a spade a spade: Yo La Tengo was god-awful.
2. I again see the optimism, but Built to Spill had no business following the Lizard and it showed. While they played a fantastic show, it would have been all the more fantastic had they come before the Lizard. Pitchfork royally screwed up on this one - just like they did last year when they had Spoon (one of the worst bands to ever play the fest) close out following Dinosaur Jr. - the only band to truly grab the crowd during last year's fest.
Bottom line: No matter how good Lizard and Spill were, the crowded was cheated out of how much better both bands would have been had their order been reversed.