The Chicago Blog

The humid air was stifling when I entered the Near West Side’s Union Park for the sixth annual Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday. The blistering mid-July heat, combined with the crowd of 18,000 within a few city blocks,  led festival organizers to take the stage before 2:30 p.m. act Delorean and urge attendees to stay hydrated and watch out for each other.

Though sirens did blare within the festival gates a few times, coming to aid those who had fallen victim to the unfortunate weather circumstances, on the whole festival-goers’ behavior was a reflection of the festival’s vibe itself: smart, forward-thinking, and humane, as bottles of water passed out in the front row reached the very middle of crowds where scorching sun and body heat reached their apex.

Many could forget, as unassuming indie music fans, that the heat notoriously takes its toll most not on attendees, but on performers. Moving rapidly, rocking to the beat furiously, elevated ten feet up under the sun’s rays and stage lights, and often times in garb far more conservative than bikini-clad attendees, several performers made note of the weather, but in some way or another acknowledged that “the show must go on.”

And oh, did it go on! Delorean, a Spanish quartet of summery alternative dance music, opened my day with energetic Animal Collective-esque samples and breezy melodies. I particularly enjoyed the classic drum and bass foghorn sample used in their opening bit, which was layered and textured with several diferent musical pieces. I discovered quite soon that this intricate layering is the trademark of the group, who broke through only this year with album Subiza after nine years in the underground. My eyes stayed on the keyboardist, Unai Lazcano, who threw his whole body into each track–take note, all you veteran bands lacking stage presence and enthusiasm. One thing that was left to be desired, however, was vocal quality; bassist and lead singer Ekhi Lopetegi nailed the cheery lyrics well, but at times his pitch and volume distracted me from the impeccable instrumentals in the background. Nonetheless, I heard other attendees raving about the early afternoon show well into the evening, and I bet that Pitchfork goers who hadn’t heard of Delorean before yesterday consider themselves fans now.

Following Delorean, I headed toward the Balance Stage for a good spot for L.A. modern funk extraordinare Dam-Funk. Signed to Stones Throw Records, he brought the progressive back to funk with his double-album, Toeachizown, released in 2009. Though I was a fan of that work, I was disappointed by his live show–though he made sure to layer each element of his show with long delays and spaced-out sound, his performance still felt more like cheesy karaoke rather than forward-thinking grooves. Perhaps it was the vocals, which seemed far too loud and crooning for fans, or maybe it was the dumbed-down instrumentation that sounded significantly lower and simplified than on record. No matter the cause, I was disappointed by what I expected to be my top show of the day, and left after four tracks to catch Raekwon back at the Aluminum Stage.

I arrived to the biggest crowd I had seen thus far, apparently transfixed by the large Wu-Tang Clan symbol adorning the DJ’s laptop. My first trip to Pitchfork two years ago also led me to see Raekwon, but that time he was accompanid by fellow Clan member Ghostface Killah. Apparently it didn’t mean much to Raekwon, who felt no need to hog the spotlight and brought a large entourage of supporting rappers and friends on stage with him, for a set of what he promised to be old favorites and throwback tracks. What he wasn’t anticipating, however, were recurring technical difficulties that left his DJ’s instrumental backing sputtering and skipping partway through every song he started. Visually agitated, Raekwon assured fans that he would freestyle acapella if it came down to it, and did his best to make it through fan favorites “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothin’ to F*** With”. Still, the crowd full of hip-hop fans in a festival with only a few such names was left hanging after the error left them with empty silences for minutes on end, and it was a disappointing problem for the veteran MC’s numerous supporters.

The heat began to get to me after a solid four hours of bouncing from set to set, so I took the next few to peruse the unexpectedly varied and large selection of food, craft and art vendors lining several central areas of the park. I discovered hidden gems like Chicago dance vinyl warehouse Groove Distribution, exquisite porcelain jewelry from independent designer Sofia Masri, and vintage-inspired brass and gold pieces from Austin-based Ornamental Things. Also offered were dozens of music posters in various creative permutations, and several food vendors ranging from soy ice cream by Temptation to deep dish pizza by Chicago favorite Connie’s. Also present was a water fountain station that I witnessed tally up a line of nearly 150–could have used a few more spigots, to say the least.

After resting up, I headed towards the Connector Stage to get a good spot for Panda Bear, the elusive founding member of Animal Collective who notoriously avoids performing solo due to his stage fright. Perhaps this stage fright is due to an apparent disconnect between the unusual, soundscape musical perspective of Panda and the outside universe; while at times textured spotlessly and fitting echoing guitar and synths seamlessly into the mood of the summer evening, his mumbles and occasional yelps with minimalist bell ringing and drum patterns still came off unapproachable. He gets extra points for the well-coordinated trippy visuals, but lost me before his set to get a good spot in the already massive crowd awaiting LCD Soundsystem.

And as the sun set on Union Park and all of the near 20,000 attendees gathered around the main stage, James Murphy led LCD Soundsystem under an enormous disco ball for their first Pitchfork appearance. A darling of the indie music scene since the self-titled album was released five years ago, it was surprising that he had never graced the stage until 2010–but the performance made up for lost time. The setlist covered both new releases from 2010’s This is Happening and older fan favorites like “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” and “All My Friends”. In lieu of Murphy’s recent announcement that the group will retire after this tour–after three nearly universally acclaimed albums and attracting dance-happy fans across the globe–his spot-on vocals and energetic band backing were a bittersweet farewell as the group closed out Saturday night at Pitchfork.