Pitchfork Music Festival 2009: Saturday

Saturday

Despite ye Gods trying to prevent me from going,  I DID make it down to Pitchfork on Saturday after an EL detour, miles-long walk, and then forgetting my tickets back up north.  The challenges did not stop there.

On the stage was DOOM (previously MF Doom).  The limber linquist already had his work cut out for him on Saturday.  A long line of Union Park hip-hop performers had already set the precedent: Hip-Hop acts at Intonation/Pitchfork do not do so well.  Aside from Public Enemy’s stellar set last year, Clipse, Ghostface and De La Soul all seemed put-out by the festivals lack of crowd enthusiasm.  What made DOOM different was that he didn’t seem to need or want crowd participation to put on a good show… he simply powered through.  Disguised, as always, in a silver villain’s mask, DOOM’s lazy but deceivingly limber voice rolled through head-scratching couplets at a confounding rate.  The rhymes switched rhythm and pace so often that watching DOOM fans sing along to their favorite lines was like watching them try to quote their favorite movie in fast-forward.

DOOM

Next up was eastern European tinged folk-rockers Beirut.  Helmed by Zach Condon, the troupe plays fairly straight-ahead American folk music but adds on ukulele, horns, tuba, accordions and a voice that is distinctly… Old World.  Where in the Old World, who the hell knows, but it feels European to us state-siders that wouldn”t know the difference anyway.  The sound was very nice, and crowd favorites like the wonderfully arranged “Elephant Gun” and “Postcards from Italy” transitioned very well into the live venue.  The only downside was that the music was a bit plodding.  This is completely understandable given their m.o., but in a festival setting most people think, “If I’m going to be standing, I may as well be moving,” which explains the gradual  (gypsy like?!) flow away from Beirut and towards Matt & Kim.

Matt & Kim at Pitchfork (Photo from Twitpic account: Michaelgoneil

Matt & Kim were, as expected, pre-pubecently giddy and dropping f-bombs left and right for added sincerity points.  If you need to know anything about this duo it’s that they’re a boy/girl keyboard/drum duo that excel in their live performance, and what they lack in chord progressions they more make up for in enthusiasm. Their performance on the Balance Stage, which they proudly claimed to be their largest ever, did not disappoint.  There were fist-pumpers, crowd surfers, and full waterbottle-throwers galore.  Matt’s keyboard got kicked unplugged. (BUT WHO CARES!?!?! WE USED TO PLAY IN BASEMENTZ!!!@!#!!).  It was an uprorious shout-along set and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about defecting from the Balkan stage.  Unfortunately, as it’s evident the VIP/Press backstage fences have swelled even further into the paying crowd’s space this year, I had no sight of the band from far stage right, and thusly no fun photos.  But you have to LOVE this Twitpic from Michaelgoneil that M&K retweeted… (Kim’s on the right).