Minor Speculum

Archive for July, 2011

Sunday, July 17th – Pitchfork Festival 2011

By Larry

This is my second entry reviewing a concert and featuring a date in the titles. My first can be read here.

The Pitchfork Festival is a three-day music festival that takes place in Union Park each summer. After reviewing the line-up, and my bank account, I chose to only attend Sunday. Sunday had the most solid lineup of the three days: Odd Future, Deerhunter, Toro y Moi, HEALTH, and of course, TV on the Radio. The only real severe loss I suffered by not going on the other days was Fleet Foxes, who headlined Saturday night. At $45, which is just little higher than the cost of an average concert ticket, I couldn’t afford not to go.


This is my schedule for the other day at the festival. I ended up seeing/hearing a few others and included them in the picture for accuracy.


Union Park is small and there were huge displays set up so one can not help but hear/view what is going on at any given time.

My total cost of attending the festival $83.50, which is still less than a single day ticket ($90) for Lollapalooza. It is also worth mentioning that even though both festivals feature essentially the same vendors, on average concessions at Pitchfork are 16% cheaper than Lolla’s, and, had I abstained from drinking beer and made the more economical choice of buying water off of a street vendor ($1) I could have saved more money. Alas, it was one the hottest and muggiest days so far this summer and hydration was critical. Not to continue to knock on Lolla, but Pitchfork’s Sunday line-up is arguably better than any single day at Lolla this year, not to mention that they stream the entire festival live on the website, so if you can’t make it, or are an extremely cheap bastard, you can watch from home. Speaking of cheap, here is the breakdown:

1 ticket (single day) = $45
3 Heineken drafts at $5.00 each = $15
1 mango-banana smoothie = $5
1 lemonade = $3
3 bottles of water at $2.00 each = $6
1 bottle of Gatorade = $2
2 rides on the L Train (there and back) at $2.25 each = $4.50

Total cost = $83.50

When I arrived, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All was in full effect, I was a little late because I had just had lunch with my mother and sister at the 11 City Diner, where I ordered The Woody Allen (double-stacked corned beef and pastrami on rye) with a slice of Swiss and some cheese fries. It was delicious. Tyler, the Creator, was in a cast because he had broken his foot, but it didn’t hold him back. Odd Future’s stage presence was reminiscent of that of a hardcore punk or metal band, only they had a better rapport with the audience. At one point Tyler addressed the crowd, “This song is for all you in the back, you might know it.”, before breaking into “Yonkers”. Hysterically, the guy next me began rapping along with every word, an action he had not taken until that song, and I could not help but laugh at the irony of it all. In tribute to their absent friednd, OFWGKTA played/lip synced/performed Earl Sweatshirt’s “Earl”. The set was peppered with Tyler’s material such as “Radicals”, and “Sandwitches”, but also featured song Mike G and Hodgy Beats songs.

After this I wanted to see the band Baths but I didn’t for some reason. I think I was standing in line getting a Heineken, a freshly squeezed lemonade and a tasty mango-banana smoothie, all of which I drank in a span of 15 minutes. I sat in the shade and imbibed to recover and talked to Craig Lee and his pregnant wife Sam, who were in town for the fest.

The next block of acts was hard on me because I was forced to split my time between Deerhunter, which began at 6:15, and Toro Y Moi at 6:45. Deerhunter was their usual live greatness and had a huge turnout, they played lots of stuff of their new LP Haclyon Digest including my favorite song off of the album, “Helicopter”. It wasn’t as good as the time I saw them at Lollapalooza two years ago but stil damn good. Toro Y Moi was brilliant as well, but I had to adjust to the lack of the lushness of sonorities and thick layers that are present on their albums.


HEALTH blew my fucking mind. They were the only act that I needed earplugs for. I hated having to leave their show to watch TV on the Radio.

TV on the Radio really revved up their songs live in terms of speed, energy and attack. The set, an excellent mix of their entire catalog, hit its peak for me personally when they surprised the audience with a cover of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room”. Unfortunately they ended the set early, but on the bright side I was able to haggle a $3 Gatorade down to $2 from a street vendor. Craig and Sam and I managed to catch a nearly empty Pink line train back to downtown. I bid adieu to the happy couple and transferred to the Brown line to return home to bed.

Sightings of Notable Persons:
I saw Kip Malone of TVotR walking the grounds. Chaz Bundick and other members of Toro Y Moi chatting with a circle of fans, and one of the dudes from the Smith Westerns, I think….

Here is another take. Not only is this girl smarter than me, and can write better, but writes professionally and therefore can negate anything positive I wrote about the fest.

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Jul 27, 2011 • Music

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