Caught in the tines of music

The dregs of hipsterdom were all packed tightly into Chicago’s Union Park last weekend.

Fixed-gear bicycles were chained all along the park’s fence, a cloud of cigarette smoke hung in the air and the phrase “I liked their first album better” was uttered by a select few belonging to the hippest caliber.

Pitchfork Music Festival took place this past weekend. Playing host to “over 40 of independent music’s best bands and artists on three stages,” according to its Web site, the festival attracted much of Chicago’s bright and beautiful youth.

But, it wasn’t a certain look or attitude that would get you admitted into the festival grounds, it was simply a love for music, which is what events such as these are all about.
 
Hip-hop artists Doom and Pharoahoe Monch performed Saturday and Sunday afternoons respectively and both put on a very solid performances. Doom was decked out in his signature gleaming silver mask and a camo outfit any Joe Blow could buy at their local hunting store.

Monch took the stage the day after. When the crowd didn’t react the way he liked, he would evoke the words of hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes: “When the crowd doesn’t react the way you want, give them more energy.” And he did.

“Where’s hip hop?” he screamed.

“Right here,” the audience responded in accordance with his question.

The Flaming Lips took the cake though for best live performance at the festival. Front man Wayne Coyne was the last of his band to take the stage, but he did so in a more fashionable way – in a humungous blowup ball, which he stood inside of and rolled over the crowd in. There was confetti permanently in the air and giant orange and yellow balloons bounced off the hands of ecstatic audience members.

Girls in white latex outfits and fuzzy hats and people in frog suits danced on the sides of the stage while the Lips played songs the crowd had requested days before the festival online.

Grizzly Bear and Beirut both put on solid performances and played crowd favorites while girls in the crowd swooned over all the boys in the band.

Festival-goers were given the opportunity to participate in activities like setting new world records – the most David Lee Roth kicks in one minute, the most head bands placed on head and longest pronouncement of the word “Saucony.”

Nothing much was disappointing with this festival except that it wasn’t more than three days. With multitudes of choices between what summer music fests to go to, this is one of the cheaper alternatives that still delivers awesome music.