by Brad | Jul 19, 2010 | The WTTS Blog
Day 3
Day 3 had promise from the beginning — clouds peppered the sky for some much appreciated shade and overall the temperature was set to remain in the low 80’s. Then it started to rain, and we were back at square 1 — soaking wet. After about half an hour, the rain let up and the third day of the Pitchfork Music Festival looked to be the most bearable. The music continued to flow throughout the festival whether it came from one of the three stages or the many booths the festival had to offer. As stated in my prior posts, the photo pits were filled to the brim with photographers and the third day it escalated. Moving from one side of the stage to the other for a different perspective allowed me to not only step on toes, but also force my scalp into other photographers’ viewfinders. Needless to say, they weren’t happy with me. Nonetheless — I bring you a photo journal of Pitchfork: Day 3.
Local Natives
St. Vincent
Big Boi
Pavement
by Brad | Jul 19, 2010 | The WTTS Blog
Day 2
Day 2 was not unlike Day 1 — unbearably hot. The day was even longer, the number of acts has multiplied and the photo pits were even more hectic, packed and hotter than the day before. (On a side note, on average, the sun-drenched photo pit is about 20-30° hotter than sitting in the sun-drenched grass due to the collective of people and the disgustingly hot-and-constantly-powered sound equipment littering the front of the stage). But the music still continued and the photo pits needed people in them taking pictures… so there I was.
Wolf Parade
Bear In Heaven
LCD Soundsystem
by Brad | Jul 19, 2010 | The WTTS Blog
Day 1
Craig and I walked through the familiar gates at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and already there were people sitting by the front of the A (Aluminum) Stage set and ready to see Modest Mouse that night. It was an extremely hot day, and by extremely I mean uninhabitable. Everyone was miserable on the outside, soaked to the skin, which was most likely frying at any given point. However, all of us willingly hurried from stage-to-stage to see whatever each stage had to show us. It was a relatively lay back in the shade and enjoy the music type of day, but none-the-less I was able to enter a couple photo pits.
Broken Social Scene
(I also had the ability to have a conversation with Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene (the one in the blue zig-zags; above), which you can find a listen to here.)
Modest Mouse
by Brad | Jul 20, 2009 | The WTTS Blog
George took some time to speak with Beth and Mark from Bowerbirds after their serene performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Click here for George’s interview with Bowerbirds.
by Brad | Jul 20, 2009 | The WTTS Blog
George took some time to get to know an unsigned, up-and-coming young band known as Cymbals Eat Guitars at Pitchfork. Follow the link to hear the Cymbals Eat Guitars Interview at Pitchfork 2009
by Brad | Jul 19, 2009 | The WTTS Blog
George and I are both wrecked from being on our feet all day. Although it is late, we wanted to share more with you before officially calling it a night. George has some phenomenal pictures to post, but I took some quick shots to help you visualize the day.
We used the press area as our meeting place and escape. However, we had to fight for space in the tiny tent and fight for a place to set up our cameras and laptops to bring the festival to you.
George was hard at work most of the day; taking and uploading his pictures.
If George has one weakness, it is screen-printed concert posters. There were literally dozens of different vendors for this kind of specialty item and hundreds to choose from. It was the proverbial kid in the candy store kind of situation.
I had some fun browsing around in the record sale, but I resisted my urge to walk out with my arms full of LPs. Seems that there were plenty of great deals, though.
One highlight for us was the plethora of unique mustaches. George diligently kept a tally whenever there was a few minutes of downtime.
On a more serious note, there were some incredible bands and wonderful people at the festival on Saturday. My personal highlight was Beirut’s beautiful hour-long, horn-heavy set. Zach Condon and crew brought new life to the songs and had the crowd singing, clapping, and crowd-surfing along to their own unique blend of Eastern European folk-influenced rock. The National closed out the night with an incredibly intense set in which the band had the audience roaring in approval through the duration of their time on stage.
Bowerbirds, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Antlers, Doom, Yeasayer, and Matt & Kim all had great showings as well. I missed some of the bands on the bill, but there isn’t enough time to get everything in, unfortunately. We were very busy throughout the day, but we had a blast. We hope you’ve enjoyed following along. We’re doing our best to keep some good stuff coming your way and we’ll be helping put together a nice rundown for Indy Underground when we return on Monday. I’m going to catch some sleep after I post my interview with the Antlers, but we’ll be back at it in a matter of hours.
Take care and goodnight!
