Wolf Parade kept things moving without so much as a pause for air on the Aluminum stage after Jon Spencer and his leather pants finished their set. It seemed several bands try danceable rock, colored by synth washes and David Byrne-inspired vocal lilts, but Wolf Parade stands far beyond the fray. The band immediately launched into powerful straight beats assisted by undulating fuzzed bass and textural tweaks from the guitars and keys. The crunching guitars and circusy keys, held together with furious beats, served as a solid back drop for the pained vocals from both keyboardist Spencer Krug and guitarist Dan Boeckner.
“This is a song about growing up in a small town called Canada,” Krug said during their set.
Just after the nod to their hometown/country, they explored a more introspective and less upbeat feel that still kept the crowd active and captive. Any dips in intensity were quickly followed by a return to sheer rock force that built and built until there was nowhere else to go. Wolf Parade fed off the crowd and gave plenty back. All the more reason why the next performer had no business with the stage slot and time he had.
The post-coital glow from JSBX’s and Wolf Parade’s penetrating intensity died within a few minutes of Panda Bear’s meandering effects-playing and occasional animal voices. Noah Lennox, a major voice and musician in Animal Collective’s bizarre soundscape construction, simply was at the right place at the wrong time for his opiate brand of solo trickery. His set dragged on and on with minor dynamic builds that were instantly diminished into tame synth washes that seemingly sucked the life out of one of the most into it crowds I’ve seen at a Pitchfork fest.
Lennox’s material from the upcoming Panda Bear Tomboy EP, certainly would have a place at this fest: on the small, shaded Balance stage around 3 p.m. Not at 7:30 at night on a main stage, after folks have been beaten by the sun all day. Do you see Perry Farrell taking over one of the headlining slots at Lolla as DJ Perez? No. He probably knows it’ll suck for the attendees.
Fortunately, the time had come for LCD Soundsystem. A mightily strong contender for most anticipated set at Pitchfork 2010, James Murphy and crew delivered an intensely spirited set full of party fist pumpers and the tamer tunes full of agonizing introspection that have led to so many connecting with this band. Union Park was jam packed all the way from the Aluminum Stage, clear to the entrance on Ashland Avenue opposite from the stage. And it felt as if everyone there was moving along with the great sonic combinations of organic and synthesized sounds, simplicity and layers, dance and rock.
Cutting right to the chase with the stomp and scratch of Us and Them, the band kept the pace upbeat throughout the almost painful Drunk Girls and the lively odes to bragging, Losing My Edge and Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, with an extra clavi-wawa sound on one of the extra basses used during the tune.
“I’m already having fun,” James Murphy said.
But it wasn’t all party. LCD Soundsystem would not be so widely appreciated if it weren’t for their heart: simple songs that are so true it hurts. All My Friends was hands down the most chill-inducing, made-feet-move-furiously moment throughout the entire fest so far. The song about aging pains and lost connections as our lives take us all in different directions created a ripple that pulsed and weaved through the entire park.
Seeing Murphy cling to his box-shaped mic as he yelled out, with the band sweating, head banging and swaying as they pumped all they had into the music was the whole group saying to the crowd, “We want this as much as you.”
After the band’s now-honed New York I Love You/Empire State of Mind pairing LCD left, the Pitchfork throng once again took over the streets at Lake and Ashland, and day two was done.
One Response
Great review! I liked the Panda Bear set, but you reflected the majority opinion, I think. I wish LCD could’ve come up with something other than a repeat of their tribute to NYC for their second Chicago show this year (and last ever).