Diary of a Pitchfork Survivor, Part One

Feeling: Sore and Bruised

What a weekend, an awesome weekend that is.
I spent 3 wonderful days in Chicago, discovering new and interesting things about the city, and at the same time, enjoyed the long awaited Pitchfork Music Festival and other goodness. So much happened in so little time, I suppose I will start from the beginning, but it's going to take awhile.

I've been somewhat frantic all day Friday, because I had no idea what was going on trip planning wise. I just got a finalization on the housing situation in the morning and was trying to map/time out everything. After a few hours of research, I decided I should park at Garfield (CTA station) and take the train from there to Union Park. I left around 4:15 to pick up Mike, Andrew, and Ramu who was tagging along to Chicago.
I was the only one with a Friday ticket so I wanted to get to Chicago on time. No offense to Ramu, but he was taking his sweet time and it was a bit frustrating. On that note, I seemed to have been the only one prepared. I had to drive Ramu to his apt. so he can pack. After 10 mins. he comes down empty handed and says that all his stuff is at his friend's. And then I took him to the bank, where he came out 5 mins. later and says "I can't come with you guys, I only have $60 in my account." Me: "Uhhhh..."
After an hour of driving around and going back to Mike's twice, we finally were on our way to Chicago. The car ride was pretty enjoyable and short. We played a few games and arrived at Garfield in 2 hours., but little did I know that Garfield was in the black ghetto. The CTA station looked abit janky. I could not understand a word of the security guy when we tried asking him about tickets. Mike, Andrew, and I crossed the street to a fried chicken place to get change, and I get the feeling that people wasn't that happy about us being there.
We boarded the green line, and all is well. Mike and Andrew got off at Millennium Park to sight see and go clubbing later. I rode on, and was filled with excitement and anticipation. All of a days work, and alas, I'm almost there.
I could see and hear GZA playing right when I got off. Along with a horde of indie kids from the train, we made our way to the festival ground...

Day 1 - Friday: Teenage Riot ain't nothin' to fuck with

Union park was way smaller than I imagined. I could see both stages and the food tents from the entrance, which isn't a bad thing at all. I called Sam to see where he was, but it was hard to communicate among a crowd of fans. GZA was alright, although I would much rather see Wu-Tan in its entirety.
I managed to get some what close to Sonic Youth, but it was far off to the right. I like Daydream Nation, and hearing it live was pretty cool for lack of better words. (As you can tell, I'm not a dieheart SY fan)
After the set, I scouted the merch tent to plot for things to buy, and headed out of the park ground. Apparently Sam parked pretty close on a nearby street. Damn you pithcfork for telling me there are no street parking spots!

Both hungry (even though I had a Chipotle on my way up), we wondered around Chicago trying to find a place to eat. It's such a shock, but everything is pretty much closed by 11, even in the populated districts. We finally managed to find a gyro shop in the eastern part (I think) of the town. At some point, a homeless black dude came up to our table and started talking to Sam. Neither of us could understand what he was saying, and Sam proceeded to say "this bag is empty" (referring to the brown bag our food came in). Then the man started saying no, and pointed in the general direction to my right. I finally made out that he was saying "Can I see that pen?" [my sharipie] I handed him a pen, and he started writing letters/numbers on the underside of his cap. I was a little curious, but I don't think I would have understood him if I asked. At the same time, there was a trolley full of drunk people parked outside.

We picked up Mike and Andrew from clubbing on Erie St. Sam drove me back to the CTA station to pick up my car. I was somewhat concerned because one: it was the ghetto and two: Technically I'm suppose to pick up by car by midnight(no over night parking), and it was two by the time we got there. My car looked lonely in the completely empty lot, but fortunately, nothing had happened to it. After settling down, we drove north for a good 40 mins. to the place we were crashing Mike's friend's place.

Day Two - Saturday: Pump It Up

The original plan was to get to the festival ground by 12, but everyone was unprepared again, and we didn't get in till 1:30 ish after some traffic, lunch, and a long line around the gate. I checked out. Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound at Balance, and they were pretty good. The gang waited for Voxtrot. I don't think any of us really listened to them, but we just got up front for the entertainment I guess. I wanted to watch Grizzly Bear's set but had my priority with Beach House(Where I spotted Bradford of Deerhunter; he looked way taller in real life!) and Battles. Sadly I couldn't stay for all of Battles because of Fujiya & Miyagi. (I was all over the place saturday! I wish the artists didn't conflict..) I originally planned on catching some of Cat Power, but as I assessed the situation at Balance, I decided that I wouldn't be able to get back /have my spot after I leave. So, after F&M's set, I rushed towards the center and creeped my way up through the rest of the night.

Professor Murder came on after F&M. Their set was really fun and got me dancing all the way. The synth guy was really cute. I felt bad for one nerdy looking guy that was dancing, not very well if I may add, by himself, and the guys in front of me were laughing at him.Hey, it's freedom of expression.
6:30
I'm not a huge fan of Oxford Collapse, but the live set wasn't too bad/boring. By this time I'm in the second row and had a good view of the stage. I took pictures pretty much the entire time, and got some good ones. I think the band members were aware that everyone at Balance at that point was waiting for Dan Deacon/Girl Talk, which was my goal too.

7:30
Ahh, finally Dan Deacon comes out from lurking backstage. He surprised everyone by doing his usual in-crowd table setup. Unfortunately he set up on the left side, and I was center. His set was cut short not surprisingly, and he didn't get to play "Wham City". (Although, I was able to hear him perform this, read on to Sunday) After the set, I somehow shifted to the very front. I think the two guys that were in front of me freaked out once people started going cray and retreated somewhere, but hey, I'm not complaining. The people around me all were very cool and excited for Girl Talk, I too, was uber excited. I mean, 1st row, 3k people around me, Gregg will be shaking his ass in front of me, what more?

8:45
Gregg came out for sound check and everyone was already going wild. I spotted Dan, Bradford, Moses (Deerhunter), and Alex (Beach House) chilling back stage. After 10 mins. of patient waiting, Gregg finally came out, pimping in suit/tie and shades. He brought with him a party of VIPs, artists, silly strings, confetti, booze, and damn, what a party is was. The crowd was going insane (at least the front), and so was I. People kept on trying to push their way up front, but I maintained my prime viewing ground. My favorite part was when Grizzly Bear came on stage to sing Knife. I love the remix, so it's really awesome to hear it live. (Too bad Clipse didn't make a guest appearance)
Girl Talk's set was cut short and felt short. I wanted more! Once the chaos ended, I was drenched in sweat, and sadly not mine. (It was kind of gross when someone's totally wet and touching you, and you realize they're not wet from water, but from sweat, but fuck it, I had fun) My knees got rocked by the railing, and the were pretty bruised the next day.
We were pretty much done for the day and decided to head out after hearing screeching with what she calls music.

10:00
I got a flyer from photog Clay Hauck during Dan Deacon. We actually drove to the place after the show but could not find it. (I think Sam was getting worried because it was in a ghetto-esque area) I was a little bummed. (But I later found out that the floor collapsed during Dan's set and he got electrocuted from people spraying liquid...ha)
Once again we scouted for food and somehow ended up in the gay district. It was rather cool, as I never realized or been to that part of town. We hate at a pretty nice diner, and packed up our leftovers for breakfast . We didn't leave town till 3 ish, and I was exhausted at this point. I passed out once we got back and hoped for the best for Deerhunter, Klaxons, Malkmus, and everyone else I looked forward to seeing Sunday.

to be continued...