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| ALL PHOTOS BY AMANDA KOELLNER |
Photos and Words by Amanda Koellner
Pitchfork Music Festival turned 11 this year and decided to gift Chicagoans with a Union Park party marked by some of the best weather the weekend’s seen in years, an onslaught of incredible local acts (shouts to Twin Peaks, Whitney, Homme, et. all), and one sexy-ass Sunday night (Jeremih into Miguel into FKA Twigs—COME ON).
That’s not to say things went off without a hitch; the Blue stage (tucked in a largely shaded and quite lovely little grove and markedly smaller than its Red and Green counterparts) ran increasingly late as the weekend went on, many left the Brian Wilson Pet Sounds set disappointed/mildly depressed/wondering if the Beach Boy is actually a ghost, and the three headliners failed to attract enough festival-goers to manifest that coveted communal feeling of “we’re all in this one together” and/or “holy shit” unless you found yourself in the closest hunk of the crowd (though I personally said the latter at least once during this beautiful trifecta of Beach House, Suf, and Twigs).
Critiques aside, nothing could truly take away from what most repeat Pitchfork-goers would consider the crown jewel of The Chicago Summer. Here are a few stand-out moments from the eclectic week’s collection of fun:
– Chicago hero Chance the Rapper’s cameo during Jeremih’s birthday set (necessary s/o to Jeremih’s mom, another cameo, who also had a birthday–aww)
– Kamasi Washington bringing out his dad (yay, parents!)
– Sufjan Stevens closing out Saturday night with a cover of “Kiss” by Prince with Moses Sumney
– The complete and utter bad-assery of Jehnny Beth
– ANDERSON .Paak & the Free Nationals’ theatrical on-stage shenanigans and overall headline-worthy set
– Cary Rae Jepsen joining Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) onstage and vice versa
– How truly stoked so many were both before and after Broken Social Scene
– Miguel’s flirting and thrusting
– When Miguel took a break from flirting and thrusting to address police violence and black lives matter before he played his new “How Many” (available here https://soundcloud.com/miguel/how-many-ruff-1)
– And too many more magical moments to list.
Thanks for the memories, P4K. We’ll see you next year!
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
