I’ve never seen more than a few hundred people at a Man Man show. Back home in Philadelphia, where the bearded Indie hodgepodge are from, they ride their bikes around town, serve us coffee, and draw fairly well for a local band, but nothing like the thousands of pasty hipsters who flocked to see them at the Pitchfork Music Festival.
For two days last weekend in Chicago, incredible bands who in their hometowns are only celebrities to a privileged few hundred, were swarmed by tens of thousands of their devoted fans who’d previously been spread out all over the country.
It’s the same rationale used by promoters in every city, book four bands on a bill, get four bands worth of draw. Except the masterminds behind the Pitchfork Music Festival used it on a much larger scale, booking 40 of the greatest Indie acts to play basically two LONG shows, and get 41 bands worth of draw. It worked. 35,000 music heads showed, braving the hottest weekend of the year (could have been worse, could have rained coughGlastonburycough) to see all their favorite under appreciated bands in one underappreciated park. Freshout Media has returned shaking the orangy baseball diamond dirt out of our shoes to bring you the top ten best things we saw in Chicago last weekend.
10
The Mountain Goats. Two dudes, two guitars, one whiny singing voice. If you’re a fan of his albums I have good news, live, he sounds just like his albums. If you’ve never heard the albums, I have bad news, live, he sounds just like his albums.
9
Indie kids know how to make orderly bathroom lines and how not to push each other. This is important because the last thing you need after you held it bravely to catch the end of the Tapes n Tapes set is to get shoved into the person in front of you by some sweaty lug who drank too much Old Style.
There was one neat and tidy line for every 5 pissers. The line inhibitors waited patiently, spaced an even 3 feet from each other, and quite a few brought their own toilet paper. It is the way I have always imagined public restroom use would be in the future when we eat all our meals in pill form and then slip into a sealed chamber to have waste removed through some kind of complicated atomic-bending process. THE MORAL: Indie fans are way ahead of their time when it comes to matters of the bathroom.
8
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (Rx for short) taught us a valuable lesson: Pop can be energetically effortless. Most rocking pop bang for your buck. My pick for best performance.
7
THE OUTFITS
We saw a lot of all-white wearers, white jeans, white cutoffs, white t-shirts and hats and tube socks. White was out for a while, but c’mon people, it’s high time we brought it back. First of all, it’s summer. The sun’s beating down, your black Van Halen tour shirt might look cool, but admit it, you’re cookin’. Plus we’re well before labor day, you can bleach it if you spill kool aid, and anyway, John Lennon wore white. Was John Lennon a loser? No sir.
Danielson was sporting the his blue play dress up heath care worker outfit, but with a new backup band (they’re on a tight costume budget so the auditions included waist and hip measuring sessions.)
6
Jens Lekman outed his female German pen pal and we all loved it. My vote for most musical performance and easily most under appreciated act at the fest.
5
People in Chicago take hydration very seriously. Instead of the traditional stage drink (miller lite) all the bands but the Mountain Goats drank water on stage.
And when we sat down for breakfast at a local vegetarian diner, our waiter was kind enough to offer us this advice, “Drink a lot of water. It’s fucking hot out.”
4
Even though the National’s dynamics didn’t translate well on a larger format, they were still comfortingly anthemy with the future stadium playing promise of a young U2. Strong show, widely likable, disappointing if you’re a die hard fan of the boomy Alligator.
3
My friend Jeff created The Yo La Tengo Game. Basically it’s a gambling game (although we’re yet to actually put down any money) and the point is that this band has so many songs that you can never guess what they’ll play at any given show. If you come in with a specific Yo La song in your head, the odds are about a 6:1 that they’ll actually play it. Although I love them like parents (they’ve given birth to a lot of incredible sounds), the last two times I’ve seen them they sounded like crap. Coincidence? Band sound guy? Or are they getting flat and muffled in their old age?
2
I didn’t know CSNY were Brazilian. I’m just kidding, but seriously, Os Mutantes used almost identical vocal harmonies to Suite Judy Blue Eyes as well as a resurrected Santana guitar riff. At least we couldn’t understand the lyrics or else I’d be bitter about how Dylan-esque they were.
DRUMROLL PLEASE!
1
Man Man EVERYWHERE!
Man man seemed to be the theme of pitchfork, what with the site featuring them for days leading up to the fest. We even bumped into them, still stuffed into their skin-tight all white stage get ups coming out of the VIP area to catch a little Destroyer.
I asked some people on a blanket what their highlights were from the festival, Man Man and Art Brut. That’s pretty good company.
Man Man’s horn section took the stage with the Walkmen to finish out their set. More heavy hitters on the Philadelphia team.
And at the end of the second day, on my way to get a beer, I saw Man Man spelled out in cups in the fence. A sweet homage to our guys.
The dirty hippies got to it though, because by the time Spoon took the stage it spelled PEACE instead.
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August 10th, 2006 at 9:31 am
yo, ted leo is amazing live!