Pitchfork: Day 1

First, a confession: I'm not terribly well acquainted with
"Spiderland," "Liquid Swords" or "Daydream Nation," the quote-unquote legendary
albums that Slint, Genius/GZA and Sonic Youth, respectively, would perform in
their entirety for Day 1 of the Pitchfork Music Fest. But that didn't mean
opening night had to be so underwhelming. For starters, I clearly wasn't the only one uninterested in
Slint's straightforward set. The majority of concertgoers wandering around a
sunny Union Park either seemed to be getting in
position to see GZA or waiting in loooong lines for beer. (Well, first they had
to wait in line to buy beer tickets, and then get in a different line to
actually buy the beer. More efficient than people digging in their pockets during
the actual brew purchasing? The jury's still out.) Fortunately for those unable to get into Slint, Wu-Tang
member GZA got on stage shortly after the first set wrapped up. And by shortly
after, I mean three seconds, which would have been a great way of keeping the
night's momentum going, except so far, there wasn't any. A dark and intense album like "Liquid Swords" also doesn't
really work in such a bright environment, not to mention one in which the sound
was so low that it was as if the festival was less concerned about the fans
than it was about not disturbing the neighbors. (The crowd's chant of "Turn it
up!" proved unsuccessful later on during Sonic Youth's set.) Neither GZA nor
the handful of other MCs could maintain much ferocity on top of the too-quiet
beats, which sporadically inspired some head-nodding among fans but generally
coasted along in an environment that just seemed to be the wrong place and the
wrong time for atmospheric and lyrically dense hip-hop. If GZA was really a
genius, he would have ensured the later time slot. That spot went to Sonic Youth, though, and despite the sound
issues, their energetic romp through "Daydream Nation" was the only time Friday
night that it actually seemed like a concert was going on. The audience bunched
up close together and went as far back as we could see from the middle of the
grass, and the 1988 album certainly sounded fresh and still way ahead of its
time. When the band returned for an encore and the noise level suddenly
improved, it felt like a good omen for the next two jam-packed days of music
(Most anticipated shows: Girl Talk on Saturday, Of Montreal on Sunday). And if not, well, at
least we still have more beer tickets.