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Pitchfork Music Festival 2024: Friday Highlights

July 21, 2024 / Rachel Zyzda

Pitchfork Music Festival 2024 returned to Union Park, kicking off on Friday, July 19th. Although we’ve had storms and heat waves in Chicago in recent weeks, the weather forecast looks great for the entire weekend, and fans were able to start the weekend of festivities with sun and comfortable temperatures to go along with the day-one lineup that included everything from the lofi and laidback Black Duck to amped up electronic acts like 100 gecs and Jai Paul to the soulful rockers Black Pumas.

Around 5:15 PM, DJ and singer Yaeji kicked off the dance party that bounced between the Red and Green stages for the rest of the evening. Flanked by two backup dancers, Yaeji glided across the stage, singing her bilingual lyrics of English and Korean words. A highlight of her set included her most popular song “Raingurl” that features a hypnotic beat and had the whole crowd moving in unison.

Meanwhile over at the Blue Stage, Amen Dunes, which is the musical project of singer-songwriter Damon McMahon, held down the experimental indie rock quota of the festival for the day. The band’s set included a handful of new songs from the album Death Jokes that just came out in May 2024, like “Purple Land” and “Exodus.” Fans also got to hear some familiar favorites like “Miki Dora” from Amen Dunes’ 2018 album Freedom.

Next up, 100 gecs cranked up the energy ten-fold, drawing in a massive crowd to join their rave mosh pit. The duo Dylan Brady and Laura Les kept the crowd smiling and dancing along with their quirky lyrics and outlandish electronic tracks, opening up the show with their song “Dumbest Girl Alive.” Les and Brady also did a great job at setting up their upcoming songs with their witty stage banter—before playing “Frog On The Floor” the duo told the audience to “look to your right, look to your left, now look down and make sure there’s not a frog on the floor!” They also asked the crowd to cheer if they’d ever had a tooth pulled or lost a tooth, adding “let me hear it if you’ve ever gone -1 on a tooth” before they performed “I Got My Tooth Removed.” In addition to all of the dancing I witnessed during 100 gecs, I also spotted my first crowdsurfer of the day during their set.

Violinist and singer-songwriter Sudan Archives as well as DJ and producer Jai Paul kept the dance parties going at the Blue and Red stages next as we got into some of the final moments of the day one.

Jeff Rosenstock and his band closed out the Blue Stage with my favorite performance of the day, which began with the song “Chop Suey!” by System of a Down playing over the speakers until Rosenstock and his bandmates took their places onstage and finished out playing the song live. From there, the set launched into a feel-good rowdy rock set that was a nice change of pace from the heavily electronic-based music on the lineup. While I spotted one or two crowdsurfers earlier, there were too many to keep track of towards the end of Jeff Rosenstock’s performance— including Jeff himself jumping offstage while playing the saxophone. While the crowd might have been rambunctious, Rosenstock made sure to encourage everyone to remain respectful, asking everyone to say hi to their festival neighbors and keep it a friendly space for others. “Make it a habit throughout the weekend, and if throughout the weekend some fucking dumb dipshit person starts groping the person next to you, and starts getting in their space, just gather the nice people around you and push that person the fuck out of the way so everybody can enjoy the weekend.”

As the sun began to go down, Black Pumas began their soulful rock and roll headlining show over on the main stage to wrap up Friday’s festivities. Their show opened on a high note-literally- as lead vocalist Eric Burton showed off his silky and dynamic vocal range. Burton also took the opportunity to connect and get close to the audience, hopping down from the stage to join the fans on the barricade as he serenaded them. The Black Pumas’ performance made for a great way to ease into some of the more pop-heavy performers that are slated for the rest of Pitchfork Fest.

Keep an eye out for highlights from Saturday and Sunday of Pitchfork Fest.

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categories / Reviews, Music, Festival, Gigs
tags / Black Pumas, Jeff Rosenstock, Sudan Archives, Jai Paul, 100 gecs, Amen Dunes, Yaeji, Pitchfork, Pitchfork Music Festival, P4K

Pitchfork Festival 2021: Friday Recap and Photos

September 11, 2021 / Rachel Zyzda

Pitchfork Festival has come to be one of those weekends that I look forward to all year. It’s a place I can reunite with friends from all over the city, and see live music from artists I’ve come to know and love over the years, as well as discover new favorite artists. Needless to say, the anticipation for Pitchfork Festival 2021 was at an all-time high after the pandemic-caused gap year and the push to September this year, but the wait was well worth it. Music-goers at Union Park over the weekend were graced with a weekend of clear skies and warm (but manageable) temperatures while they soaked in the sounds of more than forty different acts. Read up on the highlights of Friday below, and keep an eye out for further festival coverage coming soon.

Dehd

ANCHR started off our Pitchfork Fest experience this year by catching a homecoming show from trio Dehd, which also acted as the band’s first official performance since their 2020 album Flower of Devotion was released. Throughout the evening, I heard many festival attendees state that Dehd was their favorite set of the day, and for good reason.

Veering away from a traditional band lineup, Dehd delivers an unwavering and boisterous blend of surf rock with post-punk with just three members; Eric McGrady keeps a steady beat on a standing drum set as guitarist Jason Balla and bassist Emily Kempf share a dual vocal duty. The band’s song “Lucky”—which they opened their Pitchfork set with— really showcases the dynamic of Balla and Kempf’s vocal partnership as they belt out the sing-along worthy “sha la la la las” of the song’s chorus together. Dehd’s records have such a fun and freeing attribute to them, but seeing them performed live only amplifies that mood. The set on Friday also included a new tune, so be sure to keep an ear out from new material from Dehd.

Black Midi

If you want a truly unique live music experience, you can always count on the experimental vibes of England’s Black Midi to shake things up. Fronted by vocalist Geordie Greep, the band mixes everything from frantic bass lines, thrashing guitar riffs, avant-garde keyboard melodies and saxophone to create a sound that’s entirely their own.

The band added to their musical performance by carrying out a bright green sofa to the stage, which remained in place throughout their set. Potted plants and rolling wardrobe rack accompanied the couch onstage, lending a theatrical element to their show. The extra effort that Black Midi went through to make their set an experience didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated by the audience, who returned the energy with a raucous mosh pit.

Kelly Lee Owens

At every music festival, there’s got to be at least one artist you’re discovering for the first time, and Kelly Lee Owens was that act for me on Friday. With a silky swirl of atmospheric, hypnotic electronic melodies and ethereal vocals, Owens’ music provided an entrancing oasis after the chaos of Black Midi’s performance.

Hailing from Wales, and currently based in London, Owens used to write poetry as a child, which now translates into a fluid, poetic nature in her stage presence. While performing tracks from her two full-length records, including 2020’s Inner Song, Owens commanded the entire crowd solely on her own and minimal equipment, accompanying her sound with striking dance moves.

Animal Collective

Animal Collective continued with the quirky and experimental vibes, bringing the Pitchfork Festival goers another opportunity to mirror the high amount of energy bouncing off the stage.

Animal Collective has played Pitchfork Festival in the past, but their expansive catalog of music dating back to the early aughts allows them to curate a unique setlist for their listeners. The creative energy of Avery Tare keeps Animal Collective fans on their toes, especially in a live setting. While the group finished up their late evening set on Friday, Tare threw down some wild and jarring howls at the end of their song “The Purple Bottle,” leaving the stage on a literal high note.

Phoebe Bridgers

The crowd’s energy peaked on Friday night when singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers and her bandmates appeared on the Green stage, all donning the headliner’s signature Skeleton onesies.

Bridgers has attracted the attention of many music fans with her vulnerable and witty storytelling abilities that are present across her discography. Phoebe’s become an expert at mixing in humor and honesty with some of her most personal moments, making her lyrics both oddly specific and relatable. Take the lyrics in her hit “Motion Sickness” from her debut album— most fans can relate to the annoyance sparked by an ex-partner that Bridgers describes in the song, but the line “And why do you sing with an English accent?" signifies a very specific call-out of a certain someone(if you know, you know). Bridgers opened the set at Pitchfork with this song, and the crowd singing along almost drowned out her own vocals (pun intended).

From that catapulting start, the remainder of the set leaned heavily towards songs from the 2020 album Punisher, allowing fans to hear most of the songs live for the first time since the record’s release. Bridgers also sprinkled in a performance of the boygenius tune “Me & My Dog” and a cover of Bo Burnham’s “That Funny Feeling” from the acclaimed Inside comedy special. From the laughter to all of the feels, Phoebe Bridgers’ set started the festival off on a great note.

See more photos of the first day below, including Dehd, Hop Along, Black Midi, The Fiery Furnaces, Animal Collective, Kelly Lee Owens, Big Thief, Yaeji, and Phoebe Bridgers.