It’s been a few days since the 10th anniversary of Pitchfork’s music festival wrapped up and trust us, we needed those few days to collect ourselves. Despite an oppressive sun, torrential downpour, lightning, and several violent mosh pits in Chicago’s Union Park, the music went on for good reason: the people earned it. With Trump’s big mouth and incessant, gross breaches of civil rights on the news, three days of well curated music was crucial.
We caught ILoveMakonnen on Friday, as he ran through favorites like “I Don’t Sell Molly No More” and “Tuesday.” Although the first day was the tamest of the three, Makonnen held nothing back and sang his heart out on one knee. The next day, Vince Staples was set to perform but as we made our way to the front of the stage, we heard that his flight had been delayed.
Need to be at @pitchforkfest by 3:30 can somebody let me borrow their jet?
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) July 18, 2015
After a quick Twitter check, he was going off on Delta and was clearly not making it. At that moment, biblical rain started to come down causing almost everyone to run for cover. A few minutes later, the stages were announcing that the festival had closed. After almost foolishly waiting around for 30 minutes, they had decided to reopen the festival and resume the lineup–just in time for A$AP Ferg.
Unfortunately, Ferg’s microphone wasn’t leveled properly and his enthusiasm on stage was tepid. But he did satiate his fans with performing “Work,” “Hella Hoes,” and “Shabba.” Towards the end of his set, he had the crowd stand silent a few seconds for the fallen general behind the scenes, A$AP Yams.
Vic Mensa had Towkio open up before him, which was a pleasant surprise as we approached the stage. Vic performed a few new cuts off his upcoming project, Traffic, as well as his popular tracks like the stoner friendly “Orange Soda” and dance friendly “Down On My Luck.” Fro what he heard, it seems like his new project is headed more towards mellow singing and relaxed production.
Our lineup for the last day started with Madlib and Freddie Gibbs. Throughout the set, Gibbs spoke to the crowd like they had been long time friends from the block. He half jokingly thanked the crowd for buying Cocaine Pinata since he needed money for the new baby. There were multiple times when Gibbs looked over at Madlib to cut the music so that he could rap acapella, much to the crowd’s approval. During “High,” he stopped mid lyric to show love to his brother and sister and say, “No offense when I say that I’m the ‘trillest n*gga living ever.'” Before he broke out “My N*gga,” he took a moment to explain his only mantra: “get money, get high, get p*ssy.” And he further explained that if you want to worry about saying the word “n*gga” along with him in the song, you can go home and think about things like racism and politics. Although Madlib didn’t perform a DJ set, he did re-imagine most of the songs performed by Gibbs with new production.
Run The Jewels was arguably one of the hypest acts, both for the performers and the crowd. Almost every song set the crowd off into a mosh pit that left one of our writers with a bloody toe and a snapback literally snatched off of his head. They performed several cuts off their two albums, bringing special guests to help on the appropriate tracks. Zack de la Rocha, Boots, and Gangsta Boo each blessed the stage, along with RTJ DJ Trackstar.
To close out the whole festival was hometown hero, Chance The Rapper. This was a full out theater production put on by the Social Experiment that included a full gospel choir and Kirk Franklin assisting on vocals for “Sunday Candy,” the Chicago Bulls Bucket Boys to drum away on “Wonderful Everyday,” and a couple outfit changes. When Chance wasn’t dancing all over the stage and generally giving his all for his only Chicago show of the year, he took the backseat a bit by allowing Donnie Trumpet to come down from the band’s platforms and take the spotlight in his white tux. When Chance was the center of attention, he often shouted “Ooowoo!” to not only amp up the crowd but to show that he wanted more energy out of himself as well.
His set was downright Chicago to the core. It was an extension of himself and his strong ties to his neighborhood. He doesn’t compartmentalize the different parts of his life–his family, his charity work, his music. Chance is the whole package, all the time. Even without a solo debut album, Chance carried himself like one of the greats to go down in the history books. We couldn’t have imagined a better way to close out the weekend.
You can watch a video below on the history of Pitchfork below.
Bryan Hahn’s pro tip for festivals is to bring your tallest friend for group meet ups. He’s on Twitter (@notupstate).
