see these and many other concert photos HERE.
Day One at the Pitchfork Music Festival was an obvious success, but it proved just a warm up as we nestled in nice and close for quite a number of fantastic performances on Saturday in Chicago.
Getting things started, Montreal trio
Plants and Animals played their set like a perfect story, with each song falling into place with the next. The band pulled several tracks from their fantastic debut
Parc Avenue, as well as sprinkled in some new material that also followed along the lines of their indie-folk traditions.
Then we were lucky enough to witness the
Antlers, a Brooklyn trio. Though their approach may not have followed the same narrative flow as Plants and Animals, lead vocalist
Peter Silberman's falsetto, along with the band's mystical instrumentation, held the audiences' attention rather stoically from start to finish.
Next up were North Carolina's most wistful of bands,
Bowerbirds . Grazing in Union Park's grass, the band's elegant folkisms provided a hint of Midwestern, summer time bliss...especially as Upper Air standout "Northern Lights" capped off their at-ease performance.
This of course was not bound to last, as
Molly Sigel and her spazzy, Baltimore cohorts in
Ponytail gave us reason to make our way back to the edge of the stage. Prancing from side to side,
Siegel worked the stage and the crowd in her own unique way. Best not to describe I think. Instead, check out our
video of the band last summer.
Then it was time for label/city mates
Yeasayer to play, showcasing
familiar material, as well as a few tunes from their upcoming record. Quite simply, we were entranced, as always, and can't wait to hear the new record later this fall.
As dusk began to roll in, Baeble favorites
Beirut took the stage, serving as the perfect band to usher the festival into the night. Playing a nice combination of tracks old and new alike,
Zach Condon whipped up euphoric bouts of indie-exotica...the perfect celebratory moment to conclude our Saturday in Union Park. Check out our
video of Beirut earlier this year. -
Lonnie Nemiroof
Plants and Animals
The Antlers
Bowerbirds
Ponytail
Yeasayer
Beirut
...all photos by Bekah Kinsella...
