Pitchfork began yesterday with it's Don't Look Back, where bands pick one of their albums and play them the whole way through. The bands participating in the series this year were Mission of Burma (performing Vs.), Sebadoh (performing Bubble and Scrape) and Public Enemy (performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back).
For me, however, Pitchfork began somewhere near the end of Bubble and Scrape, because before I got to Union Park I was meandering down the green line in the opposite direction. In case it was unsure who could be stupid enough to take the green line to the Ashland/63rd stop at the end of the line rather than to the Ashland stop significantly closer to the loop (and Union Park, obviously), well look no further than this humiliated blogger, who missed all of Mission to Burma and most of Sebadoh to spend on evening with the CTA.
When we got off at the end of at Ashland/63rd, our small group was joined by a few other lost hipsters and we bonded over our confusion as we began walking down Ashland. Where could this music festival be hiding, we wondered. It wasn't soon after that a paddy wagon pulled up, two officers coming out and asking us if we knew where we were. Apparently, Ashland/63rd isn't the best neighborhood. "This is the homicide capital of the country," one of the cops told me, with somber pride. "You're lucky you didn't come here after dark, or you all would've been jacked."
At the cops insistence, some of my friends went in their paddy wagon while I took a cruiser headed to the nearest red line stop so we could get back on track to, what was that thing we were looking for? Oh, right, Pitchfork.
We arrived at Union Park at a little after eight, in time to catch the end of Sebadoh's set, which was great. As my Pavement-loving friend observed, Sebadoh have mastered the '90s rock sound, which is great for anyone who's into, well, Pavement.
Pretty much immediately after Sebadoh ended, Public Enemy started. The crowds swelled up and grew as they did their sound-check, and then when Flavor Flav came out everyone was understandably ecstatic. After all, it's one thing to see that clock dangling from a necklace on TV, but to see it in reality is just mind-blowing.
Today, I plan on being a bit more careful of how I get to the festival. I'm determined to make it in time for Fleet Foxes, so I can stand in the rain and listen to their soft, acoustic songs while wishing I had remembered an umbrella. More to come.
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Jacob Nelson
Jacob Nelson is the news and features editor of the Windy Citizen. He is still trying to figure out exactly what that means. He recently read Norwegian Wood by Murakami, which he would like to recommend to everyone. He's also looking forward to his first summer in Chicago, and hopes it's as fun as everyone says. More
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Oh my gosh! Jacob, don't feel bad!! I did the exact same thing last fall!!! I went all the way down to 63rd and Ashland, trying to get to an event I was covering at like 9 a.m. on a Saturday--it was awful! I missed the event entirely, and just got to ride the L for four hours on a Saturday morning for no reason! I feel your pain!
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