Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 Day Two: The Raging Heat Wasn’t The Only Headliner

We came. We saw. We conquered.

We stormed into Day Two of Pitchfork Musical festival armed with sunblock, just enough sleep and the ability to transform human sweat in to drinking water. Well, maybe, we didn’t have that last superhero ability in our arsenal, but we did drink enough of the free samples of Amp energy drink to power a small island village’s electrical supply for a month. So that must account for something, right?

Oh, and yes, LCD Sound System was every bit of fantastic as we thought they would be.

As we mentioned in Day One Wrap-up, the first day was a proper primer for what Saturday would present. And though the skin-melting heat was the unofficial headliner for most of the day, we found ways to stay cool and keep our ears and eyes pealed for Saturday’s best and worked our way through the day’s unfortunate downers.

So here’s how things went down during Day Two in words, a photo gallery by Colleen and more fan micro moments via Twitter.

It Happened: LCD Sound System’s Pitchfork Utopia

There was no stopping the urge. No point in resisting. The minute LCD Sound System started their set and eventually rolled into “All My Friends” from Sound of Silver and mixed in tracks from 2010’s This is Happening Pitchfork Festival erupted and let loose in a radical frenzy of motion and freaked-out celebration.

We all just let the fervor build and build as frontman James Murphy and his band of merry rhythm makers rolled out glittering, bold and engulfing sonics under the moon-lit night sky, creating a massive community of groove.

It was total rhythmic pandemonium at Union Park. And whether in groups, conga lines or by themselves as a one-person joyous dance-off, the fan scene was 10,000 gigawatts electric. It felt like a gigantic disco-rock utopia with over 15,000 fans went nuts shaking, flailing and jigging their way to magnificent oblivion.

Titus Andronicus Burned Hotter Than The Sun

Earlier in the afternoon as the heat slow-boiled fans, New Jersey rock quartet band Titus Andronicus raised the temp to 120 degrees, making it feel like were now rockin’ on the surface of the sun. Bearded lead singer Patrick Stickles led the charge like a determined and rock-inspired Ulysses S. Grant, surging through a series of blistering and triumphant anthems, ballads from 2009’s The Airing of Grievances and this year’s epic follow-up The Monitor. It was a comforting, blistering and fiercely anthemic set.

And Stickles didn’t just let the music do the talking. He made us laugh we multiple in-between soundbites, with a personal favorite being “Damn, I’m sweating like a pregnant nun in front of the Pope.”

The Unfortunate Report (Frown)

I’m sorry to report that my expectations for Dam Funk, Raekwon and Freddie Gibbs fell flat. All the sets were a mix bag. Man, I wish these hip hop, rap and the DJ sets were better. But they weren’t.

Dam Funk and Gibbs have impressed me with their mixtapes and albums, but for myriad reasons — sound issues, awkward and trite gangsta poses and a few stray strange comments — these dudes left me unfortunately with dashed thoughts thinking “is that it?”

And for Raekwon, well, let’s just say that, yes, “Wu-Tang ain’t noting to #*ck wit.” But, sadly, in a live setting the respect that’s due to them because of their records and solo efforts, doesn’t translate to their live show at all. Each time I see a WU-Tang show, I always expect more from them.

But yet again, Raekwon solo resulted in nothing more than post-show head-hanging and longing for more.

I didn’t “see” the set by Jon Spenser Blue Explosion but I certainly “heard” and that conjured up thoughts of our St. Vincent Maximum Pleasure Experiment. How ‘about you? Did you have any similar experiences at Pitchfork this year?

Pitchfork Music Festival 2010: Day Two Fan Report

Saturday teemed with a lot fan moments perfect for our 2010 list. Here’s a list and a screen shot of some of the highlights we discovered with our own eyes and ones that came across the Live Fix Twitter-wire. You can join in by using the hashtag #pitchforkfestfans when ever you tweet a fun and interesting concert fan discovery.

• Some bands were pushing fans to the point of incendiary bodily harm.
• I tweeted about Titus Andronicus during their set and inadvertently caused psychological pain to a fan watching at home. Sorry dude. No harm intended. I didn’t mean to cause you any pain.
• I had the pleasure of being reminded again how much our concert experiences are connected because of Twitter when one of my friends tweeted that she was at the Tom Petty concert that was going on at the United Center just around the block.

That’s all for Day Two’s Wrap-up!

Stay tuned for more including a special mobile and augmented reality post as I show you how we used Layar mobile on my Motorola Droid to connect with other concert fans during Pitchfork. Cool stuff.

For more photos check out Colleen Pitchfork Music Festival Day Two Flickr Photo Gallery