Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: awesome, Battles, Blitzen Trapper, Bristol Palin, Cold War Kids, Dr. Strangelove, Grizzley Bear, heckler, m. ward, music, Pitchfork, Pitchfork Music Festival, screen prints, The Flaming Lips, the national, The Walkmen, Yeasayer
How could I have forgotten to post this? This dude was ridiculous!
During The Flaming Lips’ set at Pitchfork Music Festival last Sunday, some d-bag help his middle fingers in the air and kept yelling about how shitty The Flaming Lips are.
After some intense FL love from the croud, and almost fist fight and a lingering cheeriness from the sound and sight of a great set, Shmucky McGee left… dignity not quite intact.
The back right of the crowd rejoiced as we were freed from the tyranny of the party pooper and resumed our festivities with a “Yoshimi” sing-a-long, lots of talking by messianic front man Wayne Coyne, and a well recieved finale of “Do You Realize?”
We were far since Grizzly Bear’s set was right before on another stage but it was still hella fun and, accoding to Kliph, the band had fun, too.
So, back to the beginning.
Saturday was sick. First, we checked out the posters and screen prints which were amazing. B.Mac met his inspiration, Jason Munn of The Small Stakes and got a great Battles poster, while I made away with a Dr. Strangelove inspired Cold War Kids poster by _____. Then, we checked out a great set by Yeasayer that started out with a hysterical sound check (Bristol Palin, check), continued with a light shower that really riled up the crowd (including one dude who beckoned God to bring back the rain) and ended with my favorite tune, “Sunrise” during which the friggin’ sun came out! It was magic.The day ended with a high energy set by The National where violinist Padma Newsome ripped up his solos and front man Matt Berninger belted out his lyrics with such intensity, his fell down (on purpose?) towards the end of the set. With crowd pleasing renditions of “Mistaken for Strangers,” “Squalor Victoria,” “All the Wine,” and “Fake Empire,” the concluded the show with an epic “Mr. November” where Matt ran of stage and stood on a trash can, later explaining to the crowd that it didn’t turn out as cool as he thought it would. What a charmer.
On Sunday, Blitzen Trapper played a good set, after which there was some more poster shopping (I got a beautiful M.Ward print and B.Mac got the official Pitchfork Grizzly Bear poster). Then, a great set by The Walkmen which was higly complimented by @Edward Droste, after which he and the rest of Grizzly Bear took the stage. The most anticipated set of the weekend, they did not disappoint and delivered a crazy awesome performance! Opening with “Southern Point,” they kept the momentum and navigated their way through a perfect set list including every one of my favorite songs. Regardless of a few technical difficulties (“This is the part where the stage hums and we all meditate”), they played stellar renditions of “Two Weeks,” “The Knife,” “On a Neck, On a Spit,” “Cheerleader,” and the always incredible “Ready, Able.” Plus, Droste is great with audience interaction; he’s a performance gem!
Overall, a great weekend. Can’t wait to immerse myself in hipster land again next year!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: awkward, music, Northwestern, song of the week, the national
Definitely the best tracks off Boxer, “Mistaken for Strangers” will blow your mind with it’s sick backbeat and unique blend of sound. You can barely tell anything apart it all works together so well. Add the fairly mellow vocals to contrast and you get the darkly upbeat masterpiece that crowns this album.
Not only is “Mistaken for Strangers” an amazing song by an amazing band, but the message behind it—or rather the message I am choosing to construe from it—is something I am certain many Northwestern citizens can relate to.
Have you ever been walking down Sheridan Road and seen someone you know? Of course. Have you ever stopped to say hello and chat with your friends. I’m sure you have. Have you ever been in a hurry and merely smiled, waved or nodded. Yes.
Now riddle me this: have you ever seen someone you are certain you met and spoke to at some point in your life, someone you’ve hooked up with, even, attempted a smile or nod of acknowledgement and been completely ignored? If you said no, you are a liar because if you go to Northwestern I am willing to bet you have experienced this wonderfully awkwardish situation.
So here’s where the chorus rings true to NU life: “You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends, when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights.” And while the lights may not be silvery and they may not originate from Citibank, you get the point. Someone could probably make a music video for this song by putting hidden cameras around campus and editing it all into 3:32 minutes.
“You wouldn’t want an angel watching over,” because it’s embarrassing when that happens. “Surprise, surprise, they wouldn’t want to watch” because it’s just painful for everyone who witnesses it. I don’t really know what our campus population deal is with that. Everyone should just be really friendly and say hi to people even if you’re not sure you know them.
For instance, last week I think I may have smiled and waved to around five people I don’t think I’ve actually met because they look like combinations of people I know and in that split second when I’m thinking “to wave or not to wave” I always just go with the wave. At the end of the day I’d rather be too friendly than not. So maybe now you’ll get mistaken for friends by your own strangers… or something like that.
