It was a soggy start for Pitchfork Music Festival on Friday, but the lingering rain didn’t dampen the spirits of fest goers. Armored in plastic ponchos and raincoats and wielding umbrellas, attendees still danced, moshed, and grooved along with the music on day one of the festival.
I waited for a break in the downpour to bike to Union Park in my rain boots. Entering the gates for the first time since 2019, I was beaming despite the grey sky. It felt good to be back.
Tierra Whack
“I really wanna move around but I don’t want to lose my life,” Tierra Whack joked while carefully stepping across pools of water on the Red Stage in her blue rain boots. Festival crew were mopping it moments before, but despite their best efforts the drizzle continued. Still, it was blissful to enjoy live music with a crowd of people again, all of us strangers singing along.
The Philly rapper’s playful verses had every fan singing along to “Hungry Hippo” and raising the middle finger during “Fuck Off.” Whack invited a fan from the crowd up to the stage to help her sing “Cable Guy.” He was a natural performer despite saying it was his first concert!
Parquet Courts
The last time a Pitchfork crowd saw Parquet Courts, they were interrupted by a torrential thunderstorm that cleared the park. This year, the weather was slightly more generous, as rain-soaked fans were treated to a career-spanning setlist that showcased the band’s recent album Sympathy for Life. Their hour-long set had peaks and valleys, with spacey and meandering periods separating jams that might have inspired more moshing if not for the weather.
The four-piece, having graduated from arty garage punk to groovy psychedelic rock, stretched some of their newer songs into prolonged jams, which delighted the core fanbase but might have perplexed casual fans. In terms of their most popular songs, Parquet Courts shows are traditionally sparse, so when they ripped into raucous tracks like “Almost Had to Start a Fight,” there was an unmissable response from the crowd. After spikes in energy, Parquet Courts tended to retreat back into a groove and showcase their overlooked musicianship.
Appropriately, Parquet Courts obliged the festival crowd with beloved cuts off their earlier records. “Stoned and Starving” seemed to wind down the set just before “Light Up Gold II” sprung the crowd back into motion one last time. With 2022 being the fourth time Pitchfork has booked Parquet Courts, this festival favorite seems primed to make a jump to headliner in the coming years. – Patrick Daul
Dawn Richard
Dawn Richard won the day on Friday. It was tough to walk away from the Green Stage before Parquet Courts shredded into some of my favorite tracks, but I arrived just in time to hear Richard deliver a sensational cover of “Zombie,” clutching the mic on her knees as she poured everything into the performance.
The avant-garde R&B artist is a force. Richard got her start as a member of girl group Danity Kane, but it’s clear that she’s an artist in her own image these days. She wowed with the soulful “Perfect Storm,” shimmied with backup dancers to “Heaven,” and returned in an LED crown for the encore “Return of a Queen” before ripping it off and throwing it on the stage. She thanked the crowd, “You’ll never know what it means to a girl like me. I went from homeless to here.”
Amber Mark
While Spiritualized had the Red Stage floating in space, the crowd was bopping up and down on Earth for Amber Mark’s Blue Stage set. The R&B siren cast a spell on the audience, her smooth vocals accompanying bossa nova, funk, and electronic beats as she twirled across the stage.
The National
I forgot how good the National can be. I’ve seen great and middling performances from them over the years, and their headlining set on Friday was memorable. I got choked up as they opened with “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” as memories of years I spent playing their albums on repeat flooded back.
Classics “Mistaken for Strangers” and “Bloodbuzz Ohio” followed. From my vantage in the photo pit, it was clear that I wasn’t the only one feeling emotional about this set. The band ventured into more recent material, including a new song called “Ice Machines.” It was a solemn middle of the set until the horn section cut pierced the dark sky during “Fake Empire.”
“We played this song the first time we played Pitchfork back in 2006,” they announced before launching into “Mr. November.” Matt Berninger hopped off the stage to greet the gauntlet of fans on the ground as he crooned. The National closed the set with “Terrible Love” and attendees picked their way through the mud into a Chicago night.
Jessica Mlinaric founded Urban Explorer in 2010 to inspire curious travelers by highlighting history, culture, and hidden gems in Chicago and beyond. She is the author of ‘Secret Chicago’ and ‘Chicago Scavenger.’ Jessica has visited 20+ countries and 30+ U.S. states. She has more than 16 years of experience as a marketing strategist and works as a freelance writer and photographer.
