Best thing about Pitchfork Music Fest 2006

With Man Man, CSS. What an amazingly fun, great set they played. I've seen videos of Les Savy Fav playing live. This was pretty similar, intentional or not. No blog can describe how exciting it was to see them, without ever hearing them previously, and to see them absolutely destroy. Lovefoxxx made the fact that she did nothing besides sing acceptable by having maybe the absolute best stage presence in the festival, where most of the bands just stood still, either not moving/talking at all or in John Darnielle's case, talking and tuning so much that a song had to be cut out. With my VIP pass that I'm not sure I deserved, I had maybe the best spot in the tent to watch CSS play without being surrounded by sweaty, drunk, unshaven hipsters. Folks, I don't get this excited about a live act very often. Partly because I hardly see concerts and because most bands just play. CSS totally got into the whole thing, not letting the fact that they deserved so much more than a tiny tent get to them. I even met their really cool/nice bassist, Ira (with the glasses) and got to walk to their pretty huge tour bus. I don't even own their CD yet, but wow. If it made me text my brother "You should see this", it's gonna be something special. Best of day 2.







Everyone knows Man Man is something special to see, too. These guys are nice people too. Besides Russell, I got acquainted with that dude with the cool glasses and the guy with the huge beard. Both good guys. Cool moments: Ryan throwing spoons at a bowl of water; the band feathered the crowd and I tried to grab one but the girl in front of me took it and handed it to me; the drummer jumping like 10 feet into the air; those two girls coming out for the last song and me thinking: "Oh yessssss I love this song". Best of day 1.

Apparently Ted Leo drew blood, a D. Banhart fan broke a chair, and Mission of Burma absolutely killed. I wish I saw those.

Top 3:
3. Liars (Maybe because it was so weird. After spraying water everywhere, lying in front of the fan, mooning the audience and changing into a bathrobe, the singer walked off the stage and passed out behind it. The crew couldn't get him to move.)
1 (tied). CSS
1 (tied). Man Man