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Danny Brown’s pitchfork 2021 set is the best stoner comedy of the year.
v bummed it wasn't on the stream schedule
He forgot the words to half his songs and had extended bits about not knowing the words to his songs and about cooking frozen food in air fryers. Obviously it wasn’t his best set but but it was certainly the most memorable lol
Post by Nathan Fielder on Sept 12, 2021 20:49:09 GMT -5
He ended the set by acting like he was going to freestyle for about 2 minutes, not freestyling, leaving the stage, doing a literal cartwheel back onto the stage, and then leaving the stage a second time to end 11 minutes before he was supposed to finish
-Made it just in time for Tomberlin, who was surprisingly good. I don’t really like solo acoustic folk stuff but she was a beautiful singer and had a good sense of humor which always helps. -the “is rock dead” debate happens way too often to be interesting but after this fest it’s clear there’s only two genuine rock stars in America: one is Alli Logout and the other is… -Yves Tumor. -Mariah the Scientist: she was good! It would be better without the “Dreams” cover tbh. -Caroline Polachek: I am deeply envious of anyone who can do the weirdest shit with their voice and their hands at the same time. -Danny Brown: “I wasn’t sitting at home listening to Danny Brown music like dip, you dip, I dip.” -Cat Power: oh man here comes the serious part!! Chan said near the beginning of her set “I’m sorry for all of our losses.” That was deeply emotional for me because just for this day I had gotten vaccinated and tested negative to get here, but I and a lot of people I know sacrificed a fucking lot to get to this point in the first place. Out of three months of going to shows, she’s been the only one to acknowledge that fact (not that I necessarily want anyone else to), in a way that felt tasteful and appropriate. I cried afterwards. So what. -Etykah Badu: She acted surprised when she found out she had one song left after burning through a third of her set by not being on stage. Sorry, but lol. You know your reputation!!
I hate dropping a serious bomb in an otherwise lighthearted post but that’s just how it happened. I’ll have something pithy about the whole weekendcoming soon rest assured!!
I’m only embarrassed about posting about it. I think I’ve mentioned it here before and I definitely mentioned it to a couple people this weekend but my record for highest number of embarrassing cries at a show is at least a dozen at a single M83 show.
-Made it just in time for Tomberlin, who was surprisingly good. I don’t really like solo acoustic folk stuff but she was a beautiful singer and had a good sense of humor which always helps. -the “is rock dead” debate happens way too often to be interesting but after this fest it’s clear there’s only two genuine rock stars in America: one is Alli Logout and the other is… -Yves Tumor. -Mariah the Scientist: she was good! It would be better without the “Dreams” cover tbh. -Caroline Polachek: I am deeply envious of anyone who can do the weirdest shit with their voice and their hands at the same time. -Danny Brown: “I wasn’t sitting at home listening to Danny Brown music like dip, you dip, I dip.” -Cat Power: oh man here comes the serious part!! Chan said near the beginning of her set “I’m sorry for all of our losses.” That was deeply emotional for me because just for this day I had gotten vaccinated and tested negative to get here, but I and a lot of people I know sacrificed a fucking lot to get to this point in the first place. Out of three months of going to shows, she’s been the only one to acknowledge that fact (not that I necessarily want anyone else to), in a way that felt tasteful and appropriate. I cried afterwards. So what. -Etykah Badu: She acted surprised when she found out she had one song left after burning through a third of her set by not being on stage. Sorry, but lol. You know your reputation!!
I hate dropping a serious bomb in an otherwise lighthearted post but that’s just how it happened. I’ll have something pithy about the whole weekendcoming soon rest assured!!
The first time I saw Cat Power was at a small club in Charlottesville years and years ago. After making the audience wait for close to an hour, she comes out mumbling something about “rebels” and picks up her guitar. She then proceeded to scream “GHOSTS” and ran off stage and apparently out the back door. They told us the show was canceled like 20 minutes later.
I realize this was her days as a walking/talking pin cushion but it was truly unexpected. I’m still glad she sobered up and is poignant again.
The first time I saw Cat Power was at a small club in Charlottesville years and years ago. After making the audience wait for close to an hour, she comes out mumbling something about “rebels” and picks up her guitar. She then proceeded to scream “GHOSTS” and ran off stage and apparently out the back door. They told us the show was canceled like 20 minutes later.
I realize this was her days as a walking/talking pin cushion but it was truly unexpected. I’m still glad she sobered up and is poignant again.
yeah, I was actually talking with an acquaintance before who was there the last time she appeared at pitchfork where she appeared quite drunk, but she very much has it together now. It's funny, before one song she said "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for these songs, because you all know what the fuck I'm talking about here." I can't relate to her experience, but I know exactly what she meant.
Well I came earlier than I intended, which I don’t regret at all. Both Special Interest and oso oso were worth it. The Weather Station was fantastic, and Yves Tumor had what I think was the best show of the festival. I also left earlier than I intended. Danny’s train wreck of a set, which I was super excited for kind of totally killed the vibe for me. I tried to go over to Andy Shauf and get back into it, but I drove myself down there today, and I was having anxiety about where I parked, and even though I was looking forward to Flying Lotus, I decided to check out for the weekend and go watch the a Bears opener. That wasn’t any better.
Full sets I saw ranked:
Yves Tumor The Weather Station Special Interest oso oso Danny Brown
Sitting in the world’s longest line to get out of a parking garage, so some other thoughts:
-I never listen to hop along but they’re always a lot of fun live. -fiery furnaces were good. Eleanor Friedberger kind of looks a lot like Charlotte Gainsbourg?? -Kelly Lee Owens rules because she can play the dreamiest arpeggiating synth while still head banging like a maniac. I love her. -yaeji was disappointing. There’s more singing, but the songs all suck? There’s special guests, but they come out to rap 4 bars and leave? The dancers are good, but they’re sitting on the floor half the time?? Overall yaeji’s shtick works great with house bangers and not what she’s currently doing. However she did do a new song that was really good. -I have Phoebe fatigue from seeing her twice in six days. Sorry. -my dad was “not particularly impressed by anyone” today but also he saw big thief on his own volition so idk if I would trust him.
In short, today’s true winner was the duck sausage at Maxwell’s.
First: great seeing you!
Second: 100 percent agreed on Yaeji. Her first shows were very unique: DJ sets with live vocals where she'd mix her songs in with other tracks. The juxtaposition between her own productions and techno, house, breakbeat, etc. tracks from other artists gave her sets a special character of familiarity and surprise. I saw her at Coachella in 2018 with this set, and it was fantastic.
I saw her again in 2019 with hew new live set, which amounted to a pre-recorded mix and her "live" vocals (which honestly seemed like lip synching). This Pitchfork set was the same deal, except now with those dancers as you described. Cool idea, but they didn't add much and honestly seemed out-of-place.
I wish she committed to the DJ/live hybrid set. I could see a future where her fans would post tracklists, Spotify would put out an ever-revolving "Yaeji IDs" playlist, etc. But now we just get an overproduced, stale show that dilutes the original productions. Bummer.
The thing that really sucks about Danny is how much the whole thing clearly shook him. Like it’s unfortunate he forgot his lyrics, but that could have been easily solved by just singing along to the vocals. Plenty Rap acts perform this way and still create a great live vibe with the crowd. But when his DJ tried to do that for him it seemed to just bother him more. I guess it’s because he feels that’s amateurish? I mean he sounded amazing and on point the first five songs or so until he hit his mental wall, but I would have rather seen him just do that than break out into some comedy routine about fried foods, even though it was low-key funny. I’m sure he’ll comeback strong cause he did sound phenomenal when he knew the words.
yeah that was my sixth time seeing Danny and that was the first time it was ever off in any way. It was very clear towards the end he was getting very frustrated with himself but honestly as goofy as it was to try and cover it up with jokes it sort of worked? But when he’s on he’s a great performer and I’m sure all he needs to do is just rehearse some more.
Okay, as promised (threatened?), here's some final thoughts on the festival
-Perhaps most importantly, I found myself stopping from time to time, reminding myself that I was at a festival again! Obviously I wish I could've experienced that feeling at, like, Bonnaroo, but oh well.
-I get what everyone keeps saying about the management end of this festival but for better or worse these are still just problems that have happened at every Pitchfork I've been to. The only ones I found egregious were the water lines (something I've been complaining about forever, though it's worth noting there's a second water refill area near the Green Stage and while I didn't walk by it too much it seemed like it was getting used a lot less) and the merch tent line (no explanation for that, that was the first time I saw lines like that). It's worth noting the food/beer lines really mellowed out after Friday and really weren't a problem, even at peak times, on Saturday and Sunday. I really don't think labor shortages were the reason for any of these problems at all either, fwiw. My bigger problem was the fact that on Saturday it kept getting hotter and hotter unexpectedly the longer the day went.
-The two bigger problems I found were really the dust, which there's not a whole lot they could do about other than "not be scheduled the weekend after a new dance music festival", and the headliners only getting 80 minutes to play now, something that has apparently been happening since 2017 but which I never noticed until St. Vincent stopped earlier than she has been on the other tour stops and before Erykah Badu disappointedly reported she'd have to end her set early (which, lol). I guess they do this to more effectively stagger people leaving the park? Idk.
-My favorite sets were The Soft Pink Truth, Kelly Lee Owens, The Weather Station, Bartees Strange, Ty Segall, Jamila Woods, St. Vincent, Special Interest, Yves Tumor, and Cat Power. I really wasn't disappointed by much outside of yaeji and I guess Phoebe Bridgers and Waxahatchee for being a little boring?
-As always, I gotta thank those I saw, even if for a brief time: Fozzie Bear, Nathan Fielder, and stinky. Also, shout out to my dad, who made it out to another festival and decided after a disappointing Friday that he really liked St. Vincent and Bartees Strange.
Unless someone I know gets married or dies, I'll always end up at least for a day at this festival. It's compact, always gets good bookings, and if you know what to avoid and where to go you can get water, food, and drinks pretty easily. C u all next year.
The thing that really sucks about Danny is how much the whole thing clearly shook him. Like it’s unfortunate he forgot his lyrics, but that could have been easily solved by just singing along to the vocals. Plenty Rap acts perform this way and still create a great live vibe with the crowd. But when his DJ tried to do that for him it seemed to just bother him more. I guess it’s because he feels that’s amateurish? I mean he sounded amazing and on point the first five songs or so until he hit his mental wall, but I would have rather seen him just do that than break out into some comedy routine about fried foods, even though it was low-key funny. I’m sure he’ll comeback strong cause he did sound phenomenal when he knew the words.
Dude has a complex flow and set of lyrics and he hadn’t performed in 2 years. Rappers that rap over the vocals are corny as hell. It looks like the set fell off around Ain’t It Funny, Dip and Attak which are tough songs. He’ll be fine as soon as he gets a few shows under his belt. Sucks he didn’t prepare better but he’ll be all good.
-I get what everyone keeps saying about the management end of this festival but for better or worse these are still just problems that have happened at every Pitchfork I've been to. The only ones I found egregious were the water lines (something I've been complaining about forever, though it's worth noting there's a second water refill area near the Green Stage and while I didn't walk by it too much it seemed like it was getting used a lot less) and the merch tent line (no explanation for that, that was the first time I saw lines like that). It's worth noting the food/beer lines really mellowed out after Friday and really weren't a problem, even at peak times, on Saturday and Sunday. I really don't think labor shortages were the reason for any of these problems at all either, fwiw. My bigger problem was the fact that on Saturday it kept getting hotter and hotter unexpectedly the longer the day went.
-The two bigger problems I found were really the dust, which there's not a whole lot they could do about other than "not be scheduled the weekend after a new dance music festival", and the headliners only getting 80 minutes to play now, something that has apparently been happening since 2017 but which I never noticed until St. Vincent stopped earlier than she has been on the other tour stops and before Erykah Badu disappointedly reported she'd have to end her set early (which, lol). I guess they do this to more effectively stagger people leaving the park? Idk.
- Water lines seem to be becoming a major thing at every festival, and I just don't get it. I'm a little apprehensive about it heading into Sea.Hear.Now this weekend, because there are literally only two water refill locations on the map. We just had the Railbird debacle. Governors Balls 2018 and 2019 were both utter garbage on this front, down to being downright dangerous in 2018 because there was no line, but rather just a crush of people all pushing to the front. Is the idea that people who get free water are going to buy fewer drinks, so it's worth creating these kinds of clusterfucks so that folks will get fed up and instead drink beer, or buy bottled water? Is it only a minority that drinks both alcohol AND free water throughout a festival day? Ugh, whatever the reason this has become a problem, it sucks so badly. Fucking just let people drink plenty of water, and make your money on booze, assholes.
- The shorter headliner set trend is also happening across the festival world, and it really bums me out. Maybe it's just a reaction to shorter attention spans in the audience, though. I remember being so puzzled over everyone freaking out about Travis Scott's set at GovBall 2018 when dude literally played for an hour. I'm sorry, but if you can't put together at least 90 minutes of show, you shouldn't be headlining a festival, and that's a hill I'll die on.
3 water stations would be perfectly fine for the fest if they could do that and then invested $50 into making nice and clearly labeled signage that pointed people to where they were located. There could be one placed next to the Red Stage and it at least would be visible when you entered the fest. It looked like they used construction paper for the sign above the water station at Green. Wish I took a photo of it. It was really interesting reading posts about The Doordash backstage area not being a good idea even though you got free food out of it.
It was really interesting reading posts about The Doordash backstage area not being a good idea even though you got free food out of it.
Creating an exclusive space for subscribers of one of its sponsors was not a good idea? Who would have thought.
Considering that people were walking in there with screenshots showing they had the dash pass, I think it was rather simple to just rip them off in that manner. All anyone had to do was sign up for a free trial to even get in there, how big of a deal was that anyway. I mean I could walk in no hassle cause of my press pass but what do I know.
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