On Wednesday morning, July 15th, after more than three months of preparation for Incase’s activities at the Pitchfork Music Festival,
I boarded a flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Apart from the
Glastonbury & Reading Festivals in the UK, Pitchfork is arguably
the most anticipated independent music festival of the summer season.
With more than 55,000 attendees across three days, Incase’s sponsorship
of the fest gave us the opportunity to work with many of our friends
and favorite bands from around the US and Europe. Coming into the
festival, our hope was to give fans and performers carrying solutions
for their music & technology products; relevant tools they could
really use, whether in a van on tour or heading across town to work or
school.
With this idea in mind, we positioned four freestanding stations
around the festival grounds, using our grabbelton bins to give away
roughly 6,000 Slider Cases for iPhone & iPod, (as well as kazoos,
rubber balls, and water balloons). Each time Leslie and Hannah (our
staffers/Chicago & NYC pals) went around refilling the bins, they
found themselves swarmed, knocked over and pushed out of the way as
rabid crowds rushed in, hoping to find the exact case(s) they were
looking for. The reaction was hilarious, wild fun. In the VIP area we
gifted artists specialized product requests like nylon backpacks, skate
messenger bags and 2-in-1 Wall & Car Chargers; and at the Pitchfork
Recycling Store hustlers won neoprene sleeves and notebook hardshell
cases in exchange for turning in plastic bottles, cups and other
recyclable goods.
Like the festival itself, our Incase presence and sponsorship
approach was relaxed. No lame pitches, no corny outfits or weird hoops
to jump through. We put the products out there in an open and organic
way, and for three days straight we received beaming smiles and genuine
words of thanks in return.
As for the music, the festival’s promoters once again got it all
right, excellently pairing established independent artists like
Yeasayer, F*cked Up, Beirut, The Thermals, DJ/Rupture and Grizzly Bear
with underdogs like Disappears, Waaves (“Psyche!”), The Very Best, and
Frightened Rabbit. During Opening Night’s pitch perfect “Write The
Night” sets, people went predictably bananas for indie rock legends
Built To Spill and Yo La Tengo. BTS’ Doug Martsch (and his beard) has
come a long way from his formative years fronting the frenetic
Treepeople. Total 90’s nostalgia was in full swing.
Pitchfork’s greatest stroke of genius, however, came in booking
hometown heroes The Jesus Lizard. David Yow and company absolutely
owned this year’s festival, proving 10-years after their breakup why
they remain the most entertaining band of outsiders on earth.
All in all, last weekend’s Pitchfork Music Festival turned out to be
a real blog-slog down memory lane. Between all the friends, fans and
bands, we must’ve run into two hundred people spanning the last fifteen
years of our collective lives. Everywhere we turned it was one
wonderful run-in after another, friends, food and weirdness galore.
And last (but definitely not least), I haven’t said anything yet
about the night we found ourselves all of a sudden (4:30 AM) at a dance
party on the Southside of Chicago with Drill Team’s Brooke Morris and
Yeasayer’s Jay Tram. Walking in, we bumped into twin brothers/DJs Greg
& Darin Bresnitz from Brooklyn’s Finger On The Pulse. Of course. In
unison, they said, “Dude, have you been to the basement yet?” I
replied, “No, why?” They replied, again in unison, “Dude, just do it.
Go down there right now.”
So we walked downstairs to discover—NO JOKE—full blown, raging
cage-match boxing action. I’m talking about rugged, brrrrrrutal, Fight
Club-style pummeling…in a cage. Close your eyes. Picture a low ceiling
covered in peeling lead paint, cig smoke so hectic you feel like you’re
inhaling a thousand dirty mattresses, hundreds of crushed PBR cans, a
dim lamp shade made out of a white plastic bucket and a raw 100 watt
bulb, more crushed PBR cans, half a dozen crumpled couches and busted
chairs, and a cage full of men and women annihilating one another while
crazy bad G ‘n’ R and Rage Against The Machine jams blare through a
crappy soundsystem…
Basically, I stumbled upon someone’s version of perfection—my
version. Chicago + Pitchfork Music Festival + Southside Dance Party +
Random Basement Rage Cage = AWESOME.
From the many great performances to the exceptional food vendors,
(indeed, everything from the finest gourmet cuisines to the whackest,
most delicious death lards), to the speakeasy run by the karaoke
singing, WWII vet/bartender (what? yeah), to the $19.99 blowup pools
and Scarface & Tweedy Bird beach towels to just the city
itself—Chicago is a fantastic town full of interesting history,
beautiful neighborhoods and smart, funny people.
Chicago thanks for showing us a supremely good time. We’ll see you at the Pitchfork Music Festival again next year.