Pitchfork Music Festival 2009

DeRogatis breaks the first set of announced acts:

Instead of the "Don't Look Back" classic-album reviews on opening night for the last few years, this time, fans will have a chance to write the bands' set lists as part of a new series dubbed "Write the Night: Set Lists By Request." Concertgoers who purchase a ticket will get a confirmation email linking to a Web page where they can vote on which of each band's songs they'd like to hear. Voting begins when tickets go on sale on March 13 and ends on June 12.

The acts announced so far for Friday, July 17, are guitar-rockers Built to Spill, reunited Chicago noise-rock legends the Jesus Lizard playing their first show here in 11 years, venerable indie-rock heroes Yo La Tengo and hometown post-rockers Tortoise.

Acts announced for Saturday, July 18, include the National, Pharoahe Monch and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. And the performers unveiled for Sunday, July 19, are Grizzly Bear, the Walkmen and the Vivian Girls.

I love that Jesus Lizard picture ... they're easily in the top 5 concerts I've ever seen. I'm not sure if wifey (yo la tengo may be wildcard for her) and I are up for three days in the hot sun, when I can easily cook up a playlist on the turntable, tape deck, cd, computer, what have you ...

"Write the Night" is a v. cool concept

As an old jaded fuck, I like the idea of breathing new life into something like "seeing Tortoise for the 20th time"

Especially for something like the Jesus Lizard reunion! I might get all my friends to buy tickets just to stuff the ballots with "Boilermaker"

when I can easily cook up a playlist on the turntable, tape deck, cd, computer, what have you ...

As underwhelmed as I am by this announcement (Jesus Lizard aside), I hate when people say things like this. Your "playlist" is not at all comparable to seeing most of the bands live.

it's a cool idea but built to spill/ylt/tortoise/jesus lizard.....is it weird that the only word i can come up with is "old"?

i know the last couple pfork fests weren't really any different maybe it's just that i'm not really down with any of these bands anymore.

Yeah, both times I've seen Yo La Tengo I've been kind of disappointed because the first time they played a bunch of super-old stuff and obscure covers and the second time it was mostly new, as-yet-unreleased material. So I like the idea of being able to vote on my favorite songs of theirs.

As an old jaded fuck, I like the idea of breathing new life into something like "seeing Tortoise for the 20th time"

Can we start an internet campaign to get people to vote for "Glass Museum?" They never play this.

(Haha and Fakebook stuff for Yo La Tengo)

Oh wait, I guess Yo La Tengo might have licensing issues about the Fakebook covers

I was just wondering about internet campaigns for this. I hope Yo La Tengo doesn't get rick-rolled! haha

i'd love to see tortoise play 'gamera' & 'goriri'

Given Yo La Tengo's tradition in the WFMU fund raisuers, they're the most prepared band in case of sabotaged request lists than anybody else listed here.

Also, while it may not be as good as the original, I could easily see Yo La Tengo cover "Never Gonna Give You Up"

weekend bands are pretty eh

vivian girls would be cool to hear in the sun i guess but walkmen, national, grizzly bear don't really excite me

grizz is v good live.

Write the Night: Set Lists By Request sounds kinda ugh to me, seems like opening it for everyone to vote is just going to result in a standard "greatest hits" set for everyone. built to spill's set is just going to be "car" 15 times in a row

p.s. i said this on the chicago thread but i've seen built to spill about three times live at the peak of my fandom (circa perfect from now on) and they were three of the most boring rock shows i've ever been to

i may just be bitter because i'm probably going to miss the pfork fest for the first time this year

If you can appreciate an old-fashioned, four-on-the-floor rock show, The Walkmen will certainly not disappoint.

lol what does that mean?

I saw BTS play a pretty boring show in like 1999 (it was when I was in college in Michigan, and I went because I somehow lucked into chauffeuring three cute freshman girls to Chicago for the show). But if they play "Carry the Zero," then it'll be worth it.

lol what does that mean? - they will rock you. you should want to be rocked by them.

I'm a big Walkmen stan, seen them live three times, but of all the adjectives I would use to describe their shows "four-on-the-floor rock" is certainly not even in the top twenty.

top thirty, maybe? OK jeez, sorry folks. Plz go see The Walkmen. They are very, very good.

Agreed, they are really good live.

OK, now return to the wilderness from whence you came before i punch you in the face.

Write the Night: Set Lists By Request sounds kinda ugh to me, seems like opening it for everyone to vote is just going to result in a standard "greatest hits" set for everyone. built to spill's set is just going to be "car" 15 times in a row

A standard greatest-hits set is exactly what I want from each of those bands, though. It's not like I want to see Tortoise play a set that's heavy on It's All Around You.

Looks like 3-day tickets have sold out for this.

Has anyone from the UK tried to get them? It's hard. They won't mail them outside the US, so you have to collect them from the box office. To do that you must present the credit card you used with photo ID. Unfortunately for me, I don't have a credit card, and due to this ID check, I can't borrow a friend's. Therefore I'm not going. Any way around this? Suggestions very welcome!

i think you can take a photocopy of the card with a letter from the cardholder authorising you to pickup. it's unlikely that there'll be massive scrutiny anyway, so you should be fine. i did the same with atpny.

How does someone who can afford to fly across the globe for an indie rock festival not own a credit card?

Looks like 3-day tickets have sold out for this.

Oh man, that kinda sucks. Although tbh I was thinking about skipping Sunday anyway, since all the bands I care about I've already seen recently.

How does someone who can afford to fly across the globe for an indie rock festival not own a credit card?

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, May 7, 2009 11:00 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hahahahaha

OK, I bought my ticket for Friday. Still on the fence about the rest of the weekend.

Question re Write the Night: Can I vote for as many songs as I want? Like if the only Built to Spill album I like is Keep It Like a Secret, can I just vote for every track on the album?

please do

Who's gonna be at this?