ARTICLE BY MYCHELLE PETERSON
JULY 17 | CHICAGO—While you may be reading this on the sunny shores of California, a few Scenestars are bracing for the weekend known as Pitchfork. With looming thunderstorms and a dreadful no re-entry policy, it was a relief to see Pitchfork brilliantly partnering with the City of Chicago to present a Pitchfork preview night at the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.
As part of the Park's Music Without Borders series, Pitchfork brought in four very diverse bands to perform abbreviated sets at this free event to kick off the weekend, perhaps inspiring people to clamor for tickets on Craigslist (both Saturday's and Sunday's tickets have sold out) and exposing a good sized crowd to music from Serbia, Kenya and the good old USA.
The bill consisted of A Hawk and A Hacksaw featuring the former drummer of indie-legends Neutral Milk Hotel, the amazing "Balkan gypsy brass" of Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar, Extra Golden, and the beautiful sounds of Sub Pop's Fleet Foxes. The biggest surprise of the night was the lively response to the Orkestar's performance, complete with audience members creating full dance circles and parading around with the Serbian flag.
But for me, the night belonged to Fleet Foxes. To say Fleet Foxes sounds like My Morning Jacket would be too easy. A bit true and a compliment for sure, but also too easy because they are indeed more than that. Fusing gospel and folk with achingly beautiful harmonies, this quintet from Seattle filled the Pritzker Pavilion with their lush sound. The band only has an EP, Sun Giant, and a recently released self-titled full-length album, but hearing only a few songs in their 30-minute set just seemed unfair. Framed by the setting sun and the stunning Chicago skyline, Fleet Foxes could have easily played for as many hours as the warm evening breeze would blow.
The band has said in interviews how much they love singing, and it can be no more evident than in their live performance. The harmonies verge on perfection with absolutely no studio enhancement or tricks. At times, the instruments all fade out to a barely audible pitch, and all you are left with are the warm tones of four amazing vocalists blending into unison.
The guys seemed genuinely disappointed in such a short set and acknowledged that they didn't even have time for witty stage banter or jokes, of which they claimed to have an endless supply. For a young band, they seemed extremely comfortable on this enormous stage which is home to the Grant Park Symphony and Chorus during the summer months.
It may be too late for our lovely Los Angeles readers to hop a flight to Chicago to catch Fleet Foxes this weekend at Pitchfork, but be on the lookout for the band as they continue touring through the fall. August sees the guys headed out for a few West Coast dates with Wilco, and they're currently scheduled to play San Francisco's Treasure Island Fest on September 21. Who knows? An L.A. date could be announced soon, too. In the meantime, head over to Fleet Foxes' MySpace page to hear some of the sublime harmonies from their debut album.
