Real to reel

Local observations from a movie, music buff

By Dan Ochwat

See any concerts recently? My god, the back-to-back weekends of Lollapalooza and The Pitchfok Music Festival have passed — and they were thrilling, yet exhausting.

Thankfully, my full-body sore has finally subsided from Lollapalooza alone. This year’s fest was work. The stages were scattered throughout the entire Grant Park — I’m talking both sides of Buckingham Fountain. You had to do some serious old-lady-mall-walking to try to catch bands playing on opposite ends. The sound at Lollapalooza is never great, and the crowd is far from hip, but the music is undeniable. You’re seeing Wilco follow The Shins and then Broken Social Scene. I mean, c’mon, I can complain all day, but it would just look vapid next to that kind of lineup.

As for The Pitchfork Music Festival, it remains king. Great sound, and it’s cheap. The lineup fell short of last year’s magic, with some lulls and the lack of a power headliner, but it still channeled the right energy and attitude that last year’s festival possessed. So seriously, if you didn’t attend these music festivals, skip the wedding next year, put the dog in a kennel, put the kids in a kennel, and show up.

I’m going to try to let the photos do the talking, but first, here is an agonizing attempt to list the top 10 performers spanning the greatest five days of the summer.

1. Kanye West/Common — Saturday night at Lollapalooza
I’m listing this as one show. Essentially, Common opened up for Kanye, because the crowd that packed in for the Common show stuck around for Kanye. They didn’t budge. Combined, the homegrown duo did their best to electrify the shy crowd. Kanye was larger than life on stage, Common was a bit preachy, but overall, it was just a cool experience.

2. Broken Social Scene — Sunday night at Lollapalooza
The crowd chanted for nearly 10 minutes trying to get this band to play an encore, but damned if we didn’t have to stick to Perry Farrell’s schedule. The entire band showed up for this performance, including Metric and Stars members. It was the fourth time I’d seen Broken Social Scene play; the fourth time I walked away with furhter evidence that they are the greatest band playing music today.

3. The Raconteurs — Friday evening at Lollapalooza
Jack White and crew drew the festival’s first massive crowd, jammed in to hear the best rock record of this year. The Raconteurs rocked out a version of Gnarls Barkley’s hit “Crazy,” which I said a few issues ago would be the hit song of the summer. It’s clear it is. Husband and wife duo Mates of State first covered the tune at the fest. Kanye also covered it, and Death Cab for Cutie threatened to.

4. Jens Lekman — Sunday afternoon at Pitchfork
An unsuspecting phenomenal show. My favorite Swedish crooner backed himself with a tight band of horns, a piano and guitars — they happened to be gorgeous women too, but that’s a sidebar. Jens had us in the palm of his hand with his soft voice, offbeat lyrics and storytelling.

5. Man Man — Saturday morning at Pitchfork
Dressed like hippie hipsters taking over Wimbledon during the McEnroe era, this quintet brought to life its quirky-ass music with so much fun and energy that they surely built a following after their half-hour set. Throwing feathers, banging pots and screaming about hoagies, these guys were manic. And sonically, they dream up anything — at one point the lead singer threw spoons into a bowl to make music. Check them out Sept. 21 at Logan Square Auditorium.

6. The Subways — Friday morning at Lollapalooza
Playing early on the first day of Lollapalooza, they didn’t grab a huge crowd, but they treated anyone who showed. Frontman Billy Lunn climbed the rafters on each side of the stage, continually slammed water bottles to the floor and, in the end, jumped on top of his drummer, surely bruising himself for our entertainment. And this wasn’t just a Jackass episode, the British punk trio kicked ass.

7. The National — Sunday afternoon at Pitchfork
I just love this band. Primarily playing favorites from their incredible “Aligator” album, the band brought much-needed fire to the festival. Lead singer Matt Berninger popped his voice a bit screaming that his “mind’s not right,” but bless him for it.

8. Art Brut — Saturday afternoon at Lollapalooza
“It’s not irony, this is my singing voice, we’re just talking to the kids.” Freshly cut by a Polish Chicago barber, Eddie Argos of the pop-Brit band delivered his clever lyrics to the kids and got one of the bigger reactions from the crowd. He engaged early and didn’t let go. I saw Art Brut last year at Schuba’s for a so-so performance. This was gold.

9. Cold War Kids — Saturday afternoon at Lollapalooza
An up-and-coming band from Los Angeles, they may become household names by year’s end. They have two EPs of extremely catchy, bluesy pop rock. Playing at 1 p.m. on a small stage near the food trap, at their first-ever festival appearance of any kind, they were head-turners to those shoveling down pork tacos. If you don’t believe me, trust A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers. He was standing next to me, head-nodding, Budweiser can cradled in his arm.

10. The Futureheads — Saturday night at Pitchfork
For such a wacky band, I think the Futureheads really surprised folks by how polished they are live. This is a great band that continually puts on great shows. Like a good set-up man, they carried the crowd and eased us right into the closing Silver Jews.

Honorable Mentions:
The Walkmen at Pitchfork, fronted by the screaming, Bob Dylan-esque Hamilton Leithauser; The Hold Steady at Lollapalooza, fronted by the guy I most want to have a beer and talk baseball with — Craig Finn; and CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), an electronic, dance group that was wild. Get to know them.

Still got energy? Here’s who to see in the coming weeks: Modern rap legends Wu-Tang Clan play the Congress Theatre 8/12. One of my favorite albums of the year is from DeVotchka-esque Beirut, who plays Empty Bottle 8/19. That’s a “must” show. The following day, check out ambient popsters Aloha at Schuba’s.

New-school rappers Jurassic 5 and old-schoolers X-Clan team up at the House Of Blues on 9/1, while old-school rockers Mudhoney play the Double Door 9/1. A double-billing of top new Sub Pop acts Band of Horses and Chad VanGaalen play the Metro 9/5. The Dears play Schuba’s 9/7, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists play The Hideout 9/8. On 9/9, heart-breaking acoustic singer Jose Gonzalez plays Park West on 9/9 with Zero 7, who he’s collaborated with in the past.

Keep sending me your music or anything else on your mind at danochwat@hotmail.com. I’ve also joined the MySpace army, so give The Real Chicago some love at http://www1.myspace.com/danochwat

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