The best of Pitchfork Music Festival 2021
Angel Olsen provoked tears, St. Vincent shredded—these are the most noteworthy sets The A.V. Club saw at this year's Pitchfork Music Festival
Music Features Pitchfork Music Festival
There was a definite tenor in the air at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. While there was still the usual array of styles and genres—indie, folk, hip-hop, R&B, emo, electronica, and more (sometimes inside just one artist’s set—paging Bartees Strange)—there was an overarching mood this year. It was one of mellow Americana vibes, an event in which the majority of feeling and sounds were of the laid-back variety. Even when Danny Brown was rallying the audience to his ferociously uptempo set, the good feelings pervaded; maybe it’s the result of a bunch of artists finally being unleashed after a year-plus of lockdown, but in general, everyone was simply thrilled to be there, and made no bones about saying so.
As a result, the positive mood managed to sustain itself throughout the long weekend, no matter the music. And once again, The A.V. Club found itself finding the silver lining in every set, no matter the good or bad. (It was largely good; this was a very, very strong lineup.) So here are the performances that most stood out to us this year, in all their weird, noisy, messy glory. Other music fests could learn a thing or two—Pitchfork 2021 kicked ass.
Note to desktop users: If you’d like to read this in a scrolling format, simply narrow your browser window.
27 Comments
I guess this article is a good summary of what I’d get out of a Pitchfork music festival- Angel Olsen and St. Vincent are pretty good, and I find literally everything else supremely unlistenable. The love for Thundercat makes it feel like I am the brunt of a joke here.
It was a good day for white women.
And for bass players who think a four string isn’t worth having…
Pitchfork literally centered and amplified the voices of white women. Discuss.
I thought this article was about how well a local PTA meeting went.
Sarah Koenig’s already covering this on the next season of Serial.
It’s a nice day for some…white women.It’s a nice day to…START AGAAAAIIINNNNN!
“LEAN INNNNN!”?
I honestly think representation was pretty good across the board.
I wasn’t there, but I’m writing up all my confidently contrarian takes!
I was there, and I gotta say the omission of Yves Tumor and Flying Lotus indicate that the reviewer must have left early and/or missed these sets. Playing opposite Thundercat, Tumor’s set was far more energetic and unpredictable. FlyLo’s set also featured a walk-on by Thundercat, singing his vocals live, which was a highlight.
Also choosing Weather Station over Caroline Polachek’s banger of a set. I love Weather Station’s albums, but a sweaty festival band they are not.
“Gin Blossoms of emo” might be the most accurate term here;Folks, you have my attention.
Really an apt description.
It’s a slideshow? Nope.
absolute hater shit to not mention the stunning new material animal collective previewed lol
Let’s hold off on the plaudits until we see the Covid numbers. Unlike Lollapalooza, which made at least token efforts to see vaccine cards or Covid tests, the prevailing attitude at the Pitchfork gate seemed to be, “Sure, yeah, we trust you.” I liked a lot of the sets, but exactly none of them were worth getting a breakthrough case over.
They checked people’s vax cards at the gate. Was Lolla somehow better than that?
Were you there? Did you actually have to show your card? If so, you were in the distinct minority.
I had to show my vaccination card and ID at the gate all three days.
Ty Segall crushed it so hard I had to go home after. Also I had been there all day and was hungry, but his show was still insane.
Honestly, anyone who goes to Lollapalooza over Pitchfork is absolutely insane.
It’s too bad Thurston couldn’t keep it in his pants, because now there isn’t anyone to corral Kim Gordon’s excesses. (though to be fair, that was probably Lee’s job). Lord that song was some of the worst caterwauling I’ve heard in a long time.
Yeah, I’m sorry, but she sucked.
Kim Gordon’s not really suited to the sunny festival stage.
“Hop Along” — it seems like whenever there is another band that has seemingly been around forever and I’ve never heard of, they are from Philly. Philly is not THAT big a city, how does it fit so many bands?
Criminal to omit Andy Shauf, especially in the Canadian category.