Pitchfork's Fantastic Finale Featured FKA Twigs, Miguel, Chance the Rapper, & More

By: Annie Kane

Day three of Pitchfork Music Festival began with raging thunderstorms in the early morning and ominous clouds lurking overhead for a good part of the day. But finally, the sky broke apart to reveal a shimmery sun and sticky humidity, just in time to rally Sunday’s festival goers with the day’s awesome lineup.

Nao.

Nao.

Not initially part of my agenda of acts to catch, East London singer Nao called me forth to her stage with her unique voice and poppin’ beats. Going barefoot in a bright floral romper, Nao commanded the crowd with her strong presence onstage. She was extremely comfortable in her performing abilities, moving gracefully between the mic and twirly dance moves. Her voice synced incredibly well with her deep, almost 90s-like beats. She even blew herself away, pausing occasionally between the songs to smile brightly and take it all in. Her ability to appeal to everyone in the crowd made her music that much more powerful, and there was even an adorable toddler standing on the barricades with her dad, looking up to Nao and dancing along to every song.

Empress Of.

Empress Of.

Next up was Honduran-American multi-talented electro-pop artist, Empress Of. Despite starting late, her crowd was immense as she stood on stage completely alone, navigating between the keys, drums and vocals. For being one person onstage multi-tasking between instruments, I was surprised by how much Empress Of was able to create a fun environment while keeping the audience engaged. Her music has many elements and layers to it, and each one incited major dance parties.

Jeremih.

Jeremih.

The day continued with Jeremih’s set. Jeremih is revered for having a large amount of radio hits, so every song he played had the crowd insanely hyped. Rumors and sightings of past Pitchfork headliner and Chicagoan, Chance the Rapper, stirred extra excitement in the crowd. When the DJ dropped the beginning of Chance’s “No Problem”, the crowd jammed themselves further to the front of the stage as the smiling rapper emerged. You could literally see a wave move through the audience as people moved closer to see this hometown hero. Jeremih and Chance riffed off of each other’s energy for a few of Chance’s songs, including “Angels”. Jeremih didn’t lose any energy when Chance left the stage; when he tried to jump into the crowd during “Oui”, he fell in-between two speakers and was caught by security guards. But that didn’t stop him; he ran right up to the crowd before being forced by security back around to the stage. Though the set was overall killer, he did close with Desiigner’s “Panda” instead of his own tunes, which was somewhat disappointing.

Miguel.

Miguel.

Miguel delivered an unbelievably beautiful set; his band had such a palpable energy that Miguel made every fan in the crowd fall in love with him over and over again. What impressed me more so than his crooning voice and sexy dance moves was what he said between his songs. Miguel was really the first artist at Pitchfork to truly address the turbulent times going on in the world right now. He urged people to stop posting pictures praying for other people, and to actually go out and do something to change the world:

“This is the kind of solidarity and unity we crave…this moment, is the most beautiful thing to be connected with you…let’s continue connecting, gathering gathering gathering, that’s the only thing that’s gonna heal all this separation…” he said.

Miguel then prompted the crowd to chant with their fists in the air, “We’re all that we’ve got”. The contrast between Jeremih’s all-hype set compared to Miguel’s multifaceted, multi-genre and celebration of love and unity was interesting to compare.

FKA Twigs.

FKA Twigs.

Finally, English singer FKA Twigs closed out Pitchfork for 2016. With a trained dance background and edgy style, she created the most captivating set of the whole weekend. FKA stayed in her zone while performing, and never once broke her set to talk to the crowd and show appreciation. There was one moment during a lull between songs where she simply stared out into the crowd, dressed in a shredded jean outfit with a feather through her nose. Despite trying to keep the mirage without breaking the fourth wall, I could see underneath her face that she was taking in the energy of the crowd to fuel her for the rest of the performance. One of the most creative artists currently in the industry, FKA did not disappoint. Her style is much like Björk in the way that she pushes beyond normalcy or trends. She was extremely cool to see live, and a was an incredible closer to a weekend filled with talent from across the globe.

Check out more Pitchfork Festival photos here.

-Annie

Connect with me on twitter and instagram.

All photos per the author. This feature was edited for brevity and clarity by BolderBeat.

Brian Wilson, Blood Orange, & Anderson Paak: Day Two at Pitchfork Music Festival Was a Success

By: Annie Kane

Day two at Pitchfork was quite a success.

Pitchfork Music Festival.

Pitchfork Music Festival.

The weather yesterday was something festival goers wish for every year, and in Chicago, those humidity-free 80 degree days are quite a rarity. With a crowd that seemed almost double in size compared to the day before, every stage was bumping and filled with trendy music listeners.

Blood Orange.

Blood Orange.

Blood Orange’s set was just as magical as I was hoping it would be: donning simple jogger pants and a headband, Devonte Hynes started things off by playing the audio track off of the first song from his recent album, Freetown Sound. The woman’s voice on the track echoed off the park, as she spoke in slam-poetry style about feminism and media representation in today's society. You could feel the audience’s emotion as cheers swelled up in the strong points of her speech. Hynes then sat down on his low-set piano, playing simple notes that hushed the enormous crowd gathered to see him perform. As he rose to grab a mic, two of Hynes’ fierce backup singers strutted across the stage to their mics and the saxophonist grabbed his instrument as they all, in perfect synchronization, began “Augustine”. Later on, Hynes brought out Carly Rae Jepsen for the tune, “All That”. Hynes’ unique style blends the culture of off-pop 90’s music with clear inspiration from David Bowie and Prince, tied into his own unique vision. Hynes seemed so relaxed on stage, as he twirled around singing dreamy notes and with the sun shining behind him, the atmosphere of the set was almost ethereal.

BJ The Chicago Kid.

BJ The Chicago Kid.

BJ The Chicago Kid surprised me with a heartfelt emotion reflected on his face during his performance, and his hardcore drumming skills between songs. His backup guitarist absolutely shredded a few solos of his own, and BJ covered a lot of songs, including tunes from other notable Chicago artists like Kanye West (“THat Part”) and Chance the Rapper (“No Problem”).

Brian Wilson.

Brian Wilson.

Brian Wilson started his set early, and as I ran up to catch the last spot in the photo pit, I found myself pausing for a second as the group sang “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”. The song sounded exactly like the Pet Sounds recording, making me question if The Beach Boys were all somehow back together on stage. Wilson remained behind his big grand piano for the length of the performance, staring at his sheet music and occasionally glancing into the jeering crowd. One fan at the front screamed out during a quiet pause, “This is my favorite album ever!” The band members all smiled, and for the whole set, they seemed happy to be performing some of the most beautiful music ever composed. Chicago natives John Cusack (who played Brian Wilson in the film “Love and Mercy”), along with his sister Joan, both came out for a song and sang at the front of the stage with one of the backup singers. Everyone seemed as if they were in a sweet stupor of nostalgia during Wilson’s set.

Anderson Paak.

Anderson Paak.

Since catching Anderson Paak & The Free Nationals at Red Rocks, I have had my eye set on snapping Paak again. I was buzzing with excitement as he ran onstage and went right into “Milk N’ Honey”. Standing between two speakers that were blasting bass so hard that my dress was being blown around, I couldn’t hear Paak’s voice well over the mic, but I was close enough to actually hear him from my spot near the stage. Being so close, I could feel the energy radiating off of Paak and his whole band. He brought so much more power to this performance, keeping energy high by going right into his almost trap-like song, “Drugs”, from the album Venice. He jumped over to the speaker next to me, singing down into my lens before stepping over my head. After the first three songs, security pushed press back, as I reluctantly left the pit. Despite being back in the crowd, the energy was still palpable as Paak got the audience to dance their faces off. It was fantastic.

Hands Up.

Hands Up.

I can say I’m glad to be here, and yesterday’s shows were incredible. Stay tuned for more Pitchfork coverage!

Check out more Pitchfork Festival photos here.

-Annie

Connect with me on twitter and instagram.

All photos per the author. This feature was edited for brevity and clarity by BolderBeat.