The 5 Best Moments of the 2016 Pitchfork Festival

(photo: Vans)

Nestled in Chicago’s Union Park for its 11th year, the Pitchfork Music Festival is consistently stacked with new indie bands, old alt-rock favorites, and the finest of Chicago’s R&B and hip-hop scene. This past weekend was packed with impressive performances by Savages, Miguel, Anderson .Paak, Twin Peaks, and even Carly Rae Jepsen (she’s cool now!). And yes, Sufjan Stevens and FKA Twigs headlined with costumed dancers and avant garde sounds while Beach House induced a nice little nap.

But as usual with festivals, people come for the headliners but stay for the new, the sentimental, or the surprise guests. Here are the five best Pitchfork acts that everyone’s talking about Monday.

Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds

Both dads and tweens converged for Brian Wilson’s 50th celebration of the Beach Boys’ classic, backed by a patchwork of support from Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin along with members of powerpop band and longtime Wilson backers the Wondermints. Everyone cheerily sang along to“God Only Knows” and “Caroline, No” while acutely aware of dwindling mortality as the screen stayed locked on a seemingly despondent Wilson. During “Sloop John B,” Joan and John Cusack took the stage to do backing vocals, and later on the kids in the audience shrieked along to “Barbara Ann.” Regardless of age or personal histories, Wilson’s return to the stage is triumphant, his legacy intact, and the generations of fans in attendance would agree.

Jeremih

Jeremih had a lot to celebrate with the critical success of his recent album Late Nights: The Album and his first Pitchfork performance on Sunday, and his set became especially sentimental as he celebrated the joint birthday of both him and his mom with a slow dance. Soft pitch to the awkward moment when he sang his hit “Birthday Sex,” but he quickly transitioned between old and new tracks despite some audio issues. Chicagoans were waiting for a Chance the Rapper sighting all weekend, and were not disappointed when Chance came out to perform his tracks, “No Problem” and “Angels.” Jeremih went on to perform “Oui” and “Pass Dat” before ending things with an all-out crew dance party, mom included, and the most buzzed-about set of the weekend. Jeremih even took a tumble onstage at one point, but recovered like a champ.

Whitney

Chicago’s indie psych-pop supergroup has consistently sold out venues since the launch of their debut album Light Upon the Lake in June. Consisting of Max Kakacek (formerly of Smith Westerns) on guitar and Julien Ehrlich (formerly of both Smith Westerns and Unknown Mortal Orchestra) on drums and vocals, the roommates collaborated with four additional friends to create a dreamy boy band with falsetto and fuzz. Whitney cruised through their sole album’s tracklist, with “No Matter Where We Go” and “Golden Days,” before adding a string quartet to round out the set. After finishing title track “No Woman,” the group made sure to thank their parents (in the audience) and were on their best behavior (no inter-member makeouts) for their Pitchfork debut.

Broken Social Scene

After a quick practice round at the Metro on Thursday, Broken Social Scene were back Stateside for the first time in more than five years, since spending a year creating Forgiveness Rock Album just off the Division and Damen Blue Line stop. The Canadian collective filled the stage with their seemingly limitless band roster (and nope, Feist wasn’t there) to throw down old favorites “7/4 Shoreline” and “Superconnected” before citing Trump as reason enough to play “Fired Eyed Boy.” The group is currently working on an upcoming album and gave the audience a sneak preview with new track “Gonna Get Better.”

Car Seat Headrest

Despite a double dose of bad luck (rain and being in the first slot of the festival), attendance spiked earlier than usual for Will Toledo’s Car Seat Headrest. What was once a secret project hidden in his bedroom is now a full-on rock album that keeps garnering surprisingly credible comparisons to bands like Pavement, Nirvana, and the Strokes. Performing his recent album Teens in Denial, Toledo played favorite “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” – a reaction to the documentary Blackfish – as two awkwardly separate mosh pits thrashed below. However weird, it still felt right, because despite Toledo’s nerdy demeanor, he’s got some major grit.