Pitchfork Day 2

Union Park, Chicago
July 30th
Heat index: over 100 degrees

Met up at J & K's again; this time Milo joined us for the festivities.
The theme for today was "find a shady spot to sit down".
So that was the first thing we did, catching the end of the Jens Lekman set. Which, surprisingly (to me anyway) was not bad. He has more energy and swing in his live set, which would add a lot to his rather bland recordings.
Our primary objective was to see The National, so we staked out a good spot in full view of the sun's rays and silently took bets on whether the lead singer would make it through the set without imploding or bursting into flames. He didn't, but he did seem to harness the solar enegy and convey it via his strained vocal cords into a fireball of emotion emanating out into the audience. They played a couple new songs, both relatively mellow and sad but definitely good.
We wandered over to the misting tent for a break, then heard a bit of the Liars. They definitely bring a lot of energy to a performance, but I'm still not a big fan.
Prior to the Liars, we could hear a bit of the CSS set from the little south stage/tent, and it sounded pretty good. That's a band worth further investigation.
After another time-out in the shade with a round of beers, Mr. Lif and Aesop Rock were on. We lost Milo at this point. They did a good hip-hop/tag-team rap set, definitely one of the more fun and crowd-pleasing acts on the bill.
By this point we were all kind of tired and hungry, so we picked up some thai food (which was pretty good) and then browsed through the poster tents (I picked up another Jay Ryan piece, of course), then headed out.
Overall, a very well put together music fest, and something I'll be keeping an eye out for next year.