actually, brunch may be out of the question. more details on that to come.

I am not going to the Metro show. I'm going to Panic! which is a dance party type thing (brit pop and other alternative good music) down in Wicker Park, but that's not until 10pm.

Gingerman's my favorite bar, too. Best jukebox and pints around.

I did PM you my number, but I'll resend it.

actually, panic is at darkroom in ukrainian village (chicago & leavitt). last time was pretty great and i'm hoping this month's will be the same. people should come out after the metro show.

early forecast is for rain on friday and saturday, but they also called for rain today and it looks to be sunny so far.

I love rainy music festivals, seriously, keeps the heat away.

I'll be drunk enough to the point where I don't care about a lil' rain...

whatever.

rain's not supposed to be out until late tonight, anyway.

Well, I would like to hit the dance party afterwards.

so if anyone wants to come to the metro with me that would be great, and that way if we get lost on the way to the ukranian dance party, we get lost together.

If I'm not mistaken, Dreaded Marco and Bitter Buffalo are going to the Metro show.


Sounds fun. Dance party!!!

I'm nearly certain I'm going to the Metro show, but I may be a little late---flight doesn't arrive at O'Hare until 8pm, and I'm told it'll take at least an hour to get to our hotel from there. I'm still working on bbuffalo--I think he's planning on attending, and his brother may be as well.

for those of you planning to go to gingerman on friday before/after metro show, gapers block (big chicago blog-like website) is having their monthly get-together there. just be warned it could be crowded and those people will be bloggers.

thanks z, there goes my whole weekend.

damn bloggers

well, i think gapers block will take the back room. i can't imagine gingerman would allow them to take up the entire place. they know there's a show and that a ton of people go there pre-show.

sunday was good. the national and mission of burma were very good. os mutantes came out a little flat, but ended really well with three great songs.

I agree about Os Mutantes. They came out sounding like a Brazillian Version of Seals, Santana & Crofts. Didn't catch the last three songs because I was waiting for the train. Overall, I was pretty underwhelmed.
Faves: Man Man & Silver Jews from Day One. Liars & Dominik Eulberg from Day Two.

Mission of Burma rocked, but the sound was SHITE. I hate festival sound. The only bands that sounded really great were Man Man, Silver Jews, Spoon, The Futureheads and Art Brut (who had the best sound out of everyone).

Back in ATL after a great weekend. Much love to Jasmine (Red) for putting me up for the weekend and for being a fantastic host. I'm sure the bruises and cuts from her whippings will heal shortly.

Either way, great weekend, well put together festival, sorry I missed out on meeting (or seeing) some of the Obners.

Day 1: Pre-Party @ The Metro

Joggers-pretty good, especially after getting pretty shitfaced at Gingerman's an hour before...just cut out all the middle eastern shit guys.

Voxtrot-well, the kids'll like em. I thought they were pretty damn boring and trying way too hard, they'll be huge.

Sunset Rubdown-Only stayed for a handful of songs because I was beginning to nod off thanks to travelling, being up later than normal plus an hour jet lag, and, um, booze. Wish I could have been more awake because they were pretty fucking awesome.

Day 2: Day 1

Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot, almost as hot as when I attended Coachella and it was 105 degrees outside. I thought chicago was supposed to be the windy city. Saw some friends, did some shopping, caught mostly partial sets from many of the bands as I was walking around a lot. There was only one band on the bill today that I have not seen (band of horses) that I actually cared to (not a silver jews fan). Every other band on the bill I had seen and some fairly recently and in better settings.

Highlights:
The Walkmen-while they put on a great, sweaty show, they were also the victims of the worst sound of the day.

Band Of Horses-a great early set that was actually helped by the heat, the open air, and early mellow vibe of the crowd. I could really have used a joint right about now.

Do indie kids in chicago not smoke weed??? Whatever, I digress.

Art Brut sounded kinda thin, but were still a lot of fun. Destroyer is not the sort of band that should be booked for festivals, nor is the Mountain Goats. The Futureheads and Ted Leo were good enough, though I've seen T.L. numerous times and just saw the futureheads a few weeks ago.

Day 3: Day 2

Now today is why I love festivals like this, and the reason why I flew out to Chicago. Today was more about seeing the bands than the day before, which was mostly for scoping the festival and the atmosphere.

Started the day off great with Nels Cline/Jeff Parker doing their noisy jazz thing, they were playing some album all the way through but I left midway to go see Danielson. Caught the one song by Tapes N' Tapes that I enjoy and I was satisied (seen 'em a few weeks ago and was not too impressed) Danielson was pretty damn boring and I had been expecting a lot more from them, something a little more jubilant to get the day going...

Jens Lekman was charming, fun, and had the best looking band I've ever seen...6 swedish blonde girls.

The National were one of the bands I had been fairly anxious to see since I have really been enjoying their records and I hadn't seen em yet...didn't disappoint. A well played and heartfelt set, lots of soul.

skipped the Liars...meh.

Mission of Burma turned in the day's most powerful set, getting the fists in the air and people screaming to 25+ year old songs. Even a failed attempt at Trem II didn't kill the momentum.

Devendra...meh.

Missed Yo La Tengo to get a good spot for Spoon, sometimes in life you gotta make choices...and with a new YLT album coming out soon, they'll be in ATL soon enough, they always are.

Spoon-is Spoon, not the best nor worst show I've ever seen them do, but they're Spoon, they can do whatever the fuck they want.

Os Mutantes-pretty good, wish I had more energy and a dance partner, I'm sure they will launch a full time reunion soon, they looked like they were enjoying themselves too much.

You're always welcome to stay with me, love. Haven't even moved the bottle of Makers.

well, I certainly wasn't going to take it with me...

drink up.

haha... that made me laugh out loud. i'm fairly sure that i'll never ever EVER drink again.

jon can drink it.

Silver Jews may have been the best set of the entire festival.

I saw a few kids on the weed.

I thought Art Brut sounded great.

Destroyer put out a Top 5er this year, but they were awfully boring. No energy, no stage presence. I went to sit in the bleachers behind the port-a-potties. I could give a shit about Mountain Goats. Skipped it.
Liars = messy but fun as hell to watch. One of my favorite live bands. The gigs they played in 2004 blew this set away.
Agree on Devendra, and I was high on the dope during his set. You'd think that would help, but he bored the hell out of me.
Listened to some of the YLT set. Enjoyed the one really long song. I then walked over to the Biz3 where I accidentally caught maybe my favorite set of the entire fest, Dominik Eulberg. It was pretty much minimal techno, but I hadn't see a crowd get so amped in years. It made me feel 19 all over again.

Os Mutantes did nothing for me. I left half-way through to catch the train.


It was hot, I was tired, and while I loved the set up of the fest which allowed a fan to see as many bands as he wanted (unlike Bonnaroo), but they should really try to get better sound production next year. 3/4 of the bands sounded like complete ass over the PA.
One last thing, Flatstock 9 was fucking incredible. I'm a huge screen print/poster fan, so I was there during many of the sets of bands I didn't care for.
I bought this poster there:

you're the first person i know who's said anything positive about the silver jews set.

os mutantes was pretty bad, but they ended really well.

Interesting. To each his own. Compared to their first show on their first tour ever in Athens a few months back, this set was stellar. They're just a band that does it for me.

well, i also wasn't there on saturday to see them. i'm just going on what everyone else said. although, most people i talked to didn't have a lot of good to say about saturday overall. again, just preferences. i'm sure a lot of people loved it way more than the second day.