I'm just going to start... PART 1
Despite Bjork, R Kelly and Belle &
Sebastian headlining and The Breeders playing that one album and Wire
playing and Swans playing and I don't know Solange playing, who were
all fantastic in their own right, and whom I will discuss below in
some sort of detail or later, my favorite moment and the one I'm
still smiling about and wishing I could re-live right now is Lil B.
Having a certain admiration for the
BasedGod/Lil B/Pretty Bitch, etc going into his live show, and having
several (ok, quite a few) of his mixtapes (that I've listened to in
some form-over-sometime), I knew that I had to be there, up close
with the BasedWorld for this. But I really had no idea how much
enjoyment I'd find in his set. Lil B, of course, must have been a
weird show for pitchfork to book, especially on the “Red” stage
at 5:15 on Sunday. Right in the middle of everything, there he was.
And let's not forget that children under 10 accompanied by an adult
got in free... so there were kids running around all over.
The stage setup for Lil B was more of a
tear-down really. By the time we were all waiting in anticipation,
the stage was completely empty. No El-P/Killer Mike/Evian Christ/Ryan
Helmsworth producer/sound/music-making setup. There was nothing
on stage. His crew (a mixture of friends and fellow musicians – Lee
Spielman from Trash Talk, etc) stood off next to the on-stage mixing
board, hyping the crowd to a certain extent and mostly laughing. A
sea of Pink bandanas gathered directly in front of the stage, a few
signs held up amongst them (“Lil B, You Can Fuck my Bitch ->”),
and what must have been a large amount of intrigued, bemused, and
ultimately angry people spread around the rest of the grounds once he
got up there. But for that moment, there was nothing front and
center.
Everyone,
we, all waited in anticipation. Several BasedGod chants started up,
people appropriately lit-up and took swigs and yelled and whatever'd
at the right time. Until Lil B and his microphone stepped out.
And no
one followed him. The music started, and still, no one followed. The
stage was JUST Lil B, his raggedy shoes, jeans, and a floral
button-up. Nothing else. No backdrop, no instruments, no crew. He
played bangers. By himself. He played stuff you could not not
dance to. By himself. He took
his shirt off for us, he spoke to us, he cared about us. The beats
and music came from nowhere, or better, as Lil B might say, they came
from his soul. Everything came from his soul. There's really no
other way he remembered all those damn lines (ok, a little too far).
But seriously, for the 10000's of songs he's released, it's actually
incredible. We all danced to every one of them. We all followed him
every time. As a live MC, Lil B was superb. Or, as superb as Lil B
could ever possibly need to be.
Because
for as many people as he might infuriate, or the millions of
people who think he's the worst rapper to ever have existed, or the
layer(s) of distorted confusion one must sift through to try and
understand what is Lil B; his intent was clear It's never not clear..
He loves us. More than anything. We all love him. More than anything.
We should all love each other. More than anything. We should stay
safe and appreciate existence. Violence and rage are unnecessary if
you stay positive. Sometimes life is hard, but we have to stay
positive – thank whoever for our ability to breathe and exist and
enjoy this. His message's never been about bitches or drugs or
fellatio, etc. It's all love. Everything else is just his way of
showing this post-whatever culture how to understand that and
appreciate that. Casue no way we're going to figure that out on our
own, through concrete ideas and obvious words. Lil B is a genius, and
I'm not joking here. This is serious. He understands this generation
better than anyone I've ever witnessed.
Nothing
was clearer for those of us up-front (and the appreciators in the
back). Every few songs, Lil B'd stop and smile, and thank us, and
remind us what it's all about. What he's all about. By the time “I
Love You” started, nothing at the entire festival over the entire
3-days felt more genuine than his repeat accapella verse. “I wanna
say I love you. I wanna say I love you too. Thank you for loving Lil
B, thank you for supporting me. Shouts out to my Mom. I love you. Yes
you can cry to this. Yes, I love you too. If anything just happen
though, just just know this, I live for you and I love this. Thank
you BasedWorld for being nice.”
Nothing
made me happier than Lil B's hour set at pitchfork. And nothing felt
as genuine as the ten minutes Lil B spent hugging his fans up front
after his set time was well-over. I enjoyed so many things this
weekend, but I can't say that any one of the performers really
understood what a pitchork set-time truly could
be as well as he did. No one took advantage of their stage-time quite
like Lil B. No one united the crowd through joy and happiness and
love like Lil B. He understood what musicians-who-play-at-pitchfork
typically do not understand. About the power of a festival. Yes Bjork
was incredible, Yes R Kelly was so much fun, yes I think MIA was
ridiculous, and yeah, Andy Stott is seriously the best ever. But as
far as a festival performance, Lil B did it the best this weekend. 36
bitches, respectfully.
Now go
on and hate, I'lll be back with another part or two over the next
couple days. At least Animal Collective wasn't there, I heard they
put on a real bad show a couple years back.
