Pitchfork Festival 2015 day 1 in pics (Wilco, Panda Bear, Mac DeMarco, Iceage, Ought, Jessica Pratt, Ryley Walker & more)

photos by James Richards IV

Wilco / Panda Bear / Jessica Pratt

We have an early front-runner for the weekend’s quietest act, and perhaps the festival’s quietest act ever. It’s all about two barefoot guitarists seated in the shade. Jessica Pratt must imagine she’s playing in her living room instead of a small outdoor stage tucked in the southwest corner of Union Park. How else could she play through the noise and distractions that permeate a big outdoor music event such as this? Her melodies whisper, her guitar tones hover, and her voice suggests that it wants to make each of the few hundred listeners pressed close to the stage feel like he or she is the only other person within earshot. It works. It’s easy to feel empathy for solo performers facing a big festival crowd, their panic intensifying as they struggle to command a restive audience’s attention. But Pratt plays as if none of that is a concern. [Greg Kot for Chicago Tribune]

The 2015 Pitchfork Festival kicked off yesterday (7/17) with sets from Wilco, Panda Bear, Mac DeMarco, Iceage, Ought, Steve Gunn, iLoveMakonnen, Jessica Pratt, Ryley Walker and more. That’s a review of Jessica Pratt’s set above. Wilco, fresh off surprise-releasing their new album Star Wars, opened by playing the album in full front to back. Then they continued with older favorites: “Camera,” “Via Chicago,” “Heavy Metal Drummer,” and more. Pictures of day 1 and Wilco’s full setlist are in this post.

The fest continues today (7/18) with Sleater-Kinney, Future Islands, The New Pornographers, Kurt Vile, Ex Hex and more. If you’re not there, are you streaming it live?

UPDATE: Day 2 pics and day 3 pics are up. More day 1 pictures below…

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Ryley Walker

Natalie Prass

Jessica Pratt

iLoveMakonnen

Steve Gunn

Mac DeMarco

Tobias Jesso Jr.

Panda Bear

Iceage

Chvrches

Ought

Wilco

Wilco Setlist (via)
Star Wars
EKG
More…
Random Name Generator
The Joke Explained
You Satellite
Taste the Ceiling
Pickled Ginger
Where Do I Begin
Cold Slope
King of You
Magnetized

Handshake Drugs
Camera
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Art of Almost
Via Chicago
Impossible Germany
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Heavy Metal Drummer
I’m the Man Who Loves You