Photos: Public Enemy, Hold Steady, Spoon, Les Savy Fav Play A Muddy Pitchfork Music Fes...

At the Pitchfork Music Festival the VIP pass is good for two things and two things only: FREE beer and Chipotle burritos. Sure you get to hobknob with the indie rock cool crowd and hi-5 the Ice Cream man, but nothing beats the taste of a nice wheat 312 or a filling burrito on a hot (rainy) summer day. So when some pals fell short we had to get crafty …really crafty.

Thank God for the rain. While it created a mud fest, it also forged a make shift VIP wristband…a la the free ponchos that were being given away by the Boost mobile sponsor tent. These ponchos were the exact same blue as the VIP wristbands. With a rip here and a sharpie marker there…voila!…can you even tell the difference? (Security couldn't.)

The third annual Pitchfork music festival, held at Chicago's Union Park, had its fair share of drama. On opening night Flavor Flav missed the first song of Public Enemy's highly-anticipated All Tomorrow's Party's set, supposedly trying to get his family on the grounds. The band played their 1988 breakthrough "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back." Despite Flavor Flav's diva-ness Chuck D started and joked "It takes a nation of millions to hold us back or it takes a deficit of trillions to hold your nation back. Chicago always got our back."

Public Enemy's Chuck D

Flavor Flav was more self-appreciating with his comments, yet gractious.. "Thank you for making Flavor Flav #1 in reality TV," he told the crowd. "But there's always gonna be Public Enemy because it's my first and last love.

What time is it Flavor Flav? Time to get your reality TV ass on stage!

That wasn't the only drama. Cut Copy were taken off the bill when their travel plans got all f'ed up. King Kahn, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound took the stage and played covers until the Aussie rockers arrived. Cut Copy managed to squeeze in four tracks before the 10PM city curfew Sunday. Security refused to let the band back on for an encore despite "one more song" chants. Some guy even tried to get a "call Mayor Daly!" shout out going, but to no luck.

With each new day the energy got more fierce at the festival. Vampire Weekend sounded like a Paul Simon knock-off with their tropical flavored indie rock on Saturday. They played their hits "Oxford Comma" and "A-Punk." Frontman Ezra Koening got the crowd to participate during "One" with everyone shouting "Blake's Got A New Face" for the refrain.

Ezra Koening of Vampire Weekend

Bon Iver also got the crowd singing along on some weird lyrics during their mellow set on Sunday. Guitarist Justin Vernon instructed the crowd to get invlocled on "Wolves," and had everyone singing the track's chorus --"What might have been lost" -- too.

Bon Iver

I just saw !!! perform at Bonnaroo and their set at Pitchfork blew that performance out of the water, sounding like heavy metal electronica. I kid you not. There were less beats and more thrashing.

!!!'s Nic Offer

!!!

While on and off rain showers made people muddy it didn't stop the music. The sun came out in time for the Hold Steady's set coining it Hold Sweaty. The band played tunes from their entire repetoire and their latest Stay Positive. However the band's awesome -ness second to Les Savy Fav's the following day. While frontman Craig Finn may jolt and twitch like he's possessed by some rock god, Les Savy Fav's Tim Herring moves to the beat of his own drum. Herring performed in a revealing ensemble with a camera strapped to his head that projected onto the jumbotron. He proceeded to get inside a city of Chicago public garbage can, which he then surfed through the crowd in.

Hold Steady's Craig Finn

The mud

Fans rock out in the mud

A good way to avoid the mud

Animal Collective

Everyone has got to go

J. Mascis Of Dinosaur Jr.

Spoon

Spoon's Britt Danie

For the most part this year was more lame than years past, but it still was a ragging good time. I usually leave this festival armed with new music, but this year I felt I had seen or heard most of the bands on the bill. Hold Steady and Les Savy Fav have both played Pitchfork before. The only band I left jonesing for more was Cut Copy. I always felt like this festival forced me to see new music, even if I thought I wouldn't like it. It would make me a believer. Those days are now gone.