By late evening Friday, while Pitchfork's Forkcast section was still bringing you new music, the weather forecast was threatening a weekend-long rain that would surely put a damper on what looked to be yet another promising Pitchfork Music Festival . Saturday did end up bringing some rain to Chicago's Union Park but, seeing as how I ended up with a sunburn, the threat was mostly a weak one. With over 40 bands on three stages, capturing every moment of every performance was impossible, but with the visual help of our Best New Music-worthy photographer, Dave Evans, we bring you a day-by-day recap of how things went down in the eyes of MOKB.

(photo by Dave Evans )

Since Friday comes before Saturday and Sunday, we'll begin there.

Mission of Burma

(photo by Dave Evans )

Performing Vs. , the legendary album that's as old as I am, Mission of Burma kicked off their second appearance at Pitchfork (they played in 2006) and the festival's second-ever All Tomorrow's Parties Don't Look Back series. The post-punk outfit from Boston, which includes guitarist/singer Roger Miller, bassist/singer Clint Conley, and drummer Peter Prescott played the album with what I can only imagine was the same vigor and energy as a performance you might have seen them play in the early 80's.

Sebadoh

(photo by Dave Evans )

Another Massachusetts band, Sebadoh , followed with a performance of Bubble and Scrape , originally released in 1993 and reissued this year by Domino . The album was the last to feature Eric Gaffney, who appeared Friday along with Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein. The band was in very high spirits, cracking jokes and laughing about how, just a day before, they had all been in separate corners of the US. Like a mini Arcade Fire, each member switched instruments and singing duties between nearly every song and you couldn't help but feel like you were suddenly part of something very special.

Public Enemy

(photo by Dave Evans )

Closing out the night was Long Island, New York's Public Enemy , performing their critically acclaimed, 1988 masterwork, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back . The set was "opened" by The Bomb Squad , the production team responsible for the album's beats. Doing their best to warm up the crowd, which by this time had grown rather large, The Bomb Squad seemed to only cause frustration instead, with a performance that went on long after it should have bled into Public Enemy's set. "Two minutes," they said. Two minutes passed. "A minute and a half," they said. Right. Finally, three men you wouldn't dare pick a fight with took to the stage dressed in full Desert Storm apparel. After some synchronized dance stepping, the kind that any real army would probably frown upon, Chuck D took the stage to perform "Bring the Noise" and for the first time of the day, with the crowd cheering in unison, it felt like a festival. Much to Chuck D's disappointment, Flava Flav showed up late, but just in time to join in on Don't Believe the Hype . And just when their momentum was as strong as ever, Flava Flav began plugging his reality show. The inevitable sound of booing that followed didn't sit well with Flav, who responded by saying, "For all of you booing out there, that's something you call your spouse. You call your spouse Boo." Right. After Flav put us all in our place, Public Enemy quickly got back to the music, slowly attempting to rebuild the energy level they'd lost and finally succeeding with Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos . Following the album closer, Party for Your Right to Fight , the band continued playing hits from the rest of their catalogue, despite the 10 pm curfew that had passed. The "hits" included He Got Game and Fight the Power . The "hits" did not include Flava Flav's drum solo.

SEE LOADS MORE PHOTOS FROM DAY ONE AFTER THE JUMP...


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )


(photo by Dave Evans )

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