Greg Kot, of your Chicago Tribune, has done a fine job of summing up my underwhelming concert-going experience at the opening night of the Pitchfork Fest with All Tomorrow's Parties:[Slint] works through its disquieting, meticulously arranged songs with the look of condemned prisoners about to be led to the gallows. Their claustrophobic songs are allergic to sunshine; they’re more suited to a quiet, dimly lit room. ***Some free advice for future concert promoters:
[T]he sound mix [for GZA] is poor for those of us farther back. *** [I]t’s reduced to a thump and a bump in Union Park, the backbeat for a party. Except “Liquid Swords” is anything but a party album. It’s creepy, in an utterly nuanced, carefully detailed sort of way. Like “Spiderland,” it sounds best oozing out of headphones in a basement, not booming outdoors over a dodgy sound system. ***
Sonic Youth rolls into “Teen Age Riot,” the first track from its 1988 double-album, “Daydream Nation.” The chords bring a cheer from the crowd, but the sound is muted, and the energy quickly dims. Dissatisfied, frustrated, and ticked off that what I see on stage is not translating through the speakers, I work my way from the north end of the field to the south side, and finally to the side of the stage. This should be much, much louder
Bad Sound = Bad Concert
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