This is a good summer to be a music fan in Chicago since three major festivals have made it their home. (Hooray for being centrally located!) Pitchfork's kickass-looking festival is still to come followed by the unstoppable behemoth of Lollapalooza (protest all you will, just out that lineup). The weekend kicked it all off with Intonation. Stevie covered it really well at her blog, so I won't double up. Suffice it to say that I'd like to back everything she said about Sparks and that while I really wish I'd stayed for Bloc Party, I was very, very sleepy. Also, here's a picture I took of Robert Pollard. (You can tell I took it since I'm tall enough not to get other concertgoers' heads in the frame.)
Oh, Pollard. I don't know if he makes me happy or sad these days. He's still chasing that rock and roll dream and he's got a really good band to make it come true. But if everyone else feels the way I do, so much of the personal connection to the music has drifted away over the years. It's all big riffs now and variations on the same songs. Nothing tender and unexpected like "Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory." I guess I'm mostly glad he's still out there, god bless him, striking perfect rock and roll poses while his entourage mouths the words to the new songs his audience hasn't bothered to learn.
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