Fucked Up @ Pitchfork Music Festival 2009
From start to finish, Fucked Up’s set was a blur of sparkling eloquence. Psych. Vocalist Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham chewed on beach balls, strolled shirtless through the crowd and made fun of other bands on the festival’s bill. As Kip Berman of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart later recalled, “We got some good advice from Fucked Up. They said to sound more like Weezer.”
In all fairness, Pink Eyes later teased his own band as well, making fun of Mike “10,000 Marbles” Haliechuk’s inability to grow a beard—everything remained in good spirits though. Kicking things off (fully clothed) with “Son the Father” from last year’s album The Chemistry of Common Life, the band later broke out other Chemistry songs such as “Magic Word,” “No Epiphany,” and (personal favorite) “Crooked Head.” The only issue that plagued the set was Pink Eyes’ continually blown-out vocals. The band stayed tight throughout (Fucked Up’s members had fun messing with each other also, Josh “Concentration Camp” Zucker kicked out bassist Sandy “Mustard Gas” Miranda’s cord on at least one occasion) and kept up with Pink Eyes’ usual sporadic behavior and refreshing jokes, “Do you like sports? I don’t. I used to wear my shirt like this in gym class because I thought it made me look less fat.”
The only downer from the set was watching the festival’s only (?) ambulance pull through the crowd as a guitar was rumored to have rammed someone in the face. How it happened, or even if it happened, I don’t know—either way it took away from the awesome power that the band had just showcased.
[Review by Chris DeLine, photos by Jon Behm.]
