Day 2
Day two, Saturday, was a scorcher in Chicago, aka the perfect summer day for a music festival. The initial chaos of day one had sorted its self out which allowed for much happier people and an amped up vibe.
For us the day started off with Francis and the Lights dancetastic – Phil Collin’s vibing set. The synth driven, erratic dance move performance had Francis sliding back and forth across the Blue Stage while the overflowing audience swayed along. Aside from clearly being fashun goals for everyone, Francis sang, danced, and climbed all over the place. Only once stopping the flow of the performance so he could climb DOWN from the tree he had gotten himself up in. Dude!
From there, badass rocker boss Angel Olsen strutted on stage in a super cute onesie short set while her baby blue suited up band jammed along. She managed to keep her cool and look flawless as she performed under the glaring sun on the mainstage. A trick very few can confidently do.
With the headliners for Saturday being the legendary A Tribe Called Quest, the festival programmers started to lay the ground work for that ol’school vibe with a soulful set from producer extraordinaire Madlib. Rocked a solo dj set of untapped classics and solid bangers the crowd was working towards that feel good hip hop vibe.
From their things got stranger, well not really, but electronic quartet SURVIVE, best known for their retro vibing ambient compositions of Netflix’s Stranger Things took to the Blue Stage. Taking everyone on an eerie and sonic trip to the upside down world, made all the more… strange but the abundance of sleepy trees surrounding the Blue Stage.
As the sun fully set, 19ooo people made their way to the main stage for the Saturday headliners, A Tribe Call Quest. Taking to the stage Q-Tip shouted “We ain’t got no disco balls or that shit,” a reference to the previous evening, instead it was a simply Q-Tip, DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad and a mic and stand for Phife Dawg, who passed away last year. Featuring very little visuals, other than old photos of the group, the focus was clearly meant to be on the music.
Acknowledging that this was one of their “first performance without Phife,” the set was meant to please. Featuring a nonstop bombardment of hits from the new album, previous albums and even some solo tracks. Because it was Chicago, Consequence shouted out Kanye before launching into his verse from Ye’s “Spaceship.” This may not seem like much but Consequence was one of the first artists signed to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music, but never released an album and eventually left the label. So it was refreshing to see that there was no bad blood, at least for one night.
The set also featured a beatboxing session from Q-Tip before leading into “Bonita Applebum.” By the time the set was over, ending with “We the People…” off last year’s We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service the crowd was energized and moved! It was a remarkable thing to be apart of.
