July 16th, 2012 
The Pitchfork Music Festival was one of the best, and wettest, festivals this summer. Though the festival was washed out for most of the weekend, thousands of music fans braved the rain to see the dozens of acts on the bill. The festival had a comfortable vibe, with ample room to walk around and local vendors selling their wares. Helpful volunteers assisted concertgoers and up-and-coming artists like Flying Lotus were entertaining, but the main attraction for many was rock group Wild Flag. The all-female supergroup has been lauded as one of the greatest rock groups out today. Their performance backed up the hype.
Wild Flag at the 7th Anuual Pitchfork Music Festival (Photo Credit: heavemedia.com)
Wild Flag took the stage ready to rock. Carrie Brownstein led the group’s blistering set with raucous song after raucous song. The band tore through songs like “Glass Tambourine” with a fervor that was infectious. The crowd was dancing along to the songs and cheered every riff the band played. The driving guitars of Brownstein and Mary Timony blended well with the crashing drums of Janet Weiss and melodic keyboard of Rebecca Cole.
Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss at Pitchfork Music Festival (Photo Credit: fromgotowhoa.com)
Brownstein took time to banter with the crowd and showed some of the humor she displays as star of the IFC comedy “Portlandia”. She joked that they recorded their whole album in the rain, so the rain before the festival didn’t bother them.
Thankfully, the clouds parted and the sun came out while they played a nine-minute jam verison of ” Racehorse” and a cover of 70′s punk band Television’s “See No Evil”. At the end of the show, Brownstein showed off her famous riffs and windmill moves while harmonizing with the rest of the band. Wild Flag played ” Romance” as the closing song for their too-short set. The audience was just as energized at the end of the set as the band was.
Weiss said in an interview that Wild Flag’s music isn’t like the popular acoustic folk-rock on rock radio today. “Our music doesn’t give you a hug,” she said. Indeed, Wild Flag’s music doesn’t give you a hug–it shakes your shoulders and makes you want to dance and sing along at the top of your lungs.
