Guided By Voices brought their seemingly never ending “Classic Lineup” reunion tour to the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago Friday. Although the festival setting limited them to a short, 45 minute set, apparently it wasn’t without many highlights, including a dream pairing when the inimitable Neko Case set in on tambourine and backup vocals during set opener “Echoes Myron.” Gotta admit, my eyes got a little moist just reading about it. Pretty sure I’d have lost it completely had I been there.
For the record, while surprise collaborations like this represent pretty much everything that can be so wonderful about seeing a band in a festival setting, the downside is a lot of the spectators are more tourists as you can tell by all the side conversations you pick up in these clips. As such, the performances often lack the intensity and focus of a great club gig in front of a couple hundred of the faithful.
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