Pitchfork partway

The Pitchfork Music Festival, which is going down July 17 through 19 this year, has just released a teaser lineup, which looks like this:

 

Friday: “Write the Night: Set Lists by Request”
Built to Spill
The Jesus Lizard
Yo La Tengo
Tortoise

 

The “Write the Night” thing replaces the “Don’t Look Back” shows Pitchfork has had on Friday nights for the past couple years. The gimmick here isn’t that the artists will each be performing an entire classic album front to back–instead fans get to write the bands’ set lists. People who buy tickets in advance–a good idea, considering that past fests have sold out–get a confirmation e-mail that also contains a link to a Web page where they can vote on what songs they want to hear from Friday’s acts.

 

As I see it the big question here is whether, even in the privacy of their own homes, the bands’ more pretentious fans will turn their noses up at “obvious” selections or whether people are going to get down to it and just put “Car” on Built to Spill’s list like it’s supposed to be.

 

For the record, my friends and I who were at the BLK JKS show the other night are willing to put money down that they will be the festival’s token “international” act. Let us know if you want in.