OMG. OMG. That's really all I can say. I can die a happy woman now. Last night I had the rare opportunity to see one of my all-time favorite groups perform -- a group I never thought I would ever get a chance to see.
Public Enemy was in the house last night at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. Not only have they not played together in the States in years (YEARS!) but this was also the first, time they have played their iconic album (now celebrating its 20th anniversary) "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back," in its entirety, track for track, exactly. (They apparently have been playing this album in Canada and elsewhere to celebrate the anniversary, but in most concerts it appears the tracks are done out of order).
This was so rare an occurance that Chuck D tossed out a couple of pieces of trivia, such as the fact that the band hadn't played "Terminator X" since the famous DJ retired in 1998, and had never played, I think it was "Mind Terrorist" (or was it "Louder than a Bomb"?) in concert ever before this tour.
Amazing. Unbelievable. Even though both of these guys are pushing 50 they were jumping around the stage and rocking out like 1988 was yesterday. Totally not lipsynched - they brought it and delivered what I believe was the best PE show I could have asked for, despite some of the Pitchfork sound issues (not PE's fault).
Even though I was sad Terminator X wasn't present, DJ Lord did an amazing job on the turntables, and they had a great live drummer to back it up. Flavor Flav even rocked out a drum beat -- pretty good!
They went way over their time limit, busting into a general PE concert after finishing the album. Totally worth my money, and it caught my breath to finally get a chance to see them after having listened to their music for the 21 years of their existence - buying all their tapes and wearing them out.
By the way, I've got killer Flavor Flav moves that I've cultivated over the years. You can see them if you ask nicely. :)
