It’s Saturday, July 17, 2010, and scorching day two of the Pitchfork Music Festival. Attendance is up considerably today, and with the extra bodies have come a few minor problems.

Orange dirt being kicked up into the air from Union Park’s baseball infields has been a minor but consistent annoyance, not helped by a handful of beer swilling pricks stomping in it, kicking it up and coating everyone’s sweaty bodies in the stuff. Dirt aside, the park is staying remarkably clean, but the grounds crew have been stretched to capacity by the larger crowd, and it shows here and there, mostly in the form of water bottles discarded by people who apparently missed the point of both the music and the festival (making me think back a little more kindly on Isaac Brock’s comments yesterday), but the issue has been far from prevalent.

Anywhere with shade has been filled since opening by families and groups of friends who have put down blankets or just gathered around in circles, relaxing and enjoying the shows from a distance. There’s less room to sprawl today, but people are still being cool and making room for each other. The tattooed, gum-chewing freaks of Chicago (my people) are more in evidence today, seemingly taking the place of most of the posturing peacocks from yesterday. Unnatural hair colors and inked skins abound, adding a little spice to the ironic t-shirt clad milieu.

Alright, enough of that. You guys who aren’t here don’t care about dirt or shade or empty water bottles, so onto the bands!

Titus Andronicus put on a hell of a show. They were clearly having a grand time in spite of the brutal heat, and had great rapport and engagement with the crowd. Singer Patrick Stickles sounded a bit hoarse when he talked, but it wasn’t noticeable when he sang, and he was certainly not letting it stop or even slow him down. When I asked around at the end of the night most agreed with me that they were one of the best performances of the day and of the festival so far.

Raekwon had some technical difficulties at the start of his set. He tried to blame it on the stage setup, but it sure sounded like it was his DJ whose gear was taking a little time off (explain to me how a runaway beat that your DJ is scrambling to shut off on a laptop while the crowd starts to boo is the fault of the stage, Raekwon, c’mon). Either way, he didn’t let it put much of a damper on things, busting into freestyle at one point and keeping the crowd entertained while they got things sorted over the first three songs, after which it was smooth sailing with the crowd rapping along with the classics and raising their hands in the Wu-Tang W even after The Chef left the stage.

I wasn’t too familiar with Wolf Parade before their set today, but their albums are now at the top of my to-buy list. They weren’t engaging like Titus Andronicus, nor fun like LCD Soundsystem later, but they really caught and held the audience’s attention with sheer earnestness. They seemed glad to be there, but were clearly there more to play than to perform, a vitally important distinction. They were focused tightly on their music, easily bringing the crowd into their serious and beautiful world over the course of the set. There are many ways to approach your music, and many ways to engage your listeners, and Wolf Parade’s unusually serious, music-centric approach kept me and the thousands of others enthralled. Music could use more bands like them.

Next up was some more serious music, but it didn’t work as well this time. Panda Bear just doesn’t play well from a stage, or at least not this stage. The music is too intimate, too subtle, too droning, too trance inducing. I enjoy his music a great deal, alone in my room with some killer headphones on, but that gentle, personal experience doesn’t work well when your sweat is mingling with that of the fourteen people pressed against you in a crowd five digits in size.

LCD Soundsystem, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, put on a great show, effortlessly turning the park into one huge dance club during their time on stage. They were into the music they played, and they were into the crowd they had dancing. They were the most high energy act so far at the festival. From the front row through the press of bodies to the very boundaries of the park, they had people jumping and gyrating. In thousands up front or in twos and threes way back under the trees, the bodies were moving. Robyn’s spunky pop and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion insistently playing as if they were still relevant couldn’t touch the intensity pouring off LCD’s stage. One of the highlights of the day, to say the least.

Some came to see Raekwon, some Panda Bear, some LCD Soundsystem, but the one thing every person I’ve talked to so far has said is that they’ve had a great time. What more can I say?