The Feel

When I first walked into SoundTown, I was met with a lot of space–a ton of wide-open, green space. I was overwhelmed by the emptiness and wondered where all the people were. There were a few tents in the middle with food and a couple more with art and t-shirts. It was nothing at all like Pitchfork, where half the place is devoted to local art and food vendors. I felt a little more at ease at Soundtown, though, because they had working toilets that hadn’t been peed on by a guy day-drunk on Sparks.

Bottom-line: There was nowhere to hide at SoundTown. The open space did not allow for smuggled goods to be consumed in comfort. Plus, the bathroom stalls didn’t lock, so every time I used them, I had to make sure I looked really important and cool to whomever walked in on me. That’s hard to do while squatting.

Winner: Pitchfork

The Crowd

The crowd at SoundTown was much calmer and less “hipster” than at Pitchfork. Whenever I go to Pitchfork, I feel like it’s a fashion competition that I’m losing. No one cared at SoundTown; people walked over from their campsites in sweatpants, and they looked happy and comfy. Apart from looks, there was an overwhelming amount of love and appreciation for each other and the music; nobody was fighting for a chance to be up front, and no matter who was on stage, there was room to move and let your sweat dry out. If you wanted to be up front grinding to Sims, the crowd respected that and let you in with a “thumbs-up.” If you wanted your body to be painted in glitter, you were only a few connections away from making it happen. If you wanted to hug a guy in a banana suit, he welcomed it. Another plus is that the hilly nature of Somerset’s grounds made it hard for lawn chair pow-wows to form; Pitchfork is notorious for those kinds of concert-goers.

Bottom-line: SoundTown is Minnesota Nice. Also, no one’s judging you if you’re wearing New Balance tennis shoes instead of Chucks.

Winner: SoundTown

Magic Bus Hot Dog. Mmmm.

The Food

I love to eat, but more importantly, I love to eat when I’m listening to music. SoundTown let me down in the edible goods department. Not only did food items have “ticket” amounts, but they had unrealistic ticket “prices.” Ten dollars got you ten tickets, but if you wanted a pulled-pork arepa for seven tickets, you were left with three, which couldn’t get you much. Apart from the ticket situation, there were really only a handful of options. I ended up sharing four baskets of cheese curds the second day because they were cheap and reliable. Pitchfork, on the other hand, is a foodie’s dream come true. There’s an entire street of back-to-back vendors, which includes everything from vegan ice cream to samosas.

Bottom-line: SoundTown is not a food town. I’m not sure if they were compensating for the fact that people would be cooking their own food at their campsite or just not prepared for hungry music lovers. For those of us not camping, we need more options. The 10-12 hours of music a day covered all of my meal times, and what I ate was far from “balanced.”

Winner: Pitchfork

The Drinks

As far as beer goes, I’ll drink whatever they’ve got at the festival because I have no other choice. (But when Pitchfork went from Goose Island to Heineken, my heart sank into the muddy ground.) SoundTown impressed me with their wide array of options. Not only did they have 3-5 kinds of Summit beer on tap depending on your watering hole, they also had UV Vodka mixed drinks and shots. The beer and vodka were the same price as a glass of shitty beer at Pitchfork, 5 tickets or $5. After blowing through all my cash, I discovered that a VIP pass would have gotten me unlimited, free booze. Lucky for me, I had a couple of friends with VIP wristbands who graciously kept me hydrated.

Bottom-line: If you’re listening to music outside on a beautiful day, you want to be drinking. Most importantly, you want to enjoy what you’re drinking. If you didn’t have a full bar back at your campsite, you could rest assured knowing that there’d be something worth drinking inside the festival.

Winner: SoundTown

Okkervil River.

The Music

Pitchfork didn’t start out “amazing,” but it’s hard to compare what it is now with SoundTown. In SoundTown’s first year, though, they did an excellent job of acquiring multiple genres and organizing them between three stages. SoundTown had a few blips when their smaller Metromix stage was overpowered by the Mainstage. As I sat on the grass trying to enjoy some family-friendly steel guitar, all I could hear was the booty-bouncing rhymes of Slick Rick. Pitchfork, though a smaller area, manages to separate the stages and effectively layer their shows so one does not interrupt another. With SoundTown having ample land, I’m uncertain why they placed two small stages next to each other and then scheduled overlapping sets.

Bottom-line: For it’s first year, SoundTown had a pretty stellar line-up, including headliners like Devotchka and The Flaming Lips. However, Pitchfork has outdoor festivals a little more figured out in terms of stage placement and set times.

Winner: Tie

Getting There and Staying There

The big draw about SoundTown is that it’s a camping festival. All the city kids have been dying for something like this that didn’t feature “Randy Travis” as a headliner. The camping option allowed for sneaking back to your tent for a quick shot of whiskey and kept the party going til well after the last show. If you didn’t camp, the drive was easy and short from Minneapolis. However, if you were from way out of town, scoring a hotel in Somerset, WI was probably tough. The only thing I saw was a shady one-level motel next to a liquor store. The downside to driving was that parking cost $10 a day, and if you were drinking, you had to be sober by midnight because they kicked you out. I can’t vouch for the “VIP showering facilities,” but everyone looked and smelled very clean the second day.

Pitchfork, on the other hand, is a gruesome drive. Once you get there, you either need to live in Chicago, know someone in Chicago, or drop $200+ a night on a hotel room. After going for several years, I still don’t have a good way of doing it; I’ve stayed in a shady hotel, taken the Metra from a suburb, and stayed in a hostel. Also, if you didn’t bring your bike, it’s gonna be tough getting around. The line for the L at Ashland is ridiculous after the last show, and the walk is a long one back to any hotel. Parking is usually easy to find but risky (and not very hip).

Bottom-line: The camping is the icing on the cake for SoundTown, and it’s nearly impossible for Pitchfork to add that as a feature. Even if they somehow managed to add camping, my experiences with their Port-A-Potties would keep me away.

Winner: SoundTown

Neil of Koo Koo Kangaroo, Bombarded with Flaming Lips balloons.

Overall Experience

I enjoy Pitchfork because it’s crowded, noisy, and provides me with the ultimate people-watching experience. I love it for its credibility, the sweet swag I can win, and all the famous people from Twitter I might see there. However, SoundTown appealed to me because I knew lots of people from home, had room to move around, and could watch every show from a prime location. (Somerset’s hills are amazing for when you’re feeling particularly lazy.) My only mistake this year was not investing in a VIP camping pass. I was trying to save myself money when, in reality, I could have had free parking, free booze, and free food. I hope SoundTown is around next year for me to give it another try. Meanwhile, I’ll always be an amateur at Pitchfork. VIP is only if you’re actually cool, which, apparently, can’t be bought.

Bottom-line: VIP is the way to be.

Winner: SoundTown

–Heidi Thomasoni

(All photos by Heidi Thomasoni.)