The 2022 edition of Pitchfork Festival got off to a soggy start on Friday (7/15) in Chicago's Union Park. The National headlined day one of the festival, playing their first US show since 2019 to kick off their summer tour. They included plenty of favorites from throughout their discography, including "Mr. November," "Terrible Love," "Fake Empire," "Pink Rabbits," "Slow Show," "Mistaken for Strangers," and "Bloodbuzz Ohio," as well as two new songs they recently debuted live: "Ice Machines" and "Tropic Morning News (Haversham)." See their setlist, and fan-taken video of the new songs, below.
Earlier in the day, Arooj Aftab kicked off the festival, accompanied by Gyan Riley on guitar and Darian Donovan Thomas on violin, with a beautiful, otherworldly set. Tkay Maidza couldn't make it because of visa issues, but Friday also featured Ethel Cain, Spirit of the Beehive, Wiki, Monaleo, SPELLLING (who enchanted with a theatrical set pulling from her most recent album, The Turning Wheel), Indigo De Souza, Tierra Whack (whose high-energy set got the crowd moving), Camp Cope (who sounded fantastic as a four-piece and who spoke out agains the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, adding lyrics addressing abortion access to "The Opener," which ended their set), Parquet Courts, Dawn Richard, Spiritualized, and Amber Mark. See pictures from the whole day by James Richards IV below.