A busy weekend of music kicked off in Chicago on Friday.

While the Beyhive is getting busy for Beyonce to take over Soldier Field Saturday and Sunday, Pitchfork Music Festival got underway at Union Park in the West Loop, with lots of sunshine and pleasant chills, a welcome change from last year’s rainsoaked fest.

While crowds were a slow build early in the afternoon, the swarm of Radiohead T-shirts indicated throngs would likely soon be assembling for The Smile, Friday night’s headliner featuring the beloved Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood (joined by Tom Skinner to round out the trio).

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Now in year 17, Pitchfork organizers know their brand well by this point, and have stuck with a winning formula for the fest’s 2023 edition, offering a highly curated potpourri of diverse artists, a mix of the well-established, and the and up-and-comers.

There’s also a constant (and refreshing) heavy emphasis on local Chicago talent, the fest paying their own homegrown roots forward.

Here are some highlights from Day 1 of the festival:

Sen Morimoto

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Sen Morimoto was born in Kyoto, Japan, eventually made his way to Massachusetts and now lives in Chicago, marking a decade in the city, as he told the supportive crowd toward the end of his afternoon set.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play on this stage,” he said, sharing that he’d been coming to Pitchfork’s annual affair for the past 12 years, though formerly he could be found selling vinyl in the onsite Chirp Record Fair. Today, Morimoto is co-owner of Irving Park’s Sooper Records, the imprint that’s also gearing up to co-release his new album “Diagnosis” on November 3.

Morimoto unleashed the title track for the penultimate song in his set, showcasing a deeper, if not angrier, more voluminous artist. He’s long been known for beautifully merging jazz and hip-hop with an arsenal of instrumentation (including his prowess on the saxophone, which he played at the fest with pure passion). And also for inviting some of Chicago’s best to join him. That included local R&B singer and frequent collaborator KAINA who joined in for backup vocals on Friday, adding to a six-member-deep backing band.

Hearing the new tracks, it’s clear Morimoto is ramping up the material from artsy to undeniably attention-grabbing. “Diagnosis” is one strong example, with its brutal horn breakdown.

There was also some levity in Morimoto’s set like a jazzy take on Cher’s “Believe,” joking he had just written the song earlier in the day. And the track “Wolf,” whose lyrics talk about crying so loud that the dog starts barking. “I’ve never had a dog,” Morimoto divulged. It’s the exact mix of sardonic sass and eclectic ear you’d expect from a record store junkie.

Morimoto plays an aftershow at Schuba’s on Saturday night where his nuanced sound will no doubt come even more alive.

Grace Ives

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“I really need a band,” Grace Ives said toward the end of her Friday summer afternoon set on the Red Stage. “Who wants to join? Try outs are tonight at the hotel.”

The DIY Brooklyn artist said what most were thinking as Ives spent a lot of time tinkering with her Korg and laptop, the only real “personnel” joining her on stage for the 50-minute performance.

Though Ives had enough confidence and booming pipes to fill the stage, some of the dead air time and shaping her setlist on the fly left a bit to be desired, with even her improv comedic side not able to save her improv showmanship. (This is someone who began her career with an EP of remade nursery rhymes.) “All my songs are so short, this is a real challenge,” she told the crowd.

To be fair, the one-on-one relationship is how Ives built a following that has grasped on to her bedroom-made electronic pop as a sort of needed realism in the crowded field of flashy Top 40 stars. The one-woman show may have gotten her to this point, but it will be interesting to see just how much farther Ives can go if she, in fact, brings on backing support.

Ives opened with “Isn’t It Lovely,” from her acclaimed 2022 album “Janky Star,” her own vocal acrobatics filling in the gaps of instrumentation and rounding out the percussive beats on looped tracks. “Loose” was another prime example of her writing talent, giving off hints of Swedish singer-songwriter Robyn, though she’s also often compared to Charli XCX. That’s partly the handiwork of her “Janky Star” record producer Justin Raisen who’s also helmed work from Charli as well as Sky Ferreira and Yves Tumor.

Though Ives warned the crowd she fell off the stage at her Pitchfork pre-show at Sleeping Village on Thursday night and had to take it easy, she didn’t take her own advice, careening across the stage, throwing fists in the air and even at points spilling her Gatorade over her mixing materials.

Her greatest moment may have come from ad hoc version of “Blitzkreig Bop.”

“I don’t know the words,” she said, so naturally she made them up, with one phrase begging, “taking me to see Barbie.”

More to come...