Pitchfork Invades Union Park Once More

Now in its fourth year, the Pitchfork Music Festival is set to once again give independent music lovers something to look forward to this summer. Offering a large number of indie music’s best and brightest acts at a great price, Pitchfork Fest seeks to give fans an affordable and positive experience for a few days in July in Chicago’s Union Park. Having gone to the previous two year’s events, I can say from experience that the festival is some of the most fun one can have in Chicago during the summer. The food is cheap, the music is great, and the atmosphere is quintessentially summer. In 2007, the festival expanded to three days, and featured legendary acts performing their classic albums in their entirety on the first night, and then two days of bands playing non-stop from noon until late in the evening. The same format was used for last year’s festival, but this year, the first night will instead feature classic acts performing set lists voted on by attendees. Anyone who buys a ticket receives a link to vote for what they want to opening bands to play. Want Built to Spill to play “Car?” Are you dying to hear The Jesus Lizard do “Mouth Breather”? Well now you have a say in the matter. Tortoise and Yo La Tengo are also playing the opening night. The other two days will stick to the tried and true non-stop format of previous years, and even in its partial (but slowly growing) form, the list is looking awesome. With heavy-hitters from recent years like M83, Grizzly Bear, and The National, and excellent up and comers from the past few months like Wavves, The Very Best, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, among many others, both days promise to be fantastic. Plus, The Flaming Lips are closing the festival on Sunday night, which as anyone who has seen them will testify, is worth the festival’s $75 three day admission price alone. This year’s festival takes place from July 17^th to the 19^th, and tickets can be purchased on TicketWeb.