The Pitchfork Music Festival rolled to a triumphant close yesterday with a much-delayed set by Cut Copy literally stealing the show from the headlining Spoon. A few scheduling changes led to minor confusion between crowds from time-to time, but the organizers did a good job of trying to constantly remind people where they should be and when from the various on-stage announcements delivered by either Tim Tuten or Damon Locks throughout the day. It was......

Ah, the rain. In previous years we've always half jokingly call the Pitchfork Music Festival "Sweatfork" due to the usually oppressive heat, but this year the afternoon storms brought about "Mudfork" and the attendant rise of the mud people. Saturday is usually the most crowded day of the festival and this year was no different, although we must admit we're seeing less and less of the ironic gym suited American Apparel crowd and more and......

The Pitchfork Music Festival kicks off its 2008 edition this weekend at Union Park, and we've been highlighting some of the "can't miss" acts of the weekend on Chicagoist over the next few days. Today we'll tackle eight acts from the sold-out Sunday line-up. But before we do, you should know that Saturday and Sunday are completely sold out and there are only a few walk-up tickets that will be available for tomorrow's show. If......

The Pitchfork Music Festival kicks off its 2008 edition this weekend at Union Park, and we're going to highlight some of the "can't miss" acts of the weekend on Chicagoist over the next few days. Today we'll tackle eight can't-miss acts from the sold-out Saturday line-up. Jarvis Cocker's set is easily one of the most anticipated acts of the entire festival. The archly British ex-frontman of Pulp continues to pen lyricallly rich and glamorously elegant......

The Pitchfork Music Festival kicks off its 2008 edition this weekend at Union Park, and we're going to highlight some of the "can't miss" acts of the weekend on Chicagoist over the next few days. Today we'll tackle the Friday night line-up, filled with nostalgia, brio, blood, sweat, tears, and louder than a Bomb Squad production. Friday is jointly curated by Pitchfork and All Tomorrow's Parties, an organization famous for putting on shows where bands......

Pitchfork announced another batch of acts appearing at its festival in Union Park this summer from July 18 - 20. The biggest hoopla surrounds the news that Mission Of Burma will be performing it's legendary Vs. album in it's entirety on Friday's bill. Other big names include Dinosaur Jr, Jarvis Cocker, and the team-up of Ghostface & Raekwon. Other support includes groups as varied in style as the shiny popsters Apples In Stereo, to the......

If “d-bag” or other words relating to female cleansing products came to your head when you first heard about English opening in the Clark/LaSalle/Ontario corridor, you’re not too far off. The weekends are a sure bet for sceney types and well, so is a Monday after work apparently. So why even go there? If you like that sort of stare-down beautiful people watching, you’re in luck here. If not, stick to the sidewalk patio......

Chicagoist had the foresight to divide the days of the Pitchfork Music Festival amongst ourselves, so as to offer you, the reader, consistent, non-sunburned coverage of as much of the weekend as possible. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the breakfast-slot hits and misses from the past two days: SATURDAY Voxtrot surprised with a buoyant set of danceable candy on Saturday afternoon. On record their synth-pop is passable but not extraordinary,......

We have a confession to make: we've never been to Pitchfork before. Considering the festival's only been going on officially for two years, it's not all that surprising. Still, being music lovers, we wanted to shed the "Pitchfork virgin" connotation and take the plunge. The only other big music fest we've been party to was the Touch & Go 25th anniversary at Hideout last year, along with the occasional street fest. We picked Saturday for......

The air couldn't have felt better in Union Park for the first day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. The format of not having bands play all day the first day was perfect, it's nice to see the headliners sans really full porto-o-potties and there were far less people passed out for you to trip on. Seriously, those people are like land mines. Anyway, we will, of course, be bringing you in depth coverage and reviews......

While most Pitchfork Music Festival coverage will undoubtedly focus on the headliners, we think it would be a shame to not mention our favorite part of the festival: the side stage. The Balance Stage, aka “the tent,” has been our escape at the past two Pitchfork-involved festivals. During the afternoon, much of the Union Park field is full of immobile patrons only half-interested in who’s on the stage, making walking around the festival a mile-long......

Last night Chicagoist was among a few hundred people who attended the Goose Island brewing facilities on West Fulton. The occasion was to celebrate the official launch of their new "312unes" music sponsorship program. The concept behind 312unes is to show continued support of the local rock music scene while simultaneously promoting one of Goose Island's two flagship brands, according to Goose Island marketing director Darrell Jursa. "Goose Island has been supporting local acts for......

Chicagoist didn't want to keep all the techie fun to ourselves so we thought we would share with you that we are heading to Web Ascent tomorrow night at Union Park. Web Ascent is an event that recognizes technology communities and is a perfect place for entrepreneurs, developers, designers, undergraduate and graduate students interested in the Web 2.0 space to mingle. The event is sponsored by one of our favorite blogs, Mashable the world's largest......

Part of an international movement, Chicago’s fourth-annual World Naked Bike Ride is set for this coming Saturday. Check-in will be from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. in Union Park, near 100 N. Ashland, at the statue of former Mayor Carter Henry Harrison, Sr. He would be so proud. The official e-mail announcement arrived in Chicagoist’s mail box today, and warns non-participants and disruptive people will be turned away, suggesting you’re not welcome if you’re just......

As you read this, thousands of people are preparing to march from Union Park to Grant Park, past the Federal Center in the Loop, hoping that they can impress upon the rest of the nation the importance not only of their struggle, but the impact and significance that their lives have had upon our nation. Around the US today, immigration rights activists, immigrants, and yes, natural born Americans, will be carrying American flags in marches......

The rumors had been swirling about who else would play Friday night at the Pitchfork Music Festival and those rumors turned out to be true for Slint and GZA joining up with Sonic Youth to play a full album. We never heard a peep about Saturday’s headliner of Yoko Ono. Love her or hate her, for a myriad of reasons, John Lennon’s widow is quite the accomplishment for Pitchfork’s Fest in July. Ono is more......

This week when emptying our wallet, it’s either the old guys getting back together or the new guys still climbing their way to the top. This is probably scarier visually than it used to be: Heaven and Hell Live with Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Machine Head. We say scarier because we just saw Ronnie James Dio in Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, and we’re not sure we’d want to be in the front......

When it rains, it pours. Greg Kot has some line-up information and ticket prices on his blog over at the Tribune for the Pitchfork Music Festival July 13-15, 2007. Tickets don't go on sale until Monday, so if you missed the cheap Lolla tickets like the rest of us, put that money towards this little festival. Cat Power, Clipse, Of Montreal, and Iron and Wine are a few of the bands that Greg lists as......

Greg Kot drops two scoops in today's Tribune. The Pitchfork Music Festival will return to Chicago's Union Park July 14th and 15th. In addition, Girl Talk will be on the bill. As someone on the Sound Opinions message board said: "Finally, a Girl Talk show I can get into." Girl Talk last appeared in Chicago for a much-anticipated, much-talked about New Year's Eve show at Empty Bottle. Last year's Pitchfork Music Festival was a first......

The Stills return to Chicago this week, and Chicagoist wants you to be there. A brief perusal of the music articles here would reveal a definite bias toward shoegazer pop. We’ve reviewed The Stills in the past and enjoyed their run at the sub-genre thanks to their introspective songs laced with barrelhouse piano, warm horns and the twin threat of the singer/guitarist duo of Tim Fletcher and Dave Hamelin. The band last graced the city......

Man Man is one of those bands that is nearly impossible to describe. Hell, their music is as confusing and dense as music gets without completely falling apart. We’ll be totally honest and admit that we probably couldn’t name a single song off their last disc. But we’ll also be totally honest and tell you these incomprehensible tunes are pure genius and that their live show is a DO NOT MISS kind of experience. Their......

On the seventh day, God rested. While day two of the Pitchfork Music Festival fell upon the (Christian) seventh day, we decided to ignore His advice and attend anyway. Heavy storm clouds gathered earlier in the day, registering His disapproval, but this did not dissuade us from our intent of an early arrival so we could check out this whole Tapes ‘n Tapes thing for ourselves. However, the quickly mounting omnipresent heat did keep us......

As the group Liars droned on with their less-complicated-than-it-looks brand of noise rock, they repeatedly intoned the words “the weather is fierce.” It was a lyrical aside that would define the weather, if not necessarily the atmosphere, of the second Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. Though Pitchfork was instrumental in creating last year’s Intonation festival, a split with some of last year’s organizers led to two separate events this summer. So the site......

Approximately 17,000 indie rock fans now have tans thanks to the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. With temps in the 90s all day long and plenty of humidity radiating off the bodies of a sold-out crowd, Day One was a sweat-filled celebration of some of the best indie rock has to offer, including Chicago groups like Hot Machines and Chin Up Chin Up. Many attendees lined up to enter the park as......

Folks, it’s going to be hot out there this weekend. If you’re out and about, drink water. Take breaks. Wear loose-fitting natural fabrics for God’s sake. You do not want to end up having to check yourself into the hospital, what with some people going out of their way to give “heat exhaustion” a bad name. Much of Chicagoist will be braving the elements out at Union Park this weekend, but the siren call of......

This weekend brings us the music festival we’ve really been looking forward to. We had so much fun at last year’s Pitchfork-curated Intonation Festival, and we’re pleased to see the group has decided to forgo any partnerships this time around and run the whole shebang by themselves. And, honestly, isn’t that better? We now get two cool indie rock fests a year instead of just one! Anyway, Chicagoist is going to be all over this......

After baking in the sun all day Saturday, we have some recaps from Intonation’s Day One where the acts ranged from funk to rap to plain old rock and beyond. First, a shout out to the Vice Stage performers for keeping it all about the herb! From Erase Errata’s lead singer Jenny announcing her desire for some after their set to Devin the Dude’s beautiful melodies extolling weed's virtures in the songs “Mo Fa Me”......

Holy crap, we're tired. Day One of the 2006 Intonation Music Festival has come and gone and after a full day's rockin' out at Union Park, we're ready for a nap. No major craziness or incidents to report (though we did see one jackass get escorted out by security for disobeying the no-pushing-your-way-up-to-the-front rule). So far, the fest has gained diversity thanks to a mixture of indie rock, hip-hop, metal and pop but lost a......

While Chicagoist plans on spending 24 of the 48 hours this weekend out at Intonation, allow us to put forth the hypothesis that this might be the perfect weekend for the live show novice to hit up a local club or two. We’ve gotten all Miss Manners on the subject of Live Show Jackasses before, but we’re also advocates of the Show No Fear mentality. All those clubs you’re intimidated by, be they of the......

(Editor’s Note: Are you an out-of-towner preparing to make the trek to Chicago this summer and wondering how to spend your time? Then download Act Like You've Been Here Before: The Chicagoist Guide To Chicago, a compendium of the Chicagoist staff’s tips for getting around Chicago and our favorite places in the city to eat, drink, shop and rock) in convenient PDF form. Perhaps it’s not surprising that the lion’s share of the press about......