Intonation Annotation

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 12, 2005 2:41PM

Pitchfork Media, that doyenne of indie rock criticism, kicks off the first Intonation Music Festival this Saturday with one of the most distinguished lineups of bands you’ve probably never heard of in your entire life. We know many of you have been losing your shit for weeks over the chance to see artists like A.C. Newman, The Go! Team, Broken Social Scene, and the Decemberists share the same bill and have also been giving the developments from Pitchfork HQ the sort of attention usually reserved for the Zapruder film, but the majority of concertgoers in Chicago are either woefully ignorant of this weekend’s Union Park goings-on or can’t work up the enthusiasm to care.

Admit it: you wouldn’t have it any other way, would you? Thought so.

This is the first year for the fest so there will be some inevitable growing pains for organizers; it would be unrealistic to expect that nothing will go wrong. The biggest difference between Intonation and other weekend festivals is that this one is put together by people who spend their lives going to shows so they’ve made it as audience-friendly as possible. Well, almost.

Chicago's Innerview has the lowdown on all the bands playing Intonation and you can click here to find out how to get to Union Park, the location of the festivities. Though two-day passes are no longer available, day-long passes can still be purchased on-site each day for $15—about what you’d pay to see just one of these bands in a club (the box office opens each dy at 10:30 AM).

With two alternating stages, you won’t have to worry about missing your favorite acts and the setup will allow you to position yourself so you can see both stages without moving during the day (though the map below indicates that getting close enough to be bathed in Andrew Bird’s sweat will take some doing on your part). Despite their site's national profile, Pitchfork keeps a local spin with five Chicago acts (Head of Femur, Tortoise, The M’s, Pelican, Mr. Bird), many of whom will perform on Saturday. With the addition of WLUW’s famous record fair and a kids area, it’s hard to quibble with Intonation’s programming.

The only grumblings heard about Intonation have been about its organization. First, no re-entry will be allowed, which is odd considering the event is held in a public park. Though there is a picnic area, no outside food or beverage or containers of any kind will be allowed in the concert area, which means anyone planning to picnic better be planning to drive and vegans should consider fasting for the day as none of the vendors appears to offer options for them (unless Tomato Head has a cheeseless pizza). While we’re sure the Intonation folks will be happy to sell you water on that day, the decision to prohibit concertgoers from bringing their own could turn out to be their one regret.

Chicagoist will be attending (and covering) both days of Intonation and we’re fully expecting to end the day impressed—if not a little thirsty.

UPDATE: Organizers of Intonation Music Fest will be appearing on Sound Opinions on WXRT 93.1 this evening at 10 PM. Perhaps lingering questions about the re-entry and water policies will be answered at this time.

Here's the full schedule, site map, and a list of prohibited items.

Saturday, July 16:
1:00 Head of Femur
1:30 Pelican
2:00 The M's
2:45 A.C. Newman
3:30 Magnolia Electric Co.
4:30 Four Tet
5:30 Broken Social Scene
6:30 The Go! Team
7:20 Prefuse 73
8:00 Death From Above 1979
9:00 Tortoise

DJ Stage-presented by Biz3
3:30 Laurent from Pelican
5:30 Will Oldham/Jean Grae
7:30 Will Oldham/Jean Grae

Sunday, July 17:
1:00 Thunderbirds Are Now!
1:30 Dungen
2:00 Xiu Xiu
2:45 Out Hud
3:30 The Hold Steady
4:30 Andrew Bird
5:30 Deerhoof
6:30 The Wrens
7:30 Les Savy Fav
8:30 The Decemberists

DJ Stage-presented by Biz3
3:30 Reine from Dungen
5:30 El-P/James McNew
7:30 Diplo

Not allowed:
• Alcoholic beverages, cans and bottles
• Food and beverage items
• Recording devices
• Professional cameras
• Video equipment
• Lounge and elevated chairs (collapsing folding chairs ok)
• Laser pointers
• No hard or soft coolers
• Any type of container

Images: Pitchfork Media