Ted Leo, Roky Erickson, Meat Puppets Announced For Wicker Park Fest

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 17, 2013 4:30PM

The second wave of acts for Wicker Park Fest July 27-28 were announced and it could serve as a consolation prize for people who didn't purchase tickets to Lollapalooza or aren't going to Pitchfork, if some of the names are an indication.

Here are a few of the announced acts: Hey Champ, Man Man, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Cults, Young General, the Meat Puppets and Roky Erickson. Erickson, especially, has our interest piqued.

Hardcore music fans know his story: Erickson was arrested for possession and pleaded insane to the charge, but his multiple escape attempts led to a transfer to Texas' Rusk State Hospital, where he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and subjected to multiple shock treatments that did render him mentally disabled. It's only been in recent years where proper medical care has allowed Erickson to tour regularly, including an appearance in Chicago at Intonation Music Festival years ago.

If the producers of the fest can improve on crowd control, this could be one of the can't miss events of the summer. It's location on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park leads to a lot of people being penned into a very small space. As much as we'd love to see Erickson and the Meat Puppets live, we won't be packed like sardines doing so.