Chicago Festival Hopper

Metronome Celebration Update

2009-04-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

The lineup for the inaugural Metronome Celebration is coming into focus. In addition to the previously announced rock stage (June 6: John Vanderslice, Here We Go Magic, others) we now know the lineups for the two main stages on Sunday June 7.

BLUE GRASS AND BLUES STAGE
Justin Townes Earle
Ezra Furman and the Harpoons
The Giving Tree Band
The Right Now
Majors Junction
Jaik Willis

PUNK STAGE
Deals Gone Bad
The Methadones
The Effigies
The Del Moroccos
Prizzy Prizzy Please

Still to be announced, the lineups for Saturday's Electro Stage and both days local stage.

Metronome Celebration update

2009-04-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

The inaugural Metronome Celebration will feature stages curated by the Congress Theater, the Empty Bottle, Chicago Bluegrass and Blues, and MPShows.com. The Empty Bottle has revealed the list of bands playing the Southsider Rock Stage on Saturday, June 6:

1:00 Rock Plaza Central
2:30 Turbo Fruits
4:00 Kid Congo Powers
5:30 Apostle of Hustle
7:00 Here We Go Magic
8:30 John Vanderslice

The festival will take place June 6 and 7 on Milwaukee at Armitage and Western.

Dillo Day Update

2009-04-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot this one!

Northwestern University's annual Dillo Day will return to the campus on Saturday, May 30. EMI has confirmed that the Decemberists will headline this year's festivities. Also, according to the website for Billionaire Boys Club, Pharrell Williams' clothing line, N.E.R.D. will also perform at the event. N.E.R.D. will also play a similar show at DePaul on May 29.

Dillo Day is only open to Northwestern students. But only sort of.

Pitchfork Music Festival Update

2009-04-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Pitchfork Music Festival will return to Union Park this summer on July 17-19. Pitchfork has been dreadfully slow at revealing this year's artists. Here's what we know so far.

FRIDAY
Built to Spill
Yo La Tengo
The Jesus Lizard
Tortoise

SATURDAY
The National
Pharoahe Monch
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

SUNDAY
The Flaming Lips
Grizzly Bear
The Walkmen
Vivian Girls

Somewhere between 40 and 45 bands are expected to be on the lineup. We are expecting further artists to be revealed on Friday...but that's just a hunch.

The festival will open on Friday evening at 6:00. The four bands listed for Friday are the complete lineup. Each of these bands will play a set chosen by concert attendees.

Tickets are available through TicketWeb.

Do-Division Update

2009-04-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Headliners have been announced for the 2009 Do-Division Festival. This block party takes place on May 30 and 31 on Division Street at the corner of Damen Avenue.

SATURDAY
7PM Handsome Furs
8:30 Flosstradamus

SUNDAY
7PM White Rabbits
8:30 Menomena

I have to admit that I am ecstatic about these headliners. That's four great artists at the first major street fest of the year. It's shaping up to be a good summer.

Find out more at Do-Division's website.

Lollapalooza Update

2009-04-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Lollapalooza, the granddaddy of them all, will announce its lineup on April 21. The folks at C3 like to make us wait, but our friends from the Lollapalooza message board and Consequence of Sound have been keeping pretty close tabs on artists that have been confirmed so far. Here's what we know...

Jim DeRogatis at the Sun-Times did a little sleuthing down at South by Southwest and so we now know all six of the fest's arena-sized headliners:

Jane's Addiction
Tool
The Beastie Boys
Depeche Mode
The Killers
Kings of Leon

Yes, apparently Kings of Leon are big enough to headline now.

Here's a list of other unofficial confirmations that have come from a variety of reliable sources. I'm not going to run down the roots of all these rumors because I started this blog late in the game and that would just take far too much time. But in the future I'll let you know the source of any additions. Here we go:

Andrew Bird
Animal Collective
Atmosphere
Ben Folds
The Decemberists
Delta Spirit
Fleet Foxes
Friendly Fires
Kaiser Chiefs
Lou Reed
Neko Case
Passion Pit
Paul Green's School of Rock All-Stars
Peter Bjorn and John
The Raveonettes
Santigold
TheNewNo2

In addition to these confirmations, some joker named Faronheit "confirmed" that all but six of the following artists will be at the festival. It's a ridiculous story involving some friend in the music industry and putting six fake bands to watch his ass and telling people that they can't use his names and a bunch of other nonsense that makes the guy totally unreliable. If you want the whole story check out his blog. But all that aside, the list look fairly realistic and its been picked up by DeRo so what the hell...here it is.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
A.C. Newman
Band of Horses
Bat For Lashes
Ben Harper and the Relentless 7
Bon Iver
Chairlift
Dirty Projectors
Eagles of Death Metal
Eels
Ezra Furman and the Harpoons
Franz Ferdinand
Glasvegas
Heartless Bastards
Langhorne Slim
Lily Allen
Matt & Kim
Metric
MSTRKRFT
OK Go
Peter Bjorn and John
Ra Ra Riot
Rancid
Razorlight
Regina Spektor
Rise Against
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sam Roberts Band
School of Seven Bells
Silversun Pickups
Tenacious D
The Airborne Toxic Event
The Gaslight Anthem
The Hold Steady
TV on the Radio (Download: Staring at the Sun)
Vampire Weekend
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

There you go...take it or leave it.

Welcome

2009-04-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

Festival season in Chicago has become a bit overwhelming in recent years. Of course there is Lollapalooza, the Grant Park behemoth that, along with the trendy Pitchfork Music Festival, has come to dominate Chicago's summer music scene. Then there are the old classics: Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, Gospel Fest, Taste of Chicago and the like. Rumor has it there is also going to be a Soul Fest this year in Union Park. Finally, each year sees the addition of more and more street festivals and the raised profile of existing ones.

All of this is very much a good thing. There is nothing I'd rather be doing on a Sunday evening than chilling outside listening to live music. But it's gotten a little difficult to keep track of. Last summer I missed some good cheap (or free) shows because I didn't find out about them until a few minutes beforehand. So I've developed this blog to be a one-stop resource for all your Chicago festival needs.

I've taken it upon myself to take the Festival Challenge this summer. I'm going to try and hit at least one festival each weekend (though it's a distinct possibility that some of them will be in other cities.) Part of this blog will be my own personal reviews of the festivals I attend. I'll most likely also open it up to other people who want to review the festivals I didn't make it to. I'll also be keeping tabs on upcoming festival lineups. Should be fun...

Anyway...enjoy, and I'd love to hear any feedback on the site.