Pitchfork Music Festival

best festivus ever! comfortable, well curated, conveniently mapped, and a whole lot of fun. will definitely be back here every year!!!

We went to Pitchfork on Friday evening only. It was super, super hot and super, super crowded. There were tons of great local options for food offered. There were also a lot of cool poster vendors. We really only went to see Churches and Wilco. Churches was good, but we headed to get food midway through the show and then finished watching on the screen near the stage where Wilco was about the play. The Wilco show was awesome – they surprise dropped a new free album on Thursday night that they played live for the first time at Pitchfork. If you love music festivals, then this is your jam.

Another great Pitchfork Music Festival in the can! It’s been awhile since I’ve written an update, but I’ve gone every year since my last review, and still enjoy this Festival, immensely.
Goose Island Craft Brews (Collaboration bar) is by far one of the best things about this festival. Offering new craft selections every hour for just $ 2 more than a regular Goose, you might get lucky and be drinking a Sofie instead of a 312 Wheat or Urban Pale Ale. And for the same price as 312, the Collaboration bar was serving their refreshing Radler, Honkers Ale, and others. Each year Goose Island collaborates with an artist playing Pitchfork, and this year was Chance the Rapper’s No Collar Helles Lager. (Last year’s SVE with Sharon Van Etten was my favorite collab).
Water is still $ 2, Whole Foods offered free bananas, sunscreen is free at the Emergency station to your right, as you enter the Park; and the folks running the Emergency station are super helpful and friendly. There was a CTA cooling bus nearby, and Goose Island had a cooling bus in the Flatstock area.
When you come to Pitchfork you’re guaranteed to hear the latest little-​known indie or rap artists. And even 2015’s big headliners Wilco played their album Star Wars live for the very first time. So many great standouts, there’s no need to go through the lineup save for mentioning my favorite: Kurt Vile & the Violators. Look him up for a chill Dinosaur Jr. vibe.
On Saturday big storms rolled through, and Pitchfork made the decision to close the Festival and reopen. It wasn’t entirely clear they were closing, but the S3 Security team was super informative and polite in their directions to leave the park, and how we would be notified to reenter.
If you buy your tix early this is still one of the best festival deals around in Chicago, and one of my favorites.

Awesome line-​up and vendors, well organized, affordable and the stage set up made it easy to see all performances. It was really cool that there was so much to do in-​between shows in the vendor section and I loved that the musician line-​up was so eclectic — there’s never one minute of boredom at Pitchfork.

Pitchfork was amazing! I would ¹⁰⁄₁₀ go again if the lineup is just as good as it was this year. It’s a cheaper festival in the city as well with more new music, in comparison of Lollapalooza, Northcoast, etc.

A fine weekend exploring my usually suppressed hipster tendencies. Great music, an overall chill crowd of people, and some delicious food and brews. As a pasty descendant of Swedes, my favorite part of the whole weekend was the free sunscreen tent.

Pitchfork 2014
I went to this year’s Pitchfork festival. It was unseasonably cool, which ended up being pretty nice since we rode our bikes from Rogers Park to get to the fest. We appreciated the free and large bike lock up area.
We went all three days. Overall, the choice of bands were great. Beck was my favorite performer. I liked that they have large video screens so you can see the bands while they play because usually our vantage point was not that great. Sometimes things were a bit off, like a band on the red stage was warming up while people were still playing on the green stage and it did not sound good. There were a lot of people, but you still had room to spread out a small blanket and relax and listed to the music. Free sunscreen and first aid seemed plentiful. The crowd is a bit older than Lollapalooza. There were some cool and unique things about this fest, like the pinball machine tent, the craft fair/​record fair tent, and the art and design vendors. The beer selection was great and the price was not too crazy. My favorite food item was from Puffs of Doom – the mac and cheese, bacon, ranch puff was delicious.
The bad thing about this festival are the incredibly long lines for everything. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I spent hours each day waiting in lines. Long line to get in. Long line for beer tickets. Long line for beer. Long line for bathroom. Long line for food at peak hours. And the worst one: incredibly long line for filling up water bottles – we waited about 45 minutes to fill up our water bottles. It is good that the weather was not hotter because people would have probably gotten ill because it is hard to stay hydrated when the water lines are this long. They need to bring in outside water tanks rather than simply hooking it up to one of the park’s water fountain systems. I would pay more for the tickets if they could take a few measures to cut down on the lines.
Also, people are smoking everywhere, so if you have sensitivities to that, be warned. Why you would smoke while waiting in line next to people who are stuck next to you and can’t walk away, I do not know… you’d think common courtesy would kick in… I would think twice about bringing a child here because of the second hand smoke (cigarettes and otherwise), but if you stay out of the crowd and stay out of the lines for the water, bathroom, tickets, entry, beer, or food, it’d probably be fine.

So many great vendors for 2014. awesome sponsors Johnny Appleseed giving away great Polaroid pictures & fans, Chipotle giving away tacos, Lifeway giving away frozen kefir bars, and Topman giving out screen printed shirts they create right on site!

I cannot believe with Pitchfork getting bigger and bigger every year that it hasn’t gone down the tubes, but there you go. I definitely stay away from the bigger, hypier acts whose fans tend to come for them and ONLY them (I’m looking at you, MIA) because going to those shows is just asking to be miserable. However, having a music obsessive husband means I get led around to the smaller, more off the radar acts all weekend which makes the festival very enjoyable. Food and drink prices have remained reasonable (and the increased craft beer focus in 2013 was awesome – please keep doing that!). I’ve been every year since 2008 and see no reason to stop as long as they keep doing what they’re doing.

I’ve gone to PMF every year since 2011. It’s one of my favorite music festivals due to the price, consistently great lineups, focus on the music and art, and food.
Grounds/​Location: ⁵⁄₅. Pitchfork is in Union Park, which is in the Near West Side in Chicago. I like this location because although it’s very close to downtown, the L, and the Loop, it’s a bit offset. The traffic and parking in this area are much less of a problem than if it was located in the Loop or Lincoln Park. It’s not very touristy, so it’s fun to find cool spots nearby to eat, drink, or shop. This isn’t a camping festival, so the only potential downfall is having to find somewhere to stay in Chicago, which can be pricey if you don’t know where to look. The grounds of this festival are very well maintained and clean throughout the 3-​day duration.
Price: ⁵⁄₅. Unbeatable. Consistently around $ 150 for a 3 day pass each year, and they sell single day passes as well.
Safety: ⁴⁄₅. Cops are nearby and at the festival grounds, but you don’t feel like you’re being overly policed and scrutinized. I never feel unsafe at Pitchfork, and the festival is small enough that if a situation did arise where you needed help or medical attention for any reason, you wouldn’t have to wait very long. The event is very well staffed.
Food: ⁴⁄₅. Pitchfork definitely caters to those with alternative food needs or preferences, which depending on your own tastes, can be great or bad. There’s always a Whole Foods stand with fresh produce, which is pretty cool. You’ll also find such rarities like a vegan Philly Cheesesteak. My personal favorite item there is the soy ice cream from Temptation Vegan Ice Cream (I’m not a vegan or vegetarian). The prices are reasonable by festival standards. A downfall is that have to pay for water. You’d be better off bringing your own, because prices can be high ($ 4 a bottle). They have drink tickets that you have to buy in quantities of 5 or 10 for a dollar each, which can be annoying because usually drinks are either 6 tickets or 3 tickets, or some quantity that means you have one extra ticket leftover that you paid for but can’t use.
Stages: ⁴⁄₅. I like that there are only 3 stages – Red, Green, and Blue. It’s perfect for the size of the festival. Additionally, Pitchfork stages are very high above the crowd, and offer viewing screens at the bigger Red and Green stages. Pitchfork really shows off here that they are a festival about MUSIC. My only complaint is that the sound from the Red and Green stages can overlap, sometimes, but it’s usually only in between songs. I will never forget seeing the harmonious Fleet Foxes in 2011 and hearing the beautiful sound quality carry across the evening sky, as well having a great view of the band (and from 100 feet back from the stage, nonetheless).
Crowd: ⁴⁄₅. Now, this IS a music festival. Expect some people to be high, or drunk, or smoking, or all of the above. But it’s not excessive, and not the culture of Pitchfork by any means. Expect some weird outfits and getups from the hipsters. The crowd at Pitchfork is not as friendly as Bonnaroo’s, or as glam as Coachella’s. I’d recommend going with friends, because most people stick to their own crowd and it’s not a «meeting people» festival. What I love about Pitchfork is that everyone goes to this festival because they love the music there. They’re not there to get high, or meet the love of their life, or show off their fashion trends. Everyone there is going primarily because they like the lineup, and/​or because of their love of music.
Bottom line: If you see a lineup you like at this festival, go to Pitchfork. You won’t regret it.

I enjoyed my day here but I think I’m a little too old to want to return. I’m from New Orleans and I’m used to Jazzfest. Maybe that has spoiled me but I know that setup and I like it!

I go here every year I can. Sure, some of you are way cooler than me. When you see me rocking out, please don’t point, or get on my case for not having any ink. But, seriously, this is one of the most chilled out, and fun festivals in Chicago. Great music, good mix of new and established acts, the hippies selling records and trying to get you to buy cassettes is just downright cute. And, of all the fests, this one has the best food. Yep… while I must say Riot Fest is getting better, the Pitchfork is still well organized, and always a good time.
I think I even saw Candice G, but was too afraid to say hi, since as I pointed out up top — I am not so cool. But if you are cool like Kyle H and others in the know, you gotta go.

The Good:
–Very affordable tickets
–Super laid back security so you can sneak about anything in
–Cool boutique vendors
–Primo people watching
–R Kelly
–Lots of free schwag
The Bad:
–Food is extra expensive
–It’s a small festival so it gets really crowded.
–Picking up will call tickets is a pain in the arse
–VIP viewing pretty much sucks
–Only one beer per person in the VIP area
The Ugly:
–Hipsters eating ice cream
–Hipsters wearing short shorts

Pitchfork 2013.
This was my first ever Pitchfork, and I’d like to think it won’t be my last. It’s one of very few affordable music festivals that I know of, and in general, I think they do a great job of providing a kick-​ass three-​day lineup, though this year’s acts didn’t really blow me away, and for the most part, I found myself kind of more interested in people-​watching than performance-​watching.
I feel like in the past, Pitchfork’s lineup has appealed more to my musical tastes than this year, but unfortunately it was still just a little out of my budget and didn’t jive with my work schedule, so I’d never been able to attend, though I did make it to a few really fun after-​parties. I’ll be real and tell you right now that I don’t really know and super hip or up-​and-​coming artists. I don’t listen to regular radio, I don’t really have friends or co-​workers that I share music with, and for the most part I switch in between 2 – 3 different Pandora stations and that’s about it. If it doesn’t play on any of my stations, I probably haven’t heard of it, so that meant this year’s non-​headlining line-​up at Pitchfork was almost entirely foreign to me, but I was really hoping to discover some new (to me) sounds to jam out to.
Picking up tickets and getting in on Friday was a major clusterf*ck and pain in the ass, but once inside, the festival was only lightly dusted with attendees and it never really seemed hectic, stressful or too crowded. Even when headliner Bjork went on, we were actually pretty close, but at the same time, there weren’t a lot of people behind us, which was surprising to me given Bjork’s following, but I guess Fridays at music festivals are probably the tamest since most are coming from work or attending multiple days and wanting to keep it mild, but I also think those slower days are my favorite. I decided that the level of good time I have at a festival is directly proportionate to how many people are there. The less people = The happier I am. Not a great equation for a person attending a busy festival, but I enjoy the general fest vibe and most of all, drinking outdoors.
The sound at two of the three stages for 2013 was pretty terrible, and even some of the acts on the main and final stage sounded blurred together and foggy. MIA set was rife with sound issues and screeching, Chairlift was pretty inaudible due to the heavy bass carrying over from Lil B. R. Kelly’s sound was perfect (as it should be as the third and final day headliner) and Joanna Newsome was also clear as day, but her act is just her singing and playing a harp, so there’s not really anything too complicated going on sound-​wise there, but honestly, other than those two acts, it was pretty hard to get into anything, or at least focus, with so many sound snafus.
Goose Island was on hand to cover the beer and Tito’s Vodka for the booze while a variety of Chicago favorites ponied up to the plate, serving food (Chicago Diner, Chubby Weiners, Dark Matter Coffee, Big Star, Robinson’s Ribs, and more). There were also some freebies from Energems (chocolate energy candy), Kind Granola, and PopChips, amongst others. There was even a Whole Foods stand with some fun, healthy (ish) snacks for purchase.
There was also a Verizon tent where you could drop off your phone for charging, a Ray-​Ban lounge and photobooth, a misting station, an HM dance/​fashion/​photo lounge, an entire walkway/​aisle/​street devoted to over a dozen different vendors selling prints, just a few retail booths (FutureGarb!), and variety of promotional/​radio/​marketing booths as well.
Up until Sunday, the fest was pretty easy to navigate through and people weren’t outrageously obnoxious, though it was kind of sad to see so many 20 and 30-​somethings being such litter bugs and piglets. There were recycling bins placed all over, but people would just openly throw their shit on the ground and then stomp on it, as if smashing it into the earth made it okay. No joke, I saw plants with a Gatorade bottle standing upside and leaking into the soil, as if someone was trying to reenact Idiocracy the movie. Sunday was by far the beastliest day though. No matter which way you were going, you always felt like a salmon swimming up stream and people seemed intent on mowing you down. For me, it was just a little too much.
For the most part, the port-​a-​potty lines were pretty manageable with the only exception being the ones by the far corner blue stage. Those always had a crazy 40 minute wait, but the johns just 300 yards over directly behind the baseball field, or by the artist alley were virtually wait-​free all weekend. There was one GA water fountain-​trough that had HUGE lines wrapping around the festival gates on Friday and Saturday, which is never fun, but at least they allow you to bring two sealed water bottles in on your own and give you the option to fill up for free within the festival.
Overall I had a good time and I’ll totally go back for the 2014 fest.

Pitchfork is easily one of the best done festivals in the country which is why I keep coming back despite not living in the area.
Having done a fair amount of music festivals, Pitchfork is consistently awesome and as a result I’ve been 3 years straight. For starters, the tickets aren’t a total gouge. The prices do keep creeping up but given you don’t have to drop anywhere close to the $ 350 that most 3 day festivals go after, I call it a steal. Second, this could just be big props to Chicago, but Union Park is an excellent venue. The stages aren’t too far apart and you aren’t getting lost or confused trying to get between them. Additionally, getting to the park is a breeze. There’s a few train lines, the bus or even parking 7 blocks away isn’t too tough. Nothing ruins a festival like overcrowded transit lines, ridiculous traffic or prohibitive parking/​transportation passes. The bathrooms are easily accessible and it seems like there’s rarely a line. Lastly, the beer prices are always fair. For awhile they were $ 5, I think last year they went up to $ 6 – 7 but that is still good considering you’re drinking Heineken and it seems $ 9 – 10 is becoming baseline for swill at most fests.
Yeah, it does get crazy hot and there isn’t much shade at all but one of the stages but if you’re talking bang for your buck, there isn’t a better music fest out there.

I went with my boyfriend to Pitchfork Music Festival 2012.
We were really really disappointed.
The ineup was fine, but the setup sucked. The stages are too close together for good sound quality on any of them. They also aren’t really equipped to handle the crowds that gather around them.
There were not enough Portable Toilets for the crowd size. I had to wait 40 minutes to pee. Increasing my irritation is that the film crew was blocking off one of the very few available units so some musician could pop out in front of the camera. Somehow this required multiple takes and took priority.
One of my biggest complaints is that both the operators and the crowd didn’t seem to take the music seriously. It seems like it was more about being «seen» and socializing than it was about the music.
We came for a few bands (Japandroids, Godspeed, Wild Flag, Bradford Cox), and they were worth it. I would recommend if at all possible to experience your music in a better venue where people actually respect the music.
I actually had to tell a couple to shut up during Godspeed You Black Emperor!‘s set after they shoved their way through the crowd. Seriously?
We were so disgusted we didn’t even go on Sunday. There were several bands I tried to see but couldn’t hear over the other stages and people talking.
Using Pitchfork’s obsolete rating system, I’d give this festival a 1.7.

I’ve been to all but 2 Pitchfork Festivals since it started, and will continue to go every time as long as no one decides to get married that weekend again. It’s a well run, affordable, manageable to navigate festival, with great bands, a friendly crowd, and barely a wait for a beer or portapotty.
I would give Pitchfork 5 stars except it seems the last year or two they’ve kinda plateaued when it comes to making improvements on the fest. They haven’t raised prices, so I guess it’s justified, but based on the 2012 rendition can we:
a) Figure out the sound issues/​delays on the Blue Stage. Granted some of this may have been rain induced, but I don’t think there’s enough time between sets when you consider this is the only ‘back to back to back’ stage at the fest.
b) Work on the sound bleed between the Red and Blue stages. Drape some kinda soundproofing over the baseball diamond fence that separates the stages?
c) Ditch the Heineken sponsorship? Any chance on bringing back local beers, and I’m sure InBev owned Goose Island can stump up some cash.
d) The food took a turn for the worse this year, just generic fest food from Robinsons/​Abbey Pub/​HOMEMADE PIZZA KITCHEN ?!? (This is Chicago! Give us a deep dish/​hot dog/​italian beef/​jibarito joint!). The Indonesian joint was pretty good, but man oh man, everyone misses those Thai Pot Stickers that used to be an absolute steal.
On the other hand, Pitchfork performed admirably when it came to responding to the downpours this year. Sand, woodchips, and rubber walkways were deployed to deal with the mud pits in heavily trafficked areas. There’s still free water from the drinking fountain, there’s plenty of shade for when its hot, and FINALLY there was a day heavy on hip hop, and for the first time this wasn’t a 100% white washed crowd. Good to see Pitchfork Festival being a bit more representative of the city in which its based.
See ya next year!

I must confess. My friends and I ended up at Pitchfork by accident.
We had tickets to Old St. Pat’s Block Party and we were directionally challenged after having a couple of beers along with a juice box of wine at a nearby bar. We saw tents and and assumed, «That’s got to be the block party.» And guess what. They let us in.
The giveaway was when we didn’t get our 5 drink tickets. Here 5 drink tickets =1beer=$ 5. Had the tastiest, fluffiest funnel cake ever here… ever!
Bring a blanket to this music fest. You’re also allowed to bring unopened bottles of water. I brought in a Vitamin Water that I had already opened. So they’re pretty lax here.
Maybe we’ll come back on purpose next year.

Pitchfork 2010 — Sunday
This was my first time at Pitchfork. It was hot and humid, but at least it wasn’t raining. There was a nice breeze and sitting in the shades was pretty comfortable.
LOCATION: 1501 West Randolph in Chicago’s Union Park at the corner of Ashland and Lake. Easy to get to by Ashland bus or Green line.
TICKETS: $ 48 ($ 8 in service fee). They were sold out and tickets on the street by the bus were going for $ 60. Tickets on Craigslist were also around $ 60. We settled for someone selling them for $ 45 near the entrance. The will call line was huge (probably an hour wait) and I was glad I didn’t have to stand in it.
BEVERAGES:
Need tickets to buy.
Heineken or Heineken Light — $ 5
Bottled Water — $ 1
There was a water station behind the «cool yourself off» bus to refill your water bottles.
FOOD:
Cash only.
Chicago Diner Corn Dawg — $ 4
Delicious organic vanilla ice cream cone — $ 5
Small Rice Dish serving of lo mein noodles — $ 5
Big Star of Siam serving of pad thai noodles — $ 5
4 round dried out pizza puffs — $ 5
LINES: I was surprised that I didn’t have to wait long for beer or port-​o-​potties. The people passing out wristbands were efficient. One person to check ID and another to apply the wristband.
CROWD: Great for people watching! There was a guy in a full body dog suit and another wearing a chicken head hat. I even saw a lady with full blown arm pit hair hanging out every which way! Everyone seem to be having a good time and were friendly. It wasn’t so crowded that you couldn’t find a spot without being trampled on. I was able to find shade towards the back and still hear the music perfectly fine. There were also megatrons so you can see what’s happening on stage if you didn’t want to go deaf or fight the crowd to be in the front row.
BANDS:
Music started at 1pm and went on through 10p.
Major Lazer had a huge Chinese dragon on their stage that fired the crowd up. Big Boi got the crowd dancing and many fists were pumping in the air. Some guy that introduced Pavement really angered the crowd and the boo’ing began. Luckily, fun and dancing were restored after the music started.
Pavement
Big Boi
Sleigh Bells
Neon Indian
CAVE
Major Lazer
Here We Go Magic
St. Vincent
Surfer Blood
Lightning Bolt
Local Natives
Beach House
Washed Out
Girls
Best Coast
Cass McCombs
Allá

Yep: Pitchfork just keeps getting better and better though the organizers aren’t changing anything if it’s not broken. For example, you can still find most of your favorite vendors in the same exact spot as the previous year! Similar layout, floorplan, what have you… also makes finding people who travel in for this fest every year very easy — as in, «Hey Monica, meet me by the Cevapcici stand!». Done and done, without any pain.
Pitchfork is still ridiculously inexpensive when compared to other large-​scale festivals. This year, I had the pleasure of seeing Broken Social Scene, Modest Mouse and LCD Soundsystem in addition to some less well-​known indie acts. I’m also still digging on the vegan/​healthy food options (soy ice cream! seitan tacos!) in addition to fatty Chicago favorites. I was sad, however, when the Star of Siam people told me that boba is «bad for your health». So I said fine and drank their boba-​less mango smoothie anyway.
Even parking isn’t too difficult — I found rockstar parking spots two times. Right across the street!