Museyon’s Guide to…Pitchfork Festival

Normally, Pitchfork is a highly critical website devoted to rating the indie music scene one album at a time but for one weekend every summer, they turn their hometown of Chicago into the personification of their online self with the Pitchfork Festival– three days of music and comedy from some of the highest rated bands to grace their pages. Taking place from Friday July 16th to Sunday July 18th, Pitchfork Festival will rock Chicago’s Union Park with indie elite both old and new from headliner LCD Soundsystem to airy Brooklyn songstress Sharon van Etten.

Think what you may about Pitchfork’s sometimes mean spirited album reviews, the tone of the festival is completely opposite with ticket prices kept purposefully bargain basement and the comforts of their patrons on the forefront of planning. This is the reason why the $90 three-day passes sold-out almost immediately and the $40 day passes for Saturday and Sunday soon followed. If you haven’t bought tickets yet, the incredibly fine Friday line-up is still for sale, it is also the only day of the festival you will get to see comedy on stage (we highly recommend the hilarious Eugene Mirman).
 
Festival Tips:
Unlike some of the mammoth European festivals, Pitchfork is rather small. There is no camping and curfew is at 10pm each night.
 
To get to the festival, this year they are encouraging people to cycle and providing shelter to keep your bike safe. For those not so inclined, the Ashland Green Line stop is only steps away.
 
Avoid the huge lines that is will call and print your tickets beforehand or have them mailed to you but beware, a ticket ending-up lost in the mail won’t be accepted as an excuse.