You can hit a big rock music festival in Chicago every month this summer, starting this weekend at Union Park.
Intonation Music Festival
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY; UNION PARK, 1501 W. RANDOLPH ST.
intonationmusicfest.com
Acts: 26. Curating this year’s fest is VICE Records, who provided headliners Bloc Party and the Streets for a lineup that includes Ghostface, Dead Prez and Rhymefest. If it seems Intonation is heavy on hip-hop, that’s by design. Promoters felt rap was underrepresented last year, said Intonation founder David Singer. This year, acts stretch from Japanese noise-rockers Boredoms to neo-’80s funk outfit Chromeo.
Tickets: $20 per day; $35 for two-day pass. A group rate for four two-day passes is $120. Intonation is hoping for 15,000 people a day, Singer said, and tickets are available online until noon Thursday and at the venue this weekend.
Spotlight band: Lupe Fiasco is Chicago’s latest rap golden boy. How else would you explain how a self-described nerd is regarded even by skeptics as one of the best lyricists since Jay-Z and was courted by the rap mogul himself?
Pitchfork Music Festival
JULY 29 AND 30; UNION PARK, 1501 W. RANDOLPH ST.
pitchforkmusicfestival.com.
Acts: 41. Top names include Os Mutantes, Aesop Rock, the Mountain Goats, Yo La Tengo and Destroyer. Last month Pitchfork added Kanye West’s DJ A-Trak, Flosstradamus, Spank Rock and the Jeff Parker/Nels Cline Quartet, headed by Wilco guitarist Cline and Parker of Tortoise.
Tickets: $20 for one day; $30 for two at the fest’s Web site. Pitchfork organizers said in an e-mail statement that they expect 17,000 people a day.
Spotlight band: Tapes ‘n Tapes, who played to a sold-out Abbey Pub earlier this month, became such a craze on the Web with the song “The Loon” that label XL Records signed them. But their frenzied, metamorphic stylings have tripped them onstage in critics’ eyes.
Lollapalooza
AUG. 4-6; GRANT PARK, 300 S. COLUMBUS DRIVE
lollapalooza.com
Acts: 130. Kanye West, Common and Matisyahu counterbalance bread-and-butter bands such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Death Cab for Cutie, and fast-risers such as She Wants Revenge, Wolfmother and Gnarls Barkley.
Tickets: $140 for three days. Promoters expect up to 60,000 people a day. Prices for the three-day pass go up to $150 beginning Friday. Also on Friday, one-day passes will be available for $60. After a limited-number of one-day tickets are sold at $60, the price will increase.
Spotlight band: If you find yourself standing next to a mime, don’t panic–it’s probably a fan of the Dresden Dolls (check ddbrigade.tribe.net). The self-described “punk cabaret” duo dress in burlesque fare and white faces and are as hard to pin down visually as their moody sound is musically.
