Since 2005, Autumn in Chicago means not only meant Football but music venues all over the city hosting the massive punk rock party known as Riot Fest.

This year, Riot Fest will undergo a transformation in to a three-day outdoor festival in Humboldt Park on September 14-16 and join the ranks of other Chicago destination festivals including Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Music Festival and North Coast Music Festival.

The initial lineup for the revamped Riot Fest includes headliners Rise Against, Iggy and the Stooges, The Offspring and Elvis Costello.

Continue Reading…

North Coast Music Festival, arguably the third largest and most popular Chicago fest following Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Fest, announced it’s initial lineup earlier this week.

The festival goes down in Union Park – the same park Pitchfork will take over a few weeks earlier – on Labor Day weekend, which is Friday, August 31, through Sunday, September 2.

The lineup was revealed via a Groupon on early Tuesday morning that offered a three-day pass for only $62 and promptly sold out.

Past lineups have leaned more towards the electronic, hip-hop and jam band territory, and this year so far appears no different.

Continue Reading…

The complete lineup for the 2012 edition of the Pitchfork Music Fest has been revealed. The fest once again goes down in Chicago’s Union Park on Friday, July 13 – Sunday, July 15.

As we previously reported, the headliners appear to be car commercial, afro-poppers Vampire Weekend, mellow pop songstress Feist, post-rockers Godspeed you! Black Emperor and British electro-pop outfit Hot Chip.

But today’s new additions are a slew of Pitchfork favorites. The biggest name is obviously Wild Flag followed by Real Estate and Beach House – both very recent P4K Fest alumni. More of the latest adds are post-hardcore outfit Chavez, Atlas Sound, Big K.R.I.T., Nicolas Jaar, Cults, Ty Segall, Oneohtrix Point Never, Youth Lagoon, Thee Oh Sees, King Krule, Lotus Plaza, Dirty Beaches, Lower Dens, Milk Music, the Psychic Paramount and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Also included, much to our delight, are Chicago’s own Outer Minds and A Lull!

Continue Reading…

Lollapalooza, the mega fest absorbing Grant Park August 5-7, released its lineup schedule early this morning for all your planning needs.

Last year’s schedule caused a commotion due to its pitting major headliners against each other. This year’s schedule, save for Friday night, does a somewhat better job of spacing out the talent.

Naturally there are some odd scheduling choices. Namely legendary new wave rockers The Cars taking the stage at 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 7, but I digress.

If you’re heading to Lolla hoping to see some fine Chicago talent such as Disappears, Gold Motel, Kids These Days, Maps & Atlases or The Smith Westerns, get there early. Disappears and Gold Motel, especially, open the festival around noon on their respective days.

Continue Reading…

The Chicago Park District announced its musical lineup for the 2011 edition of the Taste of Chicago last Friday.

The festival, which is scheduled to run from Friday, June 24, to Sunday, July 3, returns to the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park. The biggest names on the festival’s main stage are Natalie Cole, Loretta Lynn, The Lemonheads and MaterialReissue.

The Illinois Lottery Taste Stage lined up a few local rockers Loud Loop Press readers will recognize: Archie Powell & The Exports, Empires, California Wives, White Mystery and Gold Motel.

Taste of Chicago will devote several days of its musical programming to formerly independent city festivals: Viva Chicago, Gospel, Celtic and Country Music Festivals. The four fests were merged into the Taste as a cost saving measure earlier this year.

Get this year’s schedule after the jump.

Continue Reading…

Whooo! It’s here!

The totally rad Lollapalooza lineup you’ve been thinking about since trudging off a steamy, muddy field after Arcade Fire hit the last note of “Wake Up” is finally here. But let’s not waste your time as Rolling Stone just broke the headliner news.

As previously rumored, Eminem, Foo Fighters and Muse are three of the fest’s big headliners. And also taking the stage in Grant Park on August 5 – 7 will be Coldplay and My Morning Jacket.

Now we’ve got Chicago’s own Mr. Kot with a look at how the rest of the lineup rounds out.

Other big names include Deadmau5, A Perfect Circle, Cee-Lo, The Cars, Ween and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley & Nas. Additional acts are as follows…

Continue Reading…

The big news regarding Pitchfork Music Fest’s 2011 lineup is the edition of seminal pop rockers Guided by Voices. The reunited band will play on Friday, July 15.

But there’s plenty more where that information came from. The lovely Neko Case, rockers No Age, Kurt Vile, Baths, Shabazz Palaces, HEALTH, Gang Gang Dance and the Fresh & Onlys have also been added to this year’s Pitchfork Music Fest lineup.

Single-day passes are still available for $45 at TicketWeb.

Get the revised lineup below:

Friday, July 15:
– Animal Collective
– Neko Case
– Guided By Voices
– James Blake
– Das Racist
– Curren$y

Continue Reading…