The official Chicago “Big Three” in festival season has officially begun with the mainstay music festival with a focus on many cutting-edge music acts since 2006. This yer’s festival as mentioned in the preview, which you can read here brought many changes to the face of the festival as well as some of the lineup choices. The biggest eye sore from the weekend were these large structures blanketed with the festival’s logo built to house both the soundboard but also to fill up with higher priced tickets and provide additional views for those VIPs.
What has been a personal favorite feature was the ability to see both the red and green stages from a certain viewpoint which were now obstructed by these large colored monstrosities. What this past weekend lacked though in non conformity made up though with the quality of performances from really exciting up and coming artists. There were a lot of stellar performances this weekend, both from bands I was already super excited to see and capture but also a bunch more that in true Pitchfork nature I left the weekend with a slew of what will be mainstays of daily listening options.
Friday’s winners include the entire Blue stage’s lineup, both Tkay Maidza and Yaeji’s commanding presence and Black Pumas’ Eric Burdon leaping onto the ground and immersing himself into the crowd within the first song. The weather!!
Friday’s losers, the eyesore towers and visual presence of change and lack of crowd for the evening’s headliners.
Saturday’s winners include the local acts Lifeguard and Kara Jackson, De la Soul, the one-two punch of Jessie Ware and Carly Rae Jepsen. The Weather!!
Saturdays losers, Still the eyesore towers and visual presence of change.
Sunday’s winners include performances from Model/Actriz, Mannequin Pussy and Joanna Sternberg. MUNA and everyone sticking to the end to sing along with their favorite Alanis songs. Duh!! Brittany Motherf%#@ing Howard!! And..The WEATHER!!
Sunday’s losers, Still the eyesore towers and visual presence of change. No photographers allowed for Alanis’ set, Jessica Pratt’s fear of the sun, being stuck in the media tent during MUNA and Crumb’s sets. The fear of the future of Pitchfork.
All in all musically, it was a stellar weekend of music and the losses throughout the festival were really personal preferences. My main concern mostly regarded the red and green elephants in the “room” (or in this case, field) is the fear of what’s to happen moving forward with the festival. This is all speculation of course, but everyone is aware of the massive layoffs that occurred earlier this year and the changeover of its reigns to GQ magazine.
With the assurance of this year's festival happening, worry subsided, but one could argue this change was visible in lineup choices as well as the aforementioned obtrusive towers and no “see you next year” message from their social media moderators. So, I guess we’ll see and if this was the last hurrah of Pitchfork Music Festival as we’ve known it to be for so long. I’m grateful to say I was able to experience it the times I had and that would include this past weekend. And if it is..thanks P4k 🫶🏽🥹
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Editor's note: The festival's website does now include a message referring to the yet-to-be-announced "2025 lineup," so that is definitely promising for fans.
“In Black Puma code, let the children know
Got to pay the price if they want to go
When the time is golden, we will lightning strike
All aboard the ferry and enjoy the ride
All aboard”
Black Pumas — (Sauvignon)
