Between Pitchfork, Lolla, North Coast, and Riot Fest— not to mention all of the neighborhood festivals in between them all—Chicago has become Music Fest Central. As a result, the AV Fest/Hideout Block Party has gotten somewhat lost in the crowd in the past few years, despite a consistently solid lineup. These days the now-unified festival (Hideout and Onion’s A.V. Club joined festival forces back in 2012) has assumed more of a local fest identity, rather than a festival with national or international aspirations. Its local feel is far from a demotion, however, with national acts like Death Cab For Cutie, The War on Drugs, and Dismemberment Plan headlining. It’s arguably one of the more diverse festivals in Chicago this summer, even with its indie rock-focused headlining acts. Where else can you check out funk legends funky METERS, Chicago favorites like the Handsome Family, synth-poppers Sylvan Esso, and up-and-coming folk chanteuse Valerie June on the same weekend? (Keidra Chaney)
September 5 and 6, Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia. $65 for two-day/ $39 for single day, all ages.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
