Pitchfork Music Festival 2022/Photo: Daniel Cavazos, courtesy Pitchfork Music Festival
The summer music festival season in Chicago is only just heating up, with a multitude of options available in the remainder of July. Having just seen “Trainwreck,” the three-part documentary on Woodstock ninety-nine on Netflix, we can thank our lucky stars that nothing that monolithic, ill-planned and ill-conceived is invading the Chicago area—the closest we’ll come will be Monolithapalooza, but that won’t stomp its footprint onto the Lakeshore until early August.
Pitchfork Music Festival 2022/Photo: Julian Bajsel, courtesy Pitchfork Music Festival
Hardcore punk aficionados will be caught in the mosh of Cobra Lounge’s The Rumble, bravely counterprogrammed opposite and overlapping with Union Park’s Pitchfork Music Festival, only steps away. Both kick off today, with the Cro-Mags and Radiohead side project The Smile headlining, respectively. Other day-one must-sees for #p4k include Sen Morimoto, Ric Wilson (who always puts on a good show), Youth Lagoon, Perfume Genius, and Brit-pop revivalists Alvvays.
Saturday favorites include undercard highlights Black Belt Eagle Scout, Vagabon, Julia Jacklin, Snail Mail and Weyes Blood, and I definitely wouldn’t miss the collaboration of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom. The off-kilter folk stylings of Big Thief may seem like a bizarre choice to close the night, but 2022’s “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” is a solid outing, end-to-end. Those looking for a more rousing ending to Saturday night can walk north on Ashland and hope to hear The Rumble close out with NYC’s Killing Time.
Speaking of bizarre choices for a headliner, Sunday night at Pitchfork will conclude with the sleepy folk stylings of Bon Iver; perhaps the programmers want the crowds to come down from the more danceable highs of Jpegmafia and Killer Mike, whose new solo record is all killer (not a surprise from the rap half of Run The Jewels, but it’s still impressive). Other Sunday recommendations include the folkways of Florist, Illuminati Hotties, indie-poppers Hurray for the Riff Raff and Mdou Moctar.
Out of Space/courtesy Out of Space Festival
The following weekend features Evanston’s Out Of Space outdoor concert options at the Canal Shores Golf Course, including Dawes & Lucius (Thursday July 27), Lord Huron (Friday July 28, sold out), Regina Spektor (Saturday July 29, sold out) and local favorite Andrew Bird, with a favorite local, Nora O’Connor, opening (Sunday July 30). If the greens are not your scene, Wicker Park Fest offers three stages on three days, Friday (Speedy Ortiz and Built To Spill are the highlights), Saturday (newly grownups The Regrettes headline, but if you get there early, you can see the local and recommended Ramones-meet-Pansy Division queerpunk of Bev Rage & The Drinks, who go on at 1:30 pm) and Sunday (Dreamer Isioma and Biig Piig headline, but it will be great to see local favorites Sybris back in action at 7:45, and local buzz-bin players Manwolves close that stage). Each day of Wicker Park Fest also features DJs, hip-hop options and there’s even some reggae thrown in.
A previous Silver Room Sound System Block Party/Photo: Courtesy of The Silver Room
For a pure-play celebration of house music and hip-hop (along with a spliff of reggae), swing down to Oakwood Beach at 39th Street and the lake for the new (as of last year) home of the Silver Room Sound System Block Party, in its eighteenth and final incarnation, over two days, Saturday July 29 and Sunday July 30. Soulful soprano Moonchild will be a bright spot on Saturday night, but you also won’t want to miss Chicago house stalwart Ron Trent, rapper (and SaveMoney co-founder) KAMI, the gospel-infused delivery of Meagan McNeal and OVEOUS’ performance of “Legacy” that will include Boogie McClarin. Mick Jenkins has yet to release a recording misstep and his live rap performance is highly recommended on Sunday night. Other highlights of that night’s lineup include music professor 9th Wonder, Black Ivory soul singer Leroy Burgess, hip-hop producer Tall Black Guy, the undeniably hypnotic beats of Tony Humphries and the female rap stylings of Freddie Old Soul. If all you want to do is cut a rug on the beach, there’s a plethora of DJs spinning all weekend, including DJ Tabu, DJ Mochi, DJ Exotic Beats & Tarxan Fenix, DJ Shani, DJ Ca$h Era and DJ Cymba.
Those with more youthful legs than mine may want to sample a little bit of each option to truly grasp the musical richness available in Chicago in the back half of July this year. Everything listed (that wasn’t already sold out at press time) sounds pretty tempting, but these tired legs will be lucky to make it through just one day of Pitchfork. Idea for your next music festivals, Chicago promoters: rejuvenation stations for those middle-aged and beyond.
Craig Bechtel is a freelance writer and has also been a Senior Staff Writer for Pop’stache. He is also a DJ, volunteer and Assistant Music Director for CHIRP Radio, 107.1 FM, and contributes occasionally to the CHIRP blog. As DJ Craig Reptile, you can hear him play music on the FM dial or at www.chirpradio.org most Sunday nights from 6pm to 9pm. He previously worked in radio at KVOE AM and Fox 105 in Emporia, Kansas, and served as a DJ, music director and general manager for WVKC at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he also won the Davenport Prize for Poetry and earned a B.A. in English writing. Craig has been working in various capacities within the hotel and meetings industry for over twenty years, and presently works at a company that uses proprietary systems to develop proven data strategies that increase revenue, room nights and meeting attendance. In his spare time, he also fancies himself an armchair herpetologist, and thus in addition to a wife, son and cat, he has a day gecko and a veiled chameleon in his collection.
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