Lollapalooza and the Pitchfork Music Festival have rocked Chicago with their expansive lineups of the hippest bands and performers of the day. Summertime in the Windy City already entices you with temperate weather and a sensational arts scene, so going during one of America’s most culturally cached music festivals is really a no-brainer. So get yourself to Union Park for Pitchfork, and (or, if you really must choose one) to Grant Park for Lollapalooza!
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Lollapalooza sprawls out over each of Grant Park’s 319 acres, just next to the posh Chicago Loop, so you won’t find any of the more primitive lodging options like hostels and camping. And while a number of nearby hotels offer “festival rates,” they still may eat into your budget at this youthful, energetic and light-on-the-luxury event. However, you can take advantage of Chicago’s excellent subway system and stay in, say, Lincoln Park for half the cost. The Old Chicago Inn sits just next to the train station and offers rooms for $125, nearly half of what you would pay near Grant Park.
The Pitchfork Music Festival takes place in the somewhat less splashy Union Park in the Near West Side area of Chicago, so finding a reasonably priced room close to the music won’t challenge you quite as much. That said, this is the Pitchfork Music Festival we’re talking about. Hotels will fill up fast, so if you want to save and don’t mind a half-hour walk, the Chicago Parthenon Hostel can put you up for around $30 a night. There will doubtlessly be many other festivalgoers joining you.
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Both of Chicago’s premier music festivals burst at the seams with more edgy-sounding bands than any one person could possibly know, but that’s actually kind of the point — to introduce folks to music they wouldn’t hear elsewhere. So don’t be afraid to get away from the main stage, particularly early in the day. Sure, Outkast will be awesome on Saturday at Lolla, but everybody already knows that, so don’t waste your whole day trying to squeeze closer and closer to the main stage. It would be a far more satisfying experience to catch a side-stage show from the front lines, then introduce your friends to the band afterwards.
Relatedly, the daily order of Lollapalooza’s lineup already appears on its website, though without stage designations, while Pitchfork has only released a list of performers but save its full, day-by-day schedule for early June. This allows you to do now the real heavy work of festival attendance: sifting through bands for possible new gems.
Both festivals finish their daily schedules at 10 p.m., leaving you plenty of time for further revelry with newfound festival friends. From Pitchfork’s Union Park, music-themed bars are only a short walk away, including the popular Bottom Lounge on West Lake Street. If you’re more interested in sitting and talking about all of the day’s music, though, the WestEnd at Madison and North Ada stays open until 2 a.m. and has a bit more social vibe. For a similarly low-key unwinding after Lollapalooza, go to the (very) unassuming, not-at-all-touristy George’s Cocktail Lounge, which stays open till 4 a.m.
While you won’t have a whole lot of extra time to see much of anything else in Chicago during the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza weekends, you will hardly notice. Each event packs its respective park with more music and art than you could possibly wrap your head around, leaving you with a blissfully dizzy feeling at the end. Come early or stay late to see the rest of Chicago, but you must dedicate these whole weekends to the intoxicating madness of the city’s — and perhaps the country’s — two best music festivals.
Travelocity Editors
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