Bryan W. Alaspa 1Chicago does festivals
August 9th 2009 18:17
There is one thing that Chicago manages to do pretty well and that is music festivals. Of course, now that I think about it, it does festivals in general pretty well. During the spring and the summer months there is a festival somewhere taking place in this city. For the sake of brevity the major ones will be discussed.
The most popular ones involve music. Chicago starts off the festival season with the Chicago Blues Festival. It is generally in May or June and lasts about three days. It brings in blues musicians from around the world. It is laid out perfectly, with multiple stages playing during the day and then a big act playing in the evening on the Petrillo Band Shell which is right in the middle of downtown. It’s a great festival for the entire family with some of the best music you are likely to hear.
Not long after that, at the end of June, is the festival that is meant to celebrate the food in the city. Of course, most of the restaurants that get booths at the Taste of Chicago do not sell the food they are famous for. That’s because this is a festival where you are supposed to walk around, so everything has to be on a stick. If you can skewer the damn thing and deep fry it, then you sell it at Taste of Chicago. Over the years this festival has moved from just food to adding music. Bigger and bigger bands are starting to play during the Taste of Chicago as well. So, if there is an excuse to play music and attract even more people so you can have more hot and sweaty bodies rubbing against each other, the city is going to do it.
These days Chicago has now become the home of two major music festivals, depending on your rock and roll tastes. The first is something called Pitchfork. That is probably supposed to conjure up some vision of Satan, but the bands are not heavy metal thrash bands, but more like progressive rock and alternative bands. This is in some park that I have never heard of before and some of the more interesting bands show up to play here. Then, a few weeks later comes Lollapalooza.
The Lollapalooza Festival used to be a traveling music and freak show. Then it vanished for a while as people lost interest. Then someone had the idea of just making the festival a three day affair at just one city. Someone picked Chicago and it has been here ever since, right downtown. For three days all kinds of hippie-looking people gather and spend a ridiculous amount of money on water and end up behind tents purchased by large corporations. Somehow this festival almost always ends up being on the hottest day of the summer.
Finally, Chicago says good-bye to summer in a classy and mellow way. The festival season ends with the Chicago Jazz Festival. It is not nearly as crowded as the Blues Festival or Lollapalooza, but jazz fans from all over attend. It too has multiple stages and is spread out over three days. It has grown, becoming a little affair with hardly anyone attending to a major jazz festival recognized around the world. It says good-bye to the craziness of summer and hello to the mellowness of fall in just the right way.
Chicago may have a lot wrong with it, but it does the music festivals right. So, take that New York and L.A.
The most popular ones involve music. Chicago starts off the festival season with the Chicago Blues Festival. It is generally in May or June and lasts about three days. It brings in blues musicians from around the world. It is laid out perfectly, with multiple stages playing during the day and then a big act playing in the evening on the Petrillo Band Shell which is right in the middle of downtown. It’s a great festival for the entire family with some of the best music you are likely to hear.
Not long after that, at the end of June, is the festival that is meant to celebrate the food in the city. Of course, most of the restaurants that get booths at the Taste of Chicago do not sell the food they are famous for. That’s because this is a festival where you are supposed to walk around, so everything has to be on a stick. If you can skewer the damn thing and deep fry it, then you sell it at Taste of Chicago. Over the years this festival has moved from just food to adding music. Bigger and bigger bands are starting to play during the Taste of Chicago as well. So, if there is an excuse to play music and attract even more people so you can have more hot and sweaty bodies rubbing against each other, the city is going to do it.
These days Chicago has now become the home of two major music festivals, depending on your rock and roll tastes. The first is something called Pitchfork. That is probably supposed to conjure up some vision of Satan, but the bands are not heavy metal thrash bands, but more like progressive rock and alternative bands. This is in some park that I have never heard of before and some of the more interesting bands show up to play here. Then, a few weeks later comes Lollapalooza.
The Lollapalooza Festival used to be a traveling music and freak show. Then it vanished for a while as people lost interest. Then someone had the idea of just making the festival a three day affair at just one city. Someone picked Chicago and it has been here ever since, right downtown. For three days all kinds of hippie-looking people gather and spend a ridiculous amount of money on water and end up behind tents purchased by large corporations. Somehow this festival almost always ends up being on the hottest day of the summer.
Finally, Chicago says good-bye to summer in a classy and mellow way. The festival season ends with the Chicago Jazz Festival. It is not nearly as crowded as the Blues Festival or Lollapalooza, but jazz fans from all over attend. It too has multiple stages and is spread out over three days. It has grown, becoming a little affair with hardly anyone attending to a major jazz festival recognized around the world. It says good-bye to the craziness of summer and hello to the mellowness of fall in just the right way.
Chicago may have a lot wrong with it, but it does the music festivals right. So, take that New York and L.A.
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