Pitchfork Music Festival


Pitchfork Music Festival was an annual music festival in Union Park in Chicago, Illinois, organized by the online magazine Pitchfork. Starting in 2011, the festival announced a branch staged in Paris at Grande halle de la Villette. The festival, which is normally held over three days in July, focuses primarily on artists and bands from the alternative rock, hip hop, electronic and dance music genres, although it has also ranged into hardcore punk, experimental rock and jazz in its lineups. A festival planned for Berlin at Tempodrom in 2020 was cancelled.
In addition to music, Pitchfork Festival also includes food, beverages, art, and gig posters from local, regional, and national vendors. In November 2024, Condé Nast announced that the Chicago Pitchfork Music Festival was permanently closing, though the fate of the Paris branch is unclear.

Chicago

Pitchfork Festival in Chicago annually hosted a record fair that is organized and managed by CHIRP Radio, a Chicago community radio station.

2024

The 2024 festival was held on July 19–21 at Union Park in Chicago. The headliners were Jamie xx, Alanis Morissette, and Black Pumas. In November 2024, Pitchfork announced that the Chicago Pitchfork Music Festival was permanently closing, but that it would "continue to produce events" in the future.

2023

The 2023 festival was held on July 21–23 at Union Park in Chicago. The headliners were the Smile, Big Thief, and Bon Iver.

2022

The 2022 festival was held on July 15–17 at Union Park in Chicago. The headliners were the National, Mitski and The Roots.

2021

The 2021 festival was held on September 10–12 at Union Park in Chicago. The edition was headlined by Erykah Badu, Phoebe Bridgers and St. Vincent.

2020

The 2020 Pitchfork Festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The artists and bands that were scheduled to perform at the 2020 festival are listed below. The headliners were scheduled to be the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Run the Jewels, and The National.
Friday: Jehnny Beth, Deafheaven, Dehd, Fennesz, Femdot, the Fiery Furnaces, Hop Along, Kaina, Angel Olsen, Sophie, Spellling, Tim Hecker & the Konoyo Ensemble, Waxahatchee, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Saturday: BadBadNotGood, Boy Scouts, Danny Brown, Cat Power, Dave, Divino Niño, Ezra Collective, Margaux, Oso Oso, Run the Jewels, Thundercat, Twin Peaks, Sharon Van Etten, Tierra Whack
Sunday: Big Thief, Phoebe Bridgers, DJ Nate, Dogleg, Dustin Laurenzi's Snaketime, Kim Gordon, the Hecks, Mariah the Scientist, Maxo Kream, The National, Caroline Polachek, Rapsody, Faye Webster, Yaeji

2019

The 2019 festival was held July 19–21 at Union Park in Chicago. The headliners were Haim, the Isley Brothers, and Robyn.

2018

The 2018 festival was held July 20–22 at Union Park in Chicago. The headliners were Tame Impala, Fleet Foxes, and Ms. Lauryn Hill.

2017

The 2017 festival was held July 14–16 at Union Park in Chicago. The headliners were LCD Soundsystem, A Tribe Called Quest, and Solange.

2016

The 2016 Pitchfork Music Festival took place on July 15–17 at Union Park in Chicago.

2015

The 2015 Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 17–19 at Union Park in Chicago. The event's headliners were Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, and Chance the Rapper.

2014

The 2014 Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 18–20 at Union Park in Chicago. The event's headliners were Beck, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Kendrick Lamar. Three-day passes for the festival sold out by the beginning of April.

2013

The 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 19–21 at Union Park in Chicago. The event's headliners were Björk, Belle & Sebastian, and R. Kelly.

2012

The 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 13–15 at Union Park in Chicago. Three day passes went on sale March 9 and sold out by the end of the month. The headliners were Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Vampire Weekend.

2011

The 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 15–17 at Union Park. Three-day passes for the event sold out in one day. The festival was headlined by Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes and TV on the Radio.

2010

The fifth annual Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 16–18 at Union Park. Three-day passes for the festival sold out in under a week. 2010 marked the first and only year that the festival included a stand-up comedy stage.

2009

The 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival was held July 17–19, 2009. On Friday night all of the performing bands played sets consisting of songs voted for online by ticket-holders in an event Pitchfork called "Write the Night: Set Lists by Request."

2008

The 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival was held July 18–20, 2008. Three-day passes for the event sold out in May. On Friday night the promotion company All Tomorrow's Parties again collaborated with Pitchfork to present a "Don't Look Back" stage, on which all of the evening's bands performed one of their classic albums in its entirety.

2007

The 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival was held on July 13–15, 2007, again in Union Park. The festival was sold out with 48,000 visitors.

2006

The 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival was the first festival organized and run entirely by Pitchfork Media. This was also the only year that the Pitchfork and Intonation Music Festivals were held in the same year. The 2006 Pitchfork festival drew more than 35,000 visitors to listen to 41 bands on July 29 and 30.

2005 Intonation Music Festival

In 2005, Pitchfork Media was hired by a music promotion company called Skyline Chicago to curate the Intonation Festival at Union Park in Chicago. While this was not technically the "Pitchfork Music Festival," because of Pitchfork Media's prominent role in the event as well as its future success in staging similar festivals at the same location, many Chicagoans and music fans consider the 2005 event to be for all intents and purposes the first Pitchfork festival and refer to it by that name.
The performers included Tortoise, the Wrens, the Decemberists, the Go! Team, Les Savy Fav, Broken Social Scene, Andrew Bird, and the Hold Steady.

Paris

2022

The 2022 Paris festival was held on 14 to 21 November 2022. The festival was held over fourteen venues around Paris, including Badaboum, Carbone Club, La Boule Noire, La Place, Les Disquaires, Quartier de Bastille, Supersonic Records, Le Café de la Danse, Church of Saint-Eustache, La Gaîté Lyrique, Le Consulat, POPUP! and Supersonic.
;Monday, 14 November
;Tuesday, 15 November
;Wednesday, 16 November
;Thursday, 17 November
  • La Place: Sadandsolo, Yaya Bey, Knucks
  • Le Consulat: SUPER!, Sierra mgmt, Le Grenier
;Friday, 18 November
;Saturday, 19 November
;Sunday, 20 November
  • La Boule Noire: Okay Kaya
  • Le Consulat: JÜDE, Astrønne, NKA
;Monday, 21 November
The 2021 Paris festival was held on 15 to 21 November 2021. The festival was held in ten venues across Paris, including Salle Pleyel, Bataclan, La Gaîté Lyrique, and Church of St. Eustache.
;Monday, 15 November
Church of Saint Eustache: Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth
;Tuesday, 16 November
La Gaîté Lyrique: Shygirl, Alewya, Denise Chaila
;Wednesday, 17 November
La Gaîté Lyrique: Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Amaarae, Hope Tala
;Thursday, 18 November
Bataclan: Sons of Kemet, Nubya Garcia, cktrl
;Friday, 19 November
Le Café de la Danse: Cassandra Jenkins, Lael Neale, Gabriels
POPUP!: Kai Kwasi, Sloppy Jane, Erika de Casier
Badaboum: KeiyaA, Claud, Godford
Badaboum After Party: Denis Sulta, Sofia Kourtesis, TSHA
Les Disquaires: Miso Extra, Elliott Armen
Supersonic Records: Kynsy, NewDad, TV Priest
Supersonic: Talk Show, Molly Payton, Wet Leg
;Saturday, 20 November
Le Café de la Danse: Elliott Armen, Faux Real, En Attendant Ana
POPUP!: ML Buch, Kamal., Berwyn
Badaboum: Kam-BU, L'Rain, ENNY
Badaboum After Party: India Jordan, Josey Rebelle, Marina Trench
Les Disquaires: Kathleen Frances, Fabiana Palladino
Supersonic Records: H. Hawkline, Yard Act
Supersonic: Lime Garden, Choses Sauvages, Katy J Pearson
;Sunday, 21 November
Salle Pleyel: Sébastien Tellier, Muddy Monk

2019

The 2019 Paris festival was held on October 31, November 1–2. The headliners are Skepta, The 1975, Chromatics, Belle and Sebastian, Mura Masa, Hamza and Charli XCX.
Grande Halle
Thursday: Ezra Collective, Mura Masa, Hamza, Skepta
Friday: Desire, Primal Scream, Chromatics, Belle and Sebastian
Saturday: Jamila Woods, Charli XCX, The 1975, SebastiAn
Nef
Thursday: Kojaque, slowthai, Flohio, Ateyaba, Zola
Friday: Barrie, Nilüfer Yanya, Weyes Blood, John Talabot
Saturday: Caroline Polachek, Aurora, Agar Agar, 2ManyDj's
Petite Halle
Thursday: sean, Master Peace, Retro X, Yussef Dayes
Friday: Loving, Sons of Raphael, Squid, Sheer Mag, CHAI
Saturday: Mk.gee, Aeris Roves, KadhyaK, Kedr Livanskiy
Studio
Thursday: duendita, Charlotte Dos Santos, Rachel Chinouriri, Kojey Radical, The Comet Is Coming
Friday: Briston Maroney, Nelson Beer, Jackie Mendoza, Orville Peck, Helado Negro
Saturday: Korantemaa, Jessica Pratt, BEA1991, oklou, Ela Minus