Pitchfork

All right people, it's showtime! This weekend, the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival and all the good times that come with it will descend on the Windy City. Will Spoon send us home with an oh-so-fitting spin through "Chicago at Night"? Will Hold Steady fans single-handedly consume the fest's entire beer allotment? Will Dizzee Rascal's gravity-defying pants prevail yet again? This weekend we find out.

The essentials: the Pitchfork Music Festival goes down at Chicago's Union Park from Friday, July 18, through Sunday, July 20. Not sure how to get there? The festival website has you covered.

Tickets for both Saturday's and Sunday's festivities have sold out, but a few passes for Friday night remain. Score those while you can at the festival box office, located next to the Ashland Ave. entrance at Union Park.

Just to recap, El Guincho has cancelled, and Ghostface & Raekwon did a little set time/stage switcheroo with the Dodos, bringing the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival schedule to this:

A = Aluminum Stage; B = Balance Stage; C = Connector Stage

Friday, July 18 (in conjunction with All Tomorrow's Parties/Don't Look Back):

6:00 p.m. Mission of Burma performing Vs. (C)
7:15 p.m. Sebadoh performing Bubble and Scrape (C)
8:30 p.m. Public Enemy performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (A)

Saturday, July 19:

12:30 p.m. Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar (B)
1:00 p.m. Titus Andronicus (C)
1:25 p.m. A Hawk and a Hacksaw (B)
1:30 p.m. Jay Reatard (A)
2:00 p.m. Caribou (C)
2:20 p.m. Icy Demons (B)
3:00 p.m. Fleet Foxes (A)
3:15 p.m. Fuck Buttons (B)
4:00 p.m. Dizzee Rascal (C)
4:15 p.m. The Ruby Suns (B)
5:00 p.m. Vampire Weekend (A)
5:20 p.m. Elf Power (B)
6:00 p.m. !!! (C)
6:25 p.m. Extra Golden (B)
7:00 p.m. The Hold Steady (A)
7:30 p.m. Atlas Sound (B)
8:00 p.m. Jarvis Cocker (C)
8:25 p.m. No Age (B)
9:00 p.m. Animal Collective (A)

Sunday, July 20:

12:30 p.m. Mahjongg (B)
1:00 p.m. Times New Viking (C)
1:25 p.m. High Places (B)
1:30 p.m. Dirty Projectors (A)
2:00 p.m. Boris (C)
2:20 p.m. HEALTH (B)
3:00 p.m. The Apples in Stereo (A)
3:15 p.m. King Khan & the Shrines (B)
4:00 p.m. Les Savy Fav (C)
5:00 p.m. The Dodos (A)
5:20 p.m. Occidental Brothers Dance Band International (B)
6:00 p.m. M. Ward (C)
6:00 p.m. Ghostface Killah & Raekwon (B)
7:00 p.m. Spiritualized (A)
7:30 p.m. Bon Iver (B)
8:00 p.m. Dinosaur Jr. (C)
8:25 p.m. Cut Copy (B)
9:00 p.m. Spoon (A)

Other things you probably want to know about: the festival grounds map! View it below, then print it out via the .JPG link here.



Pitchfork fest vets should note the new location of the expanded Balance Stage.

Also worth noting: The treasure trove of extra-musical fun, including all manner of vendors, the CHIRP Record Fair, the DEPART-ment marketplace of handcrafted goodies, and the Flatstock 17 Poster Convention.

Questions about what you can and can't bring to Union Park this weekend? Go here.

Last but not least, a reminder for the folks back home: Video of a bunch of Pitchfork Music Festival sets will be webcast live on the festival's website, and Seattle's venerable KEXP will be broadcasting audio live from Union Park as well.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but OMG WOOOOOO EXCITEMENT!!!