Mother nature has forced yet another festival to be cut short today when Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago announced they’re evacuating the festival grounds due to hazardous weather conditions. This announcement doesn’t come as a complete surprise as storms were approaching Chicago for the last few hours.
Parquet Courts was well into their set when the announcement was made to evacuate the festival, cutting their set short. In a tweet, the festival has asked attendees to calmly and quickly leave the festival at Union Park on the city’s Near West Side and find shelter. Among the sets that would be cancelled if the festival doesn’t go on tonight are Kurt Vile and Belle & Sebastian who were scheduled to play the Red Stage, Stereolab and The Isley Brothers who were scheduled to play the Green Stage, and Amber Mark, Freddie Gibbs and Jeremih, who were scheduled to play the Blue Stage. Tomorrow’s scheduled performers include Robyn, Charli XCX, Snail Mail, Neneh Cherry and more.
According to our reviewer at the festival, organizers have told festival-goers to look out for future programming. It wasn’t clear at this time if that means they’ll reopen tonight or close for the day and try again tomorrow morning.
Due to the frequency of thunderstorms in the Midwest and East Coast, festivals being cancelled due to weather isn’t a rare occurrence. In 2018, Panorama Festival in New York City was cancelled due to storms. This year, Governors Ball 2019 had day cut short due to thunderstorms.
UPDATE (3:35 PST – 7/20): Pitchfork Music Festival has issued another tweet stating their watching the weather and will announce whether the festival will re-open, indicating there’s some hope that the weather will clear and the festival can resume. They also posted a tweet suggesting that festival-goers seek shelter at businesses on Randolph Avenue, which is adjacent to Union Park.
UPDATE (4:22 PST – 7/20): It appears the festival is back on, with gates opening in just a few minutes. Pitchfork Music Festival posted two tweets moments ago with the announcement. According to the tweets, attendees can re-enter through the main gate on Ashland Ave., at Ogden and Washington or at Ashland and Washington. Freddie Gibbs and Stereolab will be performing still, with everything after their sets going on as scheduled. It appears the only artists that will have sets outright cancelled are Kurt Vile and Amber Mark.
Leave a Comment