The Pitchfork Music Festival bids Chicago adieu

In the words of 2021 headliner Phoebe Bridgers, the end (of the Chicago-based Pitchfork Music Festival) is here. After “nineteen years of music and memories” in the city’s Union Park, the indie festival is packing up its stage indefinitely. “As the music festival landscape continues to evolve rapidly, we have made the difficult decision not to host Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in 2025,” the outlet posted in a statement shared to both social media and their website today, ensuring longtime festival-goers that “this decision was not made lightly.”

The outlet didn’t offer much else by way of explanation, but did thank “the City of Chicago for being our Festival’s home for nearly two decades,” “the artists who graced our stages with unforgettable performances,” and “the fans who brought unmatched energy year after year,” in addition to the festival’s team, producer, and founder, Mike Reed. “Pitchfork will continue to produce events in 2025 and beyond. We look forward to continuing to create spaces where music, culture, and community intersect in uplifting ways—and we hope to see you there,” the statement concluded.

Let’s take a second to remember the good times. The Pitchfork Music Festival started in 2006 with a lineup that included The National, The Mountain Goats, Band Of Horses, Silver Jews, Yo La Tengo, and more. Since then, the stage has welcomed hundreds of bands—the latest and now final headliners were Jamie xx, Alanis Morissette, and Black Pumas—and spawned offshoot shows in Paris, London, Berlin, and Mexico City. The outlet still has plenty of live videos from festivals past on their YouTube channel, if you want to reminisce. 

This past January, Pitchfork‘s owner, Condé Nast, rolled the legacy music publication into the GQ banner (although both sites continue to stand alone on the reader’s end) and performed a round of layoffs. It’s unclear whether this upheaval had anything to do with the festival’s decision, but regardless, it’s a huge blow to the scene. One bright spot in the landscape is Hearing Things, a “worker-owned music and culture platform” founded by a bunch of former Pitchfork staffers earlier this fall. Hey, team Hearing Things: we heard Chicago’s in the market for a brand new festival. Someone has to answer the call. 

You can read the Pitchfork Music Festival’s full statement below: 

Nineteen years of music and memories. Thank you, Chicago. pic.twitter.com/SmNEXHwKiV

— Pitchfork Music Festival Chicago (@pitchforkfest) November 11, 2024