As Lollapalooza gets bigger, upstart Pitchfork remains the true alternative

What Lollapalooza used to be, the Pitchfork Music Festival is.

Like the original Lollapalooza in the early '90s, Pitchfork, set for this weekend in Chicago, is an opportunity for up-and-coming music groups to gain strength by banding together, not for rock 'n' roll retreads to make one last cash grab. (See Snoop Dogg, Depeche Mode and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell's own Jane's Addiction next month.) Pitchfork is smaller and away from downtown, in Union Park near the United Center, not Grant Park on the lakefront. It's got sponsors, sure, but it hasn't yet gone overboard with corporate tie-ins. (Good luck finding the Budweiser Stage this weekend.)

It keeps prices reasonable, at $35 a day, and for that reason it has sold almost all of its 50,000 allotted tickets. (Two- and three-day passes are gone, and as of early this week only tickets to Friday's opening were still available.)

At the same time it has remained small, it has also tweaked its sound systems and stage configuration to improve the acoustics and sightlines, while adding a dozen portable toilets here or there to make it all the more comfortable.

As anyone who has ever attended an outdoor music festival well knows, that overcrowded, nothing-but-lines-going-everywhere thing gets old awful fast.

In short, as organized by the genuinely well-intentioned if cooler-than-thou arbiters of good taste at Pitchfork Media, the fest remains the true rock alternative, and if this year's roster of acts lacks the "wow" factor of an appearance by Brazil's reformed Tropicalia experimentalists Os Mutantes, like the first Pitchfork three years ago, or of Sonic Youth playing "Daydream Nation" or Public Enemy doing "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" in their album-length entirety, the main attractions the last two years, it's still an opportunity to see a month's worth of music in a matter of days, as well as the bands everyone will be talking about in a matter of months (because they're already blogging like crazy about them now).

In its fourth year, Pitchfork 2009 finds the festival settling into a comfortable maturity that is neither quiet nor sedate. If it's been refined from year to year, it's far from being "refined" in the pinkies-up manner. The Chicago area can take pride in playing host to two of the top summer music festivals in the nation - and Pitchfork has established itself as the crest of the wave, while Lollapalooza follows with the deluge.

This year's schedule includes established stars like Yo La Tengo and the Flaming Lips, who get to play big fish in the small pond of unsigned and independent-label acts, and hot young buzz bands like Grizzly Bear and Cymbals Eat Guitars, while also giving high profile to local groups old (Jesus Lizard, Tortoise, Dianogah) and relatively new (Killer Whales, Michael Columbia, Disappears).

Here's a look at the fest day-by-day, because tickets might still be available for Friday's forward-into-the-past sets, and because most tickets are designated by day anyway. Another advantage of Pitchfork over Lollapalooza is there's a much more reasonable resale market on the Internet, because there's more of a spirit of community. That's what you get for hanging out with the cool kids.

Friday, July 17

The last two years have seen Sonic Youth replay "Daydream Nation" and PE redo "Nation of Millions." This year tweaks that oldies notion with the thematic opening "Write the Night: Set List by Request," in which ticketholders voting online picked the tunes to be played on two stages by YLT, Tortoise, the Jesus Lizard and Built to Spill. Things get started at 5 p.m. by Tortoise. The Jesus Lizard comeback at 7:20 - reviving a Chicago band known for its live intensity - is the main event, although if YLT doesn't play "Sugarcube" at some point in its 6:10 set I for one am going to be crying vote fraud. Built to Spill closes things out starting at 8:40.

Saturday, July 18

Expanding out to three stages, things get off to a rip-roaring start at 1 p.m. with the highly touted New York City group Cymbals Eat Guitars going head to head against My Bloody Valentine-style Chicago indie supergroup Disappears (including members of the Ponys, 90 Day Men and Boas). The slightly too-sweet-for-their-own-good-feedback the Pains of Being Pure at Heart play at 3:20. Doom brings the rap at 6:15, and things start to close at 8:30 with final acts the Black Lips and the National.

Sunday, July 19

Chicago takes over the Balance Stage with Michael Columbia (an atmospheric pop trio, not a single guy, including New Trier product Dylan Ryan) at 1 p.m., immediately followed by Dianogah (led by Skokie artist Jay Ryan) and the Killer Whales, who layer hard rock atop a fluid funky bottom. The aptly named Vivian Girls play at 6:30, overlapping with buzz group Grizzly Bear at 7:25, which might be hard-pressed to carry off its precious pop in a festival setting. The Flaming Lips close the weekend starting at 8:40, bringing things full circle thematically by playing a set chosen by fans. For a group that already boasts a crowd-pleasing sense of surreal whimsy, there's no concern about too much of a good thing.

The thing about Pitchfork, however, is it's such a wealth of riches where ambitious, talented bands are concerned, there's no telling which of these relatively unknown groups will break out to mainstream popularity in the months ahead. The National, Beirut or Yeasayer on Saturday? All of them have already enjoyed success. The Thermals or the Very Best on Sunday? In any case, many of these bands will move on up to Lollapalooza and beyond in the years ahead, and the chosen few - the cool kids - will be able to say they saw them first at Pitchfork.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Pitchfork Music Festival</p> <p class="News"><b>Who:</b> Dozens of alternative rock bands, from Yo La Tengo and the Flaming Lips to Chicago's own Disappears and the Killer Whales, mixed with the odd rapper or disc jockey.</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph St., Chicago</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 5 p.m. Friday, July 17; 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19</p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $35, Friday only, otherwise sold out. For details and schedule, see <a href="http://pitchforkmusicmusicfestival.com" target="new">pitchforkmusicmusicfestival.com</a>.</p>