So what are you doing July 13-15 this year? If you have plans cancel them and head over to the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park in Chicago. The three day passes are gone but single day tickets, for $45, are still available. That is around half what a single day Lollapalooza ticket costs. And if you go to Pitchfork you can act superior to all the folks who go to Lollapalooza because you are more “real” too. It is a win-win thing.

Pretty super duper line up that you can see below. To get tickets head to www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com.

And keep in mind there are other activities aside from music—specialty fairs and a slew of vendors.

The bands

Friday

A$AP Rocky
Willis Earl Beal
Big K.R.I.T.
Clams Casino
Dirty Projectors
Feist
Tim Hecker
Lower Dens
Olivia Tremor Control
Outer Minds
Purity Ring 

Saturday

The Atlas Moth
Atlas Sound
Danny Brown
Cloud Nothings
Cults
Flying Lotus
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Grimes         
Hot Chip
Nicolas Jaar
Liturgy
Lotus Plaza
The Psychic Paramount
Schoolboy Q
Sleigh Bells
Wild Flag
Youth Lagoon

Sunday

A Lull
AraabMUZIK
Beach House
Chavez
Dirty Beaches
The Field
Iceage
King Krule
Kendrick Lamar
The Men
Milk Music
Thee Oh Sees
Oneohtrix Point Never
Real Estate
Ty Segall
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Vampire Weekend

Tired of the “usual suspect” Festivals? How about a new one, with a new angle? The H2O Music Festival takes place in Dallas, June 9th in the Cotton Bowl (there will be another event elsewhere latter in the summer too apparently). The event is bilingual, bicultural and features established and emerging artists. There will, as you might expect, be vendors, food, a family section, a gaming section and more

The line-up includes Snoop Dog, Juanes, Weezer, Paulina Rubio, Damian Marley, Gym Class Heroes and many more.

There will also be a free showcase of local artists in the early afternoon in the plaza of the Cotton Bowl.

Tickets are on sale now at H2OMusicFestival.com.

The Forecastle Festival is an event about music, art and activism that takes place yearly in Louisville, Kentucky. The initial lineup for this year’s festival was announced earlier and is below. The festival takes place from July 13-15, 2012.  Ultimately there will be over 70 bands playing on five stages. This is a pretty big event compared to the early days as a small, free, outdoor neighborhood event.

This seems like a great line-up and Louisville really is a nice city to visit. Forget everything you saw on Justified. Kentucky is perfectly civilized.

The list below will have addition acts added and there will be art installations, environmental activities, outdoor extreme sports part, food and a slew of other activities. There will also be separate parties (with separate fees) after hours as well. Fifty cents from every purchase go to the Forecastle Foundation which is dedicated to local education and international environmental conservation. To find out more about the foundation go HERE.

For details on who plays when, costs and more head to www.forecastlefest.com.

Lineup

My Morning Jacket
Bassnectar
Wilco
Girl Talk
Andrew Bird
Sleigh Bells
Atmosphere
Neko Case
Clutch
A-Trak
Galactic
Flying Lotus
Beach House
The Head and the Heart
Stax! Soul Revue
Dr. Dog
Deer Tick
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires
Beats Antique
Real Estate
Justin Townes Earle
Washed Out
Walk The Moon
Dean Wareham Plays Galaxie 500
Wye Oak
Atlas Sound
Fruit Bats
Daedelus
Ben Sollee
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo
JEFF the Brotherhood
The Features
Mike Doughty
Tanlines
Zion I
Sleeper Agent
Floating Action
Wick-It The Instigator
James Vincent McMorrow
Wax Fang
Daniel Martin Moore
King's Daughters & Sons
Houndmouth
Cheyenne Marie Mize
The Ravenna Colt
Rachel Grimes
Nerves Junior
Cabin
Scarlet Smile
Lydia Burrell

_ Bonnaroo is a festival that you have probably heard about and possibly attended. Most folks do not know that during the festival’s ten year run they have donated more than five million dollars to local, regional and national charities. This year festival partner Rick Farman says that they plan to surpass that amount in the next ten years with new programs and upgrades to current charitable outreach through the Bonnaroo Works Fund , Bonnaroo’s charitable arm.

BWF is administered by the East Tennessee Foundation which identifies (and vets) organizations looking for assistance. They help BWF get money to where it can do the most good.

Some of the organizations helped include; Doctors Without Borders, the American Red Cross. Head Count, MusiCares,  Boys and Girls Club of America, Habitat for Humanity ,Rock the Earth and the Sierra Club and others. Assistance has also been provided for disaster relief in the USA and abroad—help for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Haitian earthquake, the recent floods in Nashville and during the Gulf oil spill.

Good for Bonnaroo. Other festivals like this should do more as well.

Chuck Ragan’s Covering Ground comes out September 13 (CD, vinyl and with some limited edition stuff you can find out about HERE. You can also download a track, Nomad By Fate, free at Ragan's website.

This is Ragan’s third record and he has toured all over the place for years. This year’s tour dates will begin after playing at Dropkick Murphys’ first Shamrock-N-Roll Festival at Fenway Park. I am sure there will be no drinking going on THAT night.

The early part of his tour is apparently a tour of the Shamrock-n- Roll thing with Dropkick Murphys, Street Dogs and others. The tour that follows, The Revival Tour will feature Ragan, Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio), Dave Hause (The Loved Ones) and Brian Fallon (Gaslight Anthem) all playing acoustic. Ragan wrote the record while on tour and he considers them to be “road songs.” Good long tradition of that. Check out the dates below.

Tour

With Dropkick Murphys, Street Dogs etc.
Sep 8 - Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
Sep 9 - Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
Sep 10 - Bangor, ME @ Bangor Waterfront
Sep 11 - Altamont, NY @ Altamont Fairgrounds
Sep 12 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Trib Total Media Amphitheatre
Sep 13 - Columbus, OH @ LC Pavillion (indoor)
Sep 15 - Portsmouth, VA @ Harbor Center
Sep 17 - Rochester, NY @ Main Street Armory
Sep 18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory

The Revival Tour

With Brian Fallon, Dan Andriano, and Dave Hause
Sep 27 - Bristol, UK @ Academy
Sep 28 - Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
Sep 29 - Dublin, IRL @ Academy
Sep 30 - Glasgow, SCT @ ABC
Oct 1 - Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria Students Union
Oct 2 - Nottingham, UK @ RockCity
Oct 4 - Amsterdam, NL @ De Duif
Oct 5 - Hamburg, DE @ Gunspan
Oct 6 - Berlin, DE @ Postbahnhof
Oct 7 - Wien, AT @ Arena
Oct 8 - Munchen, DE @ Backstage Werk
Oct 9 - Zurich, CH @ Dynamo
Oct 11 - Wiesbaden, DE @ Ringkirsche
Oct 13 - Munster, DE @ Skaters Palace
Oct 14 - Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Oct 15 - London, UK @ Shepherds Bush
Oct 16 - Cardiff, UK @ Uni Souls
Oct 17 - Portsmouth, UK @ Pyraminds

The PDX Rock Fest has a special purpose, to save the rock. The festival takes place at the Washington County Fairplex in Portland, Oregon on August 28, 2011 and will include performances by Queensryche, Korn, Chevelle, Hinder and others.

There is also a local band component. This fest has a Native Noize Battle of the Bands component. Bands can enter HERE.  Winners will play the pre-show on August 27. Top ten bands get tickets to the show and all bands get a 30 person guest list to the pre-show. Fans can also sign up to be judges. Voting begins July 25.

Head HERE for special ticket deals.

Among the artists appearing at moe. this year are Bob Weir, Levon Helm, Ween and TV on The Radio. If you are wondering why it is “moe.” and not “Moe” is because that is the proper spelling and there was even a note to editors to this effect in the press release.

moe.

Not Moe, not Moe. Nor MOE…but rather moe.

But apparently also called Moedown. Go HERE for more info.

Are we clear on that now? Anyway. It is a pretty neat festival and it occurs Labor Day Weekend at Gelston Castle Estate in Mohawk, NY. The line-up, in addition to the bands above, includes, moe. (unsurprisingly), Slightly Stoopid, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Ozomatli, Railroad Earth, The New Mastersounds, Rubblebucket, Danger Muffin, The Ragbirds, Empire Sound, Band and Gary Clark Jr.

moe. (who are playing hell with my spell/grammar check crazy) also have released a Greatest Hits Volume 1 and are playing some dates to support it.

moe. Tour

July 21    - Party In The Park - Rochester, NY  
July 22 - Lowell Summer Music Series - Lowell, MA  
July 23 - Gathering of the Vibes - Bridgeport, CT  
Aug  27 - Dave Matthews Band Caravan - Governor's Island, NY  
Sept 2-4 - MOE.DOWN 12 Gelston Castle Estate - Mohawk, NY

Riot Fest just keeps getting more riotous. Headliners this year include Weezer, Social Distortion and Descendents (and another big announcement is coming June 24). In addition to the Chicago version of the fest from October 5 to 9 there will be, this year, a Red Bull Riot Fest in Philadelphia on September 24. Bands include; Descendents, Dead Milkmen, X, Plow United, Hot Water Music, Naked Raygun, Suicide Machines, Weston, Samiam and others.

The fest began in 2005 and it has just gone crazy every year since. Up and coming bands and legends appear. And it is all about the rock. This is not an easy listening festival.

In addition to bands mentioned others include X (play "Los Angeles"),Youth of Today, Suicide Machines, ALL (Scott, Chad and Dave), Helmet, D Generation, Down By Law, The Business, Strike Anywhere, The Tossers, Macabre, Nachtmystium, The Flatliners, Flatfoot 56, The Menzingers,Banner Pilot,The Pavers, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, Shot Baker, The Copyrights,Cheap Girls, Larry and His Flask,Chines  and tons more to be announced.

Multi-day passes and individual tickets go on sale Friday, June 24 at 10 am (CST). Tickets are available at www.ticketfly.com.

The fest is at multiple venues in Chicago. Check out the Riot Fest website for all the details.

The Philadelphia Fest takes place at Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing. Tickets on sale Friday, June 24th at 10am EST at Ticketmaster.

If you want to avoid service charges you can pick them up at Theatre of Living Arts (334 South St. in Philadelphia), the Live Nation Box Office (111 Presidential Blvd, Suite 111 in Bala Cynwyd) & Creep Records (1050 North Hancock Street in Philadelphia).