North Coast Music Festival in Chicago?

[cdave2]

Here's Chapter 2 in the Campaign to Bring Underworld Back to Chicago, Dammit:

http://www.northcoastfestival.com/
September 2, 3, 4 (Labor Day weekend)
Dance/electronic/urban-oriented festival now booking its second year. Last year the Chemical Brothers headlined; other acts included Flying Lotus, Green Velvet, et. al. Decently run and drew a good crowd based on what I saw.

If you visit the website and sign up for their mailing list, you're encouraged to submit a message, perhaps something along the lines of "Have you considered booking a particular group from Essex?"

Hmmm....

[ThingInABook]

be careful: the prodigy is from essex too :P

[cdave2]

Ahem. Romford. Sorry.

[lowbit]

Good idea – I just signed up and sent such a question!

Considering it was their debut, this festival was surprisingly good last year – relatively low key (or at least low hassle) and focused on the music.

[cdave2]

Not impressed with North Coast announcing the lineup in dribs and drabs. Pitchfork does this too. Doesn't help with allocating scare entertainment funds among several competing festivals. "50 more acts including more HEADLINERS TBA!" isn't persuading me to spring for a ticket.

UW is looking like less and less of a possibility. Bummer, I thought we might have had a chance with this one.

[lowbit]

Well, they are explicitly saying that there are headliners yet to be announced, so I definitely wouldn't rule it out; the lineup NCMF has posted so far is still looking pretty light on bigger names.

I can't believe what Pitchfork has booked, with TVotR, Animal Collective, Battles, Fleet Foxes, James Blake, Cut Copy, and even DJ Shadow – they're making Lollapalooza look like an also-ran for talent this year.

[cdave2]

Originally Posted by lowbit

Well, they are explicitly saying that there are headliners yet to be announced, so I definitely wouldn't rule it out; the lineup NCMF has posted so far is still looking pretty light on bigger names.

You may yet be right. We'll see.

I can't believe what Pitchfork has booked, with TVotR, Animal Collective, Battles, Fleet Foxes, James Blake, Cut Copy, and even DJ Shadow – they're making Lollapalooza look like an also-ran for talent this year.

Indeed! I'm wondering whether I can swing a Sunday ticket, mainly because of Cut Copy. Saw them a couple of weeks ago, thanks to a friend, and found them thoroughly endearing. They've come a long way since they opened for Franz Ferdinand a few years ago.

[lowbit]

Well, this is definitely out. They've announced another batch of headliners, and while there were some interesting additions (Major Lazer, Fatboy Slim, Bassnectar), Underworld was not among them.

Looks like we're coming up on 10 years without an UW appearance anywhere in the Midwest. :P

[dubnobasswithme]

Originally Posted by lowbit

Looks like we're coming up on 10 years without an UW appearance anywhere in the Midwest. :P

man.....when you put it like that........wow...

there were those three shows in 98, 99, and 02, then nothing. glad i made it to two of them.

[cdave2]

God yes, I cherish every show I've seen!

Wish I'd been able to travel for the last two US tours. After years of coming to Chicago for shows (and thank God, I caught all three of Underworld's) I finally moved here--in 2003. It's been worth it, but the higher cost of living has offset my ability to travel anywhere else.

I'll spare you all another lengthy bewildered rant, but I'd love to know where the stumbling block is. Are promoters in Chicago just not making any offers? Or are they, and the money's not enough to cover expenses? Did something go wrong in the past that destroyed a working relationship?

Ten years is a long time.