More music devotion

I've always wanted to run a tracker for bands like on the side of conspicks for the rest of the country so it's easy to find good shows wherever you are. The flip side of that is me traveling around the country to see people that wouldn't normally come to Chicago / get a different vibe. Coachella has it's scene, Pitchfork & Lollapalooza their's, but after going to them year after year there becomes a twang of familiarity bordering on repetition. That's why I went to Soundset this year since I've never been to an all hip-hop fest, but my true desire is to go to Belgium or Japan for a quality electronic music fest. (I've never wanted to go to WMC in Miami due to massive bro-dom.) Well, I found out the other day that I am a lucky man.

Enter Sonar Music Fest - Chicago.

Based in Barcelona, I've always talked about going there with Larry but it's always been time/cost prohibitive (I already plunk $1k for Coachella and I think he does the same for Lolla). This year's acts in Spain that I wouldn't see anywhere include Air, Roxy Music, DJ Hell, and Booka Shade and I would gladly pay more festival bucks for. As it pertains to my town, they say that they are focused on cultivating the North American and Catalonian (not necessarily Spanish) scenes at the fest. In similar regards they did other versions already in New York and in DC, and are doing another take this year in Tennessee. I'm excited.

I should also honorably mention that North Coast Music Fest is also going to be around in early September. Not purely electronic in nature (it almost seems like they're jumping on the festival bandwagon) but I'll be happy to see Pretty Lights, De La Soul, Moby, Boyz Noise, and Chemical Brothers. Oh my.

As a sidebar, I should mention that Sonar is still looking at various venues to hold their event, including Millennium Park, Congress Theatre, and the Metro. WHY can't they revitalize the Uptown Theatre? I understand that cost to rehab the place is astronomical, but with the presence of something like Sonar or whatever other music fest, I would think that it would be a great place to have a show. Do other cities in the US / the world have as many music gatherings as we do? I'm ignorant to whatever street fests go on in NYC or Paris or London, but I would imagine that with their glut of talent that there would be something to go to. You know what the best way to find out is, right?

UPDATE:
I actually wrote this entry last month. Since then, it looks like Sonar is going to do their spiel at the Cultural Center (the city's old library) on Sept 10-11. Announcement here.