A Look Back At Some of Chicago’s Summer Music Festivals

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Chicago in the summer is beautiful. The architecture, the geography, the food, the people, but most importantly the music.  During the summer, the musical arts are given a chance to rise to the occasion and compliment the beautiful architecture and history of this city. Chicago has deep roots in all different genres of music, one of them being Electronic Dance music (EDM).

Over this past summer, Chicago has hosted a number of EDM festivals, including Electric Daisy Carnival, Spring Awakening, Lollapalooza, Wave Front, and North Coast.

Many students that attend Leyden have been to the music festivals hosted in Chicago. One festival goer, senior Nicole Covello, was able to attend several this past summer including Spring Awakening, Northcoast, and Wavefront.

Some of her favorite artists that she saw perform were Excision, Milk n Cookies, Nicky Romero, Laidback Luke, Krewella, RL Grime, Wutang Clan, Bassnectar, and Calvin Harris.

Covello is very passionate about music, and festivals are very important to her, spiritually bringing her closer to the performers and the audience.

“Festivals to me are magical. They bring this crazy happiness to my life that I’ve never experienced, like euphoria.”

Not only is the music incredible, but the surroundings and the people are a huge part of the experience.

“Being surrounded by a bunch of beautiful people for the same reason, music, is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I actually cried multiple times because of how happy I was. You have no worries, or negative energy around you,” she added.

Age is not a factor for festival goers, ranging from teenagers, to parents with their children. Music festivals have created a wonderful opportunity to bring people together to enjoy music and create memories.

 

Michelle Marchese, an English teacher and a poms coach here at Leyden has attended both Northcoast Music Festival and Lollapalooza.

Some of the artists that Ms. Marchese saw were Teegan and Sarah, Major Lazer, Passion Pit, Capital Cities, and Paper Diamond. Her favorite performers were Phoenix, Alt-J, and Aluna George.

 

She has gone to NCMF for the past 3 years and has always had a good experience with the festivals. She enjoys the crowd, because they “are always really friendly and are there to enjoy the music and have a good time.”

Ms. Marchese also attended Lollapalooza, another music festival in Chicago. This was her first time attending, and she thought “it was a really g

ood time and the weather was beautiful!”

Ms. Marchese had a couple tips for any festival goers attending events in the upcoming year.

“The only downsides to any music festival… is the opportunity that it can be cancelled due to weather and there are no refunds on tickets, or that it is always really hard to find a taxi once the festival ends.”

She recommends people plan ahead and “always have a ride ready, or take a train to avoid being stranded at the festival grounds for a while.”

Music festivals seem to have taken found their place in Chicago, and summer in the city has never looked so beautiful. If you want to experience something new and exciting in the upcoming year, music festivals are a definite choice for those who are looking for adventure.