Music: Where the Indies Are

Madonna announced last week that she would play the seventh annual Coachella festival next month--and legions of underground-music fans went into mourning. "MADONNA?????????????" wrote Jamesc2929 on Ezboard.com. "What the F***!!! This is an insult to those who have supported the Coachella Idea from the start. I was waiting to see if you added Death Cab, Morrissey, Kasabian, the Strokes, and now we get the Material b---h. What a let down."

So where does a guy in a retro Pixies T shirt go when the premier indie festival lets him down? To Chicago for the two-day-long Pitchfork festival in July. Sponsored by music Web site pitchforkmedia.com, the festival features 36 bands, like the Mountain Goats, who truly aren't signed to major labels. There's also Chicago's Intonation festival (June), sponsored by the snarky-but-spot-on pop-culture magazine Vice. Headliners include U.K. rapper The Streets. Both festivals run about $15 a day; Coachella is $85. That means money left over for a new T shirt.