Pittsburgh fails to provide a good music festival

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Jarrod Chermely, Staff Writer

For music fans, going to a big-ticket music festival featuring top artists is a dream come true, but for Pittsburgh it’s nothing but a dream for yet another year.

Coachella, Pitchfork Music Festival, and Lollapalooza are filled with artists people are willing to sell their cherished possessions to see, such as Beyoncé, The Weeknd, and Eminem, just to name very few.

However, Pittsburgh lacks anything anywhere close to these big festivals. Sure, the city has festivals like XFest and the Three Rivers Art Festival, but XFest is run by a radio station, and festivals like these are commonplace in any city with a population greater than 250,000.

The only festivals remotely close to something as big as the rest of the country’s music festivals is Thrival, which in the past has featured artists such as Chainsmokers and Wiz Khalifz, and the Vans Warped Tour, which is nothing special since that festival has been touring the country every summer for the past 24 years.

Pittsburgh’s local music scene has been growing in recent years, which can be seen by the various free music festivals around Pittsburgh. The Millvale Music Festival and the Deutschtown Music Festival, on the North Side, host local bands.

While helping local bands grow and exposing listeners to new music is important and fun, Pittsburghers are still waiting for their shot at a big-ticket music festival that won’t require a $450 plane ticket on top of the festival ticket.