The Intonation Music Festival.   (Photo: Brett Carlson)

9. Chicago, Our Kind of Town
What summer music festival was curated by the ultrahip local label Vice Records? No idea? That’s probably because it wasn’t in New York. It was Intonation, a two-day indie-rock blowout in Chicago’s Union Park. Also this summer in Chicago: Pitchfork Music Festival, a weekend of bands from Os Mutantes to Devendra Banhart; and the second Lollapalooza in Grant Park, which had Kanye West and the Raconteurs. Meanwhile, New Yorkers were stuck in line at CMJ, a hype machine that produced little, and Siren Festival, whose white-bread lineup seems less relevant every year.