Chicago turns down Radiohead's Millennium Park shows

Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs has turned down Radiohead's request to play the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on 19 and 20 June, Jim DeRogatis reports in the Chicago Sun-Times. The band would have paid $100,000 in rent. The Grant Park Orchestra has a rehearsal booked for 20 June, and the department said no because the orchestra needs its own sound system and cannot move the date.

The pavilion is Frank Gehry's bandshell in the park, open since 2004 and the orchestra's home. Karen Ryan, the department's spokeswoman, says free public programming is part of what the venue is for. We have to support organizations such as the Grant Park Orchestra, but we're open to other events if there are availabilities at other times.³ Last summer the same department was reported to have let the park out for a private Toyota event, at about $800,000, closing it to the public.

Radiohead's last show in Chicago was in Grant Park, on Hutchinson Field, on 1 August 2001, and the city has been wary of rock shows in the park since, after neighbours complained about the noise. Jam Productions, which promoted that night and wants to bring the band back, declined to comment. The band, the paper says, still hope to play the city this summer, in the park or somewhere else.