“ Why raise ticket prices if you don't need to, right?
” Seven years in, this independently run three-day event has consistently proven to be one of the most welcoming, comfortable, reasonably priced and singular weekends of music around.

Two more bands have just been added to this year’s fest — Japandroids will be playing Friday, and Chromatics will perform on Saturday!

The Pitchfork Music Festival returns to Chicago’s Union Park Friday, July 13 – Sunday, July 15 to celebrate an outstanding range of music from around the globe.

This year, we are excited to introduce “The PMF Upgrade Challenge.” 2012 attendees are invited to participate for a chance for them and a friend to be upgraded to VIP for the entire festival weekend. Enter To Win The PMF Upgrade Challenge

Greg Dulli and The Afghan Whigs are all set for a summer tour that includes a stop right here in Chicago at Lollapalooza.  The band hasn’t played live in 13 years and hasn’t released an album since 1998.  A free download has just popped up on their website (embedded below), a song originally recorded in 1970 by Marie “Queenie” Lyons.  Download below and prepare for their set on August 3 in Grant Park.Click here for “See and Don’t See.”

(Photo: Facebook/Mark Zuckerberg)

The day after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg officially became a multi-billionaire via the most anticipated IPO ever, he wed his girlfriend of more than nine years. In a private ceremony in Palo Alto, California, Zuckerberg married his college sweetheart Priscilla Chan. Chan, who graduated medical school last week at University of California at San Francisco, has dated Zuckerberg since his dorm room days prior to the launching of Facebook. Her character was absent from the film The Social Network in favor of a more dramatic dating story.

The guests all thought they were coming to celebrate Chan’s graduation but were told after they arrived that the event was in fact a wedding. “Everybody was shocked,” one guest told the AP. Zuckerberg made the nuptials public when he updated his status to Married, which garnered 800,000 Likes by Sunday evening.

According to the Mercury News, a special performer was brought in to entertain the guests; Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong sang a few acoustic tunes including “Tell Me When It’s Time To Say I Love You.” In a TMZ video, with audio slightly obscured by passing cars, Billie can be heard dedicating a song to the newlyweds. “This song is one I wrote for my wife of 18 years… uh… it better be for her or I’d be in trouble. This song’s called ‘Last Night On Earth.’”

Watch a live version of ‘Last Night On Earth’

It’s another XRT 4-D Flashback Weekend beginning this Friday as we explore the 70′s in all their lurid glory. Nothing but vinyl, cassettes, reel to reel and the occasional 8-track back then. Here’s how it changed back in the 80′s:The Dawn Of Digital Music

Thom Yorke (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Photos: RadioheadEnter for a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Radiohead in an XRT Show on June 10 at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre! Tickets are still available. Enter To Win Tickets

(Getty Images/Stephen Lovekin)

This weekend, Mick Jagger helped to put a lid on Saturday Night Live‘s latest season, performing three times, joining in a couple of skits, and helping to send off one of the show’s brightest stars, Kristen Wiig.

In his opening monologue, lasting about three minutes, Jagger joked while he loves Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters (the bands he collaborated with on the show), his favorite new group is the musicians from the Free Credit Report Dot Com commercials. When discussing any of his past regrets, he mentioned turning down restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday’s offer to sing “Ruby Tuesday” at their opening for $1,000 and a lifetime supply of jalapeno poppers. Any Rolling Stones fans looking for clues about the band’s upcoming plans were disappointed that no reference was made to the group’s much-rumored about future palns. Read More

Following Donna Summer’s death last week, tributes from musicians and celebrities poured in from all corners of pop culture, expressing admiration for the singer’s catalog of music. But was she snubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Two very influential voices think so.Read More

Stevie (photo by Nate Azark)

Last night’s Billboard Awards reacted quickly to the passing of Bee Gees member Robin Gibb, with the show’s co-host, Modern Family co-star Julie Bowen saying that “His voice, and the music of The Bee Gees will live on forever.” It wasn’t the only tribute to a recently departed music legend during the night.

Pop singer Natasha Bedingfield paid tribute to Donna Summer, who passed away last week, singing Summer’s “Last Dance.” Whitney Houston got a somewhat more elaborate tribute, with R&B star John Legend performing her “The Greatest Love Of All” backed by an orchestra, followed by former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks (who co-starred with Houston in her final film, Sparkle) performing “I Will Always Love You.” Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, accepted Billboard’s Millennium Award for her mother. One other musical tribute was dedicated to the late Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch, with The Voice judge Cee Lo Green and his hip-hop group Goodie Mob performing an excerpt of The Beastie Boys “Fight For Your Right.”more

Your Favorite Vinyl Albums

We asked XRT Listeners On Facebook to share some of the vinyl they just couldn’t live without.View Favorite Albums From Fellow XRT Listeners