Chicago’s Country LakeShake Festival Going on Hiatus
Chicago's Country LakeShake Festival has been going strong for five years, but the event will not return in 2020. Fans got the news in a Facebook post on Friday (Jan. 31), which added that the break might not necessarily mean a permanent end to the annual festival.
"After 5 amazing years of country music on the lakefront, we wanted to be the first to let you know that Country LakeShake will be taking a hiatus," the post read. "Any future plans will be announced accordingly."
In 2019, Miranda Lambert headlined the first day of Country LakeShake on June 21, in a lineup consisting entirely of female artists, with the exception of Dee Jay Silver. During her performance, Lambert brought an all-star cast of women onstage -- Maren Morris, Lauren Alaina, Cassadee Pope, Lindsay Ell and Lambert's Pistol Annies bandmates Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe -- for a cover of U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
Other performers to grace the LakeShake stage in 2019 included Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Brett Young, Midland and many more.
The festival's Facebook statement didn't offer up the reasons behind the break. Held each year at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, the Country LakeShake Festival was a pillar for live country music in Chicago. However, fans of the genre will still be able to get their festival fix in 2020: the Windy City Smokeout recently announced its lineup for July, with Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi and Darius Rucker as headliners.
Here's a List of More Country Festivals Scheduled for 2020