Freenode has been having their share of issues lately, it seems. This was 11 hours ago.
[20:15] --lilo-- [Global Notice] Hi all. We're in the process of recovering from a software issue. I should mention that we're working on a replacement ircd server tree that should have fewer problems. We don't yet have an ETA but will keep you posted.
Also, if you are using port 6667 to connect to the Freenode servers, you can also try 8001 instead.