Music festival circuit

Not only can attending a music festival in another country be an opportunity to hear some fantastic music, but it can be a unique way to really get an understanding of the people of the nation you are visiting and to make new friends that will last a lifetime.

Compiling a list of every major festival in every country would be close to imfeasible, and many of the best experiences can be found at smaller festivals, so keep an eye out in the local music press for what is happening in the nation you are visiting.

Oceania

Australia

Due to the distributed nature of the population many music festivals in Australia are single day affairs that tour the nation as opposed to the 3-5 day long camping festivals of Europe. Some of the best include:

Big Day Out - Tours Australia (and formerly Auckland, New Zealand]) - January - Feb. An Australian institution since it went nationwide in 1993 and the BDO stops off in every Australian state. Huge variety of music from folk to heavy metal to experimental electronica.
Bluesfest - Byron Bay, New South Wales - Easter. Originally purely a blues festival, now has a wide range of genres.
Field Day - Sydney, New South Wales - 1 January. Dance music festival held in Sydney's Domain park every year on New Years Day.
Future Music Festival - Tours nationally - February - March. Formally known as two tribes until one of the two companies running it pulled out, this is the flagship event of Melbourne based Future entertainment. Primarily dance music acts, with the occasional notable exception (e.g. Frandz Ferdinand in 2010)
Southbound - Busselton, Western Australia - January. European style camping festival near the holiday town of Busselton. One of the most family friendly festivals in the nation.

New Zealand

Rhythm and Vines - Gisborne - A three day music festival to celebrate the new year. Held in a vineyard and includes popular New Zealand and international artists. Camping accommodation is set up in Watson Park especially for the event.

North America

Canada

Evolve Music and Awareness Festival - Antigonish, Nova Scotia - July
Folly Fest - Gagetown, New Brunswick - June–July
Halifax Pop Explosion - Halifax (Nova Scotia) | Halifax, Nova Scotia - October
Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival - Fredericton (New Brunswick) | Fredericton, New Brunswick
Montreal Jazz Festival - Montreal, Quebec - June–July
NXNE - Toronto, Ontatio - June
Osheaga - Montreal, Quebec - July–August
Ottawa Bluesfest - Ottawa, Ontario - July
Pemberton Festival - Pemberton (British Columbia) | Pemberton, British Columbia - July
Shambhala - Salmo, British Columbia - August
Sunseekers Ball Music & Arts Festival - Chance Harbour, New Brunswick - August

Aruba

[https://estival.aspx Aruba Soul Beach Music Festival - May
Caribean Sea Jazz Festival - September / October

Jamaica

Reggae SumFest - Montego Bay - July

United States of America|USA

At The Drive In (32767712723) - SXSW

Allgood Music Festival-(Marvins mountain top, Wv) July
Austin City Limits Festival - Austin, Texas - Two weekend (6-day) festival featuring a wide variety of emerging and established acts.
Beale Street Music Festival - Memphis, Tennessee
Bonnaroo - Manchester (Tennessee) | Manchester, Tennessee - Four day music festival in June. Multiple stages of music featuring large variety of musical genres. The festival originally had a jam band focus but has since expanded.
Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada - August - Sept
Camp Bisco - Indian Head Country Club, New York - Electronic and jam band festival in July centered around the electronic jam band The Disco Biscuits. Genres such as dubstep have been heavily featured in recent years.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival - Indio, California - Three day festival held in April. While it was originally one weekend and there are now two consecutive weekends with both weekends generally having the same acts. It takes place in a desert setting and features established as well as emerging artists. Tent camping is allowed.
Detroit Electronic Music Festival - Detroit, Michigan - Electronic/dance music festival held on Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May) each year at Hart Plaza in Detroit. Generally features 5 stages and over 100 artists.
Folks Festival - Lyons (Colorado) | Lyons, Colorado - August
Jam Along the Creek - Millmont, PA - Small three day music festival held at a campground (along a creek) in central Pennsylvania. Expect small local bands and a laid back atmosphere compared to many larger festivals (as well as cheaper tickets). The headlining act on Saturday is usually a Grateful Dead cover band.
Jazz Fest - New Orleans, Louisiana - April/May
Jazz Jubilee - Sacramento, California - May
Lollapalooza - Chicago - August
Monterey Jazz - Monterey (California) | Monterey, California - September
Mountain Jam Hunter Mountain, New York- Four day festival held in June. There are four stages of music and attendees can camp onsite.
Newport Folk Festival - Newport (Rhode Island) | Newport, Rhode Island - July
Newport Jazz Festival - Newport (Rhode Island) | Newport, Rhode Island - August
Pitchfork Music Festival - Chicago - July
Rochester International Jazz Festival - Rochester, New York - June
Rock the Bells - San Francisco, San Bernardino, New York City, many others
RockyGrass - Lyons (Colorado) | Lyons, Colorado - July
Rothbury Music Festival - Rothbury, Michigan - July
SXSW - Austin, Texas - March
Telluride Bluegrass Festival - Telluride, Colorado - June
VooDoo Music Experience - New Orleans, Louisiana - October/November
Wakarusa - Mulberry (Arkansas) | Mulberry, Arkansas - June
Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival - Winfield (Kansas) | Winfield, Kansas - September

South America

Brazil

Lollapalooza - São Paulo, late March or early April
Rock in Rio - Rio de Janeiro, irregular rock festival first arranged in 1985 and then in 1991 and more frequently during the 2000s, but there have also been "Rock in Rio" festivals taking place in Lisbon (every second year since 2004), Madrid and Las Vegas. Rock in Rio features some of the very biggest names in rock plus Brazilian bands.

Chile

Lollapalooza - Santiago

Asia

Borneo

RainForest Festival

Japan

Fuji Rock, - Yuzawa (Niigata) | Naeba Ski Resort, Niigata - July
Summer Sonic, - Tokyo and Osaka - August

South Korea

Asia Song Festival - October. Mostly K-pop but also pop music from other East and Southeast Asian countries. Has previously been held in different cities around South Korea, but since 2014 it has been held in Busan.

Musicbank World Tour - A few times every year the Korean broadcaster KBS arranges a concert with different K-pop groups mostly around Asia but also elsewhere in the world. 2017 locations include Singapore, Dubai and Berlin.

Europe

Belgium

Pukkelpop - Kiewit - August

Denmark

{{seealso|Nordic music

Roskilde - Roskilde - Late June/Early July - Large camping festival about 30 mins by train form Copenhagen. Attracts a young crowd from all over Europe and the rest of the world. Campsite opens the Monday before the festival, with lots of smaller local acts playing in the days leading up to the main event. Very good facilities. With a wide variety of music there should be something for everyone.

Finland

Ruisrock - held in Turku in early July, this is the second oldest still running rock festival in Europe. Attended by over 100,000 guests every year, this is a place to see and hear pop and rock bands from Finland and abroad.
Faces Etnofestival is an annual world and ethnic music festival since 1997 in Southern Finland. In 2016 the venue and time is the Raseborg|Fiskars Village, Raseborg on the first weekend of August.

Germany

M'era Luna - Festival of industrial, metal, goth and darkwave music held in Hildesheim the second weekend in August.
Rock am Ring and Rock im Park - Two rock festivals that take place simultaneously. Rock am Ring takes place in Nürburg and Rock im Park takes place in Nuremberg.
Wacken Open Air - Heavy metal music festival taking place each summer in the small village of Wacken in northern Germany. This is one of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world, attracting bands from all sub-genres.

Netherlands

The largest music festivals of the nation:

Dance Valley — Spaarnwoude
Defqon.1 — Biddinghuizen or Almere
Heineken Dance Parade — Rotterdam
Lowlands - Biddinghuizen
Mystery Land — Hoofddorp
North Sea Jazz — Rotterdam
Parkpop — The Hague
Pink Pop - Landgraaf
Sensation — Amsterdam
Uitmarkt — Amsterdam
Zomercarnaval — Rotterdam
Zwarte Cross — Achterhoek

Poland

Coke Live - Kraków, August
Off - Katowice, August
Open'er - Gdynia, beginning of July
Przystanek Woodstock - Kostrzyn, beginning of August
Unsound - Kraków, October

Portugal

Alive - Lisbon - June; Portugal's main pop and rock music festival; past acts have included Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, Metallica, Black Eyed Peas
FMM Sines - Sines - July; world music, folk and alternative; the event takes place in the seaside town of Sines in Southern Portugal.
Paredes de Coura Festival - Paredes de Coura - August; an important alternative and indie rock festival in the northern countryside, near the Spain / Galicia border.

Spain

Primavera Sound Festival - Barcelona - May–June
Sonar Festiva - Barcelona - June

Switzerland

Montreux Jazz Festival - Montreux - July
Street Parade - Zurich - Since the end of Berlin's Love Parade the largest annual technoparade and electronic music festival in the world with more than 1 million attendees.

Great Britain|UK

{{seealso|Music on the British Isles

Bestival - Isle of Wight - Early September . Once considered a 'boutique' festival due to its smaller size this festival has grown considerably in recent years. Holding the record as the worlds largest costume party, dressing up is a must.
The Great Escape - Brighton (England) | Brighton - May . An annual pop and dance extravaganza held late summer. Capacity 25,000.
Glastonbury - Glastonbury - June. Needs no introduction. Even if it sells out the year before do not despair because there are many tickets returned and they will be available in the April before the festival. Typically it runs 3 out of every 4 years.
Leeds - Leeds - last weekend in August. Tickets: £180 for weekend (including camping & parking), or £75 for any day (no camping included) - rock and indie
Loopalu - Ullapool - late September. An increasingly popular smaller rock music festival held by the beach in a small town in Highland (Scotland).
Reading - Reading - last weekend in August. Tickets: £180 for weekend (including camping & parking), or £75 for any day (no camping included) - rock and indie
Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts - Swansea - mid October - Tickets: concerts are paid for individually - classical and jazz - the second largest festival of its kind in the UK.
Womad - Malmesbury, Wiltshire - late July. Tickets: £160 for weekend - music, art and dance

Ukraine

Atlas Weekend - Kiev - early July. €45 early bird pass for all 5 days.
Faine misto - Ternopil - late July.

Travel to Music festival circuit

The first thing you're going to need is a ticket. There is large demand for tickets to many of the major festivals with some selling out in a matter of hours, so get your tickets as soon as feasible. Some festivals require you to register before you buy the tickets, so make sure you've done this before the tickets go on sale. If you have missed out on tickets or are strapped for cash it may still be feasible to get into the event by volunteering to work at the event, as this is how many festivals find a lot of their staff. You will usually be expected to work a few hours a day doing small tasks like collecting rubbish or directing traffic. This can usually be arranged so that you will get to see most of the acts you want to see.

Stay Safe

The usual rules regarding drugs and alcohol apply, only more so. As a general rule a festival like Glastonbury is not a safe place to take drugs, despite its reputation. Americans should note that European soft drinks are generally stronger than US soft drinks and people from other countries should note that American "light" soft drinks are not necessarily lower in alcohol content, rather light may mean low calorie. Beyond that follow the usual rules: listen to what your body is telling you, know your limits and make sure your friends are looking out for you.

Also if you've come from a cooler climate like Northern Europe or North America to a festival in somewhere like Spain or Australia you'll be more prone to dehydration when in a mosh pit or raving for long periods of time, so keep a bottle of water on you at all times.

Toilets are also often a concern, especially if there are many people in attendance.

eHalal Group Launches Halal Guide to Music festival circuit

Music festival circuit - eHalal Travel Group, a leading provider of innovative Halal travel solutions for Muslim travelers to Music festival circuit, is thrilled to announce the official launch of its comprehensive Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide for Music festival circuit. This groundbreaking initiative aims to cater to the diverse needs of Muslim travelers, offering them a seamless and enriching travel experience in Music festival circuit and its surrounding regions.

With the steady growth of Muslim tourism worldwide, eHalal Travel Group recognizes the importance of providing Muslim travelers with accessible, accurate, and up-to-date information to support their travel aspirations to Music festival circuit. The Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide is designed to be a one-stop resource, offering an array of invaluable information on various travel aspects, all carefully curated to align with Islamic principles and values.

The Travel Guide encompasses a wide range of features that will undoubtedly enhance the travel experience for Muslim visitors to Music festival circuit. Key components include:

Halal-Friendly Accommodations inMusic festival circuit: A carefully selected list of hotels, lodges, and vacation rentals that cater to halal requirements, ensuring a comfortable and welcoming stay for Muslim travelers in Music festival circuit.

Halal Food, Restaurants and Dining in Music festival circuit: A comprehensive directory of restaurants, eateries, and food outlets offering halal-certified or halal-friendly options in Music festival circuit, allowing Muslim travelers to savor local cuisines without compromising their dietary preferences in Music festival circuit.

Prayer Facilities: Information on masjids, prayer rooms, and suitable locations for daily prayers in Music festival circuit, ensuring ease and convenience for Muslim visitors in fulfilling their religious obligations.

Local Attractions: An engaging compilation of Muslim-friendly attractions, cultural sites such as Museums, and points of interest in Music festival circuit, enabling travelers to explore the city's rich heritage while adhering to their values.

Transport and Logistics: Practical guidance on transportation options that accommodate Muslim travel needs, ensuring seamless movement within Music festival circuit and beyond.

Speaking about the launch, Irwan Shah, Chief Technology Officer of eHalal Travel Group in Music festival circuit, stated, "We are thrilled to introduce our Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide in Music festival circuit, a Muslim friendly destination known for its cultural richness and historical significance. Our goal is to empower Muslim travelers with accurate information and resources, enabling them to experience the wonders of Music festival circuit without any concerns about their faith-based requirements. This initiative reaffirms our commitment to creating inclusive and memorable travel experiences for all our clients."

The eHalal Travel Group's Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide for Music festival circuit is now accessible on this page. The guide will be regularly updated to ensure that Muslim travelers have access to the latest information, thus reinforcing its status as a reliable companion for Muslim travelers exploring Music festival circuit.

About eHalal Travel Group:

eHalal Travel Group Music festival circuit is a prominent name in the global Muslim travel industry, dedicated to providing innovative and all-inclusive travel solutions tailored to the needs of Muslim travelers worldwide. With a commitment to excellence and inclusivity, eHalal Travel Group aims to foster a seamless travel experience for its clients while respecting their religious and cultural values.

For Halal business inquiries in Music festival circuit, please contact:

eHalal Travel Group Music festival circuit Media: info@ehalal.io

Muslim Friendly Hotels

For some festivals and the vast majority of the attendants to music festivals decide to camping|camp on site, and most attendants consider it a vital part of the experience. If you want to be close to the action you're going to have to get in early to get a camping site close to the music. However you may want to consider the fact that the closer you are to the music the louder it will be and the less chance you will get a good night's sleep if you decide you've had enough. Remember that even though music on the main stages may have finished and there may be sections of the festival that will keep playing music until late into the night. Some festivals have special camping areas for families with young children.

If you don't feel that you can live without creature comforts, getting a hotel room near the festival is an option, but keep in mind that if the festival is well attended, demand for hotel rooms will be high not just from festival goers but also from the festival staff, so prices will be high. Also consider how far away you are from the festival and the amount of time it will take to get in every day. A better option, if the festival provides facilities to do this, may be to get a motor home and stay there, giving you significantly more comfort and privacy than camping while keeping you relatively close to the action.