Festival season is officially upon us! Commencing from the 24th May, a plethora of festivals will be happening throughout the world, with the closing summer festivals at the beginning of September. Check out our handy list below to some of the biggest festivals occurring this summer worldwide.
We Are Fstvl: 24-25TH May 2014.
We Are Fstvl will be taking place at The Airfield of Dreams, Danyns Hall, Upminster, Essex on the 24th and 25th May 2014.
Hugely successful last year, We Are Fstvl brings together the biggest names in electronic dance music, along with the world’s leading club brands and labels. To assist with the increase in popularity of this event, the festival organisers will now lay on extended bars, more toilets, car parking and entrance lanes, a huge range of respectable street foot providers from the local area, along with a free bus to local towns and extended train services.
The line-up includes dance acts such as Knife Party, Matador, Chuckie, The Martinez Brothers and Sub Focus.
Book your tickets and find out more information by visiting the We Are Fstvl website: http://www.wearefstvl.com/
Isle of Wight Festival: 12th-15th June 2014.
A hugely successful festival year after year, the Isle of Wight Festival is on to a winner once again with an excellent line up of bands and musicians along with a variety of entertainment, eateries and events.
Isle of Wight Festival is headlined on the main stage this year by Biffy Clyro and Calvin Harris on the Friday, Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Saturday and Kings of Leon on the Sunday. Other acts joining them include Starsailor, The Specials, Fall Out Boy, Suede and Tom Odell.
Check out the full line up, list of areas inside the festival, and book your tickets by visiting the Isle of Wight Festival website: https://www.isleofwightfestival.com/home.aspx
Glastonbury: 25th-29th June 2014
Glastonbury presents an eclectic line up this year. The main Pyramid Stage mixes Arcade Fire, Dolly Parton, Kasabian, Lana Del Rey and Jack White with rockers Metallica. Each stage continues to embrace this mixture of genres, providing a truly unique and enjoyable experience, with music lovers bound to find something they enjoy.
Check out the full line up and purchase your tickets here: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up-poster/
Latitude Festival: 17th-20th July 2014.
Taking part in Henham Park, Suffolk, Essex, the Latitude Festival combines established and upcoming music acts along with names in comedy, theatre and dance, film and TV. This year, Two Door Cinema Club, Damon Albarn and The Black Keys are headlining each night in the large Obelisk Arena.
Joining them is an expansive line-up including Editors, Crystal Fighters and Bombay Bicycle Club on the music stages. Comedians Dara O’Briain, Al Murray and Simon Amstell provide some laugh.
Pick up your tickets and check out the full line up and events here: http://www.latitudefestival.com/
Lovebox: 18th-19th July 2014
Love Box has been a major event in Victoria Park since 2005. Playing host to a number of up and coming and well known musical acts, the festival fully embraces the London music scene during the (hopefully!) warm and sunny summer weather.
Returning to Hackney’s Victoria Park for the ninth year running on the 18th and 19th July, this year’s Love Box features live performances from artists such as M.I.A., Chase & Status, Katy B, The Horrors, and Sub Focus, as well as DJ sets from Craig Charles, Mic Newman and Tic Trago among many, many more.
Festival goers are invited to explore DISTRIKT at Love Box 2014. DISTRIKT is a camp born at the famous Burning Man festival. Described as a ‘steampunk junk yard’, this American-born camp’s aim is to forge friendships under sunlit sets, fire, all the while set to dance and house-based beats.
This year also sees the introduction of Love Box After Dark. Currently no information has been released regarding this event, but those interested can sign up to the Love Box After Dark newsletterto be the first in line for information once it arrives.
Find out more about Love Box via their official website: http://loveboxfestival.com/
Leeds Festival & Reading Festival: 22-24th August 2014.
Two of the UK’s biggest music festivals, Leeds and Reading festivals return this year, boasting an impressive line-up.
Acts include headliners Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys and Blink 182, who are joined by a plethora of acts including Vampire Weekend, Jake Bugg, Foster the People, You Me At Six, The Hives and Bombay Bicycle Club.
Order your tickets here:
Leeds-http://www.leedsfestival.com/
Reading-http://www.readingfestival.com/
Bestival: 4th-7th September 2014
Closing the UK festival circuit this summer is Bestival, a three day event featuring live-music from Outkast (who recently re-formed), Foals, Beck, Busta Rhymes and Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, among others.
For a slice of something different, Bestival will also play host to a variety of non-music acts.
Check out the full line up and purchase your tickets here:
http://2014.bestival.net/
Austria
Donauinselfest (Vienna): 27th June-29th June 2014
Donauinselfest is the largest open air festival in all of Europe, featuring thousands of acts on a man-made island for three days of music.
Featuring more than 2,000 acts, along with a carnival atmosphere, the line-up includes plenty of local talent and international bands from across the world.
For more information, check out the Donauinselfest website: http://2014.donauinselfest.at/
Belgium
Tomorrowland (Boom):18th-27th July 2014
Regarded as one of the best Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals, Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium, is definitely one to check out.
What sets Tomorrowland apart from the cluster of EDM festivals is the storybook setting, combining vibrant technicolour with fantastical stages. For instance, 2011’s festival took on the theme of Alice in Wonderland, featuring live characters based on the classic novel, life-size mushrooms, pyrotechnics and trippy stage designs.
Watch the official Tomorrowland after-movie here:
Find out more about this festival by visiting the Tomorrowland website: http://www.tomorrowland.be/
Croatia
Hideout Festival: 8th-12th September 2014
Right at the end of the summer festival season, Hideout Festival provides a host of boat parties with music from Abandon Silence, Digital Soundboy, Lobster Boy, and Metropolis among plenty of others.
For those of you interested in getting tickets, unfortunately, Hideout Festival is now sold out. However, read up on all the line-up and information by visiting the website here:
http://www.hideoutfestival.com/
Unknown Festival: 8th-12th September 2014
Unknown festival presents a week of live music, boat, forest and island parties. Music comes from acts such as Disclosure, DJ Harvey, London Grammar and Chic feat. Nile Rogers.
For more information, check out the Unknown Festival website here: http://www.unknowncroatia.com/
Finland
Air Guitar World Championships: 27th-30th August 2014
According to the promoters, this festival gives everyone a chance to rock out in front of a crowd with that special instrument-the air guitar.
Held in Oulu, northern Finland, the Air Guitar World Championships see thousands of competitors’ air-guitar it to plenty of guitar greats such as Queen and Jimmy Hendrix. This four day event will also be featuring workshops on how best to exaggerate picking motions, with demonstrations from some of the previous world champions.
Watch the video below of 2013 world champion Eric ‘Mean Melin’ Melin from the US.
Germany
Wacken Open Air Festival (Wacken): 31st July-2nd August 2014
Normally inhabiting a population of 1,900, Wacken in Germany welcomes in more than 75,000 rock and metal fans for the Wacken Open Air Festival.
This year, more than 130 bands will be performing live across seven stages, with the festival taking on a medieval and Viking theme. Germany is famed for its beer (Oktoberfest each year draws staggering crowds to sample its beer out of Steins for example), and Wacken fully embraces this, with plenty of beer gardens and tents.
2014’s Wacken celebrates 25 years of the metal festival, with special performances from Motorhead, Apocalyptica, Children of Bodom, Skid Row, Saxon and Megadeath among plenty more. The festival is also famed for its abundance of mud, caused by the inevitable rainfall, so bring on plenty of mud wrestling and messy moshing.
For full details, check out the Wacken Open Air Festival website: http://www.wacken.com/
Morocco
Gnaoua World Music Festival (Essaouira): 12th-15th June 2014
Music lovers can embrace a bit of culture too by joining close to 500,000 visitors over the course of four days at the Gnaoua World Music Festival.
Taking place in the peaceful and picturesque fishing port of Essaouira in Morocco, the Gnaoua World Music Festival celebrates the music and arts of the Gnaoua’s. In recent years, the festival has included other genres, such as jazz, blues, reggae and hip-hop, whilst also fusing foreign artists with the traditional Gnaoua musicians.
More information can be found here: http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/en
Serbia
EXIT Festival (Novi Sad): 10th-13th June 2014
Billed as one of the most popular festivals in the world, the EXIT Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia takes place in a 17th century island fortress on the banks of the Danube.
EXIT Festival mixes radical politics, scenic views and loud music from an array of genres, such as electronica, metal, punk and experimental genres. Both established and underground acts perform, creating a nice mix of the old and the new.
http://www.exitfest.org/en
Spain
Benicassim (Barcelona): 17th-20th July 2014
Taking place in Benicassim, Spain, the Benicassim Festival provides four days of music from a band of well-known and emerging acts.
The line-up includes performances from Kasabian, Paulo Nutini, Example, Lily Allen, Paul Weller, Tinie Tempah, Jake Bugg, Chase & Status and the Manic Street Preachers, to name but a few. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the festival.
http://fiberfib.com/index.php/en/
Sonar Festival (Barcelona): 12th-14th June 2014
Formed in 1994 with the aim to be something different than just a music festival, the Sonar Festival provides live electronic performances that push the boundaries beyond the experience of just being an audience member at a concert.
Barcelona’s Sonar Festival features plenty of concert and DJ performances, along with talks and workshops, this festival provides a hybrid of both electronic music and spectacular lighting, with elements of trade shows.
http://sonar.es/en/2014/
Haro Wine Festival (Haro, La Rioja), 29th June 2014
Every year on the 29th June, the Haro Wine Festival in Haro, a small town in northern Spain hosts a festival celebrating their famous local wines. From bullfighting to wine-tasting and an epic wine fight that results in the festival goers white t-shirts turning a bright shade of purple, the atmosphere is definitely a fun one to experience.
More information can be found on their website: http://www.wine-fight.com/
USA
Burning Man (Nevada, USA): 25th August-1st September 2014
Every year, over 61,000 free sprits gather on the Nevada Desert to create a spiritual, peaceful city. The Burning Man combines this element of peace with music, art and culture, complete with the festival’s biggest attraction-the burning man.
The festival is a celebration of artistic self-expression for those who have a utopian vision of the world. It’s a place for building a community, set on a back-drop of all-night parties, dancing and music.
More information on the Burning Man, USA can be found here: http://www.burningman.com/