Wondering what the entertainment itinerary should be for this year? Check some of the famous music festivals of the world so that you can book your tickets in advance. Also, by doing so, you do not just go globetrotting, but also delve into some maddening musical events.
This is the year where you party harder because you have worked hard. It is time you leave everything behind, bury your worries, grab the backpack, travel light and far, and drown yourself in some music therapy. What is life if you haven’t partied all night, met random strangers, made friends with them in craziest circumstances, and lived truly, as though your each moment was last.
Music festivals are sonorous reminders of all those things you keep daydreaming about while at work, buried under piles of files. However, now is the time to act on that impulse and do what you really need to do, to know who you really are. The best part about these music fests is that some of them are free too! So, in case you are worried about blowing up your saved-up money, here’s your chance to live wild, and young, and free! Check out the famous music festivals around the world and the magic they conjure for every hippie at heart.
Tomorrowland is a grand electronic dance music (EDM) festival held in Belgium. It started in the year 2005. The first ever Tomorrowland fest was held on August 14, 2005. It was organized by Mauricio, Gael, and Andres Unidos Cisneros. Their biggest selling point was Armin van Buuren, the biggest and a very popular EDM DJ in the world today. In the following year, the festival saw artists such as Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, and DJ Zany. Over the years, this music festival has become quite a rage among EDM lovers. As of 2013, the festival had 180,000 attendees. The ‘Full Madness’ passes were sold out in 35 minutes, and the remaining were sold out within a second. To mark the 10th anniversary edition of Tomorrowland, the organizers intend to host the festival over two weekends for the world!
Coachella was first held at the fledgling site of Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on October 9 and 10, 1999. This was just three months after the Woodstock ’99 festival, which had witnessed fires and riots. For this precisely, the Coachella was banned from on-site camping. It was only in the year 2002 that the ban was lifted, and it was given a status of on-site camping music festival. The first year saw about 10,000 people attending shows by Beck, The Chemical Brothers, and Rage Against Machine. This festival still reels under the hippie hangover of the Woodstock, which is a vibe supported by biggest artists and celebrity attendees. Ever since 2002, this music festival has been completely sold out! Last year, it saw about 675,000 attendees.
Summerfest is another yearly organized music festival, held at Henry Maier Festival Park Wisconsin, in the United States. This is bigger than what Coachella has ever been. This music madness is spread over 11 days, with 11 different stages for 700 performing bands! The Guinness World Records has named this festival as the The World’s Largest Music Festival since 1999. Despite its huge popularity, the music festival is run by a non-profit organization called Milwaukee World Festival. Summerfest has hosted artists such as Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, and Britney Spears. The lineup is as grand as the music festival, making the footprint hit a mark of 800K to 1 million in 2013.
EXIT is a summer music festival which finds its roots in the activist movement and sentiment against the oppressive Siberian regime. ‘EXIT out of the madness’ is a movement driven to give out a social message to the world. It was started as a student movement to reinstate peace and democracy in Serbia and the Balkans. It is run by a non-profit organization and happens to be ‘Best Major European Festival’ according to EU Festival Awards. The fest has all types of genres right from rock to punk and all the way to EDM too. The 2013 music festival saw 200,000 attendees and about over 300 acts.
Paléo is an annual rock festival held in Nyon, Switzerland. This music festival started as a small fest in 1976 as the Nyon Folk Festival. However, this fest has become an international music celebration with thousands of performances by international artists. This six-day festival is largely a volunteer-run event with limited funds. The 2013 festival hosted big artists such as The Bloody Beetroots and Arctic Monkeys. Every year, the festival aims at incorporating budding artists and giving them a true stage exposure.
The Ultra Music Festival has become synonymous with EDM. This annual festival is held at Miami, Florida, United States. The early bird passes for Ultra 2014 are sold out within four minutes and the advance tickets within 20 minutes. Ultra is a music festival that travels to Ibiza, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Santiago, Seoul, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Split, and Hvar. The festival was held as a one-day event as the closing day of Winter Music Conference. However, in 2013, the festival was held over two weekends for the first time, which saw a footfall of 330,000.
Osheaga is a music fest held at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène, Montreal, Quebec. This annual music festival has five stages whose English equivalents are River Stage, Mountain Stage, Green Stage, Trees Stage, and Zone Picnik Electronik. All these stages have varying audience capacities. Once again, this music festival hosts artists who perform many different genres. Some of the popular artists at this music festival are Coldplay, The Killers, Eminem, and Iggy & The Stooges.
Rock in Rio started in 1985 with some of the biggest performers of all time such as Queen AC/DC, and Iron Maiden. Over the years, the festival has stretched over places and is held at places such as Lisbon and Madrid. The tickets for this music festival are really difficult to buy even if you have all the money in the world. The reason being, tickets for 2013 were sold out in 2011! About 700,000 people attended this gigantic musical extravaganza in 2011.
Przystanek Woodstock, which is also known as Woodstock Festival Poland, is mainly a rock music festival. However, this music festival is ticket-free, and is truly inspired by the original Woodstock Festival. Its motto ‘Love, Friendship, and Music’, quite lives up to its name. This festival is organized by Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity as a way of thanking its volunteers. There were about 550,000 attendees, 80 performers, and 3 stages in 2012.
This is once again an open-air free music festival. It takes place annually at Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria. This is truly one of biggest music festivals. The footfall for 2013 was marked at 3.2 million with over 2,000 artists performing over 21 stages! No other music festival happens to match that statistics. Also interestingly, this festival garners a huge crowd in just over 3 days!
So, these were some of the famous and the best music fests from around the world. Attending a music festival is an experience each person must urge themselves to take. It is truly one of those experiences where you find your honest self amidst a crowd of thousands as you make a solitary connection with incredible musical notes.