Our list of festival continues for the second half of the year:
July
Tomorrowland ( Boom, Belguim) – Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with the holy grail of electronic music festivals. It is every electronic music fans’ dream to attend Tomorrowland at least once in their lifetime. Tickets for this event are available a year in advance, yet they still sell out in minutes. Tomorrowland brings together almost 200,000 people from over 75 different countries for an electronic music experience incomparable to any other festival. One of the well know aspects of Tomorrowland is their onsite camping site called Dreamville, where almost 35,000 people gather to do everything except sleep.
Essence Music Festival (New Orleans, LA, USA) – Held annually in NOLA, Essence Fest brings people together to celebrate African American music and culture. Do not let the purpose deter you though; this is a festival for anyone who love soul, R&B, and hip hop music. Due to the positive purpose, Essence Fest holds empowerment seminars featuring numerous motivational speakers. This year’s Essence Fest marked the 20th anniversary of the festival and featured classic names in music such as Prince, Lionel Richie, and Mary J Blige.
Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL, USA) – Lollapalooza is more than just a music festival. Taking place each year in historic Grant Park, Lolla is a three-day cultural experience that takes place on 115 acres between Downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan. In 2014 the festival had Chow Town, featuring over 30 premier, local food vendors serving unique fare all day long, while the Farmers Market offered special options for fans with dietary considerations. Lollapalooza also had select partners located Around The Park offering goods & giveaways, as well as socially-conscious and environmentally-friendly organizations located at Lolla Cares and Green Street.
[Photo Credit: MTV Hide]
August
Burning Man (Black Rock Desert, NV, USA) – Once a year, tens of thousands of participants gather to create Black Rock City in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, having created unbelievable artistic experiences, and having left no trace whatsoever.
[Photo Credit: McKay Jaffe]
Shambahala Music Festival (Salmo, British Columbia) – This is Canada’s premiere electronic music festival. Cutting edge talent, lights and sound come together in paradise to give life to a non -sponsored family run anomaly. Seeing it for yourself is the only way to understand exactly what is Shambhala.
Creamfields (Liverpool, United Kingdom) – Creamfields is the world’s leading dance music festival. Born in 1998, the original dance festival set out to provide the clubbing world with a bespoke large scale outdoor event and has gone on to become the most popular and renowned open air electronic music festival in the world. It’s famous for many things not least its heritage but its consistent delivery of a world class line-up and unbeatable atmosphere. The Creamfields line-up mixes together genre breaking pioneers from across the DJ and live music spectrum and features two outdoor stages and between 8-10 arenas. The 3 day event which takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend is located in the heart of the Cheshire countryside in Daresbury and attracts visitors from around the world.
[Photo Credit: Creamfields]
September
Bestival (Isle of Wight, UK) – Bestival is considered to be one of the UK’s pioneering multi genre music festivals. This award winning 4-day music festival takes place at Robin Hill, a gorgeous park in the heart of the Isle of Wight. The lineup features live perfomances and DJ sets from over 300 world renowned artists. Past headliners include Beck, Major Lazer, Sam Smith and Disclosure. Bestival offers many camping options including the traditional form of camping where you can bring your own tent and their version of “glamping” which has queen beds, lighting, concierge service, and modern plumbing.
Riot Fest (Chicago, IL, USA) – Punk and rock fans unite for this festival taking place in the spacious Humboult Park of Chicago for a weekend of kick-ass music and events. Riot Fest may not feature all the flashy aspects of other music festival but it does have the most important factor: good music. The owners of Riot Fest always want to put their fans first and instead of spending money on fancy light shows, they focus on booking amazing artists to create the best atmosphere possible for their guests. 2014 headliners included the Flaming Lips, Jane’s Addiction, Mastadon, and 90’s favorite Weezer.
Rock the Bells (Various Cities, Southern CA, USA) – Rock the Bells is known for bringing together some of hip hop best talents. In recent years, this festival has featured veterans such as the Wu tang Clan and Snoop Dogg along with newcomers like Wiz Khalifa all in one arena. Festivals that feature only hip hop get such very negative stereotypes but Rock the Bell aims to prove that hip hop fans can come together for a fun, safe, and enjoyable music experience.
[Photo Credit: Rock the Bells]
TommorowWorld (Chattahoochee Hill, GA, USA) – America’s spin off of Tommorowland brings aspects of the world renowned festival to the lush forests of Chattahoochee Hills. Perfect for anyone who wanted to attend the original festival but cannot afford the travel expenses to Boom, Belguim. TommorowWorld has made a name of its own in America’s electronic music festival scene and is quickly becoming intense competition with its stellar lineup, beautiful green venue, and positive vibes spread during the festival. TommorowWorld has its own version of Dreamville, where attendees can camp out under the beautiful Georgia sky.
October
Life is Beautiful (Las Vegas, NV, USA) – Life is Beautiful features one of the most inspiring platforms that I have come across in a music festival. They encourage people to live out their dreams and conquer their fears because essentially, life is beautiful and we all have the right to enjoy it. Taking place in the newly revamped area of Downtown Las Vegas, Life is Beautiful is a 3-day weekend full of music, art, food, and inspiring public speakers. This year’s attendees will be able to enjoy the sounds of artists such as Kanye West and Panic! At The Disco while enjoying the cuisine of top chefs such as Giada De Laurentis and Scott Conant. A one of kind festival with a beautiful purpose- definitely one of my must attend for 2014.
[Photo Credit: Powers Imagery]
Freak Night (Seattle, WA, USA) – Not only is there a festival for every month of the year, there’s also one for almost every holiday. Freak Night is the longest running Halloween dance festival in the United States and takes place in Washington Mutual Theater in South Seattle. Attendees are encouraged to come in full Halloween attire, minus dangerous props, to dance the night away under the Halloween moon. Expect the full Halloween experience featuring a sinister circus, carnival rides, and other attractions guaranteed to freak you out. It’s only a plus that electronic music veterans Tietsto and Kaskade are some of the headliners for this weekend.
Austin City Limits (Austin, TX, USA) – With 46 acres of open land and over 130 artists ACL may the perfect event to kick off your fall festival season. ACL doesn’t skimp on their talent and features artists of varying genres including Eminem, Capital Cities, Chromeo, and Lana Del Rey. ACL offers an extensive food vendor selections who operate all day and even serve vegetarian and gluten free options. There are also numerous merchandise vendors at the ACL Art Market that sell everything from posters, hats, and even foot apparel.
[Photo Credit: ACL Festival]
Bacardi Triangle (Private Island in the Bermuda Triangle) – Very few people in their right mind would choose to go the Bermuda Triangle willingly but this festival could be the thing to change that. This Halloween Bacardi is hosting a private festival on a secret and secluded island in the Bermuda triangle. Halloween and Bermuda Triangle sound like a combination way too spooky for you. Maybe knowing that you’ll be partying with Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding, and Kendrick Lamar while making history will calm your nerves.
November
Fun Fun Fun Fest (Austin, TX, USA) – Fun Fun Fun Fest is an independent festival that features an eclectic lineup each year that has something for everybody. Very few other festivals can combine Modest Mouse, 2 Chainz, Black Lips, and Wiz Khalifa without loosing its original purpose. Fun Fun Fun Fest is able to do this successfully because, they actually customize each aspect of the festival to provide the greatest amount of satisfaction possible for its attendees. Besides music, expect live comedy and art shows to round a very creative festival experience.
Iceland Airwaves (Reykjavik, Iceland) – Attendees will experience some of the hottest talent and many up and coming artists at this festival taking place over a span of 3 days with 7 different venues. Unlike other festivals that want to give you the massive festival experience, Iceland Airwaves chooses to hold its events in various clubs downtown. This is for the people who love to go out to clubs but hate it when the nights ends. The people who build an attachment to souls they meet for only a few minutes while getting down on the dance floor. Instead of the pool parties we see at festivals such as Coachella expect to spend your day raging at preparties in hot springs nearby.
[Photo Credit: Theau Review]
Steriosonic (Sydney, Australia) – This year, Australia’s fastest growing music festival will be taking place at the Sydney showgrounds. What started off as a single festival has grown so large that it has been expanded to a 4 weekend event. A new feature to this year’s event will be the HARD arena where you can “go hard” with the likes of Disclosure, Diplo, RL Grime and many others.
VooDoo Music + Arts Experience (New Orleans, LA, USA) – The use of the word experience is more than appropriate as that is exactly what you get when you attend VooDoo. After you get past the insane lineup featuring Artic Monkeys, Zedd, Foo Fighters, and Outkast get prepared to experience some of NOLA’s finest art and cuisine. During the festival you can choose to stay at Camp Voodoo, which is an onsite luxury camp property safari style tents, queen sized beds, electricity, and concierge services.
Budweiser Storm Electronic Music Festival (Shanghai, China) – Electronic music festivals are spreading to every corner of the globe and here we have one of China’s biggest electronic events taking place during the Golden Week in October. Although this is a two day festival, the days are a week apart and feature completely different lineups. Week 1 will be headlined by Axwell/ Ingrosso, Dash Berlin, Afrojack, and Krewella, while week two will feature Avicii, Kaskade, Knife Party, and Cazette.
December
Snowglobe Music Festival (South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA) Priding itself on combining music and mountains Snowglobe brings you a one of a kind festival in the snow covered mountains of Lake Tahoe. If you’re looking for a New Year’s Eve event that combines amazing electronic music, amazing mountain views, and various snow sports, then this is the festival for you. SnowGlobe also has ticket packages that include festival passes and hotel rooms so that you won’t have to deal with the hassle of finding a resort close to the festival and the various winter sport activities Lake Tahoe has to offer. This year’s lineup features big names such as Skrillex, Zedd, and Porter Robinson promising a weekend you won’t forget.
[Photo Credit: Chris Hong]
Kiis FM Jingle Ball– (Los Angeles, CA, USA) – Kiis FM Jingle Ball is an annual holiday concert that brings together some of Hollywood’s biggest names to perform together in an effort to raise money for charity. This festival donates $1.00 from each ticket purchased to the charity of choice for that year. Known for the random celebrity antics during the show, the event from last year treated attendees with an enjoyable yet scandidly clad Miley Cyrus twerking us into the holiday season with midgets as her background dancers. Other past headliners include Robine Thicke, Mackelmore, Justin Beiber, and Enrique Iglesias.
Lights all Night (Dallas, TX, USA) – Having one of the best venue for a winter festival to take place, Lights All Night has delivered an unforgettable show for the past 5 years. This 2-day festival is hosted inside the Dallas Convention Center whose multiple halls provide a completely climate controlled venue perfect for a December festival. Besides the slew of well-known artists Lights All Night is best known for their visuals that are sure to blow your mind during every performance.
Sunburn Music Festival (Goa, India) – Sunburn is Asia’s largest 3 day electronic music festival taking place on the coast of Goa, India. Sunburn is the perfect way to escape to a warmer climate to enjoy music while taking place in numerous activities that you wouldn’t normally be able to enjoy in the winter such as bungee jumping, volleyball, and zorbing. Past ticket sales have sold out in only four minutes and it’s easy to see why with past lineup including artists such as Avicii, Hardwell, and Swedish House Mafia.
[Photo Credit: Rukes]
Time Warp ( Mannheim, Germany) – During the 20 years of its running Time Warp has consistently stuck to their original techno roots that most would associate with the mid- 90’s. If you want to venture away from the mainstream electronic sound that has been circulating and get back to the true roots of electronic music then this festival is for you. True to its name, Time Warp is guaranteed to take you back to the original rave scene where it was all about the music.
Written by FestPop Staff Writers
Tatiana Woods and Chris Hong
Email comments to: [email protected]
