The 10 Best Music Festivals In The World
It is often said that music is the universal language that brings people together – it connects men and women of every age, race, sexual orientation, and background. Perhaps that’s why music festivals are massive draws all over the world. They serve as an excursion; a way to wander from your life into another world for even just a few days, meeting new people, letting loose, and making memories to last a lifetime. So what are the ten best music festivals in the world?
10. Tomorrowland
The annual Tomorrowland festival in Belgium attracts an average of 100,000 young people every single year. The festival is headlined by some of the biggest DJs in the world, taking place on lakes surrounded by woods, making for an otherworldly mix of nature and music. Be warned: there’s no sleep when you enter Tomorrowland, the parties extend all through the night.
9. Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC)
Since 2013, the EDC event in Las Vegas has become the world’s largest electronic dance festival. It isn’t confined to Sin City, though. EDC takes place all over the world, with events in Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well. Multiple events allow more people all over the globe to take part in this now-legendary festival.
8. Ultra Music Festival (UMF)
Can’t get a ticket to UMF? No worries – the festival will come to you VIA a live online broadcast. Taking its name from a seminal Depeche Mode album, the festival has expanded from its origins in Miami to a worldwide event; there are now UMF events in Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, Japan, and more.
7. EXIT Festival
Held in Serbia, EXIT is an award-winning festival that attracts massive crowds annually. The event is so beloved that it has sparked a spin-off of sorts, with the Sea Dance Festival taking place in Montenegro right after EXIT wraps up each year.
6. Warrior’s Dance Festival (WDF)
What makes WDF so unique is rather than being tied to a specific location, it’s tied to an artist: The Prodigy. First held in Tokyo, Japan, the festival has moved through the UK and Serbia in subsequent years, including all-star EDM line-ups utilizing multiple stages.
5. Sziget Festival
This festival - taking place each year in Hungary - is truly unique. One of the most lauded features is the ‘party train’, which transports visitors from throughout Europe to the festival grounds. And it isn’t a quiet train ride either; DJs play tunes to keep partygoers hyped for the main event. Sziget has grown into one of the biggest and most well-known music festivals in all of Europe.
4. Burning Man
You’ve definitely heard of this one. What makes Burning Man so unique is that it is much, much more than just a music festival. It has a reputation, in fact, for being one of the most unhinged events of the year, including music, art, science, and basically anything else you can think of. The essence of Burning Man is creativity and community.
3. Summerfest
Spanning 11 stages over 11 days each year, Summerfest has become a seminal American event. Back in 1999, Guinness called Summerfest the world’s largest music festival. It is held in the same spot every year; Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2. Electric Zoo Festival
New York’s Randall Island is beautiful, which makes it an ideal location for the Electric Zoo Festival. Even better, it takes place every year over the weekend following Labour Day, making it a great bookend for summer. Compared to other festivals on the list, this one is relatively new, having just launched in 2009.
1. Rock The Bells
This is another unique festival in that, unlike almost every other entry on the list, it focuses on hip-hop rather than EDM. Back in 2003 when the festival began, the newly reunited Wu-Tang Clan were headliners. It started out in Southern California but has since expanded and now has events all over the world.