World's Top 40 Biggest International Music Festivals

A MUSIC FESTIVAL is a community event oriented towards live performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, or locality of musicians, or holiday.

They are commonly held outdoors, with tents or roofed temporary stages for the performers. Often music festivals host other attractions such as food and merchandise vending, dance, crafts, performance art, and social or cultural activities. At music festivals associated with charitable causes, there may be information about social or political issues. Many festivals are annual, or repeat at some other interval. Some, including many rock festivals, are held only once.

Some festivals are organized as for-profit concerts and others are benefits for a specific charitable cause. Another type of music festival is the educative type, organized annually in local communities, regionally, or nationally, for the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and grades of achievement.

Music Festival News, Reviews & Resources

• 10 of the best Glastonbury sets ever - "From Beyoncé to David Bowie."
• 10 of the most iconic Glastonbury Festival looks - "As Europe's largest music festival approaches, we look back at the event's most memorable style moments both on and off stage: from Barbours and Wellies to silver suits and boho chic."
• 11 Best Stadium-Approved Clear Bags of 2023 - "Pass the security and vibe check."
• 19 Thoughts I Had About Harry Styles’s Dazzling Coachella Performance 2022 - "If you woke up in the wee hours of Saturday morning feeling a mysterious mix of FOMO and titillation, it was likely because at 11:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Harry Styles was emerging in a Gucci sequined jumpsuit and beginning his first-weekend headlining set at Coachella. 'We have a full moon, you have a ticket, and I have the flavor,' the consummate showman promised before delivering 80 minutes of sonic joy in the desert. So here are 19 thoughts I had about Styles’s Coachella debut (which you can also watch by scrolling back through the video below)."
• I Despise Festival Style, Except for Kate Moss’s - "When I run a Google Image Search for 'Coachella style,' I receive a flower-crown-wearing barrage of the same results: Cutoff denim shorts! Bandeau tops! A wide-brim hat! Something with fringe! While this look is largely for the people enjoying the beating sun and pulsating tunes of Coachella on the West Coast, let’s not forget Kate Moss, a festival icon in her own right." Vogue.
• 40 music festivals pledge not to use facial recognition - "Coachella, Bonnaroo and SXSW won't use the tech."
• 50 best Glastonbury performances - The Telegraph.
• 50 best music festivals in the world - Time Out.
• 50 brilliant festival-ready buys - The Telegraph.
• Amy Winehouse, Glastonbury 2004: coaxing rainbows from the clouds - "Singing the witty songs from her first album in her wildly idiosyncratic voice, Winehouse had the crowd - and the elements - utterly in thrall to her."
• Arts FESTIVALS - Wikipedia.
• Australia's largest music festival sinks into the mud forcing first day cancellation - "Fans had been excited about the return of Splendour in the Grass 2022, a three-day festival featuring international acts like Liam Gallagher, Gorillaz, Tyler The Creator and The Strokes, after a two-year pandemic-enforced hiatus."
• Best Festival Accessories & Gear - "The Best Festival Accessories and Gear. No matter the genre or location, these gadgets will upgrade your experience."
• Burning Man - since 1986. "Once a year, tens of thousands of people gather in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to create Black Rock City, a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. In this crucible of creativity, all are welcome."
• Burning Man: Why the US festival could be in trouble - "As news of rising prices, intolerable weather and poor ticket sales have hit the Nevada desert event in recent years, some speculate its days could be numbered."
• can Covid-era music festivals ever be safe? - "After backlash over the 100,000-plus crowd of mostly unmasked faces at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, festival organisers reckon with a safe way forward."
• Coachella - the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called Coachella or the Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert.
• Coachella & Stagecoach festivals cancelled due to coronavirus fears - "As the US passes 2m positive tests for Covid-19, the major festivals - already postponed - have now been called off."
• Coachella 2022: high-energy hedonism, surprise stars & Covid concerns - "The first weekend of the returning California mega-festival brought with it a host of big names, albeit a lack of heritage acts, and a crowd of fans eager for fun."
• Coachella 2023: historic performers, buzzy acts & a return to form - "A record-breakingly diverse and multi-lingual set of acts helped give this year’s desert festival a more contemporary feel."
• Coachella is back. But have festivals escaped the problematic legacy of 'boho chic'? - "While the event was once classed among the most stylish outings on the cultural calendar - thanks to its celebrity attendees and exclusive adjacent parties hosted by a growing list of fashion brands, from Lacoste to H&M - recent editions have hardly set the tone for the rest of the summer."
• Dirty beats, clean fun: Hong Kong’s unmissable music festivals - The Guardian.
• Earplugs as fashion items? I gave Loop’s hit accessories a festival test - "Various models promise to tone down decibels or help you focus on a friend. But the experience may not suit you. Loop’s earplugs are designed to look like jewellery."
• EFESTIVALS - "The definitive guide to festivaling". Festivals news, info, tickets.
• Elton John to perform his last ever UK show at Glastonbury 2023 - "Announcement comes weeks after singer’s final US show and will be his second appearance ever at a UK festival."
• From Joni to Jimi: when rock'n'roll came to the Isle of Wight - in pictures - "A new exhibition marks 50 years since the festival known as ‘Europe’s Woodstock’ took off. Curator and sculptor Guy Portelli talks us through photos from its star-studded 1970 event."
• From No Doubt to Will Smith: big stars & surprise guests at Coachella - in pictures - "This year’s Palm Springs-based festival brought together some of the industry’s biggest names, from headliners like Tyler, the Creator to Doja Cat, as well as a raft of guests including Olivia Rodrigo and Shakira."
• Fyre Festival - was a fraudulent "luxury music festival" founded by Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc, and rapper Ja Rule. It was created with the intent of promoting the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place from April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.
• Fyre Festival 2 tickets are now on sale & selling out - "According to embattled founder Billy McFarland. Fyre Festival 2, according to McFarland, is heading to the Caribbean sometime toward the end of 2024, but no specific date or any musical headlining acts have been announced yet."
• Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland released from prison early - "Billy McFarland, the fraudster behind the ill-fated Fyre Festival, was sprung from prison this spring after serving less than four years of a six-year sentence in connection with his disastrous 2017 Caribbean retreat."
• Fyre festival 2024 is back with tickets at nearly $8,000 - "Event in 2017 was axed over inadequate accommodation, food and water - and landed its co-founder in jail for fraud."
• Fyre Festival: When a $12,000 luxury festival in paradise turns into chaos - "The reality, however, has been anything but. Those who shelled out up to $12,780 for the luxury weekend in the Exumas, in the Bahamas, found themselves Thursday treated to mass disorganization, half-built tents, and catered food that was little more than limp cheese sandwiches. Oh, and no beer."
• Glastonbury 2023 line-up REVEALED - "Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses join Elton John as headliners as full list of performers are announced."
• Glastonbury 2024 main stages open - in pictures - "After two days of build-up, the music is finally under way at Glastonbury Festival. Over the next few days, Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Shania Twain will play the famous Pyramid Stage."
• Glastonbury defies coronavirus threat to announce lineup with Kendrick Lamar - "Over 90 more names including Pet Shop Boys, Dua Lipa and Noel Gallagher have been announced for 50th-anniversary edition of the festival."
• Glastonbury Festival: 50 years of memories - "With Glastonbury Festival cancelled this year because of coronavirus, photographer Emma Stoner collected festival-goers' photographs and their memories from the past 50 years to mark its milestone anniversary."
• Glastonbury festival 2023 gets under way - in pictures - "The gates have opened at the UK’s biggest music and performing arts festival. Backpacks, wellies, airbeds and a burst of torrential rain were the order of the day as the first festivalgoers trooped into Worthy Farm."
• Glastonbury 2024 review - "The Last Dinner Party justify the hype, Dua Lipa nails it and Coldplay go over the top. From K-poppers Seventeen to performance artist Marina Abramovi?, via Cyndi Lauper and Little Simz, it was one of the most diverse editions yet. But the real fireworks came with a band who have taken things to another level."
• Glastonbury Festival fashion history: Remember when Kate Moss wore rain boots? - "As the historic festival returns to Worthy Farm for the first time since 2019, we look back at one of its most memorable fashion moments. After all, no British summer would be complete without copious amounts of mud."
• Glastonbury is 50! The best style moments - in pictures - "From Kate Moss’s mini-minidress in 2004 to Lizzo in lilac sequins and Dennis Brown’s 80s double denim, here are 35 great looks seen at Worthy Farm over the years."
• Glastonbury's 50 greatest moments - "Although Covid-19 scuppered Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary, organisers Michael and Emily Eavis discuss the moments that made it the world’s greatest festival - from the healing fields to Stormzy."
• 'Groovy, groovy, groovy': listening to Woodstock 50 years on - all 38 discs - "It was a blueprint for Live Aid and every mega-festival since. We survey a new archive box set - in full - to uncover the real story of these ‘three days of peace and music’."
• Hitting a Summer Music Festival? Pack This Survival Gear - Wired.
• How the Travis Scott Astroworld festival tragedy unfolded - video report - "Eight people aged from 14 to 27 were killed and dozens were injured at the Astroworld festival in Houston on Friday night, when fans were crushed against the stage. Organisers of what turned out to be one of the deadliest live music events in US history are facing mounting questions about why the rapper Travis Scott continued performing when first responders were already dealing with a mass casualty event. Eyewitness accounts of how warnings were allegedly ignored could be features of at least two investigations, one of them criminal."
• how to recreate Glastonbury at home - "With no festival this summer, but plenty of archive performances to watch, here’s your day-by-day guide to bringing Worthy Farm to your living room."
• ‘Like a horror film’: revisiting the Fyre-esque disaster of Woodstock 99 - "A new documentary surveys the mess of Woodstock 1999 - a disaster of poor planning and a microcosm of toxic masculinity, raunch culture and entitlement."
• LIST OF MUSIC FESTIVALS - Wikipedia.
• List of music festivals in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia.
• More than 100 UK festivals sign up to tackle sexual violence - "Reading, Leeds and Latitude festivals among those to commit to updated charter of best practice."
• Music festival - Wikipedia.
• Off their heads: the shocking return of the rave - "With clubs shut, thousands of young people are breaking the Covid-19 rules to attend parties organised on social media - and more are being set up every day."
• The essential Glastonbury festival beauty kit - The Telegraph.
• The Festival Guy: how one man turned festival-ing into a lifestyle - The Guardian.
• The practical guide to festival dressing - The Telegraph.
• These moms spend thousands on cosmetic surgery to get Coachella-ready - New York Post.
• ‘This is a public health issue’: can Covid-era music festivals ever be safe? - "After backlash over the 100,000-plus crowd of mostly unmasked faces at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, festival organisers reckon with a safe way forward."
• Tiny bird threatens one of Canada's biggest music festivals - The Guardian.
• Top 10 European music festivals for 2014 - GlobalGrasshopper.
• Top 10 jazz festivals in Europe - The Guardian.
• top 100 festivals of 2016 - The Telegraph.
• Why Glastonbury is different this year 2019 - "How not to trash the planet at a music festival."
• Woodstock - music festival held between August 15–18, 1969, which attracted an audience of more than 400,000.
• YOUROPE - European festival association including major festivals for contemporary music. Site provides a schedule, news, and links to member festivals.

Top 40 International Music Festivals

• BESTIVAL - since 2004. Isle of Wight.
• BIG CHILL - Eastnor Castle, Ledbury, Herefordshire, U.K.
• Coachella | Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival - since 1999. Annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music. The 2017 festival was attended by 250,000 people and grossed $114.6 million. April 12-14 & 19-21, 2024.
• ELECTRIC PICNIC - Portlaoise, Ireland.
• END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, U.K.
• EXIT - in the Petrovaradin Fortress of Novi Sad, Serbia.
• FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE BENICÀSSIM | FIB HEINEKEN - Benicàssim, Spain.
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• GLASTONBURY | Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts | Glasto - since 1970. Pilton, Somerset, England. The largest greenfield festival in the world. Glastonbury is attended by around 200,000 people. June 26-30, 2024.
• GREENMAN FESTIVAL - Brecon Beacons, Wales, U.K.
• HOVE FESTIVAL - Arendal, Norway.
• ITUNES FESTIVAL - since 2007. Annual music festival and concert series which is held in London at The Roundhouse art centre and sponsored by Apple Inc.
• JERSEY LIVE - Jersey, Channel Islands.
• LATITUDE FESTIVAL - Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, U.K.
• LOLLAPALOOZA - Grant Park, Chicago, IL, U.S.A. Annual music festival featuring heavy metal, alternative rock, hip hop, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths.
• LOVEBOX - Victoria Park, London, U.K.
• MELT! FESTIVAL - Ferropolis, Gräfenhainichen Germany.
• MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP MUSIC FESTIVAL - June 16-18, 1967.
• Newport Folk Festival - since 1959. American annual folk-oriented music festival in Fort Adams State Park, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
• OPEN'ER FESTIVAL - Gdynia, Poland.
• Pitchfork Music Festival - annual summer music festival organized by Pitchfork Media and held in Union Park in Chicago, IL, U.S.A. The festival, which is normally held over three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) in July, focuses primarily on artists and bands from alternative rock, rap & hip-hop, electronica, and dance music, although it has also included acts from hardcore punk, experimental/avant-garde rock and jazz in its lineups.
• Primavera Sound - (San Miguel Primavera Sound). Annual music festival which takes place in Barcelona, Spain in late May and, in some years, early June.
• Reading and Leeds Festivals - since 1961. Apair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill.
• REEPERBAHN FESTIVAL - new international music festival.
• Rock am Ring - since 1985. Takes place at the Nürburgring race track, Germany.
• Rock im Park - since 1985. Takes place at the Zeppelinfeld in Nuremberg, Germany.
• ROCKNESS - Loch Ness, Scotland.
• ROSKILDE FESTIVAL - "Music, Art, Activism, Camps and Freedom ." The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. The Roskilde Festival was Denmark's first music-oriented festival created for hippies, and today covers more of the mainstream youth from Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. Most festival visitors are Danes, but there are also many visitors from elsewhere, especially the other Scandinavian countries and Germany. Roskilde, Denmark. June 29 - July 6, 2024.
• Sanremo Music Festival - since 1951. Italian song contest, held annually in the city of Sanremo, in Italy.
• SECRET GARDEN PARTY - Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, U.K.
• SÓNAR - annual three-day music festival held in Barcelona, Spain, usually starting on a Thursday in the third week of June. It is described officially as a festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art.
• Soundstorm - Riyadh Music Festival - since 2019. "The loudest music festival in Riyadh." December 1-3, 2022.
• SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST | SXSW - one of the largest music festivals in the United States usually in March in Austin, Texas with more than 2,000 performers.
• SZIGET Festival - since 1993. One of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island"), a leafy 108-hectare (266-acre) island on the Danube. More than 1,000 performances take place each year.
• TRUCK FESTIVAL - Hill Farm, Steventon, Oxfordshire, U.K.
• V FESTIVAL - annual music festival held in the United Kingdom during the penultimate weekend in August: Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in South Staffordshire.
• WOMAD | WORLD OF MUSIC, ARTS AND DANCE - Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, U.K.
• WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL - August 15-18, 1969.
• WORLDWIDE FESTIVAL - Sète, France.