WHAT ARE THE TOP 10 MUSIC FESTIVALS IN THE WORLD?

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Music festivals can commonly be referred to as a series of entertainment performances by numerous artists organized at a particular place and most times inspired by a unifying theme song. Performers and composers sometimes indulge in competitions and talent battles to win prizes or simply to earn bragging rights.

This kind of events can last for several days, including many power horses of the music industry, distributed through many electrifying stages. This swift and fun culture have developed and grown very successful over the centuries and long goes the chaotic nostalgia of Woodstock ’69, the father of all festivals. Truth be said, the festival that celebrates it’s 50 anniversary this year, was memorable but also a complete mess.

Nowadays, there are companies dedicated to managing and organizing this kind of events, guaranteeing maximum comfort and minimal damage to the environment. Here are the ten musical festivals with higher attendance throughout the globe.

TEN BEST MUSIC FESTIVALS AROUND THE GLOBE

10. ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL

EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) came into existence in the year 1997 as a warehouse party in Los Angeles, produced by CEO and Founder, Pasquale Rotella. Today, it attracts nearly one million fans and attendees annually, on four different continents around the world. EDC Las Vegas is the largest dance music festival taking place in North America. It has an attendance of 400.000 people and will take place this year in May, between 17 and 19.

9. JAZZ AND HERITAGE Festival (NEW ORLEANS)

Annually, Jazz Fest draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to experience the music, cuisine, and cultural heritage of New Orleans and Louisiana. Founded in 1970, the event began swiftly, with 350 people in attendance. In 2001, the Jazz fest had a total of 650 thousand visitors over the course of seven days. According to its mission statement, “The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. promotes, preserves, perpetuates, and encourages the music, culture, and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs, and other cultural, educational, civic, and economic activities.”

Currently the NOJazzFest has around 425.000 of attendance. It will happen this year again between 25^th April and 5^th of May.

8. ESSENCE FESTIVAL

The Essence Festival also known as “the party with a purpose”, it is an annual music festival founded in 1995 as a one-time event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Essence magazine. Essence is a magazine primarily aimed at African-American women culture and livelihood. Today, it is said to be the biggest event celebrated in respect to the African-American culture and music in the United States. It takes place at New Orleans, Louisiana, USA at the end of June. The attendance has been around 450 000 in the last editions and the 25^th edition of the festival will take place between 4^th and 7^th of July.

7. SZIGET

Heading to Europe, we find a massive island festival that takes place annually in the month of August in Hajógyári Island, in Budapest, Hungary, and has its roots in student unrest and political disruption and misconduct. However today it is one of Europe’s biggest music festivals, with the 2016 event boasting prestigious headliners such as Rihanna, Muse, Sigur Rós and Sia.

The week-long summer festival attracts a huge Hungarian crowd, as well as many punters from Western Europe and around the world. Sziget festival last editions have received around 496 000 people and this year it will take place between 7^th and 13^th of August.

6. COACHELLA

Coachella takes place in the Californian desert during the month of April, thus making it a perfect Spring Break excuse for college students. It came into existence in 1999 and has been celebrating all kinds of popular music with style in temperatures exceeding 110*F ever since. Yearly, the Coachella festival features a number of fine artwork installations which signifies the encouragement of links between music and visual arts. With a current attendance of 594,000, the festival will happen this year between 12^th and 21^st of April.

5. ROCK IN RIO

Rock in Rio is a recurring music festival that takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, every two years. Places such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas later joined in the celebration making it one of the largest festival franchises in the world. Lisbon alone has about 350 thousand attendees each year, but the biggest one continues to be in the southern hemisphere, with Brazil having received around 700 000 visitors in 2017. The 2019 edition of Rock in Rio Brazil will be happening between September 27th-29th and October 3rd-6th.

1. POL’AND’ROCK

The best part of this event? It’s free! Since ’95 and inspired by the legendary Woodstock, their motto is Love, Friendship, Music“. This free music event takes place in August, in Kostrzyn nad Odr, Poland. It’s easy to understand that this festival firmly believes in the ideals of friendship, peace and love as it gathers thousands of festival-goers every year. The four stages are populated by artists of every genre, no music taste is forgotten, and the end result is a vibrant group of people with the collective feeling of being welcome and appreciated. The festival gathers around 750 000 of music enthusiasts and this year it will happen between the 1^st and 3^rd of August.

3. SUMMERFEST

Summerfest, also known as “The Big Gig” is an annual music festival which takes place at Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Claiming to be the ‘World’s Largest Music Festival, it was inspired from a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. Founded in the 1960s as a 10-day musical event by Milwaukee which makes it sometimes termed as the “Milwaukee World Festival” and “Juli Spass” which means “July Fun” in German. Local business owners and civic leaders aided the creation of the first Summerfest which took place in July 1968. It has an annual attendance between 800 thousand to 1 million people and will happen this year between June 26-30 and July 2-7.

2. MAWAZINE

The second global music festival in the world with higher attendance is located in North Africa, in Rabat, Morocco. It is incorporated with a series of concerts that celebrates global music in its many styles and forms. The neighboring cities of Rabat and Salé are righteously invaded because of the electrifying and wave-making concerts that comes with the Mawazine festival. Recently, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Rihanna, Ennio Morricone, Carlos Santana and Robert Plant among others have joined the extensive lineup of local artists at the festival.

This festival takes place in June and it has an astounding annual attendance of estimated 2.65 million people. It will take place this year between 21^st and 29^th of June 2019.

1. DONAUINSELFEST

In 2015, Donauinselfest registered 3.3 million festival goers, earning it the title of “largest attendance at a music festival”, according to Guinness World Records. The outdoor music event happens every year in the month of June, on Danube Island in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It was created in 1983, on an initiative by the Social Democratic Party of the country. Lasting three days, it counts with the help of 1,500 volunteers, including firefighters, police, stall-keepers and first aiders, which work together in a massive cooperation to ensure the festival runs smoothly. In 2019 it will occur between 21^st and 23^rd of June.