Rock festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A rock festival, or a rock fest, is a large-scale outdoor rock music concert, featuring multiple acts, often spread out over several days. The first rock festivals were put on in the late 1960s and were important socio-cultural milestones. In the 1980s a minor resurgence of festivals occurred with charity as the goal.

Today, many rock festivals are annual events sponsored by major corporations. Besides rock, many feature multiple genres of music such as pop, dance, and electronic. Some owners of radio stations produce radio festivals that only include bands of a specific style of rock (according to what the station wants to promote). The size of these events mean that large temporary infrastructures are installed, by companies such as Hunts Water, who supply temporary chlorinated water supplies to all the major festivals.

See also music festivals.

Contents

[edit] Historic festivals

The Nambassa Festival in New Zealand
The Nambassa Festival in New Zealand

The following is a sample of one-time rock festivals of historical significance.

[edit] Travelling festivals

A recent innovation is the travelling rock festival where many musical acts perform at multiple locations during a tour. Successful festivals are often held in subsequent years.

[edit] Current festivals

The following is a list of some (not necessarily the most important) rock festivals that take place on a regular basis. Most are held at the same location on an annual basis. Some, like Farm Aid are held at different venues with each incarnation. For a full list of festivals, see the external links at the bottom of the page.

North America

South America

United Kingdom

Europe

Australasia

Asia

Middle East

No fixed location

[edit] External links

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