Rock festival
A rock festival, or a rock fest, is a large-scale rock music concert, featuring multiple acts.
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, they are often open air concerts, often spread out over several days. Many 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 means that large temporary infrastructures are installed, supplying amenities like water-based ablution facilities.
Historic festivals
The following is a sample of one-time rock festivals of historical significance.
Florida Sunfest (1977)
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.
Current festivals
The following is a list of some rock festivals that took or 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 and Central America
- 98.9 The Rock, Rockfest (Kansas City, Missouri)
- All Tomorrow's Parties (California)
- Austin City Limits (Austin, Texas)
- The Bamboozle (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
- Big Ass Show (Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Bonnaroo Music Festival (Manchester, Tennessee)
- Bridge School Benefit, annually since 1986, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California, usually in October, organized by Neil Young
- Bumbershoot (Seattle, Washington)
- Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (Indio, California)
- Cornerstone Festival Bushnell Illinois
- Day on the Green
- DC101 Chili Cookoff (Washington D.C.)
- Diversafest LLC DFEST (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
- Dog Jam (Beaumont, Texas)
- Edgefest (Canada)
- Farm Aid (USA)
- Festival Presidente de la Musica Latina (Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic)
- HFStival (Washington D.C.)
- Lollapalooza
- Manifest (Mexico)
- Monterrey Metal Fest (Monterrey, Mexico)
- Moondance Jam (Walker, Minnesota)
- Mountain Jam (Hunter, NY)
- NEARfest (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)
- Orlando Truthfest (Orlando, Florida)
- Osheaga (Montreal, Canada)
- Pointfest (Mexico City)
- Pointfest (St. Louis, Missouri)
- Rock Fest (Cadott, Wisconsin)
- Rock on the Range (Columbus, Ohio)
- Rock N Resort Music Festival (North Lawrence, Ohio)
- Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa (Manitoba, Canada)
- Rocklahoma (Pryor, Oklahoma)
- Rogers Picnic (Toronto, Ontario)
- Sasquatch (George, Washington)
- Siren Music Festival (Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York)
- South by Southwest (Austin, Texas)
- Street Scene (San Diego, California)
- Summerfest (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
- V Festival (North America) (Canada, USA)
- Vive Latino (Mexico City, Mexico)
- Volunteer Jam (Tennessee)
- Voodoo Music Experience (New Orleans, Louisiana)
- Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival (Ozark, Arkansas)
South America
- Bue Festival (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Corona Music Fest (Mexico City)
- Cosquin Rock (Cordoba, Argentina)
- Cristal en Vivo (Santiago, Chile)
- Gesell Rock (Villa Gesell, Argentina)
- Nokia Trends (Mar del Plata, Argentina)
- Moonpark (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Pepsi music festival (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Personal fest (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Quilmes Rock (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Rock al Parque (Bogotá, Colombia)
- Altavoz (Medellin, Colombia)
- DelPutasFest (Medellin, Colombia)
- Rock in Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
- Tim Festival (São Paulo, Brazil)
- SWU Music & Arts (Paulínia, Brazil)
- Viña del Mar International Song Festival (Viña del Mar, Chile)
Europe
Belgium & The Netherlands
- Arrow Rock Festival (Biddinghuizen, Netherlands)
- Dour Festival (Dour, Belgium)
- Dynamo Open Air (Eindhoven, Netherlands)
- Graspop Metal Meeting (Dessel, Belgium)
- Groezrock (Gestel, Belgium)
- Lowlands (Biddinghuizen, Netherlands)
- Parkpop (The Hague, Netherlands)
- Pinkpop Festival (Landgraaf, Netherlands)
- Pukkelpop (Kiewit, Belgium)
- Rock Werchter (Werchter, Belgium)
Finland
France
Germany
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
United Kingdom
- All Tomorrow's Parties (Camber Sands, East Sussex, England)
- Download Festival (Donington Park, Castle Donington, England)
- Glastonbury Festival (Pilton, Somerset, England)
- Greenbelt Festival (England)
- Hevy Music Festival (Folkestone, England)
- High Voltage Festival (London, England)
- Isle of Wight Festival (Isle of Wight, England)
- Offset festival
- Radio 1's Big Weekend
- Reading and Leeds Festivals (Reading, Berkshire and Leeds, Yorkshire, England)
- Sonisphere Festival (Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, England)
- T in the Park (Kinross Scotland)
- V Festival (Chelmsford and Staffordshire, England)
- Y Not Festival
Rest of Europe
- Aerodrome (Wiener Neustadt, Austria)
- Artmania Festival (Sibiu, Romania)
- Baltijos Garsas (Kernavė, Lithuania)
- Electric Picnic (County Laois, Ireland)
- Exit (Novi Sad, Serbia)
- Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (Spain)
- FM4 Frequency Festival (Salzburg, Austria)
- Gitarijada (Zajecar, Serbia)
- Green Christmas Festival (Rakvere, Estonia)
- Hard Rock Laager (Vana-Vigala, Estonia)
- Iceland Airwaves (Reykjavík), Iceland
- Independent Days Festival (Bologna, Italy)
- InProg (Moscow, Russia)
- Masters of Rock (Vizovice, Czech Republic)
- Metal Heads Mission (Yevpatoria, Ukraine)
- Montreux Jazz Festival (Montreux, Switzerland)
- Nashestvie (Moscow Oblast, Russia)
- Nova Rock (Nickelsdorf, Austria)
- Open'er festival (Gdynia, Poland)
- Oxegen (Punchestown, Ireland)
- Paléo Festival (Nyon, Switzerland)
- Paredes de Coura Festival (Paredes de Coura, Portugal)
- Pohoda (Trenčín, Slovakia)
- PositivusAB (Salacgrīva, Latvia)
- Przystanek Woodstock (Kostrzyn), (Poland)
- Rabarock (Järvakandi, Estonia)
- Rock for People (Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic)
- Rock'n Coke (Istanbul, Turkey)
- RockIstanbul (Istanbul, Turkey)
- Rockwave Festival (Athens, Greece)
- Roskilde Festival (Roskilde, Denmark)
- Slane Concert (Slane, Ireland)
- Spirit of Burgas (Burgas, Bulgaria)
- Stufstock (Vama Veche, Romania)
- Sudoeste Festival (Zambujeira do Mar, Portugal)
- Sziget (Budapest, Hungary)
- Trutnov Open Air Music Festival (Trutnov, Czech Republic)
- Vilar de Mouros Festival (Vilar de Mouros, Portugal)
- Zvērā (Saldus, Latvia)
- Slezskoostravský Rock-Fest (Ostrava, Czech Republic)
- Open Air Krumlov, (Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic)
Australia
Asia
- BlackBird Rock Festival (Calcutta, India)
- Concert on the Rock (Kyūshū, Japan)
- ETPFEST (Seoul, South Korea)
- Fuji Rock Festival (Naeba, Japan)
- Hard Electric Tour (India)
- Hohaiyan Rock Festival (Gongliao, Taiwan)
- Java Rockin'land (Jakarta, Indonesia)
- Jisan Valley Rock Festival (Icheon, South Korea)
- Kaguluhan Music Festival (Cavite City, Philippines)
- Pentaport Rock Festival (Incheon, South Korea)
- Pulp Summer Slam (Quezon City, Philippines)
- Rock In India (Bangalore, India)
- Rock Ethos (Bangalore, India)
- Summer Sonic Festival (Chiba and Osaka, Japan)
- Templeton Rock Festival(Imphal,India]
Middle East
Africa
No fixed location
Most famous and biggest festivals
North America:
South and Central America:
United Kingdom:
Europe:
Australia:
Asia:
See also
External links