Top 10 International Festivals This June!

The month of May officially kicked off the summer electronic music festival season , and June looks relentless as well.

Every year the list of Summer festivals gets longer and longer, with promoters scrambling to take advantage of an exploding market for live music experiences. Quality is not always guaranteed, however, as costs can run high and corner-cutting by organizers can make even the most promising festival experience a half-assed nightmare of disappointment. Here’s an assorted list of 10 Top gatherings in June worth travelling to:

Spring Awakening – Chicago, Illinois, USA (13-14-15 June)

With an absolutely massive billing lined up for you, Spring Awakening is easily one of the USA’s largest electronic music festivals. The likes of Tiesto, Diplo, Knife Party & Eric Prydz will be headlining the 3 day gathering, and it also boasts an appealing balance of all genres. Watch out for a special B2B set featuring Claude Vonstroke & Green Velvet & many, many more amazing acts. Revitalize yourselves in between as free water will be served throughout the Football Stadium where the festival will be held. In terms of acts performing at a festival – Spring Awakening looks impressive.

Sonar – Barcelona, Spain (12-14 June)

In a time when headline acts sell tickets, Sonar stands out and maintains its image as one of the best musical experiences on the globe. In order to move enough tickets, most festivals of its size lean hard on big and sometimes obvious names. And yet Sónar, has managed again and again to pack its two huge venues with impressively bold lineups. This year’s three-day event in Barcelona will be one of the most uncompromising yet. Their big names are beyond reproach: Massive Attack, Plastikman and Chic are just a few of the highlights.

Ultra Music Festival Korea – Seoul, Korea (14 – 15 June)

The Ultra wave hits East Asia this year after blistering editions of the same in South Africa & Miami.  Continuing to be more successful this year, ULTRA KOREA is focusing more and trying to break new ground for the international audiences by making the ticket purchase process easier and more convenient. Having set up international ticket sites in Tokyo, Singapore and many more, then collaborating with travel agencies to come up with great travel package deal & growing in stature each year. It’s not too late to hit the east, maybe this line up will help you decide.

Summer Burst – Stockholm, Sweden (13-14 June)

Starting off as a one – day outing, Sweden’s very own Summerburst festival will now be showcased over two days of music in two separate cities (the other being Gothenburg). Sweden has a reputation for providing some of the most popular & charismatic electronic producers to the industry. Ten’s of thousands of people attend the festival incepted back in 2011 and this year’s line up includes some of the big guns that burst out into the 2013 – 14 scene in some style – Calvin Harris, Hardwell,  Showtek, Aly & Fila to name a few.  Held at the legendary Stockhom Stadion, the original Stockholm Olympic Stadium that hosted the Olympic Games of 1912, this festival is easily one of Scandinavia’s best.

Download Festival – Leicestershire, England (13-14-15 June)

Mixing respected legends with new acts earning their horns, Download has become a staple event in many a rockers festival calendar, as four stages promise plenty of “you-had-to-be-there” moments. The festival has also spawned many moments of heavy metal history, from the latest #WhyNotDyingFetus media trend, to members from other bands famously filling in for Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich when he was rushed to hospital. Priceless memories, epic sing-alongs, and a crowd so friendly the campsites are their own event, you won’t regret joining the metal mayhem at Download.

Bonnaroo – Manchester, Tenessee, USA (12-13-14-15 June)

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival heads into its 2014 incarnation making great strides of improvement not by embracing large-scale corporate sponsorship and escalating security, but by focusing on contributions to the local economy & going solar . Running for 4 days in a row, the festival provides everything from Adventure, music & good vibes – all set in an amazingly serene backdrop of a 700 acre farm. Using Solar panels to power their 4 day extravaganza, their clean energy contributes to 20% of the overall power consumption of the festival.  In case you can’t make it – you can stream the entire festival live on your Xbox console. The pick of the lot according to The Sherp.

Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas – Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (20 – 21 – 22 June)

The recently concluded New York edition of the festival was a massive hit, and the sin city edition of the same is something worth shelling out for.  Prepare for an astronomical attack of the senses, as carnival rides, mammoth art installations, walkabout performances, fairytale decor along with regular fireworks, lasers and LED displays transport you to another world and mindset.

Glastonbury – Pilton, Somerset, England (25 – 29 June)

There aren’t many events—of any kind, anywhere in the world—that could pull off a charming spell on you like Glastonbury. But then, now in its 43rd edition, it still stands head and shoulders above so many others. Hosting upwards of 150,000 people, the gathering offers an infinitely diverse range of cultural, social and musical experiences.

Paradiso Festival – George, Washington, USA (27 – 28 June)

‘Digital Meets Nature’ – this is the slogan of the annual festival held at the Gorge Amphitheatre. Last year’s edition was a thumping success as the main stage boasted 88 subwoofers, that’s right – 88! producing a throbbing, deep-bass rumble that kept the tightly packed crowd in the lower bowl in perpetual motion, with hands in the air and feet barely on the ground. With Ferris Wheels & a cliff hanger thrill ride to keep you occupied as you wait for your favorite artists to come on, the Paradiso festival offers amazing camping options for your convenience. Click below to see how it went down.

Awakenings Festival – Amsterdam, Netherlands (28 – 29 June)

Awakenings is one of the finest techno institutions in The Netherlands, has always had a go-big-or-go-home approach. This year, they’re going bigger than ever, expanding their summer festival to a two-day event for the first time. The lineup is pure class, with Jeff Mills, Dave Clarke, DVS1, Nina Kraviz and Adam Beyer among dozens of others.