Experiencing going to a live music festival should definitely be part of any classic rock fan’s bucket list. Music festivals are ingrainedly part of rock music’s history and it’s not just limited to Woodstock from ’69 (and notoriously ’99) and Coachella. In fact, there are actually many great music festivals across the globe that feature classic rock acts even up to the present day.
Major festivals have started to announce their lineups and seeing great many rock bands are included just makes you want to book the dates and go straight to the best rock festival near you.
1. Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual 4-Day music festival that features popular bands and artists from the following genres of rock: alternative rock, heavy metal, and punk rock. It also has hip-hop and electronic music acts from all over the world. Planned in 1991, originally as a final farewell touring festival for the band Jane’s Addiction, it hosts more than 160,000 people every year until 1997. It had a hiatus for six years and was revived in 2003.
This year, the Lollapalooza music festival happening Aug. 2-5, 2018 at historic Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
2. Summerfest
Summerfest is world’s largest annual music festival and is 11 days long with 11 stages. It’s held at the 75-acre Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It includes over 1000 performances from over 800 acts. In 2017, Summerfest celebrated its 50th anniversary and had The Rolling Stones, Steve Wonder, and Kansas as part of their line up.
Over 800,000 to 900,000 people attend Summerfest each year, making it hold the Guiness World Record for being “The World’s Largest Music Festival” since 1999.
3. Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival is a five-day music festival in Pilton, Somerset, England that started in 1970, the day after Jimi Hendrix Died. Many legends of classic rock have been frequent performers at the Glastonbury festival including The Who, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, The Moody Blues, and Lionel Richie. It has recently won Festival of the Year at the Music Week Awards in London. Attended by over 175,000 people, Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival in the world.
The next Glastonbury festival is scheduled for 26 – 30 June 2019.
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4. Moondance Jam
Moondance Jam is every classic rock fan’s dream festival. It is an annual rock and classic rock festival held in mid-July in Walker, Minnesota. It’s regarded as the “premier classic rock festival in the United States” and as Minnesota’s largest music festival. Originating in 1992 as a small music fest with just local bands and barbeque, Moondance Jam has now become one of the biggest camping/music events of the summer season. Attendees have seen Jefferson Starship, Vixen and Honeymoon Suite, Peter Frampton, Motley Crue, Slash, and Lynyrd Skynyrd perform among many others. 2018’s line up includes Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Kid Rock, Bret Michaels, Kansas, and Ace Frehley.
5. Rokslide Festival
The Roskilde Festival, is an annual Danish music festival held in Roskilde, Denmark. It’s known as one of the oldest and most celebrated rock festivals in the world. It was Denmark’s first music-oriented festival created for hippies in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, with promoter Carl Fischer. Notable acts include bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Guns N’ Roses. In 2000, an unforgettable tragedy happened when nine fans were killed when the crowd rushed the stage in a stampede during Pearl Jam’s set.
The Roskilde Festival is attended by around 170,000 people, along with more than 21,000 volunteers, 5,000 media people and 3,000 artists.