A way of life, an escape from reality, a way to de-stress from a long day at work. Whatever the reason, the significance of music cannot be ignored. And for many music lovers, attending a music festival is a must. Generally not a single-day affair, they can last for a week or longer, with many artists coming together and performing for a crowd of fans.
Whether EDM, trance, progressive, house, techno, obr something else, the number of people attending them is so whoppingly high that it is sometimes hard to believe. One of the best bits about them is the fact that they are held in different countries all across the world.
If you are a music enthusiast, the following are the best electronic music festivals you should include in your list.
Envision Festival – Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Mon, Feb 17, 2020 – Mon, Feb 24, 2020
Some people might tell you that traveling to Costa Rica is a cumbersome affair, but if you are doing it for the Envision festival, it is going to be completely worth it. Everything about it is breathtaking, and it is a fact that whoever has attended it once does come back for multiple rounds later. It is an otherworldly experience of a mixture of art and music and the location, which is right in the Costa Rican tropical jungle where it meets the Pacific Ocean. It all adds to its wondrous nature.
The deejay lineups may not be the most famous in the world, but once you hear them, you are sure to become a fan. While you are attending the festival, don’t forget to hit the beach nearby and watch the sunset with glorious music in your ears.
SXM Festival – Saint Martin
Wed, Mar 11, 2020 – Sun, Mar 15, 2020
Caribbean Islands are one of the favorite places for people to visit for amazing beaches and food and a music festival to complement it can only add stars to the trip. The SXM Festival in Saint Martin island is a perfect example of this, and some consider it the most aesthetically superior techno music festival in the world. Even after Hurricane Irma destroyed the setting, it took them only a year to rebuild the scene, and they welcomed people to party in March itself. If you are in love with the Caribbean islands and electronic tunes, you should definitely not miss this one in 2020.
South by Southwest – Austin Texas, United States
Fri, Mar 13, 2020 – Sun, Mar 22, 2020
SXSW started way back in 1987 and has survived a lot of ups and downs throughout to stand at the position where it is today. Although a film festival and interaction with the media occur simultaneously, the main attraction is always the parallel music festival.
The number of people attending this week-long festival keeps increasing year after year. From the beginning, it has been taking place in March, which corresponds with the spring break in schools and colleges, one of the main niches SXSW is targeting. Electronic music is just a tiny part of it, but we believe it’s quite interesting and worth including in this list!
DGTL – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Fri, Apr 10, 2020 – Sun, Apr 12, 2020
DGTL Amsterdam has announced the introduction of a new live stage other than the already existing 6 stages at the Amsterdam Dance Event conference, which has been received with a lot of enthusiasm. This one takes place in the industrial NDSM neighborhood, but there are a few other upcoming DGTL events and festivals around the world worth a visit:
- November 23, 2019 – DGTL Madrid, Spain
- January 11-13, 2020 – DGTL Bengaluru, India
Electric Daisy Carnival – Las Vegas, United States
Fri, May 15, 2020 – Sun, May 17, 2020
If you are a fan of EDM DJs like Armin Van Buren, Calvin Harris, and the like, you should attend this music festival called popularly the EDC. The purpose of the Electric Daisy Carnival was to inspire more and more people through music and art, and most of the performances by the artists are along these lines.
You not only get a superlative dose of music but also a plethora of glow-in-the-dark and artsy environment which makes the whole atmosphere quite unique and worth checking out. Though it started around 1991 in Las Vegas, Nevada, it has undergone massive improvements and nowadays takes place in different locations across America along with the original one.
Sonar – Barcelona, Spain
Thu, Jun 18, 2020 – Sat, Jun 20, 2020
It seems like Spain and Barcelona are not only famous for their football but their electronic music festivals as well, with one of the main ones being Sonar since 1994. It mainly has two parts, Sonar By Day and Sonar By Night and its line-up is primarily a mixed rooster, consisting of performances of small as well as grand scale.
Awakenings Festival – Spaarnwoude, The Netherlands
Sat, Jun 27, 2020 – Sun, Jun 28, 2020
If you are a fan of everything techno, Awakenings Festivals should be on your bucket list for 2020. It has one of the most amazing lineups of techno artists every year, and the coming event is going to be no different. Add to that the beautiful location of Spaarnwoude, which is located on the periphery of the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. It attracts a diverse crowd from all around the world every year.
Looking at some of the most famous deejays in the world, the ones with Dutch origins have made it to the top, so this might be your chance to experience the start of something new and amazing in the upcoming years.
Ozora – Ozora, Hungary
Mon, Jul 20, 2020 – Sun, Jul 26, 2020
Ozora Festival is considered one of the biggest festivals in the world, with almost 60000 people attending it every year, since the time of its inception in 2004. It is held in the village of Dadpuszta in the Republic of Hungary every year in August. The leading magazines consider it as one of the best psychedelic trance and arts festivals in the world.
The success of it can be judged by the fact that many spin-off festivals resemble O.Z.O.R.A. in countries such as Brazil and France. Some have even compared it to Tomorrowland with a more aesthetic appeal. It should definitely be on your list of electronic music festivals that you should attend in 2020.
Boom Festival – Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal
Tue, Jul 28, 2020 – Tue, Aug 4, 2020
Portugal is not only a picturesque tourist location but also the host of one of the biggest psychedelic trance music festivals in the world.
It has been around for over two decades and is the perfect amalgamation of electronic music of different kinds, providing scope to accommodate almost everything. One of the biggest attractions of this biannual fest is its five stages. The main one is called Dance Temple, and it has a psytrance ambiance while the Alchemy Circle is mainly for experiments like Psy-techno and house.
Then there is Sacred Fire where the conventional live music takes place. It is complemented by Ambient Source, which is to experience the music of the highest chill level. Lastly, there is Funky Beach, which is a more commercial approach to electronic music and hosts deejays and producers of that genre.
The purpose of the Boom Festival is to promote togetherness and love among different people while promoting the sharing of knowledge of alternative cultures. The next edition will revolve around the ‘Anthropocene’.
Lollapalooza – Chicago, United States
Thu, Jul 30, 2020 – Sun, Aug 2, 2020
Lollapalooza is one of the most popular music festivals across the globe. It encompasses a wide variety of genres like alternative rock, hip hop, heavy metal, and electronic music. The United States one occurs right at the heart of Chicago, at Grant Park, and is a four-day event with almost 400,000 people attending it annually making it a massive success.
It started in 1991, and though the festival was not very consistent initially, it has caught up since 2005 and has become one of the longest-running music festivals in the United States recently. Lollapalooza was started by Perry Farell as a farewell for the band by the same name but has scaled unprecedented heights recently. It also provides a platform for organizations political outfits and new musicians to make themselves heard here. There are a few other Lollapaloozas around the world:
- March 27-29, 2020 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- March 27-29, 2020 in Santiago, Chile
- April 3-5, 2020 in São Paulo, Brazil
- July 18-19, 2020 in Paris, France
- Jul 30 – Aug 2, 2020, in Chicago, United States
- September 5-6, 2020 in Berlin, Germany
Neopop – Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Wed, Aug 12, 2020 – Sat, Aug 15, 2020
The last one on the list takes place in a place that has already been mentioned before, the beautiful country of Portugal. Viana do Castelo hosts the Neopop festival every August, one of the favorites for people who live and breathe techno music. The industrial open-air venue is just meters away from the mighty Atlantic, which indeed adds to the vibe. It lasts for four days, and you should not miss it if quality music is your main agenda.
Creamfields – Daresbury, England
Thu, Aug 27, 2020 – Sun, Aug 30, 2020
This is definitely one of the biggest dance music festivals in the United Kingdom, and it is hosted and organized by a famous British band called Cream. The main event generally occurs in August, though newer editions now take place in many new places. It started in 1998 and took place many years at Liverpool’s old airport, shifting its location to Daresbury, Cheshire, recently.
Initially, the event was a single-day affair and attracted a crowd of 25000, but lately, there has been a massive surge, with the event becoming a four-day festival.
You don’t need to learn music or take music lessons to groove to the trippy music and vibe at Creamfields.
Untold Festival – Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2020 Dates to be announced – August
Getting voted as the Best Major Festival in Europe is a testimony that Untold is one of the most significant events in the world.
Mostly electronic, it takes place at Cluj-Napoca’s Arena, and though it was started only in 2015, over 350K people attend it annually, which speaks volumes about its popularity in a short period. World-famous artists like Martin Garrix and Tiësto populate the lineup. We also love the Electric Castle festival in Romania.
Iceland Airwaves – Reykjavik, Iceland
2020 Dates to be announced – November
Iceland is considered as one of the most beautiful tourist locations in the world, and a music festival of such huge proportion adds to its attractions. It takes place in November every year in the capital city of Reykjavik and was initially sponsored by Icelandair when it was started as a single show in Reykjavik Airport. In 2018, all the rights were bought by Sena Live and have been handled by them since then. A must with a side chance of Northern Lights.
Sunburn Festival – Pune, India
2020 Dates to be announced – December
Whenever one talks of the EDM music festival scene in Asia, the first one that comes to mind is the Sunburn Festival in India. It was initially started in Goa and after being shifted to Pune, the festival returns to its homeland – Goa – for three sprawling days of house, EDM, and pop on Vagator Beach. Sunburn is said to be the largest electronic dance music festival in Asia, and even business-wise it comes only after Tomorrowland and Ultra, making it one of the most routinely attended music festivals in the world.
It started in 2007 and is relatively new to the scene but it has already carved out a place for itself in this particular niche with top performers from all around the world showcasing their talent on one of the world’s largest stages.
Now that you have the list, it is time to start making plans. Surely you cannot cover all of them in 2020 itself, but if you schedule correctly, you are bound to have the best year of your life, music-wise. Enjoy!
Contributing members are responsible for the accuracy of content contributed to A World to Travel.
