The end of May marks the arrival of music festival season across the US and throughout Europe. With a plethora of headliner events from Portland to Poland, it's tough to differentiate between the merely good and the sensational. So in lieu of NY's Governor's Ball on June 5th with Bjork, Drake and Lana del Rey or July's Glastonbury Festival with Kanye West and Foo Fighters, here are some far more unique concerts and festivals worth planning around for you summer season.
The emerging Berlin Festival hosts an impressive line-up from May 29th with Chet Faker, Rudimental, Tiga and Roisn Murphy at Arena Park. In Barcelona, two music festivals offer uniquely different venues with Primavera Sound next weekend at Parc de Forum with an indie mix of headliners like Patti Smith, Alt-J with Belle and Sebastian. Later from June 18th, the far more intimate Sonar mixes technology and music with late-night gigs by FKA Twigs, Duran Duran and Skillerex. That's also when you'll find British Summer Time in London's Hyde Park with The Strokes, Taylor Swift, Kylie Minogue and Blur. If black-tie summer nights are more your thing, Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival headlines Pharrell Williams on June 22nd, Lady Gaga with Tony Bennett on July 4th and Lenny Kravitz on July 8th. Prefer a swimsuit? Calvi On the Rocks in Corsica, from July 3rd, hosts acts like Hot Chip, Caribou, Phoenix and Metronomy as revelers frolic in the Med.
In late-July, two US music festivals garner worthy praise including Chicago's iconic Lollapalooza this year with Paul McCartney, The Weeknd and Metallica as well as Newport Folk Festival that lures more modern acts like Rodrigo Amarante, Calexico, Leon Bridges, José Gonzalez to the Rhode Island waterfront. Cactus Festival in Belgium's Brugge snags The Kooks, Grace Jones and Jesse Ware for its July 10th kick-off while in Sardinia's Porto Cervo you'll find one of the chicest concerts of summer as Robbie William's caps off a gala fireworks affair at Cala di Volpe. But it's at the end of summer when you'll find France's hottest festival when Rock en Seine outside Paris celebrates the end of the season with Chemical Brothers, Kasabian, The Libertines, Tame Impala and Franz Ferdinand.
