The Music Festival Blog
CORE Festival Los Angeles 2026: Complete Guide to Tomorrowland's US Debut
CORE began as a stage inside Tomorrowland’s Belgian fields — a forest clearing with a split-face sculptural design that Tomorrowland’s in-house creative team built entirely themselves, and which became one...
Mysteryland 2027: Complete Guide to the World's Oldest Dance Music Festival
When the world’s oldest dance music festival announces it is taking a year off, you pay attention to the reason. Mysteryland did not cancel 2026 because of poor ticket sales...
Defqon.1 2026: Complete Guide to the World's Largest Hardstyle Festival
Most people who have never been to Defqon.1 assume it is simply a louder version of a normal festival. They are wrong in a specific and important way. The hardstyle...
Carolina Country Music Fest 2026: Complete Guide to CCMF Myrtle Beach
There is something specific that happens when a country headliner hits the stage at Myrtle Beach just as the sun is going down over the Atlantic. The sky turns that...
Ibiza Club Season 2026: Complete Guide to Opening Parties, Clubs and Residencies
The first time I landed in Ibiza for the season opening weekend, it was Friday afternoon and the island felt like it was holding its breath. The roads were clear,...
Sónar 2026: Complete Guide to Barcelona's Electronic Music Festival
The first thing that happens when you walk into Fira Gran Via for Sónar is the sound — not the music from a specific stage, but the ambient hum of...
São Paulo Pride 2026: Complete Guide to the World's Largest Pride Parade
Nothing in the European or North American festival calendar prepares you for Avenida Paulista on São Paulo Pride Sunday. The avenue is eight lanes wide and nearly three kilometres long,...
Windy City Smokeout 2026: Complete Guide to Chicago's Country BBQ Festival
The United Center sits on the west side of Chicago, in the shadow of the Eisenhower Expressway, in a neighbourhood that is not a neighbourhood for tourists. It is a...
Country Thunder Wisconsin 2026: Complete Guide to Twin Lakes Country Festival
Shadow Hill Ranch sits in Kenosha County, about as far south in Wisconsin as you can get before you are technically in Illinois. The lake is nearby — Lake Geneva,...
LA Pride 2026: Complete Guide to Los Angeles Pride Parade and WeHo Pride
West Hollywood on Pride Sunday has a particular quality of light in the late afternoon that I keep coming back to when I try to describe the experience to people...
NYC Pride 2026: The Complete Guide to the World's Most Historic Pride March
The first time I stood on Fifth Avenue during NYC Pride and watched the march come toward me, what hit me hardest was not the scale — though two and...
Rock the South 2026: Complete Guide to Decatur Alabama's Biggest Country Festival
I have a particular memory of watching Jason Aldean close a country festival at night from the back of a packed field, the stage lighting cutting through a layer of...
