Hot Travel: International Summer Festival Guide

For a summer festival experience with a difference, why not pack your suitcase and make for the departure lounge? Whether it’s long-established events such as Glastonbury and Roskilde or hipster faves like Spain’s Benicassim, this year the international calendar is stuffed with musical highlights – and lots more besides. Here is our top ten guide to the best in summer fests. For the full list, check out hotpress.com

Sonar
June 13 – 15, various venues, Barcelona, Spain
Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Two Door Cinema Club, Jurassic 5, Paul Kalkbrenner, Bat For Lashes, Diplo, TNGHT, Skream, Seth Troxler, Skrillex, Soulwax, Nicolas Jaar, AlunaGeorge, Liars, Skream, Lindstrom & Todd Terje, Jamie Lidell, Gold Panda, Major Lazer, Ed Banger 10, Hot Natured and more.
Tickets: €175 for the weekend
sonar.es/en

Why not let glorious Barcelona be the backdrop to the musical festivities? Celebrating its 20th anniversary, this festival is divided into two events: Sonar by Day, at Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, and Sonar by Night, a no-holds-barred rave in an aeroplane hanger. It means there’s a bit of travelling to be done to catch all your favourite acts (this year Kraftwerk do their new 3D show thing and TDCC fly the Irish flag), but it’s worth it. And hey, you’re in one of the most beautiful places on earth with a hotel bed waiting for you rather than a ratty sleeping bag!

Isle of Wight Festival
June 13 – 16, Isle Of Wight, UK
The Stone Roses, The Killers, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Paul Weller, The Boomtown Rats, I Am Kloot, Rizzle Kicks, Fun., Lianne La Havas, Ellie Goulding, Bloc Party The Script, Emeli Sandé, The Maccabees, Paloma Faith, Jake Bugg, Ben Howard, Bastille, Everything Everything, Newton Faulkner, Palma Violets, Kodaline, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Laura Mvula, Willy Mason and more.
Tickets: £190 for weekend with camping £160 without
isleofwightfestival.com

Returning to its usual June weekend, Isle of Wight looks set to live up to its reputation with some of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll booked and rearing to go. A major event since its inauspicious 1970 start (Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and The Who? Us neither!), not only do we get the Roses and Blondies of this world in 2013, we also get a Game Of Thrones star. Carice Van Houten (who plays scary lady in red Melisandre) will be performing with her band. As for the Irish brigade, Kodaline are the young pretenders, whilst Bob Geldof & Co. aim to recapture former glories when The Boomtown Rats take to the Main Stage on the Sunday.

Glastonbury
June 26 – 30, Worthy Farm, Somerset, UK
The Rolling Stones, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons, Primal Scream, Nick Cave, The xx, Alt-J, Public Enemy, Django Django, Vampire Weekend, Of Monsters & Men and more.
Tickets: Three-day festival £205
glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

The mac daddy of festivals, Glastonbury returns this year with a typically stellar line-up, having taken a break last year to let the land replenish itself. On the go since 1970, Glasto was set up by local eco-friendly farmer Michael Eavis, who still runs the event, along with his daughter Emily. Located in lovely Somerset in south-west England, Glastonbury will welcome around 150,000 revellers from all around the world this summer. Your best bet from Ireland is to fly to Bristol Airport and take a coach from there (National Express run a service) to the festival site. An alternative, if you’re concerned about those pesky luggage restrictions, is to take your wheels on the ferry (to either Fishguard of Holyhead) and drive to the fest.

Roskilde
June 29 – July 7, Darupvej, Roskilde, Denmark
Kraftwerk, The National, Queens Of The Stone Age, Rihanna, Sigur Rós, Slipknot, Volbeat, Airbourne, Animal Collective, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club James Blake, C2C, Crystal Castles, Dead Can Dance, Disclosure, Efterklang, Kendrick Lamar, Miguel and lots more.

Everybody should experience Roskilde at least once. If not for the daily naked race and traditional skinny-dip in the lake, then for the amazingly relaxed atmosphere, friendly locals and seriously good musical line-up. It has long been one of Europe’s stand-out events. Outside of the music there’s lots of other stuff happening, with the campsite open for a four-day ‘warm-up’ before the first note is even played. There’s also a Lidl right next to the campsite, which always comes in handy for cheap booze and jars of hot-dogs! The line-up this year is brilliant too, mixing teh best of alternavie with the sex appeal of Rihanna and the general hotness of Kendrick Lamar...

Exit
July 10 -14, Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia
Atoms For Peace, Snoop Lion, Cee-Lo Green, Fatboy Slim, Bloc Party, Eric Prydz, DJ Fresh, Skism, Friction & Linguistics, Seth Troxler, Dubfire, Prong and more.
Tickets: Five-day festival and accommodation packages from €138 with camping
exitfest.org/en

Boasting a whopping 27 stages, this 40,000-capacity Serbian blowout takes place in a walled fortress that gazes down imperiously on the Danube below. With summer temperatures in Novi Sad regularly hitting 40 degrees, the action starts at seven o’clock in the evening when it’s slightly cooler and runs until around breakfast time. Along with a goodly contingent of Irish festival-goers, you’ll be rubbing sunburned shoulders with music nuts from all over the Balkans who are extremely fond of their turbo-folk, a trillion-BPM fusing of trad and gabba. Belgrade, a party town if ever there was one, is just a two-hour high-speed train ride away. A taxi ride from Belgrade Airport to the festival site costs around €50 to €80 per car of four people.

FIB Benicassim
July 18 – 21, Benicassim, Costa Azahar, Spain
Queens Of The Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Beach House, Primal Scream, Dizzee Rascal, Kaiser Chiefs, Bastille, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, AlunaGeorge, Everything Everything, Jake Bugg, Palma Violets, ASIWYFA, The Coronas, The Riptide Movement, Hurts, John Talabot, La Roux, Rudimnetal, Toundra, ASIWYFA, China Rats, Little Green Cars, Pleasant Dreams, Temples and more.
Tickets: €173 for four days including camping
fiberfib.com

Benicassim has been running in Costa Azahar for 18 years. A truly multi-cultural event, people come to soak up the sun, music and unrivalled party atmosphere. There’s been a large Irish contingent in recent years, heading over to the Spanish seaside. This year sees us well-represented on the bill, too, with ASIWYFA, The Coronas and The Riptide Movement all set to play. Valencia is the closest airport at just under an hour from the site, but landing in Barcelona might be your best bet. As you can see above, the line-up is full of big names. However, it’s the climate and locale that make Benicassim.

Melt!
July 19 – 21, Ferropolis, Germany
Atoms For Peace, Alt-J, Soulwax, Everything Everything, James Blake, The Knife, Azealia Banks, Flying Lotus, Dan Deacon, Rhye, Local Natives, King Krule, Purity Ring, Owen Pallet, Mykki BlankJoy Orbison, Trentemoller, Chvrches, The 1975 and more.
Tickets: €119 plus fees for three-day camping
meltfestival.de

A place where ‘electronic meets rock’, the Melt! Festival takes place in a large open-air museum displaying enormous machinery from the 20th century – some reaching 30 feet high. Looming industrial cranes provide a spectacular backdrop. The line-up’s not bad either, with headliners including The Knife and Atoms For Peace. The closet airport is Leipzig/Halle, a 70km train journey to the site.

Sziget
August 5 – 12, Budapest, Hungary
Blur, Azealia Banks, Tame Impala, Everything Everything, Dizzee Rascal, Biffy Clyro, Editors, Bat For Lashes, Empire Of The Sun, The Cribs, Mika, Katy B, Little Boots, Hadouken!, Regina Spektor, The Joy Formidable, Flogging Molly, Booka Shade, Chase & Status, Skunk Anansie and more.
Tickets: €229 (€199 before May 5) with camping and €199 (€169 early bird)
sziget.hu/festival_english

Who doesn’t want to visit the ‘Island of Freedom’? Especially when some of the finest names in music are playing. Budapest’s Sziget is quite a unique prospect, taking place as it does on the leafy island of Óbudai-sziget in the middle of the Danube. With an ambience that has been described as “dream-like”, it combines peace and love vibes with fantastic organisation. It promises seven days of non-stop partying, with 200 programmes daily. Aside from the likes of Blur and Azealia Banks, there are countless exhibitions, theatre events... even
a circus. The drink is cheap (get a sziget kartya for your boozy needs), there’s a massive shopping centre nearby – a direct flight from Dublin to Budapest and you’re there!

V Festival
August 17 & 18, Hyland’s Park, Essex and Weston Park, Staffordshire, UK
Beyoncé, Kings Of Leon, Sterophonics, The Script, Emeli Sandé, Calvin Harris, Beady Eye, Jessie J, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Basement Jaxx, Olly Murs, Paloma Faith, James, Rita Ora, The Courteeners, Jason Mraz, fun., Labrinth, Ellie Goulding, Travis, Kendrick Lamar, Of Monsters & Men, Maverick Sabre, Jessie Ware, Maxïmo Park, Lianne La Havas, Tom Odell and more.
Tickets: £185 for the weekend with camping, £160 without and £89 for a day ticket
vfestival.com

One of the final biggies of the summer months, V Festival has done a fantastic job over the years of balancing its bill with a healthy dose of pop, rock and dance. Something for everyone then, and this summer it’s likely that everyone will be united in legging it for the main stage when Beyoncé arrives. In reality, this is two festivals in one, taking place in Weston Park and Hyland Park (150 miles away) with the line-up swapping over between Saturday and Sunday. In terms of an Irish presence, Two Door Cinema Club will be breaking out their earwormy guitar hooks and Wexford-London lad Maverick Sabre brings some Model County soul to proceedings.

Berlin Festival
September 6 & 7, Templehof Airport, Berlin
AlunaGeorge, MIA, Pet Shop Boys, Villagers, Bjork, My Bloody Valentine, Booka Shade, Delphic, Blur, DJ Shadow, Klaxons, Boys Noize, Ellie Goulding
and more.
Tickets: from €53.90 (one day) to €141.90 (all-inclusive), no camping
berlinfestival.de

A definite nominee for ‘coolest location’, much of Berlin Festival takes place in and around the majestic Templehof Airport. For one weekend each year, this massive structure is transformed into one of the most amazing venues HP has ever attended… and we’ve been to a few! Festival performances take place both on the specially constructed Main Stage and in the airport’s massive hangars, before shuttle buses whisk attendees into some of the city’s best clubs, where the party continues into the wee hours! To make the absolute most of your stay, we advise you either book into one of Berlin’s many top-notch hostels, or – if there’s a big gang of you – rent an apartment. This way you’ll have a base from which to explore the many historical and cultural attractions Berlin has to offer. What’s more, Templehof is located on the very efficient U-Bahn (the U6 line), making it easy for you to navigate your way around this vibrant and exciting city.