People who like social gatherings tend to fall into two categories: those who thrive on large-scale mayhem and those who prefer the laid-back serenity of smaller, more intimate crowds. Music festival aficionados, by definition, belong to the former category, except this demographic, too, can be fine-tuned relative to diverging personal preferences. They include solemn hardcore fans that quote from the break of dawn; casual partiers snooze until sunset; metalheads, pop giddies, and ravers; edgy stage dwellers, and insouciant bench boozers, “I was there” James-Murphy-types and influencers looking for optimal lighting (those damned lampposts mostly come in short supply).
Still, despite the allure of diversity, two main fractions stand out for European music festival fans: folks enamored with remote, often gargantuan events, makeshift oases of fun far away from scorching concrete, and the ones who prefer to have their shows accessible by metropolitan public transport. Across Europe, most epic countryside festivals take place in June and early July, with Glastonbury, Rock Werchter, and Roskilde setting the continent in a frenzy. With the midsummer past, the remaining big happenings tend to be more urban, an ideal complement to the cultural offering of the Old Continent capitals for holiday travelers and city-break vacationers to enjoy.
If you are looking to travel around Europe before the summer is over, and especially if you like your concerts with landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in line of sight (relatively speaking), these are some of the best urban European music festivals to enhance your city-hopping experience without devastating your budget or comfort. We have tried and tested all these fests; now, it’s your turn.
Sziget Festival
Where and When: 7-12 August, Budapest, Hungary
Who: Fred Again, Kylie Minogue, Halsey, Sam Smith, Martin Garrix, Skrillex, Stormzy, Four Tet, Yves Tumor, Editors, Modeselektor, and more.
How Much: $350 for a 6-day pass, daily tickets from $100
A full 30 years on, the biggest weeklong getaway party on the continent shows no signs of slowing down. Yes, the 92,000-capacity Sziget boasts a leviathan Main stage hosting the biggest pop and rock stars alive. Yes, the 10,000 Party Arena booms until dawn. But the festival – a legendary melting pot of music, performance art, and group entertainment – remains most compelling for its superabundance of content, escapist overtones, and Budapest’s still reasonable prices.
Propped up between the trees and stretching across the 266 acres of Óbuda Island, Sziget is a fairytale entertainment event come to life. For six days, mere minutes by car from the lush city center or a coffee break flight away from any European capital, it is the most wonderfully obnoxious wonderland for music fans from all walks of life – campers who frolic on the island 24//7 and nightcrawling urbanites from more than 100 countries congregate to soak up a superabundance of concerts and artful content, topped off with all-nighter parties. With over half a million visitors and 1,000+ music, entertainment, and educational shows spread across 60 stages, Sziget is a true one-of-a-kind sensory overload that pays off in spades.
Entering Sziget entails crossing the historic K-Bridge, where a welcome to the “Island of Freedom” and a full physical severance from the concrete jungle around you await, so it’s no surprise that tens of thousands of campers rush down the rabbit hole and stay there for the duration of the festival. Art installations, yoga workshops, panel discussions, pop-up street theater, drag queen extravaganzas, traveling funfair, friendly sports tournaments, even a beach on the river Danube, and so much more await you just two miles from Buda’s and Pest’s historical downtown areas, both among the most splendid and buzzing in all of Europe.
If you are interested in learning about the rich history of this enormous cultural spectacle, PopMatters has reported extensively on Sziget in the past decade, so dive in. It’s a cool $350 for a full six-day pass, free basic camping on-premises, the biggest names in electropop spearheading the bill, and dozens of indie favorites across supporting stages. Treat yourself to a week of fun for relatively cheap. Budapest is also the HQ of Wizzair, so there’s no lack of low-cost flights, wherever in the Western hemisphere you come from. Bonus points for the one-off show by the irresistible pop icon Kylie Minogue, who will take to the main stage on 7 August.
Way Out West
Where and When: 8-10 August, Gothenburg, Sweden
Who: Queens of the Stone Age, Pulp, the National, PJ Harvey, Fever Ray, Benjamin Ingrosso, Jessie Ware, Fred Again, Chase and Status, Thee Sacred Souls, and more.
How Much: $250 for a full three-day ticket
If Sziget is a bubblegum and confetti pop Megazord with an artsy twang, then Way Out West is the highbrow hipster hideout one could expect from Gothenburg, a city with the largest academic population in Scandinavia. Since 2007, Slottskogen, Gothenburg’s most prominent central park, has been home to this lovingly eclectic gathering with a strong focus on alternative rock and electronic acts. Over three days and 338 acres of shipshape grass, within walking distance from Gothenburg’s main attractions, up to 35,000 visitors enjoy more than a hundred hot indie acts across five stages.
Generally more laid back and less crowded than most celebrated events, Way Out West is an excellent opportunity to see giants such as Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey, or the National perform to a smaller but fully invested crowd. In the spirit of its progressive student-friendly agendas, the festival also places an emphasis on sustainability and social equality, serving only vegetarian food (no milk) and ensuring a 50/50 gender split in the lineup. All Way Out West merchandise and workwear is circular, the food and beverage packaging is plastics-free, and the supplementary content is all about the environment, such as the Greentopia conference.
To prove there is nothing quirky freethinkers wouldn’t think of to impress their bookish audiences, this year, the festival will present a so-called “Future Fan Stage“, a playback of live recordings from Way Out West concerts used to stimulate… sperm and eggs lining up for in vitro fertilization at the Eliva clinic in Stockholm.
If the relaxed atmosphere of Way Out West sounds perhaps a bit too leisurely for you, worry not; where there are festivals, there are parties. For the price of the regular admission ticket (ca. $250), after the daily program is done, you are cordially invited to Stay Out West, the raucous clubbing younger sibling of the big happening. Sprawling across the broader city center, it offers 35 gigs and DJ sets to keep you on your feet all night.
All Points East
Where and When: 16-27 August, London, UK
Who: LCD Soundsystem, the Postal Service + Death Cab For Cutie, Kaytranada, Mitski, Loyle Carner, Nas, the Decemberists, Phoenix, and more.
How Much: from $110 for a day pass
Just when you thought London could not get more intense, All Points East unapologetically barges in with no less than six days of DIY darlings and electronica lords, shot through with four days of free midweek access for community-focused activities called In the Neighborhood. Since its inception in 2018, All Points East has been a staple of the UK’s festival scene, emerging into a world-class event in its own right. Spread out over most of late August, it is a perfect way to recover from the sightseeing fatigue with a more organic kind of sore feet (and back, depending on your age).
Held in the iconic Victoria Park, one of London’s most visited green spaces, the 40,000-strong happening promises another sizzling year, with the inaugural headliners, LCD Soundsystem, returning to its main stage for one of the very rare summer 2024 European performances (there will be another at Rock en Seine in Paris, if you’re team Gaelic, read on). Another set to watch out for will be the anniversary gig of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service. Ben Gibbard’s two cohorts will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism and the Postal Service’s only full-length release, Give Up, by playing both albums in full.
With All Points East’s idiosyncratic concept of primarily daytime performances—gates open around 1 p.m., and most headliners start by 8 p.m. or so—make sure to bring plenty of sunscreen and pace yourself. You’ll want to keep your stamina strong.
Rock en Seine
Where and When: 21-25 August, Paris, France
Who: Lana Del Rey, LCD Soundsystem, Massive Attack, Fred Again, Maneskin, the Offspring, PJ Harvey, Gossip the Smile, Soulwax, and more.
How Much: $250 for a four-day pass (Lana Del Rey tickets selling separately), daily tickets from $90
If London knocks you off your feet with ferocity, Paris will revive you with an injection of France’s most lauded discerning quality: hedonism. Founded in 2003, Rock en Seine, France’s largest pop-rock music festival, is as French as it can be, romantically wooing you on the banks of the river Seine within a massive aristocratic park belonging to a – you guessed it – 16th-century château. A quick subway ride away from the touristy humdrum downtown, over five days, it can be your ideal teleport into the rich world of mainstream and up-and-coming rock.
Given its late summer date, Rock en Seine is known for attracting household names for off-tour shows, and this season is no exception. Lana Del Rey will take over the standalone “day zero” on Wednesday (21 August) in one of a handful of European performances this summer. LCD Soundsystem, who are also playing only five shows this side of the pond, will spearhead the bill on Sunday, 25 August. Then there are the Offspring, who will be doing half a dozen concerts in Europe in between lengthier tours of the US taking over on Saturday, joined by Massive Attack, who aren’t touring apart from four one-off gigs. Talk about a feast for event exclusivity thirst traps.
Apart from the blazing musical lineup, Rock en Seine, as is customary nowadays, engages visitors through a slew of accompanying activities and initiatives. Sustainability, creativity, and social consciousness all check the mandatory progressivity boxes, so much so that the festival has been awarded a badge of the “cultural Olympiad” to show off as a sister event to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics; special games, exhibitions, and installations will be hosted to announce the 2024 Paralympic Games, which start on 28 August.
Nevertheless, if there is one thing truly special about Rock en Seine, it is its high profile as a family event. festival-goers can register their children aged 6-11 for Mini Rock, a weekend-long workshop for “artistic and cultural discovery”. If you’re raising a little rocker or two, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
Lollapalooza Berlin
Where and When: 7-8 September, Berlin, Germany
Who: Sam Smith, Martin Garrix, Louis Tomlison, Burna Boy, the Chainsmokers, Niall Horan, Nothing But Thieves, and more.
How Much: weekend tickets $230, day tickets $140
After you’ve spent all your vacation days, not to mention the big bucks, it’s a good idea to snatch one last memory of a fiery summer in September at Lollapalooza Berlin. A quick, two-day bash founded on the heels of the legendary Chicago festival ten years ago has made its transition from an eclectically lined-up celebration to a blitzkrieg of stadium pop, favoring the names you will most likely hear if you unmute your TikTok and Instagram accounts.
That’s not a bad thing, though, because Berlin’s famous Olympiastadion is a perfect venue for some sweaty debauchery. Hits from the likes of Sam Smith, the Chainsmokers, and One Republic, coupled with monster beats from Martin Garrix and frenzied K-Pop anthems of Seventeen, make for a pleasantly hallucinatory escape from the more cerebral and meditative lineups of most leviathan music events. Allow yourself to get lost and party Berlin-style among the 100,000 folks who will flock to the suburbs each day for this event.