FESTIVAL FEVER!

From Barcelona’s beaches to Serbian fortresses, Croatia’s coast to Dutch rave domes, the global festival circuit offers a limitless supply of unique experiences and is still growing year on year. We sum up the best on offer for the most wanderlust of hedonists.

RETURNING for its 17th edition, the sun-streamed standard bearer that is Sonar will once again place Barcelona’s bustling cosmopolitan city at the heart of the electronic music world with another impeccable ensemble. After Grace Jones last year, the resurfaced art-rock/avant-pop pioneers Roxy Music are this year’s heritage choice, while modern legends the Chemical Brothers and LCD Soundsystem present their respective new albums. Hold tight, though, as Sonar is still very much a forum for the unsung experimentalists and contemporary cutting-edge with showcases from LuckyMe, Mary Anne Hobbs and Red Bull Music Academy. Add in the tidal wave of beach parties, club events and rooftop raves that will sweep through the city and you have the fi rst genuinely essential date on the European festival calendar.

Thursday 17th - Saturday 19th June

Various venues, Barcelona, Spain

€155 Sonar pass, €100 two-night ticket, €60 Sonar by night ticket, €39 Sonar by day ticket

The Chemical Brothers, Roxy Music, Air, LCD Soundsystem, Roska, Aeroplane, King Midas Sound, 2020 Soundsystem, Joy Orbison, Speeche Debelle and New Young Pony Club

LOCATED right by Zagreb’s Lake Jarun, Croatia’s festival biggie Inmusic takes the best in rock and electronic talent from around the globe, before sprinkling in a heavy dose of home grown innovators. At 25,000 capacity it’s compact enough to retain a relatively intimate vibe, but with six arenas covering quality bands from many different shades of the musical spectrum it remains a festival that you get lost in.

WHEN?
Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd June

Lake Juran, Zagreb, Croatia

Dhs420 full festival ticket, Dhs300 day tickets

LCD Soundsystem, Pendulum, Flaming Flips, Massive Attack, !!!, Broken Social Scene and Skindred

WHAT’S not to love about Exit? Set in a medieval fortress riddled with cobbled streets, ramparts and tunnels and fl anked by breathtaking views all around — the most spectacular being when the sun bursts over the fortress walls surrounding the dance arena and illuminates 20,000 raving bodies in Serbian sunshine — the line-up is pure rave gold every time. Never dropping a dud, it covers just about everything you’d want it to without surrendering to the commercial fl uff that seems to pervade so many other festivals of this size. Mika’s technicolour pop, Ed Banger’s SebastiAn, Ovum’s Josh Wink, Norway’s electronica icons Røyskopp and Hudson Mohawke just some of the treats on offer alongside the impressive array of headliners.

Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th July

Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia

Dhs600 four-day ticket (+ optional Dhs130 for camping ticket)

Chemical Brothers, Mika, Missy Elliott, Black Rose, A-Trak, Pendulum, Ricardo Villalobos, David Guetta, Instra:mental, dBridge and Moderat

LOCATION, location, location! The Garden Festival is set so close to the sea you’ll have barnacles on your feet by the end of the festival. The whole event is set in the open-air apart from a love-shack of a disco called Barbaellas which hosts all of the after-hours parties. It is the only festival we have been to where by the end of the second night you know everyone by name. It’s small, eclectic, intimate and when the sun goes down it’s pure party central.

Expect funk in the daytimes, disco at sun-down and groovy techno in the night. If you’ve got your sea-legs then there are two voyages that leave daily, hosted by Norman Jay’s Good Times, Mulletover & Inerversions to name but a few. Factor in the line up (20:20 Soundsystem, Filthy Dukes, Mr Scruff, Greg Wilson and more), the fact its spread over 2 weekends and you’re in the middle of Southern Croatia which is quickly gaining a reputation as an alternative Ibiza, and it’s happy days indeed.

Friday July 2 – Sunday July 11

Where Garden Festival, Petcrane, Croatia.

Dhs900 for 2 weekend pass, Dhs420 for one weekend
 

2020 Soundsystem, Crazy P, Dixon, Mr Scruff, Henrik Schwarz, Tensnake, Floating Points, Seth Troxler, Sebo K and Faze Action

WHILE headliners like Ellie Goulding and Echo & The Bunnymen might cater for mainstream pop and indie lovers, the Spanish giant of Benicàssim has got more than enough electronic anarchy to get your rave gnashers stuck in to. Getting props for being the only festival to boast both the resurgent ravepunk legends The Prodigy and the timeless sounds of Leftfi eld on their bill, Benicàssim have dug deep this year with plenty of dubstep, deep house, broken beats and techno amongst their midst. Taking place in the imposingly hot Mediterranean sunshine, the concrete car park setting might not be among Europe’s most picturesque but there is no arguing with the arsenal of talent on offer.

Thursday 15th - Sunday 18th July

Benicàssim, Spain

Dhs900 full ticket

DJ Shadow, The Prodigy, Leftfi eld, Dizzee Rascal, Hot Chip, Foals, Scratch Pervert, Cut Copy, Four Tet, Magnetic Man and Ian Brown

LOCATED in the imposing open-air industrial museum of Ferropolis, Germany’s Melt Festival bulldozers over genre boundaries with all the unstoppable force of the fi ve hulking coal-mining diggers that tower into the sky behind it. The blissful bass-drowned dread of Massive Attack is off-set with the avant-garde, otherworldy pop of The xx, the strippedback machine rhythms of Marcel Dettman, and Ben Klock’s Berghain brigade comes balanced with Modeselektor’s melodic space-age dancehall and post-dubstep mastery. Also sure to secure the support of heads are names like Kode-9, Carl Craig feat Mike Banks and lots more.

Friday 16th - Sunday 18th July

Ferropolis, Germany

Dhs 580+ BF three-day ticket, Dhs440 + BF two-day ticket

The xx, The Big Pink, Massive Attack, Jamie T, Hercules & Love Affair, Sascha Funke, Jamie Lidell, Modeselektor, Booka Shade, Marcel Dettman and Fred Falke (live)

ASIDE from covering trance, drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep, electro, house, and everything in-between, Creamfi elds 2010 has some amazing onsite attractions, including an onsite cinema, outdoor terrace, garden bar, a Vanity Van that offers makeovers and spray tans (we’re guessing the portaloos aren’t too shabby then), an international food market, the JägerRock Truck and, rather hopefully considering normal English summers, a good old Pimms Bus for chilling out in style. The line up is ridiculous as well: David Guetta, Deadmau5 and Calvin Harris join forces with a revitalised Leftfi eld, while beat-fi ends will have Laidback Luke, Caspa, Andy C, Tiga and more to look forward to.

Sat August 28th and Sun 29, AugustBank Holiday weekend

WHERE?
Daresbury, Cheshire

Dhs600

Alexander Nut, Bullion, Cinematic Orchestra, Channel One Soundsystem, dEbruit, Dam Funk, DJ Vadim, Mr Thing and Toddla T

NICKNAMED the Glastonbury of Europe - and for good reason - Sziget (pronounced Cee-Jay) routinely hosts over 200,000 festival goers every year, attracted for its cosmopolitan line up, green ethos and proximity to the beautiful city of Budapest. Set on its own island in the middle of the city, this year’s line up is as eclectic as you’ll fi nd as Faithless rub shoulders with Iron Maiden and Muse sit next to Madness. But the dance arena, itself split into a dizzying number of arenas that is the festival’s trump card as Simian Mobile Disco, Deadmau5 and a special Boyz Noize vs Erol Alkan show headline.

Wed Aug 11 - Mon 16 Aug

Budapest, Hungary

Dhs1000 including camping

Swedish House Mafi a, Dennis Ferrer, Richie Hawtin, Ben Klock & Marcel Dettmann, Carl Craig & Radioslave (b2b), Grooverider, David Guetta, Steve Bug, Armin Van Buuren, Michael Mayer and James Zabiela

CARVED into a gargantuan cleft in the landscape, Dance Valley is Holland’s premier electronic music festival with 20 arenas, over 40,000 clubbers and nearly 200 DJs descending on the sleepy Dutch hamlet of Spaarnwoude. This being Holland, stadium-fi lling trance, boshing hard stuff and funky, chunky electronic house feature heavily with Armin Van Buuren even getting his own A State Of Trance arena. That said, there’s plenty of more underground sounds represented in Electronation’s arena (Claude VonStroke, Jesse Rose et al in here) and Carl Cox’s funky techno-focused Intec Digital arena (Christian Smith, Umek and Marco Bailey), while DJ Rush’s 10 years of Kne’Deep tent thunders out turbulent techno noise and hells-gallop rhythm barrages. A stunning setting, Dance Valley is always both infallibly friendly and incredibly effi cient in its running.

Saturday 7th August

Velsen Valley, Spaarnwoude Recreational Area, Holland

Dhs300

Booka Shade, Mark Knight, Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Claude VonStroke, Jesse Rose vs Riva Starr, Proteus and DJ Rush

AS if any of us needed any more persuasion to indulge in weekends of nocturnal debauchery in the German capital, the Berlin Festival adds yet another reason to mission over. With a combination of top draw electronica talent and quality bands, the Berlin Festival’s location adds more magnetism to the festival’s allure with a huge open-air airfi eld hosting 15,00 ravers and two further stages coming in the form of colossal indoor air hangars. Boys Noize Records will be taking control on Saturday with Boys Noize himself, D.I.M., Djedjotronic, Les Petits Pilous, Strip Steve, Das Glow and Housemeister, while Chilly Gonzales will present his new album, which has been produced by Boys Noize. The festival also comes at the tail end of Berlin Music Week and the Popkomm industry music conference, both of which also take up residence in the airport — entry to Friday’s Popkomm daytime activities are included in the Berlin Festival ticket price.

Friday 10th - Saturday 11th September

Tempelhof Airport, Berlin

Dhs300 weekend ticket, Dhs180 day

ticket

2Manydjs, Erol Alkan, Fever Ray, Boys Noize, D.I.M., LCD Soundsystem, Gonzales, Soulwax, Atari Teenage Riot and Superpunk