Festival season is here, and whether you are craving a woodland escape, a sprawling arts extravaganza, or a beguiling electronic underworld, lovingly curated getaways abound to ensure your curiosity will be rewarded. Here, in chronological order, are our favorite destinations in North America and Europe—from the strange to the spectacular, the grand unifier to the cult maker.
Just Like Heaven
Pasadena, CA; May 13
Featuring: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Fever Ray, Peaches, Azealia Banks
The mid-2000s time warp that is the Just Like Heaven festival returns for its third edition this year at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Future Islands, and MGMT (playing their era-defining 2007 debut, Oracular Spectacular, in full) leading the lineup. The 2023 edition features some curveballs—namely, Azealia Banks—and several acts with new material ready to play, including Fever Ray, M83, and Ladytron. But the true draw remains in Just Like Heaven’s strangely appealing nostalgia-core: where else are you seeing Peaches, the Walkmen, and Strfkr on the same day? –Eric Torres
All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Cruel World
Pasadena, CA; May 20
Featuring: Siouxsie, Iggy Pop, Echo & the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, Boy Harsher
Call it a new wave festival, a goth festival, a nostalgia festival—don’t be too concerned about the labels. The important thing is that Siouxsie Sioux is headlining with one of her first sets in about a decade. She’s joined by co-headliner Iggy Pop and a veritable who’s-who of moody throwback acts: Echo & the Bunnymen, Gang of Four, the Human League, Love and Rockets, Adam Ant, Gary Numan, Modern English, ABC, and Billy Idol are all on the bill. There are also some like-minded youngsters sharing those stages, including Molchat Doma and Boy Harsher. –Evan Minsker
Kerrville Folk Festival
Kerrville, TX; May 25 - June 11
Featuring: Anaïs Mitchell, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Bill Ward, the Milk Carton Kids, Steve Poltz
Last year, the Kerrville Folk Festival celebrated its 50th year down at Quiet Valley Ranch in Texas Hill Country. More than just a festival featuring folk artists from all over the country, it’s an 18-day event with impromptu jam sessions across the campground, canoe trips, ukulele workshops, family concerts, songwriting classes, bike rides, and much more. Even singer-songwriter volunteers get a spot on the bill. It’s the kind of festival where you can stay up well after midnight, hear acoustic sets at the Moontower Late Night Acoustic Stage, stumble back to your campsite, and attend a meditation session the next morning. –Evan Minsker
24-Hour Drone
Hudson, NY; May 27-28
Featuring: Laraaji + Arji OceAnanda, Raven Chacon, Michael Foster / Luke Stewart Duo, Liturgy, Wolf Eyes, Lisa Barnard Kelley, Sarah Hennies, and Tristan Kasten-Krause
Uninterrupted swaths of sound are already a hallmark of drone music, but the 24-Hour Drone goes all-in for an immersive escape from the henpecking interruptions of everyday life. Held in the capacious main room of the former late-19th century factory housing Basilica Hudson, the festival returns to New York’s verdant Hudson Valley for the first time since 2019. Meditate, get lost in thought, or drift off to sleep: better to have a full day of this kind of drone than going back to the grindstone. And if you can’t make it, the program will be broadcast live via Wave Farm Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM. –Allison Hussey
Adjacent Festival
Atlantic City, NJ; May 27-28
Featuring: Blink-182, Paramore, Motion City Soundtrack, Beach Bunny, Soul Glo, Zulu
Atlantic City, New Jersey, will host the inaugural Adjacent Festival this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. Taking place on May 27 and 28, it boasts a primarily pop punk lineup with headliners Blink-182 and Paramore and acts like Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Beach Bunny, and the Starting Line. Also scheduled to perform are indie rockers Japanese Breakfast, Pup, Mannequin Pussy, and Jeff Rosenstock. Adjacent Festival has cherry-picked a handful of bands from the hardcore world, too, including Turnstile, Soul Glo, Drug Church, Gel, and Zulu. –Nina Corcoran
Movement
Detroit, MI; May 27-29
Featuring: Caribou, Underworld, Moodymann, Three 6 Mafia, Charlotte de Witte, Ela Minus
Detroit’s Movement festival returns to Hart Plaza, home base since its inaugural edition in 2006. The three-day, six-stage event takes place annually over Memorial Day Weekend and features over 115 acts. The predominantly electronic festival will host sets from Caribou, Skrillex, Bonobo, Underworld, Moodymann, Three 6 Mafia, Charlotte de Witte, Surgeon, Kevin Saunderson, Ela Minus, and dozens more. Each stage is tailored to showcase different niches in the electronic world; the Waterfront Stage, for example, highlights styles like breakbeats, ghettotech, funk, and hip-hop, while the subterranean Underground Stage is meant to evoke a warehouse party. The aptly named Detroit Stage features established or up-and-coming local talent. –Madison Bloom
Primavera Sound
Barcelona, Spain; June 1-3
Madrid, Spain; June 8-10
Featuring: Blur, the Moldy Peaches, Unwound, Laurie Anderson, Boris, Red Velvet
For the first time ever, Primavera Sound will split its dual weekends between two cities in Spain this year: its hometown of Barcelona from June 1 to June 3, and the capital Madrid from June 8 to June 10. (There’s still the annual Porto, Portugal, edition, too.) While both locations share the same headliners (Blur, Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, New Order, Halsey) and the crux of the lineup (Darkside, Le Tigre, Four Tet, the Moldy Peaches, Pusha T, Caroline Polachek, Death Grips, Gilla Band, Julia Holter, the list goes on), there are some differences scattered across the undercards. Eagle-eyed fans will note one-weekend-only performances by the Mars Volta, the War on Drugs, Bad Gyal, Ghost, and a few others. –Nina Corcoran
Governors Ball Music Festival
New York, NY; June 9-11
Featuring: Kendrick Lamar, Ice Spice, Snail Mail, Black Midi, Maxo Kream, Rina Sawayama, Haim
After relocating a number of times since its debut in 2011, Governors Ball has another new home. This year, the three-day festival will take place within the lush greenery of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York. The 2023 edition boasts headlining sets from Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, and electronic duo Odesza, with supporting performances by Lil Uzi Vert, Pusha T, Rina Sawayama, Metro Boomin, and Bronx native Ice Spice. Amid the pop and hip-hop heavy lineup you can catch guitar-laden sets from Black Midi, Snail Mail, Haim, and the local students enrolled in School of Rock Brooklyn. –Madison Bloom
Meltdown Festival
London, England; June 9-18
Featuring: Christine and the Queens, Sigur Rós & London Contemporary Orchestra, Bat for Lashes, Let’s Eat Grandma, Johnny Jewel, Serpentwithfeet
The Southbank Centre’s annual festival is now a staple of London’s cultural calendar, inviting illustrious artist curators to choose the full lineup. Previous curators have included David Bowie, Patti Smith, Scott Walker, and, last year, Grace Jones. Christine and the Queens takes the reins for this year’s edition, corralling a lineup that includes two headline sets of his own and an array of guests from far-flung corners of pop, plus Sqürl (the duo of Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan) live-scoring four Man Ray films. –Jazz Monroe
Sónar
Barcelona, Spain; June 15-17
Featuring: Aphex Twin, Fever Ray, Oneohtrix Point Never, Peggy Gou, Bicep live, the Black Madonna, Sherelle x Kode9, Shygirl, Black Coffee
Vaunted music and arts festival Sónar celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023, returning to the Catalonian capital to once again unify outré sounds with undeniable body music. This year’s lineup includes audiovisual shows from superstar DJs Aphex Twin and Eric Prydz, Fever Ray’s return, the live Spanish debut of Cakes da Killa, Ibiza mainstay Solomun, and homecoming sets from Catalan breakouts Marina Herlop and Bad Gyal. Kode9 and Moor Mother are among the artists and thinkers appearing for talks on the climate crisis, AI, and more. –Jazz Monroe
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Manchester, TN; June 15-18
Featuring: Foo Fighters, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Nas X, Paramore, Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket
The big Manchester, Tennessee, camping experience returns once again in June with a lineup of popular artists across multiple genres. It’s a weekend of music that means you can flit around across a field to see Kendrick Lamar, Fleet Foxes, Black Midi, Three 6 Mafia, Rina Sawayama, and AFI on the same day. Other big names filling out the lineup include Foo Fighters, Paramore, Lil Nas X, Tyler Childers, Odesza, My Morning Jacket, Baby Keem, and, of course, Korn. The annual Superjam is helmed this year by Cory Wong—show up expecting some special guests. There’s also yoga and a big water slide. –Evan Minsker
Glastonbury
Somerset, England; June 21-25
Featuring: Elton John, Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses, Lana Del Rey, Lil Nas X, the War on Drugs, Lizzo, Yusuf / Cat Stevens
By many accounts the greatest festival in the world—certainly one of the oldest and biggest—Glastonbury is set to invite more than 200,000 revelers to Somerset for another weekend of historic and career-breaking performances, as well as the lingering, weirdly energizing threat of a heatwave or washout. Headline sets include Elton John’s purported last-ever UK concert, though, as ever, the magic is in the sprawling festival’s abundant nooks and crannies: rabbit-hole venues, hidden bars, secret stages, mid-morning DJ sets, oddball attendees making their own entertainment, and, by night, the beguiling Block9 dance complex, perennially the United Kingdom’s most exciting club destination, if only for one weekend. –Jazz Monroe
Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux, Switzerland; June 30-July 15
Featuring: Bob Dylan, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Mavis Staples, Gilberto Gil & Family, Caroline Polachek
Switzerland’s esteemed Montreux Jazz Festival adheres to a model that’s different from most of the big-tent summer free-for-alls—you won’t find any mud pits or sunburned wooks here. Across two weeks and two rooms, Montreux offers a high-grade variety of shows, backed by a well-documented history of sumptuous concerts. Bob Dylan takes the top spot on July 1 in the Auditorium Stravinski, presenting his 2020 album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, but the room will also host stars like Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, and Nile Rodgers & Chic, plus forays into tropicália, soul, and the blues. The Montreux Jazz Lab, meanwhile, keeps a more pop-focused lineup with Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens, and more. Ava Max, Mark Ronson, and a triple-header rock bill of Idles, Wet Leg, and Lovejoy are also set for shows in the Jazz Lab. –Allison Hussey
Mad Cool
Madrid, Spain; July 6-8
Featuring: Janelle Monáe, Lil Nas X, Queens of the Stone Age, Sigur Rós, the 1975, Spoon, Jamie xx
Mad Cool consistently invites an impressively sprawling pop and rock lineup to its picturesque astroturf fields. The blazing Spanish sun means things kick off late, giving visitors the chance to explore Madrid by day before heading festward in the evening. Illustrious international artists often play well into the morning, so expect T-shirts, sandals, sangrias, and spritzes under starlit skies soundtracked by the likes of Janelle Monáe, Sigur Rós, and Queens of the Stone Age. –Jazz Monroe
Junction 2
London, England; July 21-22
Featuring: Daphni b2b Hunee, Underworld, Ben UFO b2b Helena Hauff, I. Jordan, Sofia Kourtesis b2b Elkka, Hessle Audio Trio, Jeff Mills
In a sea of inner-city dance fests with crowd-pleasing bills and iffy sound, Junction 2 stands out as London’s most discerning outdoor showcase for forward electronic sounds. Returning to its original Boston Manor Park location, the ambitious 2023 festival will host a mouth-watering array of back-to-back sets from legends and rising stars alike. It is the rare London day party that won’t leave you thirsting for a hail mary at Corsica Studios when the curfew hits. –Jazz Monroe
Pitchfork Music Festival
Chicago, IL; July 21-23
Featuring: The Smile, Big Thief, Alvvays, Bon Iver, Perfume Genius, King Krule, Panda Bear + Sonic Boom, Mdou Moctar, Charlotte Adigéry + Bolis Pupul, Lucrecia Dalt
The flagship Pitchfork Music Festival returns to Chicago’s Union Park for 2023, bringing with it three days of music that’s been celebrated across the website. This year’s lineup collects recent-favorite acts like the Smile, Big Thief, Perfume Genius, Alvvays, Bon Iver, and many more. Sets happen across three stages, all within a short, flat walk of one another. The Red and Green stages host sets on one side of the park, while the smaller Blue stage is tucked in a leafy grove nearby. The festival site is just off the Ashland station on the Pink and Green L lines, and offers free bike parking, making it easy to enjoy without parking lot gridlocks. In addition to the music, there’s a daily market featuring a variety of crafts and vintage goods for sale, plus a wide selection of local record sellers, and an array of food vendors. –Allison Hussey
Newport Folk Festival
Newport, RI; July 28-30
Featuring: Billy Strings, Mdou Moctar, Angel Olsen, Eastern Medicine Singers with Yonatan Gat and Lee Ranaldo, Maggie Rogers, Bartees Strange
Having operated off and on since the late 1950s, Newport Folk Festival celebrates and connects traditional forms to contemporary songcraft. Singer-songwriters Bella White and Aimee Mann lead as headliners, alongside Alexander Abraham, who draws upon his experiences growing up in Greece and Fort Worth, Texas, in his work. Further down the roster, Newport calls upon the likes of Angel Olsen, Jonathan Richman, and Orville Peck, along with ensembles like the Eastern Medicine Singers and the Harlem Gospel Travelers. The festival boasts annual surprise guests, and after hosting an unannounced comeback from Joni Mitchell last Summer, Newport has set a high bar for itself for 2023. –Allison Hussey
Lollapalooza
Chicago, IL; August 3-6
Featuring: Kendrick Lamar, Rina Sawayama, Sudan Archives, Tems, Magdalena Bay, Dehd, Joy Oladokun
Lollapalooza heads back home to Chicago this August. Taking place across four days, the giant festival offers two headliners each night, ranging from Kendrick Lamar and the 1975 to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lana Del Rey. As to be expected, it also scooped up pop stars like Carly Rae Jepsen and Rina Sawayama, rappers including Lil Yachty Pusha T, electronic acts such as Diplo and Fred Again.., indie rock staples like Alex G and Beabadoobee, K-pop groups Tomorrow x Together and NewJeans, and Nigerian singers Tems and Rema. Don’t overlook Lollapalooza’s small fonts either, with folks including Sudan Archives, Hemlocke Springs, and more. –Nina Corcoran
Newport Jazz Festival
Newport, RI; August 4-6
Featuring: Herbie Hancock, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shazad Ismaily, Thundercat, Big Freedia, Julian Lage
The Newport Jazz Festival follows through on another expansive slate of jazz favorites and artists connected to the legacy of the genre. Herbie Hancock leads the pack in jazz bona fides, but the bill presents more recently risen stars like Jon Batiste, Kamasi Washington, and Samara Joy. There will also be winding spiritual ruminations and intricate solo guitar, viral jazz, and even some high-energy New Orleans bounce music. –Allison Hussey
Outside Lands
San Francisco, CA; August 11-13
Featuring: Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, Odesza, Megan Thee Stallion, Lana Del Rey, Janelle Monáe, Maggie Rogers, Interpol, Raveena, Yaya Bey, Grace Ives
San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival takes its name from a formerly unincorporated area of the city, which became the founding terrain for the Golden Gate Park in 1870. A century and a half later, the park boasts winding trails and majestic gardens within its expansive grounds, along with the general-interest festival that’s now in its 15th year. Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, and Odesza take top billing, with Lana Del Rey, Megan Thee Stallion, Janelle Monáe, Maggie Rogers, and dozens of others joining them across the weekend. As in previous years, the festival’s Soma Tent hosts house music and DJs all three days. Outside Lands is accessible via multiple branches of public transportation, and its food offerings will come from a slate of over 90 different vendors. –Allison Hussey
End of the Road
Dorset, England; August 31-September 3
Featuring: Wilco, Future Islands, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Angel Olsen, Arooj Aftab, Cass McCombs, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, Overmono, Mabe Fratti
This charming retreat in England’s West Country takes the community-driven principles of a folk festival and expands them to include contemporary soul, buzz-bands-to-be, and the raggedy end of alternative rock. Traipsing around the campsite and whimsically decorated grounds is an adventure in itself; explorers will encounter secret stages, rustic cider trucks, random props, anachronistic gaming areas, woodland libraries, and, most importantly, roaming peacocks. The campfire vibe and intimate settings foster a camaraderie often lost at bigger festivals, and the artists seem to feel it. By night, the festival transforms to host big-tent dance, as well as raucous funk and disco that blares out from a DJ booth set up in a lifesize model ship. –Jazz Monroe
Format Festival
Bentonville, AR; September 22-24
Featuring: LCD Soundsystem, Jamie xx, Alanis Morissette, Leon Bridges, Modest Mouse, Little Simz
Format is an annual festival in Arkansas that celebrates music, art, and technology. With two traditional stages and some less conventional rooms turned into immersive installations—some with DJ sets and others with jam bands—it’s being headlined this year by LCD Soundsystem, Alanis Morissette, and Leon Bridges. Expect visuals from Guerrilla Girls and a lineup that also includes Jamie xx, Modest Mouse, Digable Planets, Little Simz, Kari Faux, Channel Tres, and more. –Evan Minsker
All Things Go Music Festival
Columbia, MD; September 30-October 1
Featuring: Lana Del Rey, Boygenius, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maggie Rogers, Alvvays, Sudan Archives, Alex G
Merriweather Post Pavilion—the vaunted amphitheater in Columbia, Maryland—is the site of All Things Go; that’s an Animal Collective album title and a Sufjan Stevens reference in quick succession. The lineup this year features a strong female-led lineup, with Lana Del Rey, Boygenius, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Maggie Rogers all headlining. It’s an event where you can see Tegan and Sara, Beabadoobee, Arlo Parks, Muna, or Ethel Cain perform before finding time to visit the beer garden, photo booth, art installations, and much more. –Evan Minsker
Unsound
Kraków, Poland; October 1-8
Artist lineup TBD
Founded in 2003, Unsound Festival focuses on contemporary music from emerging, experimental, and leftfield musicians. Its commitment to atypical sounds is so strong, that the inaugural installment of the event culminated with artists getting kicked out of a club for playing music that was “too weird.” Unsound takes place across multiple venues in Kraków, and, while the lineup for this year’s festival has not yet been announced, previous editions have hosted acts such as Lee Gamble, Alessandro Cortini, Amnesia Scanner, Kode9, Space Afrika, Loraine James, Coby Sey, and many others. Ahead of the lineup, Unsound has unveiled its theme for the upcoming event: Dada. The festival will be co-curated by an artificially intelligent artistic director—as well as Unsound’s human curatorial team—to enlist acts that reflect and riff on the radical art manifesto. –Madison Bloom
Power Trip
Indio, CA; October 6-8
Featuring: Metallica, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne
In 2016, the team that annually brings you Coachella launched a “mega-concert” called Desert Trip with a lineup of classic rock icons like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and the Rolling Stones. Its ostensible sequel is a hard rock and metal fest called Power Trip, and, no, the beloved Texas thrash metal band also called Power Trip has nothing to do with this event. It’s Guns N’ Roses and Iron Maiden on Friday, AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne on Saturday, and Metallica and Tool closing the weekend on Sunday. Beavis and Butt-Head are apparently stoked. –Evan Minsker
Pitchfork Music Festival Berlin
Berlin, Germany; November 1-5
Featuring: Armand Hammer, Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood, Fazerdaze, Flavien Berger, Ghostly Kisses, Hagop Tchaparian, Mandy, Indiana, Mavi, MIKE, MorMor, Mykki Blanco, Nabihah Iqbal, Porridge Radio, Sweeping Promises, Water From Your Eyes, Weval, Youth Lagoon
Now in its second year, Pitchfork Music Festival Berlin will take place at venues across the city, including Zenner, Betonhalle at silent green, Kulturquartier, Astra Kulturhaus, and Festsaal Kreuzberg. Artists lined up to perform include Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood, New York rapper MIKE, MorMor, Mykki Blanco, Hagop Tchaparian, Youth Lagoon, and hip-hop duo Armand Hammer –Matthew Strauss
C2C
Turin, Italy; November 2-5
Featuring: King Krule, Caroline Polachek, Flying Lotus, Moodymann, Yves Tumor, Overmono, Rachika Nayar, Lucrecia Dalt, Marina Herlop, Model/Actriz
The stalwart north Italian festival formerly known as Club to Club has expanded from one of Europe’s eminent dance fests to showcase a cross-genre aesthetic its founder calls avant-pop. Staged alongside the city’s Artissima contemporary art fair, C2C brings vanguard sounds to a clutch of inner-city venues but revolves around Lingotto Fiere: a stark hangar in the Fiat factory that Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the patriarch of futurism, once called “the first invention of futurist construction.” Attentive programming ensures hedonists, introverts, and particularly those who waver between the two will always have somewhere to be, and the schedule favors surprising contrasts that somehow always come off. Immaculate sound and lighting give even the most familiar and beloved artists an extra spritz of spectacle. –Jazz Monroe
Pitchfork Music Festival Paris
Paris, France; November 6-13
Featuring: Weyes Blood, Been Stellar, Crumb, Dream Wife, Helado Negro, Ichiko Aoba, Ivorian Doll, Mavi, Namasenda, pablopablo, Pillow Queens, Youth Lagoon
Each year, Pitchfork Music Festival Paris takes place at venues across the city. Along with headliner Weyes Blood, the festival will feature Helado Negro, Mavi, Youth Lagoon, Crumb, and more. Last year’s installment included Tirzah, the Comet Is Coming, Black County, New Road, Sudan Archives, and many more. This will be the 12th year of the festival. Stay tuned for more information. –Evan Minsker
Pitchfork Music Festival London
London, England; November 7-13
Featuring: Weyes Blood, Yaeji, Porridge Radio, Alabaster dePlume, Water From Your Eyes
This year’s edition of Pitchfork Music Festival London will take place across a number of the city’s beloved venues. You can catch live music at Koko, Café Oto, Hackney Church, Roundhouse, and the Shacklewell Arms, among other intimate spaces. The seven-day event will feature the live debut of Jonny Greenwood and Dudu Tassa’s collaborative project, a special string-accompanied set by Sorry, and performances from Yaeji, Sleater-Kinney, Porridge Radio, Alabaster dePlume, Wednesday, Youth Lagoon, Water From Your Eyes, and many others. Weyes Blood will close out the festival on Monday, November 13, with supporting acts to be announced. –Madison Bloom
Le Guess Who?
Utrecht, Netherlands; November 9-12
Artist lineup TBD
Le Guess Who? is the annual festival in Utrecht which features artists from a wide variety of genres. Each year since 2015, the festival’s programming has been determined by guest curators like Wilco, Phil Elverum, Grouper, Shabazz Palaces, Moor Mother, Jenny Hval, and others. It takes places across a spread of the city’s venues, including unconventional concert spaces like churches, warehouses, and galleries. This year’s lineup or curators have yet to be announced. –Evan Minsker
