The ULTIMATE Summer Music Festival Guide: The Who, What, When, and Where of the Season
By Abby Johnston

Ah, summertime.

For any true music lover, summers mean one thing, and one thing only. No, not swimming, not your character-building job stocking shelves – music festivals.

Ever since a bunch of hippies dropped acid and rolled around in mud at a little thing we call Woodstock, festivals have become a summer necessity. They bring a flood of obnoxious, drunken fans to spend an extended weekend creating massive traffic jams and polluting the air with snobbery. The cancellation of Miami’s Langerado Music Festival and Hydro Connect in Scotland had residents of mountain and desert towns crossing their fingers for further economic turmoil. Unfortunately for them, unemployment and Wall Street greed have had little to no effect on people’s desire to spend their days fighting crowds, bathing in sweat (and not necessarily your own), so the major summer fests will continue full speed ahead.

So go ahead, put your furniture on eBay! Hitchhike with a stranger! Borrow money from Mom and Dad! These festivals are worth draining your bank account.

Coachella
When: April 17 – 19
Where: in the desolate raping sun of Indio, CA
Who to look for: Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Fleet Foxes, M. Ward, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Girl Talk, The Black Keys, Ghostland Observatory, Blitzen Trapper, Dr. Dog, TV on the Radio, MSTRKRFT
Okay, so it’s a little late for this one. Chances are, if you’re attending Coachella, you are not reading this guide. But I felt it must be included, I mean, it has its own iPhone application! The perfect kick-start to festival season, Coachella offers up the best and brightest of the indie music scene – and the Killers. This musical mecca will also feature a slew of legendary artists, including Paul McCartney.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
When: April 24 – 26 and April 30 – May 3
Where: Home of Weezy F. Baby, New Orleans, LA
Who to look for: Neil Young, James Taylor, Dave Matthews Band, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Kings of Leon, Spoon, Emmylou Harris, Earth Wind & Fire, Jakob Dylan, Mavis Staples, The Avett Brothers, Wilco, The 40th Anniversary of the NO Jazz Fest features much more than jazz. A festival so massive it is split into two weekends, the lineup boasts artists from every genre imaginable, and a bunch of jazz artists you’ve never heard. With twelve simultaneously operating stages, the schedule combinations are overwhelming.

Beale Street Music Festival
When: May 1 – 3
Where: Memphis, TN
Who to look for: Steve Miller Band, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Al Green, John Lee Hooker, Jr., Katy Perry, Elvis Costello, The Roots, Susan Tedeschi, James Taylor, John Mayall & the Blues Breakers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Three 6 Mafia
Beale Street Fest has been known to genre-hop, but this year it takes the cake. The choice of new artists is lackluster, bad enough to almost cancel the impressive collection of older blues type artists. So why is it on the list, you ask? The tickets are relatively cheap, and the alcohol on Beale Street is plentiful. According to the fine folks at TheBealeStreetMusicFestival.com, the best action is on Beale Street itself, so “don’t spend all of your time in the park watching the concerts.” Hmm. So get your money’s worth at the park with the gems in the lineup, then drink away the background noise during All-American Rejects and 311.

Sasquatch! Music Festival
When: May 23 – 25
Where: Spotted in Pacific Northwest woods, but for your purposes Quincy, WA
Who to look for: Kings of Leon, The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, M. Ward, Ra Ra Riot, Shearwater, Passion Pit, The Dodos, Calexico, M83, of Montreal, Fleet Foxes, Explosions in the Sky, Grizzly Bear, Erykah Badu, Santigold
Any festival good enough to include an exclamation point is well worth pawning a family heirloom. Held annually over Memorial Day Weekend, Sasquatch! has sold a record number of tickets this year. While focusing on singer/songwriters and indie bands, the fest manages to keep an even keel of hip hop and alt-rock acts. Although named after Big Foot, the festival aims to eliminate a big CARBON footprint. Sasquatch! purchased enough carbon credits to cancel out emissions related to the concert, so rest easy festival goers.

Mountain Jam
When: May 29 – 31
Where: Hunter Mountain, NY
Who to look for: Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, The Derek Trucks Band, Umphrey’s McGee, The Hold Steady, Gene Ween Band, Railroad Earth, Brett Dennen, Gomez, Alberta Cross
Adequately named, this festival features a lot of jam bands on top of a mountain. They really had it pegged. But these aren’t all jam bands in the traditional sense. Sure, the jam band kings The Allman Brothers will be there, but the fest leaves room for a new breed of jamming in the form of Girl Talk and the Gene Ween Band. Richie Havens and Bill Kreutzman will also be appearing as a 40th anniversary tribute to Woodstock.

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
When: June 11 – 14
Where: Where the cool kids and hippies collide, Manchester, TN
Who to look for: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Phish, Beastie Boys, MGMT, Andrew Bird, The Decemberists, Band of Horses, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Delta Spirit, The Low Anthem, Portugal. The Man, Jenny Lewis, White Rabbits
Bonnaroo has, in a short number of years, has become the Mother of All Music Festivals. The ultimate name dropping event (“Oh yes, last year at BONNAROO…”), this festival is single handedly responsible for teaching indie kids from across the country how to pitch tents. Bonnaroo packs the cream of the crop in music, art, film and comedy into a 700 acre farm. The fest always stays true to its name, which is Louisiana slang for “a really good time.”

Rothbury Festival
When: July 2 – 5
Where: Wonderland, Rothbury, MI
Who to look for: The Dead, Bob Dylan and His Band, The String Cheese Incident, Willie Nelson & Family, Broken Social Scene, Cold War Kids, MSTRKRFT, Girl Talk, Toots & the Maytals, Lipp Service, Man Man, Matisyahu
Rothbury is what Woodstock would’ve been if hippies had any kind of organizational skills. The festival seems to be as much about the visual experience as it is about the music. Yoga classes in the morning, laying in the hammock in Sherwood Forest, parties and light shows in the Tripolee Domes…oh, wait, there’s music too?

Pitchfork Music Festival
When: July 17 – 19
Where: Chicago, IL
Who to look for: The Flaming Lips, The National, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Black Lips, Wavves, Fucked Up, Vivian Girls, The Walkmen
The Pitchfork lineup is always one of the most anticipated of the summer fests. The sharp tongued critics at Pitchfork have broken the spirits of many bands with their cutthroat album reviews. Naturally, the festival at Union Park features impeccably structured lineup. That doesn’t mean we won’t try to find fault with it, so let your judgments fly! July 17 will be “Write the Night: Set Lists by Request,” which allows ticket holders to vote on the songs they want to hear from Built To Spill, The Jesus Lizard, Yo La Tengo, Tortoise.

All Points West Music & Arts Festival
When: July 31 – August 2
Where: Jersey City, NJ
Who to look for: Beastie Boys, Vampire Weekend, The National, Gogol Bordello, Fleet Foxes, Coldplay, Mogwai, We Are Scientists, Ghostland Observatory, The Gaslight Anthem, Akron/Family, Chairlift, Ra Ra Riot
Rounding out the summer festivals is All Points West. If by this time you still have some sort of funding (does your kid sister REALLY need her bike?), All Points West is the perfect finish to a summer of music. Called “Coachella East,” this fest is put on by the same producers as Coachella, and features a few of the same bands.

Feeling the economic pinch? Does that pesky moral fiber prevent you from tapping into college funds? This summer there are several one day festivals throughout the country. While they may not be worth a cross-country trek, they can provide a cheap alternative to those already in the area.

Soundset
When: May 24
Where: Minneapolis, MN
Who to look for: Atmosphere, Immortal Technique, P.O.S., Sage Francis

Roots Picnic
When: June 7
Where: Philadelphia, PA
Who to look for: The Roots, TV on the Radio, The Black Keys, Public Enemy

Rock the Garden
When: June 20
Where: Minneapolis, MN
Who to look for: The Decemberists, Calexico, Yeasayer, Solid Gold




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