Good music, good vibes: The best music festivals happening in the summer of 2022

From the looks of your Instagram feed, you can probably tell music festival season is back! What better way to kick off your summer vacation than strutting in your most fashionable fit, reconnecting with yourself, and dancing to your favourite artists playing in the background.

If you've missed out on Coachella this year, here are some of the best music festivals you must catch this summer.

Glastonbury, UK

If you're looking for face-paint, flower crown toting festival veterans, Glastonbury is for you. A five-day festival celebrating contemporary performing arts, Glastonbury takes place on an annual basis in Somerset, in England.

More than just music, the festival hosts exciting dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other performers. A tip for first time festival go-ers, the Pyramid Stage is the place to be if you're looking for the most high profile attractions, whilst the outskirts offer the best experiences and new treasures.

Big names like Billie Elish, Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar, Diana Ross, Mitski and Olivia Rodrigo will be performing this year.

Glastonbury runs June 22 to 26, 2022, at Worthy Farm, Worthy Ln, Shepton Mallet BA4 4BY, United Kingdom. Tickets are priced from £280 (S$485).

Primavera Sound Festival, Spain

Operating for more than 20 years, Primavera Sound Festival is an urban festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona.

More than 400 artists are lined up to perform across two weekends in June this year. Highlights include Tame Impala, Cigarettes After Sex, The Strokes, and Tyler the Creator. Between the festival weekends, more than 150 shows will take place in venues across Barcelona between June 5 to 8, 2022.

The event will end on a beachy note with a Brunch On The Beach party on June 12. The festival also travels around the world with shows in Portugal, Los Angeles, São Paulo and Bueno Aires.

Primavera Sound Festival runs from June 2 to 4, and June 9 to 11 at Parc del Fòrum, Carrer de la Pau, 12, 08930 Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain. Tickets are priced from €100 (S$146).

Melt Festival, Germany

Engrossing different music genres, nature, culture and history, Melt Festival is just a road trip away from Berlin.

Expect rock, electronic, pop and everything in between as you dance the night away at the infamous Sleepless Floor which keeps the partying going constantly from Thursday to Monday.

As you awe at the talent of headliners like PinkPantheress, Yung Lean, Greentea Peng, and Moxie, roam around the imposing grounds of the Ferropolis, an open-air mid-20th-century industrial machinery museum. All partied out? Head to the nearby Lake Gremmin to take in the gorgeous  paddle-pop sunrise over the horizon.

Melt Festival runs June 9 to 12, 2022 at Ferropolisstraße 1, 06773 Gräfenhainichen, Germany. Tickets are priced from €145.

Sonar Music Festival, Spain

Drawing huge crowds from all over Europe, Sonar Music Festival has grown to become a well-loved music event in Barcelona.

With its humble beginnings in 1994, the festival has since welcomed some of the world's leading musicians, DJs and visual artists.

The festival is held in two different formats Sonar by Day — held during the day at Fira Montjuïc area — and Sonar by Night, which unfolds further out of the city at Fira Gran Via. Cool off this summer as headliners like Princess Nokia, La Fleur, Helena Hauff, Samantha Hudson, and Jamz Supernova bring you some sick beats.

Sonar Music Festival runs June 16 to 18, 2022 at Fira Montjuïc and Fira Gran Via. Tickets are priced from €35.

Love International, Croatia

Love International brings live techno, disco and house music to the shores of Croatia. Smaller compared to other internationally recognised fests, this music festival is easy to manoeuvre but still invites leading underground DJs and performing artists, beach and boat parties from dawn to dusk.

As you party under the Adriatic sun, indulge in performances by Crazy P Soundsystem, Darwin, Errol, Juan Ramos, Man Power, Shy One, and many more.

The best part? Love International is held on a secluded location in the fishing village of Tisno, known for its fresh seafood and steaks.

Love International runs July 13 to 19, 2022, at The Garden Tisno, Ul. Petrića Glava 34, 22240, Tisno, Croatia. Tickets are priced from €50.

Fuji Rock Festival, Japan

An annual music festival that has cast its anchor around the hearts of Japanese music lovers, Fuji Rock Festival has been around since 1997. One of the two biggest music events in the country, Fuji Rock Festival is known for featuring some of the biggest acts from around the world.

Held in Naeba Ski Resort, in the Niigata Prefecture, look forward to more than 200 Japanese and international musicians, along with roaring crowds.

If you're heading out to the three-day-fest this year, you'll be dancing the day away with performances from Vampire Weekend, Jack White, Halsey, Jonas Blue and more.

Fuji Rock Festival runs July 29 to 31, 2022. Advance Sales of tickets will be on sale from June 16, 2022, priced at ¥20,000 (S$212) for one day. 

Dekmantel Festival, Amsterdam

Dekmantel is a multi-day electronic music festival in Amsterdam, considered one of the most respected festivals amongst the industry in the country. This summer vacation, recharge at the five day festival with a roster featuring new talents, acclaimed artist and a large musical spectrum.

Across the six stages at Amsterdamse Bos, keep an ear out for over 200 artists, among them James Holden, Marina Afrika, DJ Stingray, Perila, Loraine James and more. Expect the unexpected, as artists are encouraged to take risks and stray away from the mainstream.

Dekmantel Festival will run from Aug 3 to 7, 2022, at Amsterdamse Bos, Nieuwe Meerlaan 1, Amsterdam, 1187 NW Netherlands. Day tickets are priced from €30.

Garbicz Festival, Poland

In the middle of the woods, surrounded by a crystal clear lake formed by a Polish glacier, and countless trees, lies a rave that's not to be missed. Mark your calendars, the Garbicz festival is back again the first week of August, offering a multi-faceted experience for festival attendees.

More than just music, the contemporary arts and music festival in Poland offers one the opportunity to bond with nature, while engrossing in ultimate festival playground — whether you're focusing on the one big main stage or the other six intimate ones. With nature in mind, the festival is also a plastic-free sustainable one!

Garbicz Festival runs Aug 4 to 8, 2022, near the Polish village of Garbicz, 66-235, Poland. Tickets are priced from €310.

Waking Life, Portugal

Deemed the most secretive electronic music festival of Portugal, Waking Life is a hidden gem in the dry lands of Crato. Set against the backdrop of a lake and a quiet location, the multi-day arts and music festival still manages to evoke peace amidst its 24-hour non-stop rapturous rave.

Capped at a maximum of 2000 people each year, expect a cosier Portuguese festival experience that acts as a safe space for artistic experimentation, self-expression, diversity, and more.

When it comes to the line-up, this year's festivities will feature performances by underground artists like Analog Soul, Levon Vincent, Mike Stellar and XDB.

Waking Life runs Aug 17 to 22, 2022, at  Monte da Pedra, Crato, Portugal. Tickets are priced from €220.

Burning Man, US

Art installations, architecture, culture, music, and desert fashion — expect to see everything at Burning Man. The festival started in 1986, when the founders burned a two metre tall wooden model in celebration of the summer solstice.

Today the experimental festival emerges as a temporary metropolis focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance at the end of each summer in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

This year's installations include a multi-dimensional temple of masks by Jason Gronlund and artworks by Singaporean artist Iyvone Khoo, amongst others.

Burning Man runs Aug 28 to Sept 5, 2022, at Black Rock Desert, 120 miles north of Reno, Nevada. Tickets are priced from US$575 (S$792). The two metre tall wooden model Man will be burned on Sept 3, 2022.

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This article was first published in City Nomads.