Going to a euphony fete seems like the greatest weekend of your life … in possibility . Until you realize it very often intend not showering , scarce slumber , and fighting 200,000 people who ALSO have n’t shower for the right hand to see the Flaming Lips from less than a mile off . All for the low , low price of double your car defrayal , with some sweaty $ 9 beers thrown in . That ’s not to say big music festivals ca n’t be a good clock time , it ’s just to say the size of it and expense can bankrupt the experience for you .
But there are festivals out there that are still a salutary meter , wo n’t break your bank , and wo n’t have you pressed up against more stranger than a rush - hour 6 train . Here are 10 festivals most hoi polloi around the country are n’t hip to , and that you should definitely go to before they get ruined .
Rochester International Jazz Festival
Rochester , New YorkJune 24th - July 2ndWestern New York has never been thought of as much of a jazz - fest hotbed , the agency one might think of New Orleans , or Moscow , Idaho ( gravely ) . But this fete in Rochester draws 1,500 artists playing 325 shows at 19 locale around town , with about 200,000 attendees . This yr it ’s headlined by Chick Corea , Gregg Allman , and Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers . No word on what happened to The Range .
Forecastle Festival
Louisville , KentuckyJuly 15th-17thSituated on Louisville ’s sprawl Waterfront Park along the Ohio River , this festival started out as a microscopic collection of local creative person and has turn to one of the largest festivals in the Southeast . Tens of K of mass pack the green to listen to acts like Jack White , Outkast , and My Morning Jacket , thebest band to ever arrive out of Kentucky . But the medicine is really half the attraction here ; the other fully grown draw is the Bourbon Lodge , where over 20 local distilleries dole out samples all weekend long .
Big Dub Festival
Artemas , PennsylvaniaJuly 26th-31stIf you desire to go to aburner festival that ’s smaller , tawdry , and well than Burning Man , we already assure you about 10 . But here ’s another one that ’s just as trippy and exciting as that one in the desert : the Big Dub Festival on the Four Quarters Farm near the Pennsylvania / Maryland border . The festival is a lot more than just 40 of the region ’s best EDM artist , it ’s also four daytime of music workshop and seminars , yoga , and ethereal graphics . Plus a sprawling campground that keeps the party going well after the act are end .
Festival of the Bluegrass
Lexington , KYJune 8th-11th , 2017The down grass in the Bluegrass State is in Lexington , so it only reasons that the largest family - owned bluegrass festival in America would be here . The festival ’s hold at a horse park campground , where you could not only listen to some of the best Bluegrass Country bands in the mankind , but also learn to play the banjo , watch hot beast shows , and visit a sawhorse museum .
Crown Summer Series
Kalispell , MTJuly 9th , August 27thMontana in the summertime is sight promised land , and there ’s no better office to take in its natural beauty than … well , probably Glacier National Park . But mightily outdoors that parking lot you ’ll rule Montana Raceway Park , situate in a valley between the Whitefish and Swan Mountains . In July and August , one - day festivals take over the track with dissimilar lineups both times . The July company is headlined by Amtrac and The Pharcyde and has a nightlong afterparty at the adjacent camping ground . August headliners include Ghostland Observatory and MSTRKRFT .
Electric Forest
Rothbury , MIJune 23rd-26thThis lieu is so wooded it makes TomorrowWorld await like a parking slew . The trees here are all draped in brilliant lights and dayglow paint , turn the full woods into a Ne psychedelic dream tracked by some of the biggest figure in electronic euphony . This twelvemonth ’s magnanimous headliner let in Adventure Club , Bassnectar , and Flosstradamus , and if you ’re into immersive festival experience , this one will put you in another world for an entire weekend .
Sloss Music & Arts Festival
Birmingham , ALJuly 16th-17thSXSW is nerveless , but can you ascertain how to pour molten branding iron at ANY point during that fete ? No , no you’re able to not . But at the Sloss Festival , held in an old iron factory in one ofAmerica ’s most misunderstood cities , you may . you could also catch over 30 lively act over two days like The Struts , Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals , and the Flaming Lips . Then follow it up with Sloss Tech , a normal for the latest and greatest in creative thinking and emerging technology . Just like SXSW , with fewer the great unwashed and more smelting .
Rockin' the River
Ft . Worth , TXWeekly , throughout summerMusic festival are big . swim down a river ? One of the best things you could do in summer . But … TOGETHER ? ? ? Well , that ’s just the greatest societal advent sincebacon - wrapped pizza . The Panther Island Pavilion – Texas ' only waterfront stage – sits on the shores of the Trinity River , where the great unwashed spend the afternoon floating , fuddle beer , and listening to the headlining band . Once they ’re done , the " after company " band plays right up until the closing fireworks show , and the whole thing is COMPLETELY FREE . It ’s Texas , so the medicine skews land , and if you ’re into that it ’s one of the good summertime experience in America .
Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival
Trumansburg , NYJuly 21st-24thMaybe the changing leaves in the fall andwine countryaren’t enough to tempt you to themost underrated position in New York . So let ’s try this : a four - day , four - stage medicine festival with over 80 bands , all to raise money for Greek valerian . What started as a one - time benefit concert has grown into an annual event that draws multitude from all over the Northeast and Midwest . And while the fete plume itself on bringing unknown bands into the spotlight ( hence the " grassroots " byname ) this year it ’s also drawing names like Indigo Girls , Ricky Skaggs , and Silversun Pickups .
Hinterland Music Festival
St. Charles , IAAugust 5th-6thNot to go all hipster here and say we found out about something before it was cool , but when you’re able to go to a two - day fete for $ 95 , it officially has n’t blown up . Yet . So if you ’re in the Midwest , definitely go and enchant some big - name acts on the cheap in the Iowa wilderness outside Des Moines . Then kvetch later on about how great it used to be . Hinterland has a folk / rock and roll / country vibe to it , aggregate legendary names like Willie Nelson with well - known modern bit like Cold War Kids and throwing in some local act like Field Division .
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Aspen Productions
Rochester International Jazz Festival
Forecastle Festival
Big Dub Festival
Bluegrass Festival
Crown Summer Series
Electric Forest
Ginard Archibald
Aspen Productions
Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival
Hinterland Iowa