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The sun is shining again and a traveller´s thoughts begin to turn to the open road and the fun to be had there. One of the best places to have a good time (a sweaty, dusty, drunken good time) is at a music festival and Europe is the best continent to be for the widest selection.
In no particular order, here are a couple of off-the-beaten path ideas to take you out of your comfort zone for this year´s circuit plan.
Exit – Serbia
July 8 – 11, 2010, Tickets approx €75
A twenty-stage music festival held in an ancient fortress? Get in now, before UNESCO declare it a World Heritage Site and the fences go up. Past acts include Manu Chao, the Streets, Gogol Bordello and on and on and on. This year´s lineup includes Placebo, the Chemical Brothers and Missy Elliot. Accommodation in the area books up fast, but enterprising local Serbs will sell you a camping spot in their back yard (if you´re not camping on the Danube) for about ten Euros per head per night.
SoundWave – Croatia
July 23 – 25, 2010, Tickets approx €80.
Enjoy the feel of an Eastern European music festival before the slick and manufactured style of EU-fied management sets in properly. Held in the idyllic setting of The Garden, Petrcane, not too far from Zadar and runs over three days, three stages – oh, and a boat! Between the terraced bar, the amphitheatre overlooking the ocean and the non-Euro-zone beer prices, SoundWave is Ibiza without the plastic, overpriced ickiness and Bestival without the self-conscious coolness.
Sziget – Hungary
August 11 – 16, 2010 Tickets €140 (or €170 with camping)
Sziget is not the most expensive European music festival ticket around, but it is at the pointier end of the price scale. Don´t let this put you off: Sziget is arguably the best-organised and best-value festival on the circuit. This year´s lineup includes Faithless (worth the face price of the ticket alone), Infected Mushroom, Bad Religion and Gorillaz, with more to be announced as the months roll on. Get yourself to the island, son, for a week of partying. Do watch out for pickpockets though, they are as annoying as mosquitos.
Airwaves – Iceland
October 14 – 17, 2010, Ticket prices vary by venue.
Reykjavik teems and throbs with quirky acts in the back alleys and bars in this festival that some people liken to Roskilde without the ever-increasing crowds. It´s a long way to go for a festival, but well worth the effort. The intimacy of the acts make it one of the easiest festivals to make new friends at and the variety of local and international talent make you constantly feel as if you were one of the first to discover the next big thing.
Rent an apartment in Budapest for the best base (and place to get a shower!) during the mad wonder of Sziget.
