(EDM). Many of the festivals in this list take place in the
and Europe, though every year thousands of electronic-focused music festivals are held throughout the world. This list generally excludes multi-genre festivals with only a partial focus on electronic music (
) and festivals that have added EDM stages in later years.
| Name | Year | Location | Notes |
|---|
National Jazz and Blues Festival
| 1961–1980s | United Kingdom | Mostly oriented around jazz and blues to start, this annual festival soon became a showcase for progressive rock as well, featuring groups such as the psychedelic rock group Cream. |
Reading and Leeds Festivals
| 1961–present | United Kingdom | The line-up settled into a pattern of progressive rock, blues and hard rock during the early and mid 1970s[5] then became the first music festival to embrace punk rock and new wave in the late 1970s, when The Jam, Sham 69, The Stranglers and Penetration were among the headline acts.[6] Currently known for its rock focus, it also hosts major EDM stages for DJs. |
Un disco per l'estate
| 1964–2003 | Italy | It was organized and sponsored by the Italian record industry association, AFI, and by RAI, except for the editions between 1995 and 2000, in which the festival was organized and broadcast by Mediaset. |
| 1966 | San Francisco | The Trips Festival on January 21–23, 1966 was the most attended and advertised of the early Acid Tests events, which were started in late 1965.[7] On Saturday January 22, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company came on stage, and 6,000 people arrived to imbibe punch spiked with LSD and to witness one of the first fully developed light shows of the era.[8] |
Shiraz Arts Festival
| 1967–1977 | Shiraz and Persepolis, Iran | An experimental international festival, a number of electroacoustic works were presented during its run, with artists such as Dave Tudor and John Cage performing in 1971. |
| 1967–1968 | North America | The Summer of Love from 1967 to 1968 was an important aspect of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, which was closely tied with alternative music and free rock festivals featuring genres such as psychedelic rock. The development of better electronic speaker equipment allowed for massive concerts to attract hundreds of thousands of attendees. Started with the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival in Marin County, California, the other significant shows in California included the Monterey Pop Festival, the San Francisco Pop Festival, the Los Angeles Pop Festival, Newport Pop Festival, and Northern California Folk Rock Festival I and II. Notable shows not in California included the Miami Pop Festival I and II in Florida, and the Isle of Wight Festival in England. By 1969, similar festivals were appearing all over the world, bringing alternative music to increasingly mainstream audiences. |
Isle of Wight Festival
| 1968–1970, 2002–present | Seaclose Park, England | The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place annually on the Isle of Wight in England.[9] It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.[10] [11] The 1970 event was by far the largest and most famous of these early festivals and the unexpectedly high attendance levels with estimates of over 600,000 led, in 1971, to Parliament passing the "Isle of Wight Act" preventing gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special license. |
Woodstock Music & Art Fair
| 1969 | White Lake, New York | This historically and culturally notable festival is known to have served as a defining moment for baby boomers. Performers included Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix and Santana among many others, with genres such as acoustic music, folk music, and psychedelic rock. From August 15–18, Woodstock had an audience of over 400,000 young people. | |
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music | 1970 | Shepton Mallet, England | A DJ played records for early arrivals starting Friday evening, and continued to do so between many of the sets until the end. The festival featured a line-up of the top American west coast and British bands of the day, including Santana, The Flock, Led Zeppelin (headlining act), Pink Floyd, etc. | |
| Expo '70 | 1970 | Osaka, Japan | The first World's Fair held in Japan, which featured a number of electronic music exhibits. The West German pavilion, designed by Fritz Bornemann, featured the world's first spherical concert hall.[12] Inside, the audience was surrounded by 50 loudspeaker groups at different "latitudes"[13] while classical music was played from multi-track tape.[14] Also in the course of the exhibition, often experimental performers gave concerts for over a million visitors.[15] Early Japanese computer music compositions include a piece by Kenjiro Ezaki presented during Osaka Expo '70. Since then, Japanese research in computer music has largely been carried out for commercial purposes in popular music, though some Japanese musicians used large computer systems such as the Fairlight in the 1970s.[16] | |
| Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Festival | 1972–present | Bourges, France | Hosted by the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges in France. Composers submit works which are assessed by an international jury. | |
| Windsor Free Festival | 1972–1974 | Windsor Great Park, England | A British free festival organised by some London commune dwellers, notably Ubi Dwyer and Sid Rawle. The event was brutally suppressed by the police, which led to a public outcry about the tactics involved. In 1975, both Ubi Dwyer and Sid Rawle were imprisoned for attempting to promote a 1975 Windsor Festival.[17] | |
| International Computer Music Conference | 1974–present | Various | A yearly international conference for computer music researchers and composers. It is the annual conference of the International Computer Music Association (ICMA). | |
| Printemps de Bourges | 1977–present | Bourges, France | A festival encompassing some 60 shows, with over 200 artists on 13 stages within a week. The shows represent diverse genres, often experimental and electronic. The ever-growing public is composed primarily of young people (91% are under 35), and over 200,000 people attend the festival each year. | |
|
| Name | Year | Locale | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Heatwave | 1980 | Bowmanville, Ontario | The rock festival was noteworthy because of the importance of the headliner bands that played, the timing in the evolution of new wave music, and from the size of the crowd. | |
| International Electroacoustic Music Festival | 1981–present | Varadero, Cuba, and United States | Originally titled the "Varadero Spring Festival,"[18] the festival was renamed in 1998. It has featured electroacoustic musicians such as Julio Roloff. Juan Blanco created it with the purpose of presenting Cuban composer's electroacoustic and avant-garde works to an international audience, and to establish relationships with foreign composers and artists.[19] It is still held in various locations.[20] It was held in 1988 in Baltimore, Maryland, by Vivian Adelberg Rudow.[21] [22] | |
| Berlin Atonal | 1982–1990, 2013–present | Berlin | Originally held at SO36 in Kreuzberg, the early years of Atonal fostered revolutionary and innovative musical acts such as Psychic TV, Einstürzende Neubauten, Test Dept, 808 State, and Die Haut, among many others.[23] Throughout the 1980s, Berlin Atonal was at the vanguard of the progressive electronic and experimental music and art scenes in Berlin. The festival closed in 1990. In 2013, Berlin Atonal was at a massive abandoned powerplant in Berlin-Mitte.[24] | |
| Inventionen Festival | 1982–present | Berlin | Organised by the Artists-in-Berlin-Program of the DAAD, in cooperation with the Electronic Studio of the TU Berlin since 1982, the festival is dedicated to electro-acoustic music and sound art.[25] | |
| Rat Parties | 1983–1992 | Sydney | A series of large dance parties held in Sydney, Australia that "formed a key element of an emerging subculture"[26] that was fashion-aware, gay-friendly, and that appreciated dance music and open, outrageous celebration. Forty Rat Parties were organized by the Recreational Arts Team between 1983 and 1992. | |
| Winter Music Conference | 1985–present | Miami Beach, Florida | A week-long electronic music event, held every March in various clubs in Miami. It is aimed at professionals such as DJs, record label representatives and promoters. The event is also considered a mecca for clubbers, and it features the International Dance Music Awards. | |
| DMC World DJ Championships | 1985–present | Thessaloniki, Greece | Sponsored internationally by Technics and Ortofon, the event has grown over the years and the formats of its competitions have developed along with demand. Originally intended to be a DJ mixing battle, DJ Cheese introduced scratching in his routine in 1986, changing the course of future DMC battles. | |
| Miami White Party | 1985–present | Miami | One of the first White Parties held by the gay community as a circuit party, the first event promoted safe sex practices, and all attendees wore white. Sixteen hundred guests showed up that Sunday night, Dec. 1, 1985. Each paid $10, which went to support AIDS nonprofits. Now a week-long event, most of the parties are geared to gay men from all over the globe, but there are several events for lesbians and mixed crowds as well. | |
| SEAMUS National Conference | 1985–present | United States | Put on by the American branch of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States since 1985. In 1987, the society began giving the SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award to acknowledge people who have made significant contributions to electro-acoustic music. The award is presented at the SEAMUS National Conference, which is held annually. | |
| Wave-Gotik-Treffen | 1987–present | Leipzig, Germany | Annual festival is the largest gothic festival on this planet. Every year, hundreds of artists and bands from various genres perform at different venues throughout the city over a span of four days. | |
| Shelley's Laserdome | late 1980s | Staffordshire, England | A nightclub at the heart of the house and rave scene of the late 1980s and early 90s that helped launch the career of Sasha and that featured regular appearances from Carl Cox, until it was eventually shut down by the Staffordshire Police.[27] The club's heyday was . | |
| Energy | 1988–1992 | England | Energy raves organised by Quentin 'TinTin' Chambers and Jeremy Taylor set the standard for electronic music events, with high value production incorporating a film set designer and state-of-the-art sound and lighting. Energy's 'Live Dance Concept' in 1990 at London's Docklands Arena was the first true fusion of live dance acts and large production, featuring the likes of 808 State, Adamski, Snap and William Orbit. | |
| Sunrise | 1988 | England | Huge outdoor Sunrise raves organised by Tony Colston-Hayter and Paul Staines. Sunrise were instrumental in organising the Freedom to Party demonstrations and the free parties that followed alongside Genesis '88, Biology and Weekend World. | |
| Genesis '88 | 1988–1992 | England | Genesis '88 was a party promotion crew founded during 1988 during the UK's discovery of acid house and illegal acid house parties. Genesis enjoyed a succession of events that saw attendances rise from 300 to 15,000 people. However, Genesis were targeted by the UK government and the criminal underworld after the media wrote of huge profits (£500,000) being made by such promoters. The Genesis organisers were kidnapped and extorted by gangsters for protection money, which happened to other promoters as well. This, coupled with the government's label of "Public Enemy No.1", helped bring about the end of illegal acid house parties. | |
| Raindance | 1989–present | United Kingdom | One of the best known rave names on the UK rave scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first event was held at a circus tent on 16 September 1989 at Jenkins Lane, Beckton in east London. This was Britain's first legal all-night rave.[28] [29] DJs such as Carl Cox, Dave Angel, LTJ Bukem, Mr C, DJ Rap, John Digweed, Kevin "Reece" Saunderson, Slipmatt (where he and partner John "Lime" Fernandez would create SL2 during this event in 1989), Fabio and Grooverider started out at Raindance. | |
| Helter Skelter | 1989 | England | The Helter Skelter organization was founded in September 1989, in the midst of the Acid House party era, by David Pratley and his wife Penny. They were inspired by the early Acid Bungalow clubs such as "Codys" and "Lava", and the M25 motorway "Orbital" rave events such as the Sunrise. Helter Skelter's first event was an illegal outdoor rave in 1989. | |
| Love Parade | 1989–2010 | Germany; other nations | A popular festival and parade that originated in Berlin in 1989, and spread throughout the world. The last Love Parade was held in the City of Duisburg on July 24, 2010. After a number of deaths at the concert, the annual rendition was cancelled. | |
| Real Bad | 1989–present | San Francisco | The name of a fundraising party held annually in San Francisco, California, immediately following the Folsom Street Fair. | |
| Computer Space forum | 1989–present | Bulgaria | International computer art festival in Sofia started as a festival for electronic music. One of the modern sections of the contest and festival part is still related to computer and electronic music.[30] | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Black and Blue Festival | 1991–present | Montreal, Quebec | The world's largest gay-benefit dance festival, attracting thousands of tourists to Montreal every Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, which raises money for HIV/AIDS and the gay community. It is organized annually by the Bad Boy Club Montréal (also called the BBCM and Fondation BBCM). The various events attract up to 70,000 participants a year. | |
| Mayday | 1991–present | Germany | One of the oldest electronic music festivals in Germany, artists such as Yello, Spoon, Sven Väth, Moby and Marusha have performed.[31] Although they were pioneers as leaders of techno music in Central Europe in their early days, in recent years Mayday has opened up to new sounds, from hardstyle to house, trance and EDM. There have been editions in other countries like Poland, where it takes place every year, or Hungary. | |
| A*Devantgarde | 1991–present | Munich, Germany | A•DEvantgarde is a music festival held every 2 years. The A•DEvantgarde Festival was formed in the late 1980s by a passionate group of young German composers who wanted to break from the traditional Darmstadt school of serial composition. | |
| Fantazia | 1991–1993, 1997 | England | Fantazia is a dance organization that first held six large raves in 1992.[32] Earlier, A Fantazia New Year event was held 1991–1992 at Westpoint Exhibition Centre with 10,000 people. These events were legal, and Fantazia's rave at Castle Donington was the largest outdoor rave to be held in the UK, with no fewer than 25,000 people. Fantazia raves increasingly featured characteristics of theme parks and mainstream celebrations. | |
| Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend | 1991–present | Palm Springs, California | Dubbed "The Dinah", the five-day festival is considered the largest lesbian event in the United States and the world. The first unofficial Dinah Shore Weekend took place in 1986 when women began to flock to Palm Springs in conjunction with a golf tournament, and has since grown to include a White Party. | |
| Kazantip | 1992–2014 | Crimea, Ukraine | The longest running and the largest electronic music festival in the former Soviet Union. Originally held in a reactor building on the Crimea Peninsula, the week-long event purports to be a "free music republic". In 2014, the festival took place outside of Crimea for the first time ever, in Anaklia, Georgia. In 2015, it was to be held on Cambodia but was cancelled by the local authorities. | |
| Earthcore | 1992–2017 | Australia | An Australian outdoor dance music festival and electronic music events organisation. The outdoor events were generally held in forest environments around Victoria, Australia, with some events held in Queensland and overseas in New Caledonia. After the last remaining founder died in 2018, the event has ceased. | |
| Street Parade | 1992–present | Zurich, Switzerland | The most attended "technoparade" in Europe, attracting 900,000 in 2011. Inspired by the Berlin Love Parade, originally a demonstration of love, peace, freedom, generosity and tolerance with 2000 ravers dancing through Berlin behind two Lovemobiles. | |
| Energy | 1992–2013 | Zurich, Switzerland | An electronic music event taking place after the Street Parade in Zurich, Switzerland. It is considered the largest indoor event of its nature in the country. In 2010, around 14,000 people attended. | |
| Thunderdome | 1992–2012, 2017–present | Netherlands | Thunderdome is a famous concept in hardcore techno and gabber music organized by the Dutch entertainment company ID&T. The first big event was The Final Exam, with more than 10,000 people in attendance on 20 June 1992. From 1992 to 2012 it operated Thunderdome as a festival. After the 2012 event, the party was brought back in 2017 for the 25th anniversary. There has been editions in other countries too. | |
| Castlemorton Common Festival | 1992 | Malvern, England | Weeklong free tekno informal concert organized by . An estimated 20,000–40,000[33] people gathered on Castlemorton Common to hold a free party that lasted a full week, the biggest of its kind since the Stonehenge Free Festival in the mid-1980s. Castlemorton hosted many of the large sound systems of the time such as Bedlam, Circus Warp, Spiral Tribe and the DiY Sound System, and bands such as Back To The Planet. A great deal of media interest surrounded the festival.[34] Concerns about the festival and the way in which it was policed inspired the legislation which developed into the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.[35] This wide-ranging Act effectively made illegal such outdoor parties that played music in England, which was defined in section 63(1)(b) to include "sounds wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats". | |
| Sziget Festival | 1993–present | Budapest, Hungary | One of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ('Old Buda Island'), a leafy 108hectare island on the Danube. More than 1,000 performances take place each year. | |
| Every Picture Tells A Story | 1993–2013 | Melbourne, Australia | The Melbourne Underground Development (M.U.D.) crew started a series of warehouse/rave parties that continued for almost 10 years, with 21 of their own Every Picture Tells A Story parties in total, drawing thousands of people to each event. | |
| Tribal Gathering | 1993–2006 | England | First Tribal Gathering took place at Lower Pertwood Farm, Warminster, Wiltshire, England. 25,000 people attended to see acts as diverse as Laurent Garnier and Pete Tong. | |
| Mysteryland | 1993–present | Netherlands | An annual festival operated by Dutch company ID&T. As the first of its kind in the country when it was established, its organizers have billed the event as the oldest dance music festival in the Netherlands. There have been editions in other countries too, like Chile or the United States. | |
| Time Warp | 1994–present | Germany | Time Warp is a techno music festival in Germany. The premiere was in 1994 in Ludwigshafen. Since 2000, Mannheim has been the permanent venue. Since 2005 also stopped over in European and American cities such as Vienna, Prague, Zurich, Turin, Milan, Buenos Aires and New York City. | |
| CzechTek | 1994–2006 | Czech Republic | An underground teknival held annually in July. The locations were usually announced a day before the event on Czech rave websites. With little or no organization at all, the festival attracted thousands of free tekno dancers from several European countries. It made an open invitation to all performers, soundsystems, and performers. Closed after a violent police response in 2006. | |
| Whitby Goth Weekend | 1994–present | Whitby, England | Twice-yearly goth festival, also including genres such as EBM and industrial. | |
| World's Largest Disco | 1994–present | Buffalo, New York | The event, widely popular in the area, is a tribute to the disco era and features live performances by 1970s-era musicians, along with dancers dressed in 1970s attire. The current event began as an annual occurrence in 1994, but it traces its history and name to a disco held in Buffalo in 1979, featuring The Trammps and Gloria Gaynor. That disco is marked in Guinness World Records as the largest disco in the history, with 13,000 people in attendance. | |
| Sónar | 1994–present | Barcelona | A three-day, three-night annual music festival, described officially as a festival of "Advanced Music and Multimedia Art". Lineup includes techno, house, electro, IDM, hip hop and various other experimental and avant garde types of music. | |
| Sonic Acts | 1994–present | Netherlands | The Sonic Acts festival had its first edition in 1994. Over the years, it has established itself as a thematic festival with a strong focus on contemporary and historical developments at the intersections of art, technology, music and science taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Olympia Experimental Music Festival | 1995–present | Olympia, Washington | Known first as The Olympia Festival of Experimental Musics, in addition to unusual, experimental, and noise music, many festival performers use film, multimedia, and spoken word. | |
| Dance Valley | 1995–present | Spaarnwoude, Netherlands | Annual summer dance music festival dubbed "the Woodstock of dance", catering only to pure dance and particularly trance. It has also featured artists in the electro, eurodance, hardstyle and experimental styles. The festival pushed its boundaries with several international editions, including in Miami, Ibiza, Malta and Israel. | |
| Bal en Blanc | 1995–present | Montreal, Quebec | It now features headliner DJs from all over the world and attracts over 15,000 attendees. Bal en Blanc usually has two separate rooms, one catering to house music and the other to trance music. | |
| Nature One | 1995– present | Germany | A large open-air electronic music festival, featuring DJs from Germany and the world, with the theme "open-air rave". The first Nature One took place in 1995 on the grounds of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. The following year, Nature One was relocated to the site of the former Pydna missile base, where it still takes place today. | |
| Nocturnal Wonderland | 1995–present | United States | Massive electronic music festival originally based on Alice in Wonderland. In its early years, Insomniac Events moved the event to different locations, with diverse musical genres. | |
| I Love Techno | 1995–present | Ghent, Belgium; since 2015, Montpellier, France | An international techno event. It took place the first time in 1995 at the Vooruit in Ghent and attracted 700 people, and had since grown to be held at the Flanders Expo in the same city. Many spin-off versions of the festival have been held over the years across Europe. Between 2011 and 2013, the festival was also organized in Montpellier. In 2015, it was announced that the main festival would relocate to Montpellier, France, as crowds had shrunk. Former I Love Techno organiser Peter Decuypere partly blamed the shrinking crowds on the festival embracing genres like dubstep and electro house. | |
| Enit Festival | 1995 | United States | A one-night electronic music festival originally created as an after party for Lollapalooza, described as "an inter-planetary festival celebrating cosmic peace and sexuality". A traveling tour that visited cities such as Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Holmdel. | |
| Union Move | 1995–2001 | Munich, Germany | Annual technoparade in Munich, attracting up to 100,000 attendees. It was organized as a demonstration against excessive police controls and the Munich curfew. | |
| Generation Move | 1995– 2007 | Hamburg, Germany | Annual technoparade in Hamburg, attracting tens of thousands of attendees. | |
| Ten Days Off | 1995–present | Amsterdam and Ghent, Belgium | Started in 1995, "10 Days Off" began as a 10-day-long Belgian celebration of techno music which has since grown to be a yearly club event. Several concert venues in the cities of Ghent, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands. | |
| World Electronic Music Festival | 1995–2008, 2011–present | Ontario | Canada's longest running electronic music festival. Started and still run by Destiny Event Productions. Three-day summer all day, all night event is held across Southern Ontario, Canada. | |
| Reincarnation Parade | 1995–2006 | Hanover, Germany | Large annual technoparade and subsequent rave in Hanover, Germany. | |
| Astropolis | 1995–present | Brest, France | Large annual electronic music festival, usually taking place in July or August. | |
| Earthdance | 1996–present | Worldwide | Taking place annually in over 300 locations and 60 countries, every year, musicians, DJs, artists, and speakers convene at local Earthdance events to share inspiration and "dance for peace and the healing of our planet Earth."[36] | |
| Amsterdam Dance Event | 1996–present | Amsterdam | Annual five-day event organized by The Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation. Has daytime conferences at local universities and the electronic ADE Festival at night, with over 2,000 DJs. | |
| Electric Daisy Carnival | 1997–present | United States | Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is the largest electronic dance music festival in North America. It is operated by Insomniac Events. In 2011, EDC moved its flagship festival to Las Vegas, Nevada. EDC events are held in other United States cities and abroad too. | |
| Lake Parade | 1997–present | Geneva, Switzerland | A large technoparade which is organised every year. Every year there are up to 20 Lovemobiles. | |
| Melt! Festival | 1997–present | Gräfenhainichen, Germany | One of the biggest open-air electronic music festivals in Germany. The festival takes place in the Ferropolis open-air museum. | |
| ETD Pop | 1997–present | San Francisco | ETD Pop is an annual electronic music festival held at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, a suburb of San Francisco. It is hosted by the Berkeley-based event promoters Skills. | |
| Boom Festival | 1997–present | Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal | A biennial transformational festival in Portugal. The festival features musical performances and a broad variety of visual art exhibits. Boom Festival began as a psychedelic trance music festival. Nowadays, other genres like techno, house and world music are played too. | |
| SonneMond Sterne | 1997–present | Saalburg-Ebersdorf, Thüringen | An open-air festival featuring electronic dance music. The first festival was in 1997 with 2,500 people. The 15th festival in 2011 reached 35,000. | |
| Rainbow Serpent Festival | 1997–present | Victoria, Australia | A large electronic music, art and lifestyle festival, mainly known for psytrance and minimal techno music, but also featuring other genres of electronic music and non-electronic music on the smaller stages, as well as art installations and workshops. | |
| Fuckparade | 1997–present | Berlin | A technoparade which stemmed in reaction to the music restriction and commercialization of Love Parade, first named Hateparade. The most played styles of music are gabber, speedcore, techno, punk, and house. | |
| Monster Massive | 1997–2011 | Los Angeles | A yearly electronic music rave held near Halloween and founded by Go Ventures, where many of the attendees dress in costume. | | |
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Full Moon Party | 1998–present | Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand | First held at a wooden disco not far from the beach early 1980s, though not yet electronic in focus, the parties gained fame through word of mouth, and the event now draws a crowd of about 5,000–30,000 every full moon evening. The bars on the beach stay open and play music such as psychedelic trance, R&B, drum and bass, house, dance and reggae. | |
| Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards | 1998–2007 | Gothenburg, Sweden | The Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) was a music festival and award ceremony for electronic music held each year in Gothenburg between 1998 and 2007. | |
| Summadayze | 1998–present | Australia and New Zealand | The 2006 event in Melbourne saw 23,000 tickets sellout for a 15-hour event.[37] | |
| Homelands | 1990s?–2005? | United Kingdom | was a British music festival which consisted mainly of dance music, both live acts and famous DJs. was one of the most popular British festivals of this genre. Run by Live Nation UK, it also had editions in Scotland. | |
| Copenhagen Distortion | 1998–present | Copenhagen | A celebration of Copenhagen street life and international club culture. With an estimated 100,000 guests per day, it is one of the largest annual gatherings in Europe. Distortion is a mobile festival. | |
| Infest Festival | 1998–present | Bradford, United Kingdom | An annual three-day music festival held at the University of Bradford Union on the August bank holiday weekend, featuring alternative electronic music acts from genres including industrial, EBM, futurepop, synthpop and power noise. | |
| Ultra Music Festival | 1998–present | Miami | An outdoor electronic music event held annually in March founded by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. Takes place across seven different stages, features top DJs, artists, and live acts. Focuses on many genres, including electro, techno, trap, deep house, drum and bass, tech house, progressive house, dubstep, and trance. There are editions all around the world too. | |
| OM Festival | 1998–2013 | Ontario | Community-based summer solstice festival that ran annually in southern Ontario. The festival, organized by Sumkidz (now Suma), primarily featured electronic music as well as dance, workshops, art, and other forms of acoustic music. | |
| Creamfields | 1998–present | United Kingdom | Creamfields festival features DJs and live acts, and is held annually on the UK's August Bank Holiday weekend in England. The festival began in 1998 and is run by the Cream clubbing brand supporters. It's the UK's oldest and most prestigious electronic dance music festival. In addition to the main UK event, Creamfields also operates a number of international spin offs. Creamfields Buenos Aires was the first Creamfields festival to be organised outside the UK. | |
| Hradhouse Festival | 1998–present | Boskovice, Czech Republic | Annual festival | |
| PlanetLove | 1998-2003, 2005–present | Northern Ireland | Annual festival | |
| Scattered | 1998–present | Sydney | Founded in 1998 as a small 150 person event, it has grown over time to large-scale rave which hosts major happy hardcore, gabber and hard trance DJs. | |
| New West Electro-Acoustic Music Organization (NWEAMO) | 1998–present | Portland, Oregon | An event with the mission to forge connections between the composers, performers and lovers of avant garde classical music and the DJs, MCs, guitar-gods, troubadours and gourmets of experimental popular music to produce an annual international festival of electro-acoustic music. | |
| Together as One | 1998–2011 | Los Angeles | A festival that was held on New Year's Eve as a collaboration between Go Ventures and Insomniac; the partners split in 2011, with Go organizing one more event on its own before the 2012–13 edition was abruptly cancelled due to venue issues.[38] [39] | |
| Shambhala | 1998–present | Nelson, British Columbia | The largest and one of the longest-running electronic music events in Canada, held in July at a 500acres cattle ranch in the mountains. Since the beginning, it has been a family-run event and has never accepted corporate sponsorship. | |
| Camp Bisco | 1999–present | Scranton, Pennsylvania | An electronic and jam band music festival, hosted and centered around The Disco Biscuits at Montage Mountain in Scranton. The Disco Biscuits launched Camp Bisco in 1999 with the idea of combining sets by electronic DJs with improvisational rock bands. | |
| Marsatac | 1999–present | Marseille, France | It was originally dedicated to the Marseille hip hop scene, then expanded progressively to international hip-hop, then to electro, rock and, since 2008, to African music for one night. In 2012, more than 35,000 people attended in the festival. | |
| Bats Day in the Fun Park | 1999–present | Anaheim, California | Started in August 1999 as a joint effort between the promoters of the goth/industrial and deathrock clubs Absynthe and Release the Bats. It has become an annual three-day event. | |
| Tinnitus | 1999–2009 | Stockholm | An annual alternative music festival focusing on the subgenres of alternative electronic music such as industrial, EBM, synthpop and futurepop. | |
| Maschinenfest | 1999–2018 | Aachen, Germany; since 2010, Oberhausen, Germany | A yearly, three-day underground music festival featuring industrial, power electronics, and alternative electronic performers who include both independent and signed bands, held in a bunker. | |
CTM Festival
(formerly Club Transmediale) | 1999–present | Berlin | Now titled the CTM Festival, an annual music and visual arts event originally focused on electronic music, but has since evolved to cover a wide range of genres under the banner "festival for adventurous music and related visual arts". | |
| Eclipse Festival | 1999–present | Quebec | A weekend-long international gathering of visual and musical art, it features a symbiosis of dance, open philosophies, performance art, and human (and spiritual) experiences. | |
| Trance Energy | 1999–present | Netherlands | Founded by ID&T as a large trance event. | |
| Norbergfestival | 1999–present | Norberg, Sweden | Held in Sweden. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| 2000–present | Novi Sad, Serbia | Founded as a student movement fighting for democracy and freedom, it quickly grew into one of the largest mainstream annual music events in Europe. It is held every July in Novi Sad, Serbia in Petrovaradin fortress which is situated on the Danube river. | |
| ZoukOut | 2000–present | Singapore and Malaysia | One of Asia's biggest music dance festivals, it is organised by Zouk Singapore. DJs that have performed at ZoukOut include Paul Van Dyk, 2ManyDJS, Masters at Work, Gilles Peterson, Richie Hawtin, etc. | |
| Unyazi Electronic Music Festival | 2000–present | South Africa | NewMusicSA also runs the Unyazi Electronic Music Festival, which alternates with the New Music Indaba on an annual basis. | |
| Netmage | 2000–present | Bologna, Italy | An international festival dedicated to electronic art as a multidisciplinary program of works, investigating and promoting contemporary audiovisual research. | |
| Dissonanze | 2000–present | Rome | A yearly festival focused on electronic music held in Rome, Italy. The first edition was in 2000. In addition to music, it also focuses on multimedia & video art. | |
| Snowbombing | 2000–present | Europe | Held in Scandinavian locations at ski resorts. | |
| MUTEK | 2000–present | International | New art forms festival devoted to "experimental electronic music, audio-visual spectrum, digital creativity, and transmedial art." As of 2005, events have been held in Montreal (where it started), Valparaiso, Mexico City, Barcelona, Toronto, New York City, São Paulo, and Berlin.[40] | |
| Sound Summit | 2000–present | Australia | A yearly event that focuses on independent electronic music and hip hop as part of the annual This Is Not Art Festival. It is usually composed of artist development workshops. | |
| Detroit Electronic Music Festival | 2000–present | Detroit, Michigan | Electronic dance music showcase held each Memorial Day weekend, which has featured performances by musicians and DJs, and emphasized the progressive qualities of the culture surrounding electronic music. The city's support for the festival has been seen by many as the first high-profile acknowledgement and celebration of the city as the birthplace of techno music. | |
| Qlimax | 2000–present | Netherlands | Annual hardstyle and hard dance event held since 2003 at the Gelredome, in Arnhem, Netherlands. Since 2003, each edition has had its own anthem to symbolize the theme of the event. | |
| Sensation | 2000–present | Netherlands and other countries | Dutch indoor dance event. Sensation events are held all around the world too. In 2000 and 2001 there were single events simply known as Sensation. Later, Sensation was expanded into two annual events known as Sensation White (focusing initially on trance and later on house) and Sensation Black (which focused on harder styles and more underground sound). Later, the names of both events changed to Sensation and BLACK, respectively. Attendees were required to wear all black or all white, depending on the event. BLACK is no longer celebrated. | |
| How Weird Street Faire | 2000–present | San Francisco | Annual electronic music festival to "connect the diverse electronic music communities and spread peace". Now has a wide range of dance music, including live electronica, world beat, dubstep, breaks, electro, trance, house, techno, and drum & bass. | |
| Ricochet Gathering | 2000–present | various | In April 2000, the first gathering was held at the Okefenokee Swamp. Genres vary from old-style retro to up-scale, modern contemporary electronic music. Locations can be difficult to get to. All of the music created at each gathering is live, unrehearsed, spontaneous and recorded in one take. The Ricochet Dream music label publishes and records the music created at the event. | |
| Lightning in a Bottle | 2000–present | Central Coast California | A transformational festival presented by The Do LaB. | |
| Chillits | 2000–present | Willits, California | A small, exclusive, annual ambient music festival held every September at a private retreat center in Willits, California. It was started by the Cloud Factory community, and ticket distribution is largely based on participation. | |
| Electronic Music Midwest | 2000–present | Kansas City, Kansas | A festival of new electro-acoustic music, was created as the result of a group formed in 2002 between Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), Lewis University, and the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Overall it has as featured over 300 new electro-acoustic compositions. | |
| Electrofringe | 2001–2011 | Newcastle, New South Wales | A part of This Is Not Art, involves various installations and hands-on workshops. | |
| Five Days Off | 2001–present | Amsterdam | A festival that includes music and cultural events in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It started in 2001 as spin-off of Ghent, Belgium's Ten Days Off Festival. | |
| Global Gathering | 2001–2014 | Long Marston, England | The festival was organized by the Godskitchen brand, and was held annually in the UK. There were editions in other countries too. | |
| Lumous Gothic Festival | 2001–2020 | Finland | Commonly known as Lumous, was the largest festival dedicated to the goth subculture in Finland and the northernmost Gothic festival in the world. It covers musical genres such as gothic rock, deathrock, industrial, EBM and neofolk. | |
| Electroclash Festival | 2001–2004 | New York City | Electroclash came to media attention in 2001, when the Electroclash Festival was held in New York.[41] The Electroclash Festival was held again with live tours across the US and Europe. Other notable artists who performed at the festivals and subsequent tours include Scissor Sisters, ADULT., Fischerspooner, Mignon, Miss Kittin & The Hacker, Mount Sims, Tiga and Spalding Rockwell.[42] | |
| Vision Parade | 2002–2006 | Bremen, Germany | Annual technoparade in Bremen, attracting tens of thousands of attendees. | |
| New Interfaces for Musical Expression | 2002–present | various | Also known as NIME, is an international conference dedicated to scientific research on the development of new technologies for musical expression and artistic performance. | |
| Electroacoustic Music Days | 2002–present | Greece | Annual event organized by the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association, which takes place in various cities and institutions throughout Greece. During these events, some of the latest electroacoustic works from Greece and abroad are showcased. | |
| Insomnia Festival | 2002–present | Tromsø, Norway | Alongside the Numusic festival in Stavanger and Ekkofestival in Bergen, it is the largest festival for electronic music in Norway. | |
| Xtra Bass | 2002–present | United Kingdom | A free week-long drum and bass tour of the UK hosted by the BBC's digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra. The tour covers 7 cities in 7 days. | |
| Les Siestes Electroniques | 2002–present | Toulouse, France | Summer festival dedicated to emerging artists from the field of music & digital culture. | |
| Airbeat One | 2002–present | Neustadt-Glewe, Germany | Large-scale annual festival. 2022 with a total of 200,000 visitors. Until 2004 under the name Airbase One. | |
| Area Festival | 2001–2002 | North America | Founded by electronic musician Moby, who asserted that he was "in large part, inspired by the ethos of Lollapalooza", and wished to create a similarly "genuinely eclectic, interesting, alternative music festival". First called Area:One in 2001, and the sequel tour Area2, in 2002. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Nuits Sonores | 2003–present | Lyon, France | Electronic music festival. It usually occurs for five days in May of each year since 2003. | |
| TodaysArt | 2003–present | The Hague, Netherlands | At the end of September each year, TodaysArts has a program at 20 indoor and outdoor venues in the center of the city, with over 200 artists from more than 25 countries. The first edition had 5,000 visitors. | |
| GOGBOT | 2003–present | Enschede, Netherlands | The festival deals with subjects on the area of multimedia, art, music and technology. GOGBOT is a free entrance festival. It has around 20,000 visitors and is known for its controversial themes. | |
| Summer Darkness | 2003–present | Utrecht, Netherlands | Acts perform in various clubs throughout the city of Utrecht. The festival was a joint venture by Cybercase, Tivoli (Utrecht), EKKO and Mojo until EKKO made the decision in 2009 to quit. | |
| Inox Festival | 2003–present | Toulouse, France | Annual electronic music festival that has hosted DJs such as Joachim Garraud and Avicii. | |
| Moonpark | 2003–present | Buenos Aires | Held three times annually since 2003. Some of the acts performed during its last editions included John Digweed, Sasha, Hernán Cattáneo, and Satoshi Tomiie. | |
| Drop Dead Festival | 2003–present | United States and Europe | An electro, post-punk, synthpunk, and experimental multiple-day festival, and the largest DIY festival for "art-damaged" music. | |
| Lovebox Festival | 2003–present | Victoria Park, London | A music festival for two days in July. Originally, Lovebox was the name of a nightclub hosted by Groove Armada. It was a one-day festival on London's Clapham Common until 2004. | |
| Defqon.1 | 2003–present | Netherlands | Annual music festival held in Netherlands. It has been editions in Australia and Chile too. Founded by Q-dance, it plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as hardcore techno, hard house and hard trance. | |
| Piknic Électronik | 2003–present | Montreal and Barcelona | Annual festival held in Montreal, with artists such as Wolfgang Gartner headlining. | |
| Unsound Festival | 2003–present | Kraków, Poland | Dealing with evolving and mutating forms of music, as well as related visual arts. | |
| 60x60 | 2003–present | International | Annual festival which tours the world. It was conceived and developed by the new music consortium Vox Novus. A continuous sixty-minute concert, it is a collection of 60 electro-acoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers or sound artists, each work 60 seconds or less. | |
| Ekkofestival | 2003–present | Bergen, Norway | The Ekkofestival, Ekkofest or Ekko-Bergen Electronic Music and Art Festival, is an annual fall music festival. The festival mainly focuses on electronic music and contemporary art, with a multitude of genres. | |
| Pirate Station | 2003–present | Russia | Known to be the largest and most popular drum and bass event in the world, Pirate Station takes place annually in Russia. | |
| Bang Face | 2003–present | United Kingdom | A regular electronic dance music event that takes place at various venues across the UK. Starting as a monthly club night in London, it has grown to include an annual three-day weekender at Camber Sands and Newquay, a boat party on the River Thames, and other events. | |
| Reverence | 2003–2009 | Madison, Wisconsin | An electronic music festival. Featuring primarily aggrotech, electro-industrial and synthpop bands, it has also included other electronic dance music genres as well. | |
| Konemetsä | 2004–2009 | Finland | Konemetsä Open Air Forest Festival has music played continuously 24 hours a day. | |
| Decibel Festival | 2004–present | Seattle, Washington | An "International Festival of Electronic Music Performance, Visual Art and New Media". It is held every September. In 2011 it was 5 days long. It also includes a free, all-ages 3 day conference. | |
| O.Z.O.R.A. | 2004–present | Ozora, Hungary | Psychedelic trance festival which has been held on an estate in Ozora every year since 2004.[43] The first party was called Solipse and took place during the Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999. Several spin-offs have been held in other cities such as Tokyo, Paris and São Paulo. | |
| Wild in the Country | 2004–present | Staffordshire, England | Gigwise.com describes Wild in the Country as "the ideal festival for lovers of electronic music"[44] and notes that the festival is part of a Renaissance tradition of holding gigs in picturesque settings like Allerton Castle and Shugborough Hall. The last festival was at Knebworth Park starting on 30 June 2007 with Underworld, Hot Chip and Sasha and Digweed. | |
| Systo Palty | 2004–present | Russia | Open-air annual art and music festival featuring trance music. | |
| Moogfest | 2004–2008, 2010–present | Asheville, North Carolina | First held in New York City, the annual two to five-day electronic music festival was moved to Asheville, where Robert Arthur "Bob" Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer and founding father of electronic music, was based. | |
| Output Festival | 2004–present | Amsterdam | Dutch tri-annual music festival which focuses on experimental, contemporary electroacoustic music related to the electric guitar. | |
| Electric Picnic | 2004–present | Stradbally, Ireland | Features dance music, as well as rock and pop. Its history includes international acts such as Kraftwerk, Röyksopp, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, New Order, and Björk. | |
| C.O.M.A. | 2004–present | Montreal, Quebec | A yearly weekend underground music festival that features industrial, power electronics, alternative electronic musicians and DJs. In 2008, C.O.M.A. was essentially replaced by the Kinetik Festival, which ran until 2013. In 2014, Kinetik was replaced by Aftermath, held in Toronto and featuring many of the same bands that were originally intended to play at the seventh edition of Kinetik. | |
| Eccentrik | 2004–present | Raleigh, North Carolina | A three-day industrial and goth music festival. Started in October 2004, Eccentrik features various musical styles including deathrock, gothabilly, industrial, gothic rock, psychobilly, post-punk, synthpop and other related genres.[45] | |
| UltraMar Festival | 2004–2009, 2013 | Cartagena, Colombia | More than 130 international artists have participated in the festival, including Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, etc. In 2008, the Ultramar Festival joined with Summer Dance Festival, another important festival of the city of Cartagena, to form UltraSummer Festival. | |
| Soundwave Festival | 2004–present | San Francisco, California | Formerly the Soundwave Series. Founded by Alan So from the ME'DI.ATE Art Group to explore "innovative sound experiences with diverse local and international artists and musicians". Held every two years for two months in San Francisco. | |
| LovEvolution | 2004–2009, 2011 | Bay Area, California | Formerly San Francisco LovEvolution and San Francisco LoveFest. It was a technoparade and festival that occurred annually and had its origins in Berlin's Love Parade.[46] | |
| Glade Festival | 2004–present | England | An electronic dance music festival that originally began as a stage at Glastonbury Festival. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Tomorrowland | 2005–present | Boom, Belgium | The largest electronic music festival held in the world, with over 400,000 attending in 2014. First organized by the original founders and ID&T. There have been three spin-off: TomorrowWorld, Tomorrow Brasil and Tomorrowland Winter. The first two are no longer held. | |
| Berlin Festival | 2005–present | Berlin | Two-day outdoor rock and electro music event near the city of Berlin, first organized in 2005. Since then, its audience has grown to about 20,000 visitors. | |
| Hartera | 2005–present | Rijeka, Croatia | An annual electronica music festival. The name derives from the festival's location, an old paper factory (which was one of the largest in Europe) that functioned for 150 years before shutting down. | |
| Amphi Festival | 2005–present | Germany | Wide-ranging program for a heterogeneous audience, albeit primarily fans of alternative, electronic music, and dark music. The number of visitors to the most recent event in 2009 was 13,000 per festival day. | |
| Pitchfork Music Festival | 2005–present | Chicago | Annual summer music festival focused primarily on artists and bands from alternative rock, rap & hip-hop, electronica, and dance music. | |
| Aires Libres | 2005–present | Marseille, France | Its main goal is to showcase electronic music outdoors, and promote various cultural activities for children and their families through visual art and several artistic workshops. | |
| Blacksun Festival | 2005–2007 | New Haven, Connecticut | It was created in 2005 as a 3-day industrial and goth music international festival. Blacksun was meant to give American bands an opportunity to play closer to home than the larger goth festivals in Europe. | |
| Distorted Music Festival | 2005 | Melbourne, Australia | One year EDM festival that featured underground/mainstream electronic artists, with the genres of breakcore, IDM, noise, industrial, power noise, and glitch. | |
| Punktfestivalen | 2005–present | Kristiansand, Norway | An annual autumn music festival primarily focusing on live remixing, live sampling and live electronics, involving local and international artists. | |
| Djakarta Warehouse Project | 2006–present | Jakarta, Indonesia | Djakarta Warehouse Project, or DWP, is a music festival held in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is the largest annual music festival for electronic dance music in Asia, and features world-famous artists. | |
| Isotopia Festival | 2006–2008 | Australia | Was an annual electronic music, art and lifestyle festival that included environmental speakers, forums, films, local bands, DJs and several workshops. One of the main goals of the festival was to raise awareness against Australian nuclearisation. | |
| Transmission | 2006–present | Prague, Czech Republic | Large indoor trance music event[47] at the o2 Arena.[48] In March 2014, the festival was held for the first time in Slovakia too.[49] Later, the festival has taken place in Australia, Thailand, Germany and China too. Markus Schulz has frequently headlined.[50] | |
| Life Festival | 2006–present | Ireland | Mixes traditional instruments with electronic dance music groups. | |
| Les Ardentes | 2006–present | Belgium | A multi-day electro-rock music festival which takes place annually early July in Liège. | |
| Beat-Herder | 2006– present | Lancashire, England | An annual summer music festival. The festival covers several musical genres including breakbeat, dub, reggae, dubstep, techno, house, drum & bass, folk, dance-punk and psychedelic rock. The event also sees regular appearances from novelty musicians such as the Lancashire Hotpots and William Fairey Acid Brass.[51] | |
| Blip Festival | 2006–2012 | New York City, Denmark, Australia, and Tokyo | A chiptune festival. | |
| Le Guess Who? | 2006–present | Utrecht, Netherlands | An annual electronic music festival with over fifteen venues. | |
| Future Music Festival | 2006–present | Australia | An annual music festival featuring Australian and international artists held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. | |
| Bloc Festival | 2006–present | England | It is devoted to electronic music of all genres including electro, hip hop, IDM, techno, house music, reggae, drum and bass and dubstep, and incorporates both DJ sets and live shows. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Wintercase | ? | Italy | | |
| Seoul World DJ Festival | 2007–present | Seoul, South Korea | Music festival initiated as the main program of Hi-Seoul Festival in 2007 at the Nanji Campground on the Han River. | |
| Open Air Field | 2007–present | Luxembourg | The first edition of the event took place in July 2007 under the name Feldparty. Every year the lineup contains many DJs, such as DJ Pikay. | |
| Secondfest | 2007 | on-line | A music festival in the Second Life virtual world, with artists such as Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, and The Knife. | |
| HARD | 2007–present | United States | A national music festival, music cruise and concert brand founded by Gary Richards in 2007. The event line-ups consist of alternative and electronic acts and emerging talents. The first HARD Music Festival was held on December 31, 2007, in Downtown Los Angeles, and featured Justice. | |
| Loop Live | 2007–present | Bulgaria | Free music event that always includes a host of new and popular artists. The festival is televised usually a week afterwards on City TV. | |
| Balaton Sound | 2007–present | Zamárdi, Hungary | Also known as Heineken Balaton Sound (and as MasterCard Balaton Sound since 2013 for sponsorship reasons), it is one of Europe's largest open-air electronic music festivals. | |
| Sunburn Festival | 2007–present | Goa, India | A large annual EDM festival that first took place in December 2007 at the Candolim Beach in Goa, India. | |
| Stereosonic | 2007–present | Australia | The first festival tour was held in Australia in November/December. The headliners included Armin van Buuren, Booka Shade, Fedde Le Grande and Trentemoller. | |
| Igloofest | 2007–present | Montreal, Quebec | An annual outdoor festival held over the course of 3 or 4 weekends in January and February. | |
| Lovefest | 2007–present | Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia | An annual outdoor festival held over the course of 3 or 4 days, starting on the first Friday of August. | |
| Connect Music Festival | 2007-2008 | Argyll, Scotland | | |
| The BPM Festival | 2008–present | Playa del Carmen, Mexico; since 2017, Portugal | An annual ten day and night electronic music festival, founded by Craig Pettigrew and Philip Pulitano. It is a global gathering of DJs, producers, partiers and industry professionals. BPM parties are hosted at multiple venues in the beach town Playa Del Carmen. In 2017, the festival was moved to Portugal. | |
| Coma Dance Festival | 2008 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Took place in November 2008 between two cities in the Middle East, twenty minutes off the coast of Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Forum de Beirut, Lebanon. The festival was proclaimed the first festival dedicated to dance music in the Middle East.[52] [53] | |
| Outlook Festival | 2008–present | Pula, Croatia | A musical event hosting all kinds of bass music, such as dubstep, reggae, hip-hop, ragga, drum and bass, garage, house, and techno. | |
| International Music Summit | 2008–presen | Ibiza, Spain | A 3-day electronic dance music conference, seen as a direct competitor to Miami's Winter Music Conference. | |
| Electric Forest Festival | 2008–present | Rothbury, Michigan | A four-day multi-genre event, with a focus on electronic and jam band genres. It debuted in 2008 as Rothbury Festival, and the new event was not held in 2010. Electric Forest, which debuted in 2011, is co-produced by Insomniac Events and Madison House. | |
| Time Festival | 2008–present | Toronto, Ontario | A one-day, annual summer music festival held in Toronto. The event focuses on electronic music and features DJs and groups from around the world as well as local Toronto artists. | |
| Ultra Brasil | 2008, 2010–2011, 2016 | Rio de Janeiro | An EDM festival curated by the team behind Ultra Music Festival that debuted in 2008 in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In 2016, the festival returned to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil at Quinta da Boa Vista. Artists included Carl Cox and Martin Garrix. | |
| Subsonic Music Festival | 2008–present | Monkerai, Australia | An annual music festival with camping, Subsonic "has gradually embraced house, techno and other forms of dance music alongside its original staples: psytrance and dub".[54] | |
| The Bounce Festival | 2009–present | Plumas County, California | A four-day multi-genre event, with a focus on electronic music culture and installation art. The Big Bounce debuted in Belden, California, in 2009, with Bassnectar and Fort Knox Five headlining. Event producers formulated The Bounce, LLC in 2011, and created The Bounce Festival with Fresh Bakin'. The event remained in Belden until they expanded the event to a larger private Plumas County location in 2013. | |
| Boomtown | 2009–present | Winchester, England | Immersive annual five-day theatrical music festival that takes place near Winchester, Hampshire on the Matterley Estate in South Downs National Park. The festival has a long-running narrative at its core with live actors and themed stages. |
| Warriors Dance Festival | 2009–2013 | Japan, United Kingdom, and Serbia | A one-day electronic music festival curated by The Prodigy.[55] | |
| Wave Sound | 2009–present | Italy | | |
| SkyGravity Festival | 2009? | Ukraine | International electronic dance music festival in Ukraine (Crimea, near Evpatoria). Featured genres are psytrance, goa, full on, suomi, progressive and break trance, but also ambient, dub, downtempo, IDM, electronica, experimental, and reggae. | |
| Electrobeach Music Festival | 2009–present | Port-Barcarès, France | A large annual EDM festival held in the summer at a beach resort in France. Recent lineups include Afrojack, Dirty South, and Dizzee Rascal.[56] 2013 saw 56,000 people attend over two days.[57] | |
| Electric Zoo | 2009–present | New York City | An annual electronic music festival held over Labor Day weekend in New York City on Randall's Island. The festival represents all genres of electronic music, bringing top international DJs and live acts from multiple countries along with hometown acts to four stages. There are editions in other countries too. | |
| Echelon | 2009–present | Bad Aibling, Germany | The Echelon open air and indoor festival is an electro and house festival with up to 25,000 attendees, which takes place in August at the abandoned radome field of Bad Aibling Station, which was part of the global surveillance network Echelon. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Amber Beach Festival | 2010–present | Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia | The first festival was held in Yantarny on 23–25 July 2010. It was headlined by Vopli Vidoplyasova and Dieselboy. | |
| Djakarta Warehouse Project | 2010–present | Jakarta and Bali (in 2018 and 2023), Indonesia | The first EDM festival in Indonesia and claimed to be one of the Asia's biggest electronic dance music festivals, it is organised by Ismaya Live. This festival was held every December. DJs that have performed at DWP include Calvin Harris, Alesso, David Guetta, Tiësto, R3hab, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Zedd, Galantis, and Major Lazer. | |
| Soundscape | 2010–2014 | Hamilton, New Zealand | The first Soundscape featured three stages of electronic music, expanding to five stages across four Hamilton central city nightclubs. The March 2011 Soundscape was the first to feature live music and international acts, which over 4,000 people attended. | |
| Escapade Music Festival | 2010–present | Ottawa, Ontario | Started as a club night with Deadmau5 headlining and a few hundred attendees. In 2011, it featured 3 major headliners, growing in 2012. | |
| Manitoba Electronic Music Exhibition | 2010–present | Manitoba, Ontario | MEME is a yearly electronic music and digital arts festival started in 2010 in Winnipeg. | |
| Beyond Wonderland | 2010–present | United States | Electronic dance festival organized by Insomniac Events, spanning one or two days. Locations throughout the west coast of the US. It is the sister festival of Nocturnal Wonderland. In 2017, the international debut of Beyond Wonderland took place in Mexico. | |
| Utopia Island | 2010–present | Moosburg, Germany | Electronic music festival taking place in summer at a lake not far from Munich, covering many electronic styles such as electro, minimal techno, techno, house and drum and bass, with 12,000 attendees in 2016. | |
| Miami Music Week | 2011–present | Miami | A week of electronic music events in the city of Miami. | |
| Barbarella | 2011–present | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | The festival has featured performances by Afrojack, Chris Lake, and Empire of the Sun. | |
| Sun City Music Festival | 2011–present | El Paso, Texas | Held around Labor Day by SMG Events and Disco Donnie Presents in El Paso, Texas. It features various electronic music artists across three stages in Ascarate Park.[58] | |
| 2011–present | Kragujevac, Serbia | An annual summer music festival which encompasses several different musical styles, mostly different variations of EDM, punk, rock, downtempo and metal music. It started in 2011 in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac. | |
| Resistanz | 2011–present | Sheffield, England | Large industrial music festival held in Britain. | |
| Summer Sound | 2011–present | Helsinki, Finland | The biggest indoor/outdoor trance music event in Scandinavia. First year performers included stars like Chicane, Above & Beyond, Roger Sanchez and Judge Jules.[59] | |
| Hideout Festival | 2011–present | Zrce, Croatia | On The Guardians list of the best European festivals of 2011. The event features pool parties, art installations, and utilizes various local venues in addition to the concerts held in the arena. | |
| Identity Festival | 2011–present | United States | Features popular electronic-music artists. The festival tours various North American cities. | |
| White Wonderland | 2011–present | Anaheim, California | Co-organized by Insomniac Events and fellow club promoter Giant. The event was first held for New Year's Eve in 2011, following the announcement that Insomniac had pulled out of co-organizing the New Year's Eve festival Together as One due to conflicts with its fellow organizer Go Ventures. | |
| Escape From Wonderland | 2011–present | California | Held around Halloween by Insomniac Events in Southern California, featuring artists like Afrojack, Benny Benassi, Cedric Gervais, and Crizzly. The festival was titled Escape All Hallows Eve in 2014. | |
| Rewire Festival | 2012–present | The Hague, Netherlands | Annual festival with a two-day program, with artists such as Lee Gamble and Kode9. | |
| Lucidity | 2012–present | Southern California | Features three main stages and numerous smaller stages with bands, spoken word artists, exotic dancers and DJs. | |
| Veld Music Festival | 2012–present | Canada | Veld is Canada's biggest electronic music festival. The inaugural event took place on August 4 and 5, 2012. | |
| BUKU Music + Art Project | 2012–present | New Orleans, Louisiana | A New Orleans-based two-day music and arts festival, founded in 2012 by Winter Circle Productions and held annually at Mardi Gras World. BUKU's musical tastes have been a relatively even mix of electronic dance music, hip hop music, and indie rock featuring past performances by Ellie Goulding, Kid Cudi, and others. | |
| BAALS Music Festival | 2012–present | Fort Wayne, Indiana | Beyond trance, techno, and house, the festival also focuses on jam band music. | |
| Spring Zouk | 2012 | Karnataka, India | The three-day festival was a project coordinated by the state government and various sponsors to attract international tourism, featuring artists such as Juno Reactor. Led to Porngate. |
| Future Music Festival Asia | 2012–present | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Often abbreviated as FMFA, it is an annual music festival featuring local and international artists held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. FMFA is a spinoff of Future Music Festival. | |
| Spring Awakening | 2012–present | Chicago, Illinois | Annual musical festival for progressive house, electro house, techno, etc. | |
| Ultra Buenos Aires | 2012–2015 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Curated by the Ultra Music Festival team. | |
| RFM Somnii | 2012–present | Figueira da Foz, Portugal | A three-day festival held annually in early July.[60] | |
| Weekend Festival | 2012–present | Helsinki, Finland | Weekend Festival hosts primarily electronic artists, with some other genres. The festival has been sold out every year in advance. 40,000–60,000 people attend every year. | |
| Paradiso Festival | 2012–2019 | George, Washington | Annual EDM festival held at The Gorge Amphitheatre on the Columbia River. Founded by USC Events and Live Nation Entertainment, 2012 attendance exceeded 20,000 people. The 2013 event saw performances by Kaskade and Tiesto. The festival ceased operations after 2019 due to a lawsuit between USC Events and Insomniac Events. | |
| Ultra Korea | 2012–present | Seoul, South Korea | Annual electronic dance music festival curated by Ultra Music Festival. In 2016, the festival celebrated five years at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, Korea. | |
| Holy Ship! | 2012–present | Miami to The Bahamas | An annual three-night, four-day electronic dance music festival held aboard a 4,000 capacity cruise ship, which leaves out of Port Miami in Miami, FL.[61] 2016 will mark the event's fifth year since its inception in 2012,[62] | | |
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| Electric Love | 2013–present | Plainfeld, Austria | Takes place at the second weekend in July at the Salzburgring. Headliners have included Hardwell, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, and David Guetta. | |
| Oxegen 2013 | 2013 | Ireland | The ninth Oxegen festival to take place since 2004, it was the first to focus on electronic music instead of rock music. Calvin Harris and David Guetta were among the featured artists. | |
| 7107 International Music Festival | 2013 | Pampanga, Philippines | A rock and electronic music festival featuring Kaskade and Alvaro, Natives, Reid Stefan, Kid Ink, DJ Riddler and The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. | |
| Morning Gloryville | 2013–present | United Kingdom | Originally named Morning Glory, the festival is a sober, drug-free morning rave. | |
| TomorrowWorld | 2013–2015[63] | Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia | Organized by ID&T Belgium, it is a spinoff of Tomorrowland. In its inaugural year, TomorrowWorld received a nomination for Best Music Event at the International Dance Music Awards. | |
| Electric Castle Festival | 2013–present | Romania | One of the biggest Romanian music festivals. It takes place annually at Bánffy's Castle Domain in Cluj County, Romania. | |
| Forestland | 2013–present | Međimurje, Croatia | An electronic dance music festival in Međimurje, Croatia. | |
| Psy-Fi | 2013–present | Leeuwarden | A psychedelic music and arts festival held annually in August. | |
| Ultra Europe | 2013–present | Split & Hvar, Croatia | Also known as Destination Ultra - Croatia Music Week, the event lasts seven days and takes place across Croatia. The main festival lasts three days and takes place at the Poljud Stadium in Split. | |
| Ultra Chile | 2013–present | Santiago, Chile | A Santiago, Chile-based version of the popular North American Ultra Music Festival in Miami. In 2016, the festival was a one-day event entitled Road to Ultra. | |
| Ultra Japan | 2014–present | Tokyo | The festival first started in 2014 and lasted two days, but was extended to three days. It consisted of three stages: the Main Stage, Ultra Worldwide Stage, and Resistance Stage. | |
| Ultra South Africa | 2014–present | Cape Town & Johannesburg, South Africa | The event started off as a two-day festival, now spanning across three days with three stages. | |
| Road to Ultra | 2014–present | multiple locations | Road to Ultra was introduced in 2014 with multiple stops, with most of those stops continuing in 2016. Among them are Road to Ultra: Colombia, Road to Ultra: Thailand, Road to Ultra: Taiwan, and Road to Ultra: Paraguay. Road to Ultra: Philippines debuted in 2015, as did Road to Ultra: Bolivia and Road to Ultra: Peru. Road to Ultra: Puerto Rico was held in 2015, and Road to Ultra: Macau was held only once in 2015, switching to Road to Ultra: Hong Kong in 2016. | |
| Electric Paradise | 2014–present | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | The Electric Paradise festival has had performances from Steve Aoki, Tiesto, Martin Garrix, Otto Knows, Moti, Blasterjaxx, Skrillex, and Steve Angello. | |
| Sea Dance Festival | 2014–present | Jaz Beach in Budva, Montenegro | The festival has been part of the EXIT Adventure, representing an additional 3 days of EXIT Festival. The key stages include the Main stage with a 30,000 attendee capacity, Dance Paradise, Reggae Stage, Silent Dance, Latino Stage, Cinema, and Full.feel.CHILL Zone.[64] | |
| Empire Music Festival | 2014–present | Guatemala | The biggest music festival in Central America, with performances from Martin Garrix, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Tiësto, DJ Snake, Timmy Trumpet, The Chainsmokers, Alesso, Marshmello and many others. | |
| EUphoria | 2014–present | Mauritius | The first festival to bring live EDM acts to Mauritius. David Jay performed the first year, and 2015 brought Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. | |
| SocialBuzz Music Festival S.M.F | 2014–present | Mauritius | An annual festival held over the last weekend of November at L'Aventure du Sucre, Beau Plan. Representing all genres of electronic music, it brings live acts from multiple countries along with local DJs. The event also features a music arena and entertainment village. Previous artists include Otto Knows, Riva Starr, Nick Warren, and Darin Epsilon. | |
| Stylematic | 2014–present | Dhaka, Bangladesh | An annual electronic dance music festival started in January 2014. It is known for inviting international DJs. | |
| Coincidance Festival | 2014–present | Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico | Coincidance is a festival held in the jungles and beaches of the Caribbean. The 2014 lineup included Mihai Popoviciu, Climbers and Paul Johnson. The 2015 headliners were Fur Coat, Francesca Lombardo, DVS1, Jimpster, Crazy P, and Einmusik.[65] | |
| Pangyo Techno Valley Festival | 2014 | Pangyo, South Korea | May be cancelled after a safety incident led to several deaths. | |
| Midwest Wonderland Music Festival | 2014–present | Rochelle, Illinois | A two-day music and arts festival which takes place at Chicagoland Skydiving Center. The event is a Wonderland themed event with many activities and attractions, including skydiving. | |
| Neon Festival | 2014–present | Turkey | The festival began in the 4th biggest city of Turkey. | |
| Amsterdam Music Festival | 2014–present | Amsterdam | A large event organized by ALDA Events and ID&T.[66] | |
| Dreamland | 2014–present | Ancient Olympia, Greece | A three-day event that aims to promote different types of electronic music, art and culture with an ecological theme. There are interactive workshops and sports activities in the Alfeios River, such as kayaking, rafting, and hydrospeed. | |
| Alfa Future People Festival | 2014–present | Nizhny Novgorod, Russia | An electronic music and technology festival on the coast of the Volga. Headliners have included Skillex, Atb, Avicii, Benny Benassi, Nero, Matisse & Sadko, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Martin Garrix, and Yellow Claw.[67] | |
| Barcelona Beach Festival | 2014–present | Barcelona, Spain | One of the biggest electronic music-centered events in Spain, held every second weekend at Barcelona, with DJs as Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Alesso, and Sander Van Doorn. | |
| Moonrise (festival) | 2014–present | Baltimore, Maryland | Electronic music festival held at Pimlico Race Course, taking the place of Starscape Festival. The Moonrise concept was first publicly introduced in 2013, but organizers failed to obtain permits for the festival in time. Bassnectar headlined the festival the first three years, alongside Kaskade in 2014, Above & Beyond in 2015, and The Chainsmokers, Tiësto, and Zedd in 2016. | |
| Transient Festival | 2014–present | Paris | Paris-based festival dedicated to electronic arts, digital culture and experimental music. | |
| Kosmos | 2014–present | Ristiina, Finland | A 3-stage festival concentrating mostly on underground electronic music, such as psytrance, drum and bass, and techno. | |
|
| Name | Year | Location | Notes | Picture |
|---|
| CRSSD Festival | 2015–present | San Diego | A biannual electronic dance music event with a mix of house, techno, electro, and indie dance music in San Diego. | |
| Dreamstate | 2015–present | Southern California | Biggest trance event in the United States. Dreamstate has taken place in San Francisco, Mexico City, London, Melbourne, Los Angeles and New York too. | |
| AUM Festival | 2015–present | Auckland, New Zealand | Aims to promote a culture of inclusivity and social and environmental responsibility in a family-oriented atmosphere. 5 zones set on 600 acres of deer farms include 4 music stages, a silent disco, a circus play zone, a market area and a glade with workshops on all subjects, healers, and yoga instructors. | |
| Twisted Frequency Festival | 2013–present | Golden Bay, New Zealand | Aotearoa's home of underground music and culture. 5 days of diversity and community in the heart of Golden Bay. | |
| GEM Fest | 2015–present | Anaklia, Georgia | Held on the beach of Anaklia every summer, the festival attracted more than 30,000 people in 2016. Headliners have included Armin van Buuren, Who Made Who, GusGus, Paul Kalkbrenner, and Fedde Le Grand. | |
| AVA Festival | 2015–present | Belfast | Based in Belfast, AVA events have been held worldwide. The 2022 festival had attendees and featured artists such as Holly Lester and Bicep.[68] | |
| Parookaville | 2015–present | Weeze, Germany | The event has featured a number of notable international acts such as Armin van Buuren, Steve Aoki, Tiësto, Robin Schulz, and Hardwell. It had 25,000 attendees in 2015 and grew to 50,000 people in 2016. For the event in 2017, 80,000+ tickets were sold. Some people call the event the 'German Tomorrowland'. | |
| Untold | 2015–present | Cluj-Napoca, Romania | Attracted around 200,000 people and a number of well-known international DJs. | |
| Weekend Festival Baltic | 2015–2018 | Pärnu, Estonia | Held on Pärnu beach, the festival is a spinoff of Weekend Festival and is the largest EDM festival in the Baltic area. Headliners have included Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Tiësto, Martin Garrix, and Hardwell. | |
| Future Music Festival World | 2015–present | Australia, 52 countries | Themed after a futuristic fantasy land, the festival has been held in Sydney, Adaline, Perth, Kuala Lumpur, Safari, and Asia. It features both local acts and international artists at each location. | |
| Ultra Bali | 2015–present | Bali, Indonesia | Introduced in 2015 as part of Ultra Music Festival's worldwide expansion. The festival lasts two days and takes place at the Potato Head Beach Club in Bali. | |
| Ultra Singapore | 2015–present | Singapore | Introduced in 2015 as a one-day, single-stage Road to Ultra event, curated by the team behind Ultra Music Festival. | |
| The Flying Dutch | 2015–present | Netherlands and Sweden | The event, hosted by Alda Events, takes place at three locations simultaneously. The artists are flown to every location by helicopter. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Eindhoven are the Dutch Edition locations, while Den Bosch, Nijmegen, and The Hague are the Swedish Edition locations. | |
| Zug der Liebe | 2015–present | Berlin, Germany | An annual technoparade and demonstration similar to the Fuckparade. It attracted about 30,000 people in its first year. | |
| EDMANIA | 2015–present | Trenčín, Slovakia | EDMANIA is an electronic dance music festival that started in the winter of 2015 as a one-day indoor festival. It gradually grew, leading to the addition of summer and winter editions, and in the summer of 2018, it became a two-days outdoor festival. The event has hosted Armin van Buuren, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Timmy Trumpet and many others. | |
| Ikarus Festival | 2015–present | Memmingen, Germany | Ikarus is a yearly EDM event which grew to 40000 visitors. It's three days on an old military airfield with multiple stages, some in shelter hangars, some outdoors. The event has hosted Ben Klock, Boris Brejcha, Charlotte de Witte, Claptone, Dixon, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Lost Frequencies, Martin Solveig, Nina Kraviz, Pan-Pot, Richie Hawtin, Sam Paganini, Solomun, Sven Väth and many others. | |
| BiH Color Festival | 2016–present | Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina | A festival based on the Indian and Nepali spring festival Holi (; Holī).[69] Festival attendees cover themselves in washable plant-derived colors such as turmeric, neem, dhak, and kumkum. It exclusively showcases unsigned artists from the former Yugoslavia. | |
| Groovefest | 2016–present | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | Festival at The Holiday Place.[70] | |
| Magnifique | 2016– present | George, Washington | The first event featured headliners like Kaskade, Chromeo and Duke Dumont.[71] | |
| Minus Zero Festival | 2016–present | Stratton Mountain, Vermont | The first event featured performances by Deadmau5 and Kaskade. | |
| Shaky Beats Music Festival | 2016–present | Atlanta, Georgia | First ever event featured headliners Major Lazer, Odesza, and Big Gigantic. | |
| Elements Music & Arts Festival | 2017–Present | | Produced by BangOnNYC! In 2017, it launched as a 3-day camping festival in Lakewood, PA. Returning every year, with a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the festival was relocated to the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA. Considered a “transformational festival”, the festival is a mix of music, art, and performance. | |
| Afterhills Music & Arts Festival | 2017–present | Iași, Romania | A total of 74,000 people attended the first event, which featured ALB, Bob Sinclar, Sander van Doorn, Maurice West, Moguai, Vini Vici, W&W, Andrew Rayel, Technasia, Juicy M, Khomha, Cristian Varela, Ilario Alicante, and Marco Bailey. | |
| FNY Festival | 2017–present | Munich, Germany | A ten-day electronic dance music festival on the grounds of the abandoned former Pfanni factory site. The first event included DJs and acts such as Marshall Jefferson, Seth Troxler, Sascha Funke, Tobi Neumann, Martin Buttrich, Erobique, Danny Daze, Lawrence, Sven Dohse, and Robert Dietz.[72] | |
| Lost Lands | 2017–present | Legend Valley, Thornville, Ohio | A three-day electronic dance music festival founded by dubstep artist Excision. The first event included DJs and acts such as Excision, Zeds Dead, 12th Planet, Illenium, Kill The Noise, Rezz, Barely Alive, Dion Timmer, Downlink, Figure, Space Laces, Virtual Riot, The Frim, Sullivan King, and Datsik. The second event was held September 14–16, 2018. A third event is scheduled for September 27–29, 2019. |
| Festival 84 | 2018–present | Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina | A four-day electronic dance music festival on Mt. Jahorina, which is part of the Sarajevo Olympic mountain range. The first event included DJs and acts such as Sigma, Asian Dub Foundation, Joris Voorn, Umek, Burak Yeter, Mahmut Orhan, Eric Cloutier, Patrice Baumel, After Affair, and Filatov & Karas.[73] | |
| Kala Festival[74] | 2018–present | Dhermi, Albania | A week long boutique festival along the Albanian Riviera featuring London-based electronic musicians.[75] | |
| ValhallaFest | 2018–present | Terrace, British Columbia | An electronic dance music festival.[76] | |
| UNUM Festival[77] | 2019–present | Shengjin, Albania | First festival of its kind in the Albanian Adriatic coast featuring 3 different stages along the Rana Hedhun coastal dune with DJs from around Europe and wellness sessions.[78] | |
| INterlinkfest | 2024–present | Montreal, Quebec | A three-day festival of techno-industrial, industrial hardcore, acid techno and dark techno with a cyberpunk philosophy, aesthetic and visuals. | |
|
