Summer is upon us and what better way to spend your days than standing in a field under the sun listening to rock music? Over the last two decades, rock music festivals have grown in number and in quality. Once limited to one or two weekends a year, today rock fans can spend the better part of their summers moving from one festival to another, catching the cream of the musical world.
If you’re in to the heavier side of music and you’re looking for a summer treat, you’d be hard pushed to find a better alternative to an awesome rock music festival. If you need a little help finding one, check out this list of Europe’s hottest rock music festivals.
Download Festival (UK)
The world’s biggest and best rock and heavy metals bands have been visiting Castle Donington in Derbyshire, England since 1980. While the festival may no longer be known as Monsters of Rock, Download Festival – inaugurated in 2003 – still welcomes the true monsters of rock. Expect a mixture of the biggest names touring the international circuit and the latest up-and-coming UK acts over a three-day weekend in June.
Rock Am Ring (Germany)
The German equivalent to Download Festival (and sometimes hosted over the same weekend), Rock am Ring and its sister festival, Rock Im Park, bring the noise to Nürburg and Nuremberg respectively. Again, the biggest international bands are mainstays on the lineup, with some of Germany’s best young bands more than making up numbers.
Roskilde (Denmark)
Held on an island about 30km outside of Copenhagen, the Roskilde festival welcomes an eclectic grouping of bands each and every year. Alongside rock and metal bands, visitors can expect to enjoy indie, hip-hop, electronics, world, and mainstream music aplenty. Of course, Scandinavia is known for black metal, so fans of the heaviest music around will be pretty damn happy.
Sziget Festival (Hungary)
Like Roskilde, the Sziget festival is more eclectic with its choice of musical genres but make no mistake, rock music rules the roost here. Held on Old Buda Island in the heart of Budapest, attendees looking to take a break from the music are more than welcome to explore Budapest itself, one of Europe’s most beautiful cities.
Reading & Leeds Festivals (UK)
The traditional curtain call for European festivals, the Reading and Leeds festivals – held in the UK cities of Reading in the south and Leeds in the North – regularly entertain some 100,000 music fans apiece. Over three days fans get the chance to see hundreds of bands from across the globe, each looking to put on the performance of a lifetime.
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