Music festivals don't always have to be about muddy fields, leaky tents and squelchy wellies. In fact, several of the very best music festivals across Europe have traded the traditional habitats of rolling fields for towering cityscapes and more and more new festivals are seeing the benefits of holding events in the hearts of major cities across Europe instead of their suburbs.
With new festivals getting added to Europe's already burgeoning festival calendar at a seemingly weekly rate, John Balfe has put together a list of some of Europe's best non-camping festivals.
Great bands, sunny weather and an amazingly attractive major European city to explore? This can only be Primavera Sound, Barcelona's number one festival. Held just a few kilometres from the centre of one the most vibrant cities in Europe, Primavera Sound's identity mirrors that of the city itself - it's fun, eclectic and just a little bit different. Also, lest we forget to mention this, it is well known for attracting one hell of an excellent line-up each year.
This is another festival with a great reputation for unearthing brand new talent. Encompassing venues across the entirety of Brighton & Hove, The Great Escape opens its figurative doors to 15,000 revellers each year, who take in some 300 bands over the course of three days. The Great Escape also ticks all the boxes for what makes a city festival so engaging, in that it makes the most of the city's personality and extends that to the festival itself. The festival also takes in conventions and talks, making this a must for any muso worth their salt.
The Camden Crawl, London & Dublin
The Camden Crawl has been taking place in London since 1995 and, last year, migrated to Dublin for the first time in its history. The London version of Camden Crawl takes place every year in (you guessed it) Camden, where it takes over the town's best bars, venues and clubs with a selection of up n' coming bands who are predicted to be industry's next big movers and shakers. It's essentially a showcase festival, a little bit like our very own Hard Working Class Heroes, but on a much larger scale. The Dublin incarnation of the Camden Crawl will take over the city over the May Bank Holiday this year, with the London version moved to slightly later in the year, in October.
For a festival initially conceived as a one-off party in a airplane hangar in Reykjavik, Airwaves has assumed an identity of its own since its debut in 1999. A favourite of music fans the world over, Airwaves has a reputation as one of the world's premier showcase festivals with a reputation for unearthing hidden gems from Iceland and the rest of the world. In fact, so revered is this festival that Rolling Stone have dubbed it "the hippest long weekend on the annual music-festival calendar."
Sticking with the northern Europe vibe, Flow in Helsinki is a three-day urban and electronic music festival which, as well as the music, places huge emphasis on design and art installations, gourmet food and various workshops. The music schedule features up n' coming acts from various musical genres with jazz, rock, folk and dance all side-by-side from the Finnish and international music scene. In their own words, the festival describes itself as 'a mental and physical state of being, where feeling flows collectively through music into a larger entity'. Right, then.
