Celebration in sunny California — Coachella Festival

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Coachella Valley, California, is one of the world's biggest music festivals. It opens the 2022 global festival circuit on April 15. The above photo shows US rapper Rico Nasty at the festival in 2019, a year after Beyonce became the first Black musician to headline the festival.

Rock on a racetrack — Rock am Ring

Germany's largest festival, Rock am Ring, is held at the Nürburgring racetrack in the heart of the western hilly Eifel region. After being canceled twice due to the pandemic, the German Culture Council labeled it an endangered cultural asset. This year it takes place from June 3-5. The same bands usually play on alternate days at Rock im Park festival in the southern city of Nuremberg.

Unusual venue in eastern Germany — Melt Festival

Ferropolis, a former surface mine in Gräfenhainchen, in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, is a unique festival venue; it's been home to the Melt Festival since 1999. The festival focuses on techno and electronic music, but hip-hop acts are also invited from time to time. This year, the festival runs from June 10-12.

Chill on a lake — Montreux Jazz Festival

With about 250,000 visitors, the Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, is one of the largest of its kind. In 2021, it managed to go ahead as a more pared-down event, but it's back in full force this year from July 1-16. It takes place on picturesque Lake Geneva and most of the concerts are free of charge.

Rock in the North — Roskilde Festival

Eight days of "music, art, activism, camps and freedom," as the festival says on its website, will be celebrated June 25-July 2 after a two-year hiatus. The festival in Roskilde, Denmark, near Copenhagen, is one of the largest in Europe, attracting well over 100,000 people. Dua Lipa, Robert Plant and The Strokes, among others, are scheduled to take the stage this year.

Metal in the German countryside — Wacken Open Air

The famous metal festival is already sold out for 2022, meaning the town of Wacken, in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, will once again fill up with metal fans from August 4-6. Around 20,000 concertgoers are expected to attend and headbang to performances by New Model Army, Judas Priest and Till Lindemann of Rammstein (pictured), among others.

Rising from the ashes — Burning Man

Though it bills itself as a movement, not a festival, Burning Man is perhaps the most visually spectacular of the world's gatherings featuring music. Starting August 28, tens of thousands are expected to attend the event in a Nevadan desert after a two-year pause. Musical acts have yet to be announced, but one thing is sure: A large straw structure known as "The Man" will go up in flames.

Author Sven Töniges

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