After countless reschedules and ultimately, cancellations, last year, music festivals are back and in full force in 2021. There are still sadly a few large scale festivals that are taking 2021 off including Coachella, Glastonbury, Stagecoach and even Nashville’s own CMA Fest. All those festivals have already established the dates for their 2022 return.
There are number of festivals that decided they would run this year but needed to schedule for later in the year. Bonnaroo is the perfect example, as the organizers originally moved the festival last year from its normal June dates to early September. When it was obvious that there would be no festival in 2020, they rescheduled for June of this year. Lastly, with the administering of the Covid-19 vaccine among other issues organizers finally landed on holding the 2021 edition of Bonnaroo on September 2-5. Tool was replaced by the Foo Fighters as Friday night’s headliner while Tame Impala moves from Sunday to Saturday to co-headline with Lizzo. 2020 Sunday headliner Lana Del Rey closes out Bonnaroo with Tame Impala’s replacement Tyler, the Creator.
Attending music festivals can be a burden on the finances if one is not careful, especially when there are so many to choose from and all with a variety of options to attend. General admission has always been my preferred way of attending, but if you saved your stimulus checks, you might be in a good place to splurge for the V.I.P. treatment. Festivals are always coming up with creative ways to convince concert goers to shell out the most money. The perks of V.I.P. and Premium packages have grown over the years. Commonly, you can expect premium parking, express entry into the festival, stage-front viewing and air-conditioned restrooms in most festival upgraded packages. Many festivals now offer other upgrades like hydration IV’s, massages, and a salon for a blowout or quick trim.
It doesn’t matter if you are a jet setter ready for the V.I.P. treatment, or someone who is ready to camp out in the blistering summer heat in the general admission, we can all agree that we have truly missed festivals and longed for them to return. I have compiled a list of some of the music festivals you can hit up this summer.
- 7/1-7/3 Midsummer Music Fest Menahga, MN Quiet Riot, Black Stone Cherry, Great White
- 7/2 Freestyle Festival Norco, CA Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Shannon, Sweet Sensation
- 7/8-7/11 Country Boom West Salem, WI Jake Owen, Diamond Rio, Chris Lane
- 7/10 First Day Out Music Festival Jacksonville, FL Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, Goodie Mob, Slick Rick
- 7/14-7/17 Rock Fest Cadott, WI Rob Zombie, Staind, Limp Bizkit
- 7/23-7/25 Rolling Loud, MiamiA$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, Post Malone
- 7/29-8/1 Lollapalooza Tyler, the Creator, Journey, Black Pumas
- 8/3-8/8 Mississippi Valley Fair Jason Aldean, Pitbull, Craig Morgan
- 8/12-8/15 Catskill Mountain JubileeDigable Planets, Dark Star Orchestra, Lotus
- 8/13-8/14 Rock the SouthNelly, Miranda Lambert, Lynyrd Skynyrd
- 8/19-8/22 Summer Camp FestivalThree Six Mafia, moe., Griz
- 8/25-8/26 Bash on the BayBlake Shelton, Keith Urban, Walker Hayes
- 8/27-8/29 Green River FestivalJon Batiste, Ani DiFranco, Drive-By Truckers
- 9/1-9/18 Summerfest Green Day, Chance the Rapper, Dave Chappelle
- 9/2-9/5 Muddy Roots Music Festival Goddamn Gallows, Bridge City Sinners, Holy Locust
- 9/2-9/5 Bonnaroo Lizzo, Foo Fighters, Tame Impala
- 9/9-9/12 Blue Ridge Rock Fest Limp Bizkit, Megadeth, Rob Zombie
- 9/10-9/12 Pitchfork St. Vincent, Kim Gordon(Sonic Youth), Erykah Badu
- 9/11-9/12 Moon River Festival Wilco, COIN, Indigo Girls
- 9/17-9/19 Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Brittany Howard
- 9/18-9/19 Music Midtown Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Da Baby
- 9/23-9/26 Firefly Festival Billie Eilish, The Killers, Wiz Khalifa
- 9/23-9/26 Louder Than Life Festival Snoop Dogg, Korn, Nine Inch Nails
- 9/25-9/26 Pilgrimage Festival Better Than Ezra, Dave Matthews Band, The Black Keys
Steven McCash is the Music Columnist for SoBros Network, and host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast. He is the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music, in addition to the occasional live show review. Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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